Turkey faces a crucial election this summer

THERE IS NO getting around the Kulliye presidential palace on the edge of Ankara, Turkey’s capital, on foot. Black minivans pick up visitors, whisk them through a tunnel and underground car park, and deposit them in one wing. Above ground, endless carpeted corridors connect 1,100 rooms spread over 300,000 square metres of space, four times the size of Buckingham Palace. A mosque towers over the grounds. Security guards, sporting beige fatigues and expertly trimmed moustaches, zoom around in armoured vehicles. Foreign dignitaries calling on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are welcomed by 16 costumed warriors, each representing a Turkish empire from the Huns to the Ottomans.