President Erdogan (centre) hosted Mesut Ozil, the German-Turkish Arsenal and Germany football star, and his fiancée Amine Gulse before their wedding in Istanbul — with Fahrettin Altun (right) on hand

Study almost any recent photograph or footage of President Erdogan and you will see one man constantly at his side.

In the space of a year, Fahrettin Altun, 42, has risen from virtual unknown to become the most powerful figure in Mr Erdogan’s court. He was appointed the president’s communications director in June 2018, following elections that installed Mr Erdogan, 65, in the palace until 2023 and replaced Turkey’s century-old parliamentary democracy with almost unbridled one man rule.

His steep trajectory is down to his handling of Turkey’s media strategy around the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October. It offered the opportunity to present Mr Erdogan as the champion of journalists rather than their oppressor, and