Show of power of the “new Turkey” wants to do Recep Tayyip Erdogan to his dignitaries, and to the world, with the presidential palace in Ankara, which makes the White House look… humble. The Turkish president insisted that it become his “white palace”, despite strong reactions to the embezzlement of a lot of money, and even in an area that had been declared by Kemal national park.

Erdogan’s presidential palace in Ankara is actually a sprawling complex, a sprawling convention center 300,000 square meters (5,100 square meters the White House…) with 1,150 rooms and a presidential residence. The so-called “White Palace” directly refers to Erdogan’s vision of a new Ottoman Empire, as well as the 16 presidential guards who often surround the Turkish leader as part of the reception protocol.

In its vast gilded spaces (on the edge of kitsch or beyond kitsch), laden with marble, with the most expensive carpets, with conference rooms, after other conference rooms for government and party officials, with fountains, with the luxurious office of the Turk president, and the underground complex in the event of a nuclear attack you see the image of today’s Turkey of excess through Erdogan’s eyes.

To build the White Palace, Erdogan he had to face Mustafa Kemal Atatürk for… one more time. The founder of the Turkish republic had created a national park in this area which until 2014 was protected in Turkey. Erdogan ignored the Kemalist legacy, overrode the bans, and the projects began. According to the Erdogan government, the project has cost “only” 536 million euros. However, the estimates speak for themselves even for 3 billion euros real cost.