At the end of 2010, Erdoğan was the (last) recipient of a human-rights prize granted by Libya’s Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Turkey has also tried, desperately at times, to maintain good relations with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, despite the Syrian government’s abominable behavior.
土耳其政府像地区政府和西方强国一样也没有预料到阿拉伯世界的这场变革。2010年年底，埃尔多安成为利比亚上校穆阿迈尔·卡扎菲颁发人权奖项的（最后）一位获奖者。尽管叙利亚政府作恶多端，土耳其有时仍竭力保持与巴沙尔·阿萨德政权的良好关系。