(Bloomberg) -- In the almost two decades that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey, he's poured tens of billions of dollars into giant infrastructure projects to cement popular support while he tightened his grip on the country.
Now an exhibition at the presidential palace in Ankara that opened Friday seeks to burnish that image of the 67-year-old, who's been trailing in opinion polls as the country remains in the grip of economic turmoil.
Read more: Rising Prices Defy Data and Stoke Anger in Turkey
On display are scissors used by the president at various ceremonies over the past 18 years, that tell the story of hundreds of openings at airports, power plants and highways. The exhibits range from a pair Erdogan used at a ceremony in the northern city of Rize in 2003 and to one employed for the opening of the 36-floor “Turkish House” in New York in September, local media reported.
Erdogan has “kept all the scissors and ribbons” he used as tokens and now they number more than 800 pairs, Yeni Safak newspaper wrote. That number may even understate the actual openings. Officials said many were carried out “via pressing buttons” and so no scissors were collected, Hurriyet reported.
Erdogan has been struggling with an ailing economy, inflation in excess of 20% and a slumping currency. In May, he revived the idea for a multi-billion dollar canal, an alternative to Istanbul's Bosporus strait, that would link the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and create thousands of jobs. So far, though, it's little more than a proposal as Turkey seeks ways to finance it.
Read also: Erdogan Vows to Begin Construction on Canal Istanbul in June
The president's job approval is hovering around 39%, near record low levels last seen in 2015, according to a November survey by pollster Metropoll. A majority of opinion polls conducted in recent months show the opposition Nation Alliance would beat the Erdogan-led coalition comfortably in an election.
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