A special all-Erdogan edition

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had become a perpetual gaff machine. He would be funny if he were not so menacing in his effort to roll back on civil liberties and break down the secular traditions of Turkey in favor of Islamification of the government. He is facing growing criticism internationally and last week responded to allegations that he was trying to establish himself as a new Sultan. No, Erdoğan insisted, he really just wants to be more like Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. As shown in other embarrassing moments recently, Erdoğan’s’s knowledge of history is even worse than his appreciation for human rights.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey was ready to "pay the price" for mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 — if, and only if, an “impartial board of historians” agree the dying Ottoman Empire was truly guilty of the crime.

“If the results actually reveal that we have committed a crime, if we have a price to pay, then as Turkey we would assess it and take the required steps,” Erdogan told state-run TRT channel on Thursday, according to Agence French Presse.

As any Turkey watcher would easily confirm, hostility to the West has increasingly marked the rhetoric of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his ruling Justice and Development (AKP) and pro-government media in the past two years. Especially since the Gezi Park protests in June 2013, the narrative of Erdogan and his entourage has revolved around Western “conspiracies” and a “national will” that is bravely fighting them.