Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reportedly handed out free bread rolls (koulouria) in Taksim Square on Friday in what has been described as a pre-election show.
According to Greece’s national broadcaster ERT who was present on the scene, many citizens had gathered to meet Erdogan as he exited the area’s mosque after Friday prayers.
As soon as he came out of the mosque, the Turkish president, seeing them, headed to a bread roll vendor in the square, took some koulouria (round bread rolls) and started distributing them to the gathered crowd.
However, the specific move made by the Turkish president could also be interpreted as symbolic, since a few days ago, after claiming kokkoretsi and baklava, Turkish media went so far as to claim even the Thessaloniki koulouri which Erdogan was handing out, saying that it was created for the first time during the Ottoman Empire.
