Erdogan Tells a Weeping Girl, 6, She’d Receive Honors if Martyred
By THE NEW YORK TIMESFEB. 26, 2018
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey with Amine Tiras, 6, in Kahramanmaras on Saturday. “Maroon berets don’t cry,” he told her. Credit Turkish Presidental Press Office, via European Pressphoto Agency
ISTANBUL — With Turkish armed forces engaged in a difficult battle on the ground in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried at a rally in southern Turkey to bolster confidence in the fight.
But his effort may have yielded mixed results on Saturday. Video showing Mr. Erdogan telling a 6-year-old girl that she would be honored as a martyr if she died in combat drew a stiff backlash online.
The girl, Amine Tiras, a first-grade student, according to Turkish news agency reports, was attending the provincial congress of Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in the Anatolian province of Kahramanmaras in a military-style uniform.
She wore a maroon beret and a Turkish flag in her pocket, and had made a soldier’s salute during Mr. Erdogan’s televised speech, when he spotted her in the audience.
Erdoğan'dan küçük kız çocuğuna Video by Artı Gerçek
Mr. Erdogan recently dispatched military police special forces, known by their maroon berets, to bolster the army operation against militias in Afrin, the Syrian enclave predominantly run by Kurds, and the president called the girl to the stage.
“Look, look, look, what is there? Girl, what are you doing there?” he called out. She held her salute, but her face began to crumple in anxiety as she was lifted out of the crowd to meet the president. “Here are our maroon berets. Look, we have our own maroon berets,” Mr. Erdogan said as she crossed the stage.
Mr. Erdogan kissed her on both cheeks but by then she was in tears.
“But maroon berets don’t cry,” the president said as he checked the rank of her uniform. “Yes, lieutenant colonel, military police special forces. Maroon beret. God willed it.”
“Her Turkish flag is in her pocket. If she becomes a martyr, God willing, she will be wrapped with it. She is ready for everything, aren’t you?” he said, sending her back to the crowd.
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Turkey has a longstanding culture of nationalist militarism, with popular slogans such as “Every Turk born a soldier.” Since the Afrin operation began last month, the government has mounted a national campaign in support of the war, with billboards and banners praising the armed forces and saluting those fallen in battle, who are accorded the honor of martyrs.
Mr. Erdogan recently made an alliance with the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party to bolster his chances for coming elections and has used the military campaign to improve his stance with nationalists.
He makes public speeches every day and sometimes several times a day, peppering his speeches with nationalist and anti-Western jibes as well as poetry and religious sayings, conjuring glories of Turkish history. He vows to protect Turkey’s borders and to fight terrorism, and rallies popular support for the war, listing the number of enemies killed and commending the nation’s martyrs.
Mr. Erdogan’s remarks to the girl on Saturday drew criticism from some on social media, who felt that the talk of martyrdom was inappropriate for a child so young. “Oh my God, I am shocked. Could Erdogan have said the same thing for his grandchild?” one user wrote on Twitter.
Another Twitter user, referring to reports that Mr. Erdogan’s own family members avoided military service, shared pictures of his two sons and son-in-law, asking: “Are those ready?”
