On Aug. 24, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in his hometown of Rize. The highlight of his speech was the US condemnation of Erdogan’s remarks about Israel being behind the coup in Egypt. Erdogan asked why would the United States respond to his words about Israel? He added that those who are silent about the interventions from thousands of miles away, those who are drinking the blood and oil resources of the Middle East, cannot be critical of Turkish humanitarian efforts in the region. 

This passionate way of public speaking is accepted as Erdogan’s signature style. It is one of the features that make him charismatic and powerful in Turkey. He knows the public reacts positively to his style. An effective public speaker, Erdogan has a way with words. His eloquent style is informative when he is going public with a new idea, sharing information on accomplishments, polls and other substantive arguments. One rarely dozes off listening to Erdogan. However, there is another side: His anger generates name-calling and ad hominem attacks against his political opponents. The political opponents can vary; lately he was quoted referring to the Nobel Prize as "You Nobel," later to "You UN, what is your function?"

The name-calling is not restricted to Erdogan. Indeed, the region’s papers, tracked for one day, showed an intriguing picture as former Israeli foreign minister and Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman was quoted as saying Erdogan "follows in the footsteps of Goebbels," while the Egyptian interim government’s spokesman called Erdogan a "Western agent." So name-calling has an international aspect.

However, when we take a step back and look at the picture in domestic politics it gets a bit more complicated. First, we need to clarify what a public figure means. Elected officials or high-level government employees are public figures with special responsibilities. Their financial resources, investments, political statements and even personal relationships can be scrutinized by the public. A journalist, a newspaper editor, an actress, an athlete are also in the public eye, and we may expect them to be role models; however, many democratic societies do not scrutinize their "famous" people in the same manner as their elected officials or bureaucrats.