West’s favorite - Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

December 13, 2011 - 18:12 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Majority of Time magazine readers in an online poll selected Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Person of the year 2011.

Turkey's PM received over 120 thousand votes overtaking Barcelona’s forward Lionel Messi.

What makes this person who continuously implements the policy of ethnic cleansing in his country’s East, a favorite in the West?

Erdogan won plaudits among many in the Arab and Muslim world for his modernization policy, whilst preserving Islamic traditions and values, media reports suggest.

For the past year he achieved the highest economic growth for his country in Europe, cementing Turkey’s position in the world through active participation in the “Arab spring” and strengthening ties with U.S. and NATO.

Meanwhile due to the efforts of Greek, Armenian and Israeli representatives, the Turkish Prime Minister topped the list of people, least wanted to be seen on magazine cover.

Thus, Erdogan’s “double victory” leaves his ranking unchanged; he remains a person who deteriorated relations with Israel, Iraq and Syria, failing to normalize ties with a number of countries including Armenia.