On 27 July, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took to the stage at the opening ceremony of the Aider Plateau Protection and Renewal Project in the city of Rize.
However, his support of the urban transformation and disaster housing initiative has been overshadowed by footage of his interaction with a young boy who came onto the stage to greet him.
The event was televised by Dokuz 8 TV and the clip shows the young boy walking up on stage and directly towards the president.
Once he reaches Erdoğan, he lifts his hand up to the president’s, beaming up at him. However, the president lifts his hand and ‘slaps’ the boy on the side of the face.
The boy continues to smile up before taking Erdoğan’s hand and kissing it, bowing his head, before being handed some money and then walking away. Another slightly older child then approaches to hug the president as he does so.
And it’s not taken long for people to weigh in on the clip and president’s behavior.
Various outlets have reported the president ‘slapped’ the young boy because he didn’t ‘kiss his hand’ ‘immediately’ – kissing the hand being a sign of showing respect.
The president can be seen raising his hand and touching the side of the boy’s face (Dokuz 8 TV)
Some social media users defended the president, with one Twitter user saying: “That isn’t a slap.”
“It looked as though the boys smiled up at him like it was playful…. Definitely wasn’t to hurt him,” another added.
A third commented: “It is Turkish culture and form of respect to kiss the hand of the elders and place it on your forehead. And b, that is definitely not a slap. I say culture and tradition is live and well in Turkye.”
And a fourth echoed: “Love it Kissing the hand of your elders, parents, grandparents is a sign of respect especially in Turkey. If you don’t do it you get corrected. Especially at a young age.”
Social media users have been left divided over the clip (Dokuz 8 TV)
However, others didn’t understand the potential cultural significance of the moment and took to their keyboards to condemn the president’s conduct.
A user wrote: “I wonder how he treats people behind closed doors if he can do that in front of camera.”
“Pathetic behavior,” a second commented, as a third said: “That’s disgusting from Erdogan.”