Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current <a href="/facts/President_of_Turkey/5e9wknud">president of Turkey</a> since 2014. He previously served as the 25th <a href="/facts/Prime_minister_of_Turkey/LkTRLRzv">prime minister</a> from 2003 to 2014 as part of the <a href="/facts/Justice_and_Development_Party_(Turkey)/KsEDCKeD">Justice and Development Party</a> (AKP), which he co-founded in 2001. He also served as <a href="/facts/Mayor_of_Istanbul/2lJ5P799">mayor of Istanbul</a> from 1994 to 1998. Coming from an <a href="/facts/Islamism/4u3G2nEf">Islamist</a> background and self-describing as a <a href="/facts/Conservative_democracy/6jPuTNvT">conservative democrat</a>, he has promoted <a href="/facts/Social_conservatism/96NpePX8">socially conservative</a> policies during his administration.
Erdoğan was born in <a href="/facts/Beyo%25C4%259Flu/1gq2m0lF">Beyoğlu</a>, Istanbul, and studied at the <a href="/facts/Marmara_University/X0WNNbIm">Aksaray Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences</a>, before working as a consultant and senior manager in the private sector. Becoming active in local politics, he was elected <a href="/facts/Welfare_Party/turCUAt7">Welfare Party</a>'s <a href="/facts/Beyo%25C4%259Flu/1gq2m0lF">Beyoğlu</a> district chair in 1984 and Istanbul chair in 1985. Following the <a href="/facts/1994_Istanbul_mayoral_election/Kepuc0pV">1994 local elections</a>, Erdoğan was elected mayor of Istanbul. In 1998 he was convicted for inciting religious hatred and banned from politics after reciting a poem by <a href="/facts/Ziya_G%25C3%25B6kalp/QsY2Xwc7">Ziya Gökalp</a> that compared mosques to barracks and the faithful to an army. Erdoğan was released from prison in 1999 and formed the AKP, abandoning openly Islamist policies.
Erdoğan led the AKP to a <a href="/facts/2002_Turkish_general_election/7SktIIQU">landslide victory</a> in the election for the <a href="/facts/Grand_National_Assembly_of_Turkey/XMmKP5qd">Grand National Assembly</a> in 2002, and became prime minister after winning a <a href="/facts/2003_Siirt_Province_by-election/yaqzTp0q">by-election</a> in <a href="/facts/Siirt_(electoral_district)/jAl5bKvl">Siirt</a> in 2003. Erdoğan led the AKP to two more election victories in <a href="/facts/2007_Turkish_general_election/BumV4Qmc">2007</a> and <a href="/facts/2011_Turkish_general_election/9F8bXBuT">2011</a>. His tenure consisted of economic recovery from the <a href="/facts/2001_Turkish_economic_crisis/h5cQsxTp">economic crisis of 2001</a>, the start of <a href="/facts/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union/IAgL2SNM">EU membership negotiations</a>, and the reduction of <a href="/facts/Civil%25E2%2580%2593military_relations_during_the_Recep_Tayyip_Erdo%25C4%259Fan_government/6RubKlvP">military influence on politics</a>. In late 2012, his government began <a href="/facts/2013%25E2%2580%25932015_PKK%25E2%2580%2593Turkey_peace_process/z0lvMSRg">peace negotiations</a> with the <a href="/facts/Kurdistan_Workers_Party/LbQqy4Ft">Kurdistan Workers Party</a> (PKK) to end the <a href="/facts/Kurdish%25E2%2580%2593Turkish_conflict_(1978%25E2%2580%2593present)/NNfu0IEQ">Kurdish–Turkish conflict</a>, negotiations which ended three years later.
In 2014, Erdoğan became the country's <a href="/facts/2014_Turkish_presidential_election/uvsscxnF">first directly elected president</a>. <a href="/facts/Presidency_of_Recep_Tayyip_Erdo%25C4%259Fan/IaT9494S">Erdoğan's presidency</a> has been marked by <a href="/facts/Democratic_backsliding/PXsoKs4r">democratic backsliding</a> and a shift towards a more <a href="/facts/Authoritarianism/88Kfm2gU">authoritarian</a> style of government. His <a href="/facts/Erdo%25C4%259Fanomics/nuHcnyp3">economic policies</a> have led to <a href="/facts/Turkish_economic_crisis_(2018%25E2%2580%2593current)/5Hchn5qY">high inflation rates and the depreciation of the value</a> of the <a href="/facts/Turkish_lira/PXqvK4BV">Turkish lira</a>. He has intervened in the ongoing conflicts in <a href="/facts/Turkish_involvement_in_the_Syrian_civil_war/02ToTGBh">Syria</a> and <a href="/facts/Turkish_intervention_in_Libya_(2020%25E2%2580%2593present)/d9Qv5P8w">Libya</a>, <a href="/facts/Turkish_involvement_in_the_Syrian_civil_war/02ToTGBh">launched operations</a> against the <a href="/facts/Operation_Euphrates_Shield/cz0ld7T5">Islamic State</a>, <a href="/facts/2019_Turkish_offensive_into_north-eastern_Syria/E3mMVGnG">Syrian Democratic Forces</a> and <a href="/facts/Operation_Spring_Shield/xehKXQTS">Assad's forces</a> leading to the <a href="/facts/Fall_of_the_Assad_regime/f9ov5ycf">fall of the Assad regime</a>, and has made threats against <a href="/facts/Greece%25E2%2580%2593Turkey_relations/GMB79xyG">Greece</a>. He oversaw the transformation of Turkey's <a href="/facts/Parliamentary_system/HAsnSsRz">parliamentary system</a> into a <a href="/facts/Presidential_system/lFFCrzpv">presidential system</a>, introducing <a href="/facts/Term_limit/PTy9KLlz">term limits</a> and expanding executive powers, and <a href="/facts/Turkey%2527s_migrant_crisis/wnaP8C6k">Turkey's migrant crisis</a>. In May 2022, Erdoğan temporarily blocked <a href="/facts/Finland/G5Ak6T91">Finland</a> and <a href="/facts/Sweden/u3qC7lyj">Sweden</a> from joining <a href="/facts/NATO/dCeTddMY">NATO</a>. Erdoğan responded to the 2022 <a href="/facts/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine/kE7cHvoQ">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a> by closing the <a href="/facts/Bosphorus/3Id0Pfum">Bosphorus</a> to Russian naval reinforcements, <a href="/facts/Black_Sea_Grain_Initiative/J9jodQLB">brokering a deal between Russia and Ukraine</a> regarding the export of grain, and mediating a prisoner exchange.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan open-in-new

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan