Strictly speaking, he said it in 2012, back when Erdoğan was just a dodgy Prime Minister. Of course, Putin was still around... What he meant was that he was the only dictator in Europe who was making no efforts to hide it; Russia and Turkey still have at least the pretence of free elections.

Geographically, Turkey is not Europe, right?

Mostly not:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace

Then again, what is Europe, geographically? If I count continents, I count something often call "eurasia" as one continent, not two. I think cutting it in two over some mountain rig is a bit, well, arbitrary.

In 2015, the "European" Games were held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Another dodgy president (Ilham Aliyev), if you count Azerbaijan as Europe.

As stated I do not see a "geographical europe" on the map. I see eurasia. And being "european" definitely has nothing to do with having clean politicians.

Russians are always caught in the middle. Not quiete European, and they don't want to be, but not quite Asian.

Always a clash of values there.