Friends

„[S]itting in his grandiose headquarters beside the strait, long the symbol of Turkey’s supposed role as bridge between east and west, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had little doubt about who was a friend and who wasn’t.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s radical president whose fiery rhetoric has made him a bête noire of the west? ‚There is no doubt he is our friend,‘ said Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister for the last six years. ‚As a friend so far we have very good relations and have had no difficulty at all.'“