Turkey's Grandmaster of Symbols
By Shannon SimsJUN 062015
It was the moment no one was expecting, but everyone saw coming. When the moon-faced, mustachioed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rose to the lectern to speak in early May in a Kurdish province in southeastern Turkey, he brought with him, as usual, a bundle of quotes from the Quran, which he layered into his political campaign speech like one might layer a Big Mac. But he also brought something else, something unprecedented. As Turkey’s former prime minister and current president slowly lifted into the air a black, leather-bound book — a Quran — he cast out a symbol that would thrill some Turks and utterly terrify the rest.
More:Turkey's Grandmaster of Symbols | Provocateurs | OZY
