ISTANBUL -- Standing next to George Weah, the international soccer star turned Liberian president, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was all smiles on the green pitch of the brand new Olympic Stadium in Dakar, Senegal.
Nearly filled to its 50,000-seat capacity, the stadium erupted in cheers as Senegalese President Macky Sall began to lift a ball with his feet. Erdogan, himself an ex-semiprofessional soccer player, soon joined in flashing his footwork alongside other heads of states from Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia.
