Sacha Baron Cohen is quite a character at ‘The Dictator’ press conference in New York

It was the Mother of All Publicity Stunts for Sacha Baron Cohen — and one that may set relations with the Muslim world back to the Crusades.

Dressed in full character from his upcoming movie “The Dictator,” and borrowing a page from the late Moammar Khadafy, he was surrounded by a phalanx of the hottest female security guards this side of Tripoli.

Two dozen “supporters” cheered on His Excellency General Admiral Aladeen, waving placards at the Waldorf-Astoria with Cohen’s portrait and slogans like “Give Persecution a Chance.”

“Welcome devils of the Zionist media and death to the West,” announced Cohen, who is Jewish himself but plays the despot of the fictional Northern African nation of Wadiya in the flick that opens May 16.

He answered a series of pre-screened questions, including one from The Daily News asking whom he’d endorse in the U.S. presidential election.

He said he really liked the conservative Rick Santorum, whose policies Cohen, in character, called too liberal.“In terms of policies, I’d have to say the Republicans if they would only become a little less extreme. There are some real double standards, what people call genocide in my country, is called the judicial system in Texas.”

“But if it was money I was giving, then I give my full support to Mitt Romney. He has the makings of a great dicator. He incredibly wealthy but pays no taxes, and it’s not much of a leap to go from firing people to firing squads and from putting pets on the top of the car to putting political dissidents on top of them.”