Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in as Turkey’s first executive president with sweeping powers at a ceremony in the Turkish parliament July 9, marking the official start of what his followers call the “New Turkey.” Members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) applauded wildly and erupted into cheers as a slightly hunched Erdogan, wearing a tight smile and a cherry-colored tie, took the oath of office. The 64-year-old leader then lustily belted out Turkey’s national anthem along with the audience before being whisked off in a black sedan decked with roses to Anitkabir, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s mausoleum, to pay his respects to modern Turkey’s first president.

Some 22 heads of state and scores of other international dignitaries showed up for the celebrations, which continued in the sprawling presidential palace Erdogan erected for himself on the outskirts of the capital. The constellation of global guests mirrored the New Turkey’s shifting alliances, with Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani taking center stage alongside Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The United States, which has not had an ambassador in Turkey since last October, was represented by its charge d’affaires in Ankara.

The newly vested Erdogan will make his first foreign trip on Wednesday to a NATO summit in Brussels, where he is expected to hold talks with US President Donald Trump and other Western leaders. The West seems less worried about Turkey’s authoritarian turn than maintaining a prized strategic ally’s loyalty in the face of Erdogan’s overt flirtation with Russia, which has seen the impending acquisition of S-400 missiles and an expanding web of gas and oil deals. The US ambassador to NATO aired the bloc’s concerns on July 9. Kay Bailey Hutchison said, “I do think Russia is trying to flip Turkey.”

For Europe, Turkey is a critical buffer between the continent and millions of Syrian and other refugees who want to get there, not to mention a growing number of jihadis said to be slipping in from northwestern Syria’s rebel-held Idlib. Despite friction over US support for Syrian Kurdish militants and the detention of US nationals in Turkey — some US lawmakers call them political hostages — and repeated threats of US sanctions, “It's business as usual,” affirmed a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of strict anonymity to Al-Monitor.