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What's behind Erdogan's recent angry outbursts?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s blustering toward the West seems to have run its course with the exhausted Turkish public; however, it still works to coax Justice and Development Party elites.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, March 19, 2017. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RTX31PVP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during a meeting in Istanbul, March 19, 2017. — REUTERS/Murad Sezer

What's behind the embarrassing shenanigans of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)? What's the reason for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's angry outbursts?

On March 22, just a few hours before the London terror attack, Erdogan appeared on live television and harshly criticized the West. He said, “Turkey is not a country you can pull and push around, not a country whose pride you can play with and turn its ministers away from the border. [It's] not a country whose citizens you can drag on the ground. These developments are carefully followed around the world. If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. If you open this route, you [the West] will suffer the most.”

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