AFP agency defines the welcome of US President Donald Trump in Ankara, who is participating in the NATO summit, as “imperial“ and in a special analysis tells about the individual gestures of the hosts, BTA reported.
“Among Ottoman warriors in armor in the marble palace of his host, Donald Trump received on Tuesday in Turkey exactly the kind of reception he likes. World leaders trying to win the favor of the unpredictable Trump have understood that nothing impresses the 80-year-old US president more than an imperial arrival, accompanied by fanfare and pomp“ writes the agency.
In a commentary on the event, the agency mentions that “the two elderly leaders (Erdogan and Trump) share the same taste for lavish presidential architecture and an autocratic style of governance“. Quoting Trump's words to Erdogan: “You are a great leader“, AFP points out that the American president was “visibly pleased as he sat next to Erdogan in the vast “Beştepe“ presidential complex, on the outskirts of the capital.
“We have a very special relationship“, the agency quotes Trump as saying, recalling that “72-year-old President Erdogan came personally to greet his colleague on the steps of the plane — the new “Air Force 1“, a gift from Qatar, and that he took him by the arm several times to accompany him on the ceremonial azure carpet“.
The agency tells how an escort of horsemen accompanied Donald Trump's armored limousine on the way to the presidential palace, where an honor guard in red and blue uniforms awaited him.
During the national anthems, while Turkish fighter jets (from the demonstration “Turkish Star Flotilla“ - ed. note) flew in the sky, leaving plumes of red, white and blue smoke behind them, the agency adds.
In its retelling of the lavish ceremony, befitting high-ranking guests, the agency also mentions that “twenty mustachioed soldiers, dressed in the traditional (Jannishari - ed. note) clothes and uniforms of "the Ottoman army", awaited him on the steps of the palace, known as the "White Palace", which opened in 2014.
"The vast complex, built on a deforested hill, draws its architectural inspiration from Turkey's Ottoman and Seljuk heritage," writes AFP, noting that this ultra-expensive palace, with its nearly a thousand rooms, the luxury of green Italian marble, imported windows and onyx in the vast halls, led critics to denounce it as another whim of "The Leader" (as he is often called in Turkey - ed.) Erdogan" the agency commented.
According to AFP, the pomp of the building seems designed to arouse the envy of Trump, who never ceases to admire the luxurious residences of the foreign leaders he visits.
The agency points out that this type of ceremonial welcome is a trick that leaders often use to win Donald Trump's favor and recalls that French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed him in this way at a royal dinner at the Palace of Versailles after the G-7 meeting in June.
Among the ceremonial gestures of the hosts during the NATO Summit in Ankara, special gifts are also noteworthy - pistols and luxury pens - personalized with the names of the recipients engraved on them, adds the Turkish newspaper „Sabah“.