Gulf Today Report

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeting his British counterpart Boris Johnson a little awkwardly at the Nato summit in Madrid earlier this week has become a social media sensation.

The video showed the UK prime minister sitting at a table, Turkey's president can be seen sneaking up behind him and tapping him on the shoulder.

Boris appeared a bit taken aback by Erdogan's greeting.

He even attempts to remove the hand from his back before saying, “Hello… My distinguished friend…”

The pair later had a light-hearted “finger-wagging” match, which saw an amused Joe Biden step in to intervene.

Media reports suggest Boris appeared to have been caught off-guard by Erdogan at the summit.

The awkward greetings have become an instant meme.

Social media users said that Erdogan's move represented, "Alpha behavior."

Boris turns and says hello to Erdogan.

A TTwitter user wrote, "Türkye Erdogan showing Boris who wears the pants in the house..."

"Big boss enters the room…" another user wrote.

Another wrote on Facebook, Erdogan was "bullying" the British PM, commenting on the video, "Turkey’s president chooses his next victim.”

On the political front, Erdogan told Sweden and Finland that he could still block their drives to join Nato if they fail to implement a new accession deal with Ankara.

Erdogan issued his blunt warning at the end of a Nato summit at which the US-led alliance formally invited the Nordic countries to join the 30-nation bloc.