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Recep Tayyip ErdoganPrime Minister of Turkey
Date of Birth: 26.02.1954
Country:  Turkey |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Political Career
- Mayor of Istanbul
- Imprisonment and Political Comeback
- Prime Minister of Turkey
- Foreign Policy
- Later Years and Controversies
- Personal Life
Early Life and Education
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was born on February 26, 1954, in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. His parents were Turkish immigrants from Rize, a city in northeastern Turkey, with Georgian roots. Erdoğan's father, Ahmet Erdogan, worked in the coast guard, and Recep was the son of his second wife, Tenzile.
Erdoğan completed primary education at Piyale Pasa Elementary School in 1965 and religious secondary education at Imam Hatip Lisesi (Imam Hatip High School) in Istanbul in 1973. As a religious high school diploma was insufficient for university entry, Erdoğan also took additional exams at Eyüp Lisesi. During his school years, Erdoğan was known for his religious beliefs and was nicknamed "Hoca." Due to financial constraints, he also engaged in street vending.
Political Career
Erdoğan's political involvement began while he was a student at Marmara University's Faculty of Economics and Commercial Sciences, where he graduated in 1981. He became an activist in the National Turkish Student Association (Milli Türk Talebe Birliği). In 1976 (or 1975 according to some sources), he led the youth wing of the Islamist National Salvation Party (Milli Selamet Partisi) in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district and became the party's youth branch leader for Istanbul later that year. Erdoğan held these positions until the military coup of September 12, 1980, which banned all existing political parties.
After the coup, Erdoğan worked in Istanbul's transportation sector but lost his job following the putsch. He then held managerial positions in the private sector and ventured into business. In 1982, he completed his military service. In 1983, the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi), which held views similar to the National Salvation Party, was founded, and Erdoğan resumed his political activities. In 1984, he became the party's Beyoğlu branch chair and was appointed head of the Istanbul branch in 1985, also joining the party's top leadership that year (or the following year according to other sources).
Mayor of Istanbul
Erdoğan led the party's Istanbul organization and actively engaged the city's residents. He unsuccessfully ran for parliament in the 1986 elections and in the 1989 Beyoğlu local elections. In the 1991 parliamentary elections, Erdoğan performed better than before but still failed to enter parliament. However, in the March 1994 local elections, Erdoğan was elected Mayor of Istanbul.
As mayor, Erdoğan made significant strides in urban greening, addressed waste disposal and water supply issues, and implemented social programs. He gained considerable popularity, while continuing to support the Islamist policies of Welfare Party leader Necmettin Erbakan (who led the Turkish government from 1996 to 1997) and promoted some Muslim ideas in his own policies, such as restricting alcohol consumption in Istanbul.
Imprisonment and Political Comeback
In 1997, Erbakan's government was forced to resign, and the Welfare Party was banned shortly after. In 1998, Erdoğan was convicted for publicly reciting a poem with Islamist content at a rally in December 1997 in the province of Siirt and was removed from the mayorship. Ironically, the poem he recited was not banned and was included in a book recommended by the Turkish Ministry of Education. The court sentenced Erdoğan to ten months in prison, but he served only four months from March to July 1999 before being released early.
Instead of the banned Welfare Party, the Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi) was formed in 1999, where Erdoğan led the reformist wing. In July 2001, the Virtue Party was also banned, after which Erdoğan became one of the founding members of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) in August 2001 and was elected its chairman.
Prime Minister of Turkey
In the November 2002 elections, the Justice and Development Party won a significant majority in parliament, enabling it to form a single-party government. Erdoğan's party became the first in 16 years to have the opportunity to implement legislative reforms independently of other political parties. Despite his leadership of the party, Erdoğan was legally barred from entering parliament or the government in 2002 due to his previous criminal conviction. As a result, Erdoğan's associate Abdullah Gül became prime minister. However, by the spring of 2003, parliament amended the legislation, and on March 9, Erdoğan was elected to parliament from Siirt with 85% of the vote. On March 11 (or March 15, according to other sources), Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer appointed him as prime minister, who effectively wields executive power in Turkey.
While Erdoğan was perceived as an Islamist, he declared from the outset of his premiership that he would not deviate from the secular principles of Turkey's modern state structure. Key achievements during his time as prime minister include monetary reform in 2004 and 2005 that reduced inflation, the fight against corruption, the construction of new social institutions and power plants, and the strengthening of democratic values. Erdoğan's transformations were hailed as a "silent revolution."
Foreign Policy
Under Erdoğan's rule, the government, with Gül serving as foreign minister until 2007, pursued integration into the European Union and sought a solution to the Cyprus problem, which effectively comprises two states: Greek and Turkish. In 2004, Erdoğan became the first Turkish Prime Minister since 1988 to visit Greece. Regarding U.S. policy in the region, Turkey's stance under Erdoğan's leadership was ambivalent. While Turkey was consistently portrayed as one of the United States' primary Middle Eastern allies, the Erdoğan government's foreign policy aimed largely at independence from U.S. actions. Notably, in March 2003, Turkey denied U.S. troops access to its territory in preparation for the Iraq War, thereby preventing the opening of a second northern front in Iraq. This action significantly strengthened Turkey's relations with other Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Syria. Erdoğan's government also made some efforts to address the Kurdish separatist problem in southeastern Turkey. Although he initially denied the existence of a Kurdish issue in 2002, as prime minister, Erdoğan pursued a policy of appeasement toward the Kurdish population, expanding their political and cultural rights and focusing on the economy of Kurdish regions. In 2005, he even acknowledged the flawed nature of the state's previous policy toward the Kurds.
Later Years and Controversies
Despite these efforts, Erdoğan's government continued to be perceived as Islamist. In 2007, the opposition blocked Gül's candidacy for the presidency, leading to a new political crisis. Early parliamentary elections were held in July of that year, in which the Justice and Development Party again won a significant majority, allowing it to appoint Gül as president. From the second half of 2007, Erdoğan's government's policy toward the Kurdish issue hardened. Erdoğan refused to increase the use of the Kurdish language in education. Starting in late 2007, the Turkish military, with the consent of the government and parliament, conducted military operations against the guerrilla-fighting Kurdistan Workers' Party, including in Iraqi territory. Some analysts viewed these operations as a concession to the Turkish "secularist" military, which opposed the "Islamist" government. In light of this, in March 2008, Erdoğan announced new investments in the economy of Kurdish regions.
In March 2008, the Turkish Chief Prosecutor demanded that the Justice and Development Party be closed down and that its key figures, including Erdoğan and Gül, be barred from political participation for five years. The party, however, reaffirmed its democratic aspirations when the Turkish parliament, spurred by Erdoğan's government, passed a symbolic amendment to Article 301 on May 1, softening its wording and the punishment for violating it. In July 2008, the Turkish Supreme Court declared the Chief Prosecutor's March demand to be illegal.
In January 2009, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Erdoğan was involved in a confrontational episode (video – BBC) when his response to Israeli President Shimon Peres's speech about the Gaza conflict was cut off by the moderator, a correspondent for The Washington Post. Erdoğan refused to continue participating in the forum and demonstratively left the conference. Upon his return to Turkey, he was greeted with overwhelming support from Turkish citizens at the Istanbul airport, who expressed their solidarity with the prime minister's stance.
Personal Life
Erdoğan is married to Emine (née Gülbaran) and they have four children: two sons – Ahmet Burak and Necmeddin Bilal, and two daughters – Esra and Sümeyye.
