Kyrgyz President Gatecrashes (New) Turkish President’s Party · Global Voices
Jeanne Aray

Atambayev celebrates his Turkish counterpart's victory. Screenshot from YouTube video uploaded by Zorbey Medya.
Few people doubted that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would win Turkey's 2014 presidential election, and with a penguin media to complement genuinely strong domestic political support, many expected him to do it in the first round. But almost no-one anticipated that Kyrgyzstan's president, Almazbek Atambayev, would have a role to play in proceedings.
Unabashed Turkophile Atambayev made a surprise appearance on stage following Erdoğan's acceptance speech in Ankara on the evening of August 10. Congratulating the “people's president” in fluent Turkish, Atambayev earned cheers from AKP (Justice and Development Party) supporters in Ankara, but mockery on Twitter, which has been a forum for concentrated opposition to Erdoğan in recent times:
Writing on election night, Istanbul-based journalist Alex Christie Miller tweeted:
So far only real left-field moment in this speech is right now: Erdogan'a just invited the President of Kygyzstan onto the stage to speak!!!
— Alex Christie-Miller (@AChristieMiller) August 10, 2014
CNN's tweet of the moment may have inadvertently granted Atambayev the status of a deity:
Erdogan ends balcony speech saying “God may help us and invites President of Kyrgyzstan Atambayev #TurkeyVoted pic.twitter.com/VfhTFzVfZm — CNN Türk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) August 10, 2014
While Al-Jazeera messed up the spelling:
Erdoğan'ı seçim galibiyeti için kutlamaya gelen Kırgızistan Cumhurbaşkanı Almanzek Atambayev balkonda: Yeni Cumhurbaşkanınız hayırlı olsun
— AlJazeera Türk Canlı (@AJTCanli) August 10, 2014
As Erdoğan wins election, President of Kyrgyzstan Almanzek Atambayev, who came to celebrate on the balcony [told Turks]: “Enjoy your new president”.
Turkish tweeps viewed the moment in surreal terms:
Eurovizyon'a döndü ortam. Kırgızistan'dan 12 puan aldık.
— Ferdi Carrefour (@FerdiCarrefour) August 10, 2014
Things are getting all Eurovision. Kyrgyzstan just gave us 12 points.
The same tweep added:
Birlikte kız istemeye gidilecek adammış yalnız Kırgızistan Devket Başkanı. geldi, 10 dakika övüp gitti. ağzı laf yapan uzak akraba resmen.
— Ferdi Carrefour (@FerdiCarrefour) August 10, 2014
It seems the Kyrgyz president is the person to accompany you when you are wooing a girl [metaphor for the Turkish population]. He came for 10 minutes and sang praises, like some overly-talkative distant relative.
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Many found Atambayev's flattery of his now opposite number in Turkey somewhat awkward:
Kırgızistan devlet başkanı da yolunda. Huzur yalakalıktan geçiyor iyi biliyor.. — Savash Porgham (@SavashPorgham) August 10, 2014
Kyrgyzstan's president found the way. He knows that peace comes through cringeworthiness.
Kırgızistan Cumhurbaşkanı'nın cebine 200 lira sıkıştırmışlar, yağ çekiyor amın evladı.
— Rzon Hocaefendi (HD) (@nekrofilzombi) August 10, 2014
[Erdogan] put 200 lira in the Kyrgyz president's pocket and took out some cringe. Son of a bitch!
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Others displayed more than a hint of snobbery towards their Turkic-langage ally:
Bırak şimdi boş lafı Kırgızistan Cumhurbaşkanı.. Kımız var mı kımız ?
— Kemal AYÇA (@kemalayca) August 10, 2014
Stop talking empty stuff Kyrgyz president… Have you had too much kymyz [fermented mare's milk]?
Others likened Atambayev to an enthusiastic foreign exchange student:
kırgızistan cumhurbaşkanı erasmus'a türkiye'ye gelmiş… — kutup zencisi (@kutup_zencisi) August 10, 2014
The Kyrgyz president arrived with the Erasmus programme.
Gökhan continued the student theme:
şimdi de şiirini okumak için 5-c sınıfından kırgızistan cumhurbaşkanı sahnede.
— gökhan (@twetimgeldi) August 10, 2014
And now to read the poem, there is a Kyrgyz president from the 5th class on the stage.
A separate, foreign policy-focused section of the Turkish Twitterazzi, meanwhile, saw it as the beginning of a new, imperialistic presidency for Erdoğan:
Yeni Türkiye'nin sınırlarına kattığı ilk ülke Kırgızistan. Bir an önce yönümüzü Balkanlar'a çevirip Bosna'yı almalıyız. — ? (@multeci_) August 10, 2014
The first country [Erdoğan] has attached to New Turkey is Kyrgyzstan. We should change our direction towards the Balkans and take Bosnia
It is worth noting that Kyrgyzstan and Turkey's presidencies are heading in different directions. Changes were made to Kyrgyzstan's constitution in 2010 to make a frequently despotic executive office less powerful, while in Turkey, Erdoğan is committed to expanding the powers of a semi-ceremonial Head of State position at the expense of the Prime Minister's office he has occupied since 2003. Some tongue-in-cheek tweeps even suggested Atambayev might be a suitable candidate to head a weakened Turkish parliament. He can certainly talk the talk…