“Look, look, look, what is there? Girl, what are you doing there?” he called out. She held her salute, but her face began to crumple in anxiety as she was lifted out of the crowd to meet the president. “Here are our Maroon Berets. Look, we have our own Maroon Berets,” Mr. Erdogan said as she crossed the stage.

Mr. Erdogan kissed her on both cheeks, but by then she was in tears.

“But Maroon Berets don’t cry,” the president said.

Amid the applause, supporters in the audience chanted: “Chief, take us to Afrin,” news agencies reported. Mr. Erdogan thanked the volunteers but said the Turkish Army had professional soldiers to do the job.

Turkey has a longstanding culture of nationalist militarism, with popular slogans such as “Every Turk born a soldier.” Since the Afrin operation began last month, the government has mounted a national campaign in support of the war, with billboards and banners praising the armed forces and saluting those fallen in battle, who are accorded the honor of martyrs.

Mr. Erdogan recently made an alliance with the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party to bolster his chances for coming elections and has used the military campaign to improve his stance with nationalists.

He makes public speeches every day and sometimes several times a day, peppering his speeches with nationalist and anti-Western jibes as well as poetry and religious sayings, conjuring glories of Turkish history. He vows to protect Turkey’s borders and to fight terrorism, and rallies popular support for the war, listing the number of enemies killed and commending the nation’s martyrs.

Mr. Erdogan’s remarks to the girl on Saturday drew criticism from some on social media, who felt that the talk of martyrdom was inappropriate for a child so young. “Oh my God, I am shocked. Could Erdogan have said the same thing for his grandchild?” one user wrote on Twitter.

The mainstream press, which has been increasingly under the thumb of the government, did not focus on the girl’s tears. Many newspapers showed images of Mr. Erdogan with Amine under his arm. One had the headline, “She is ready for anything.” Other news agencies reported that Mr. Erdogan had consoled the girl as she cried.