When Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan clamped down on the finger of France’s President Emmanuel Macron, he stole the spotlight at the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Tirana, Albania this week.
Video of the greeting between the two world leaders went viral on Saturday, eclipsing most other news from the gathering of top European leaders and officials to discuss matters of security and economic matters, chief among them being the war in Ukraine.
But the seemingly hilarious clip of the finger hold isn’t just getting laughs or question marks, it’s caused an avalanche of debate, discussion, and commentary on power dynamics, with Turkish media outlets calling it a “power move” and others discussing the underlying tension seeping out in their respective body language.
And of course, an onslaught of social media posts, too. And yes, to include fart jokes.
Watch:
A moment captured during the international summit offered a new example for interpreting body language between world leaders. French President Macron’s attempt to assert physical initiative with his hand was met by a swift and notable response from President Erdoğan.#Erdogan pic.twitter.com/C6tgOr3hiu
— EOC-News (@eocbreakingnews) May 17, 2025
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spotted clamping down on French President Emmanuel Macron’s finger.
The incident took place at the European Political Community summit in Albania yesterday.
Turkish media is claiming that Macron was attempting to “establish… pic.twitter.com/nqo6eqXvCX
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 17, 2025
Turkish President Erodgan has INTERESTING interaction with Macron
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 17, 2025
Erdogan caught Macron’s finger during EPC summit in Albania and refused to let go
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 17, 2025
“Finger trap”: Macron fell into Erdogan’s trap
According to diplomatic whispers, at the summit in Tirana, French President Emmanuel Macron tried to assert dominance during a handshake by placing his hand over Erdogan’s — a classic gesture meant to show control.
But the… pic.twitter.com/UHcJBfAM7m
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 17, 2025
Macron gets his finger PINNED by Erdogan in power play
Turkish Pres not happy with the attempt to put a hand over his
Doesn’t even bother getting out of his seat at Albania summit
His grin at the end says it all pic.twitter.com/qgDxda5jPT
— RT (@RT_com) May 17, 2025
On russian Telegram. He wanted Macron to fart perhaps
Erdogan grabbed Macron’s finger and did not let go for a long time. Journalists assumed that this was the way the Turkish president did not allow his colleague to be overly familiar.
Erdogan grabbed Macron’s finger and… pic.twitter.com/iIdqvapslM
— Beefeater (@Beefeater_Fella) May 17, 2025
