The media army, handpicked by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and taken to Washington, did its job well. Millions of TV viewers and newspaper readers in Turkey came under a massive image bombardment starting with the Obama-Erdogan meeting at the White House on May 16.
In fact, the assault had started before Erdogan reached Washington. For days, we read embellished reports about Blair House, right opposite the White House and reserved for the highest-level guests, to show how Erdogan was getting special attention.