Was Turkish PM Erdogan the final recipient of the Qaddafi human rights prize?
The Turkish opposition is criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his relative silence on events in Libya saying he is “doing well by the award” given to him by Muammar al-Qaddafi last November. If current events continue the way they’ve been going, it looks like Erdogan may have the dubious honor of being the ...
The Turkish opposition is criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his relative silence on events in Libya saying he is “doing well by the award” given to him by Muammar al-Qaddafi last November. If current events continue the way they've been going, it looks like Erdogan may have the dubious honor of being the last recipient of that particular award.
The Turkish opposition is criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his relative silence on events in Libya saying he is “doing well by the award” given to him by Muammar al-Qaddafi last November. If current events continue the way they’ve been going, it looks like Erdogan may have the dubious honor of being the last recipient of that particular award.
The "Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights" (check out the flash-tastic early-90s style website) is one of the stranger prizes around. Past recipients have included everyone from Nelson Mandela to Louis Farrakhan to Qaddafi fan-boys Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega as well as some more unexpected choices like Coptic Pope Shenouda III, former Maltese Prime Minister Dom Mintoff and "the libraries of Timbuktu." The children of Palestine, children of Bosnia, and children of Iraq are also past winners.
The prize is worth $250,000, though I’m assuming the children didn’t all share that.
Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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