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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Exclusive: TIME Meets Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Global Spin - TIME.com

Exclusive: TIME Meets Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Posted by Ishaan Tharoor Monday, September 26, 2011 at 7:53 pm

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the international statesman of the moment. Greeted as a rock-star in Egypt and other countries transformed by the Arab Spring, the Turkish premier looms like a colossus over the Middle East. In recent weeks, he has been one of the most vocal of world leaders to back the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. Popular at home, Erdogan has been in his position since 2003, and was recently re-elected to a new term. All the while, both Turkey's economy and geo-political footprint are growing noticeably. Erdogan sat down with TIME's Jim Frederick, Bobby Ghosh, Tony Karon, Matt McAllester and Ishaan Tharoor on the sidelines of U.N. meetings in New York. The following are excerpts from the conversation, touching upon Turkey's deteriorating relationship with Israel, the failures of the Mideast peace process, Erdogan's support for the Arab Spring and frustrations with the U.N., and whether anybody in Ankara still cares about joining the EU.

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