In Turkey, Erdogan’s charges of Western hypocrisy stick
He is making hay with the war in Gaza
![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on stage addresses a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20231223_EUP504.jpg)
NOTHING makes Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s day like a chance to claim the moral high ground, cast himself as the leader of the Muslim world, and stick it to the West. For nearly three months, the war in Gaza has allowed Turkey’s president to do just that. At a recent conference, Mr Erdogan was in his element, taking swings at Israel for bombing northern Gaza into the ground, and at Western duplicity. “A journalist is killed each day,” he said, referring to the 68 media workers killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s bombing campaign. “But none of the institutions who preach to us about press freedom for years says even a single word.”
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