Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has earned himself an international reputation for his harsh and divisive manners, has caused tensions in Ankara’s ties with Vienna this time.
The reason was his visit to Austria, aimed at gathering support among the estimated 250,000 Turks living in that country, as his party’s candidate for the Turkish presidential elections to be held in August. Erdogan has still not announced his intention to run, although it is assumed within his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and outside it that he will.