Turkey's president slams those who call Trump 'dictator'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses an annual economy and trade meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. Erdogan declared Wednesday that an upcoming vote in the European Parliament on whether to freeze membership talks with Turkey is of "no value" to his country.(Yasin Bulbul, Presidential Press Service/Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)
Turkey's president has maintained that many in the U.S. and Europe are calling U.S. President-elect Donald Trump a "dictator" because he wasn't their favored candidate.
Addressing a meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused anti-Trump protesters in Western nations of not respecting democracy or the result of the U.S. election.
Erdogan said: "In America they started calling Trump a dictator. In various countries of the Europe they spilled into the streets and started saying 'dictator.' Why aren't you respecting the results of the ballot box?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Turkish president also suggested that any leader that doesn't serve the West's interests is denounced as a despot.
He said: "Are they calling someone a dictator? Then you should think the opposite. That person is good."