A world leader President Barack Obama admitted he sought parenting advice from lashed out against a female journalist Thursday for being a little bit too bossy.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan verbally assailed Economist reporter Amberin Zaman at a campaign event for a question she had asked a Turkish opposition leader on television the previous night, according to the English-language Turkish paper Today’s Zaman.
Referring to Zaman only as the “shameless militant woman disguised under the name of a journalist,” Erdogan admonished her to, “Know your place.”
What did Zaman do to anger the increasingly authoritarian Turkish leader? She merely asked Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on television whether a “Muslim society is able to question” its leaders, Today’s Zaman reports.
According to the Turkish newspaper, “A smear campaign against Zaman was launched on social media by pro-government users minutes after she made the statement, condemning her for ‘insulting Islam and Muslims,’ as well as supporters of the government.”
“They gave you a pen and you are writing a column in a newspaper,” Erdogan chastised at the campaign rally, according to Today’s Zaman. “And then they invite you to a TV channel owned by Doğan media group and you insult at a society of 99 per cent Muslims.”
Though their relationship has reportedly soured recently, President Barack Obama said in 2012 he considered his relationship with Erdogan as one of his five best among world leaders. Obama even boasted about getting parenting advice for his daughters from the leader.
“So the bottom line is that we find ourselves in frequent agreement upon a wide range of issues. Our discussions are frank and honest, and I very much appreciate our collaboration,” Obama said after a meeting with Erdogan in South Korea in 2012. “And I also appreciate the advice he gives me, because he has two daughters that are a little older than mine — they’ve turned out very well, so I’m always interested in his perspective on raising girls.”
No word on whether Erdogan told Obama to teach his daughters to know their place when he gave his parenting tips.