A LITTLE PIECE OF POLAND, A LITTLE PIECE OF FRANCE: President Erdogan talks of dominating parts of Iraq and Greece.

In one recent speech, the 62-year-old said Turkey “did not accept the borders of our country voluntarily” and mentioned the National Pact – a plan made at the end of the Ottoman Empire to conquer the Iraqi city of Mosul.

So far the global community has resisted President Erdogan’s desires to be involved in the current military campaign against Islamic State in Mosul, at the request of the Iraqi government.

The Istanbul-born politician lamented: “In 1914 our land covered 2.5 million square kilometres, nine years later it fell to 780,000 square kilometres.”

Mr Erdogan’s fiery comments come as his country stands on the brink of potentially having a major referendum that could see its parliamentary democracy system replaced by an executive presidency, handing the ruling AK Parti boss significantly greater powers than he already has.

Even if Erdogan is speaking only for domestic consumption, that’s worrisome enough.