VIP Triangle
In Qatar, the best encounters do not necessarily take place on the pitch. Judge instead. On November 20, minutes from the start of the World Cup opening ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani are found in the presidential box, exchanging smiles, hugs and photos, before chatting for a few moments. Football or human rights? We ignore it.
fake modest
On the other hand, we know that the Emir of Qatar wore the traditional thobe (“clothing”, in Arabic), a long white shirt reaching down to the knees and fully covering the arms. Historically donned over loose white pants baptized izar, the thobe is extremely widespread in the country, and among its neighbors, because it honors the call to “ modesty » formulated in the Quran. In fact, the thobe offers a fairly narrow leeway to show off. In this case, the most elegant wearers of thobe are distinguished only by their ability not to get dirty and not to wrinkle their tunic.
sheikh cover
On the head, the emir also wore the traditional headgear. Made in a light white fabric, in cotton or linen, the ghutra indeed protects the men of the Gulf countries from the sun for centuries, and even before the advent of Islam. The British soldiers, positioned in a South Arabia under protectorate, between 1963 and 1967, also adopted it at the expense of the military caps. It will be noted here that the emir wears his ghutra in a very simple way, thus distancing itself from the fashion of folding it in such a way that it looks like a cobra’s head. In the context, that would probably have been a bit aggressive, indeed.
Agal to himself
On his side, Mohammad Bin Salman wears ashemagh Red and white. Appeared in the 1950s, it was first prized by the Bedouins to protect themselves from the sun, before becoming the object of a real fashion. Here it is held in place by theagal. Originally intended to tie the feet of camels to prevent them from escaping, this thick black rope has over time become an essential accessory for men in the Gulf countries, who sometimes like to perfume it. To mask the smell of sulfur permanently surrounding him, does the prince do the same? We don’t know either.
Turkish and tricks
Finally, how not to mention the third thief of this merry band, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who came to attend the opening ceremony of the World Cup as a friend, but also, above all, as a zealous partner? Failing to have been able to send his national team to Qatar, eliminated in the play-offs against Portugal, the Turkish president has indeed delegated 3,000 men to support the local police. To ensure that the big football party goes as well as possible, without beer or homosexuals, but in air-conditioned stadiums built by overworked foreign workers, they will obviously not be too many.