Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has often framed himself as a "friend of Palestinians", has sparked anger in Turkey after he attended the opening of a factory belonging to Coca-Cola, accused by some of supporting Israel.
#ErdoğanınCocaCola açılışına karşıyız bunun ne demek olduğunu çok iyi biliyoruz pic.twitter.com/fYqQ7CbVEU
— Ayşe Daşbulak (@01Aysesahin) August 12, 2017
According to photos circulated on social media, Erdoğan made the Rabaa signal associated with support for the Muslim Brotherhood as he opened the plant in Isparta on Saturday.
#ErdoğanınCocaCola come back is r-ea-l ? pic.twitter.com/lvZVLLUxfq
— Ozan Sirmalilar (@ozansirmalilarr) August 12, 2017
This did not sit well with some Islamist groups in the country, including the leader of the Furkan Islamic movement, Alparslan Kuytul, who criticized Erdoğan’s attendance in a series of tweets.
Another Twitter account @IslamicMovemen3 tweeted:
Outraged Turks launched the hashtag #ErdoğanınCocaCola (“Erdoğan’s Coca-Cola”) to blast their President’s apparent support for Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola was the target of a boycott by the Arab League from 1966 until the early nineties, after it opened a bottling plant in Tel Aviv.
Later, during the 2014 Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Turkish businesses spurned Coca-Cola, over what was widely believed to be its support for Israel.
This, despite Coca-Cola’s protestations that it does not support any particular country or political stance, according to Turkish daily Hurriyet.
Erdogan used CocaCola for years as Anti-Israel propaganda to inflate his image in muslim world. He opened the factory himself today. pic.twitter.com/cBQT0Ge4iz
— Barbarossa (@BarbarossaKaya) August 12, 2017
The new factory will produce beverages for Coca-Cola İçecek, the company’s subsidiary in Turkey, the majority share of which is owned by the Anadolu Group. Coca-Cola İçecek is the company’s sixth-largest bottler, representing 4 percent of global sales in 2012.
Erdoğan’s controversial show of support for the factory drew the attention of Carlos Latuff, a Brazilian freelance political cartoonist known for his work on Palestine and the Arab Spring.
On August 12, Latuff wrote “The BDS movement defends the boycott of Coca Cola but Erdogan, the "friend of Palestinians" seems not interested…”
He also produced satirical artwork of the incident, translating the caption into Arabic and Turkish.
CocaCola, supporter of #Israel since 1966, has now a new posterboy in #Turkey: Erdogan, "friend of Palestinianshttps://t.co/MI8Z12PFSt#BDS pic.twitter.com/mTIo3KASlN
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) August 12, 2017
Latuff, who is of Lebanese descent, also joked that he had made a new logo for Erdoğan’s ruling AKP party, replacing the lightbulb on the party’s existing emblem with a coke bottle.
I just drawn a new logo for @Akparti
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) August 13, 2017
Long live to #Erdoganistan (former #Turkey) pic.twitter.com/Bd3h9KNuiY
As well as suggesting a Coca-Cola commercial could be the new national anthem for “Erdoganistan”.
ATTENTION ALL NATIONALIST, AKP MEMBERS IN #ERDOGANISTAN (former #Turkey)!
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) August 13, 2017
This is your new national anthem. Sing it!https://t.co/LwUAvbqMZM
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