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Who Is Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1954, Recep Tayyip Erdogan became involved in politics while attending university. The first Islamist to be elected mayor of Istanbul, he reduced pollution and improved the city's infrastructure, but was imprisoned on charges of inciting religious hatred.Erdogan later served three terms as prime minister, during which time he markedly improved Turkey's economic standing, but drew criticism for perceived power grabs. He was voted the country's president in 2014, and after surviving an attempted military coup in July 2016, he earned reelection two years later.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was born on February 26, 1954, in the Kasimpasa quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, to parents Ahmet and Tenzile Erdogan. He spent part of his childhood in Rize, where his father worked as a coastguard, before the family returned to Istanbul when he was 13.

Raised without much money, Erdogan sold lemonade and sesame buns on the streets as a teenager. A talented football player, he competed for many years and reportedly drew interest from top clubs, but was prevented from pursuing that path by his father. Erdogan instead attended the religious Istanbul Imam Hatip School, where he becameinvolved with the National Turkish Students Association, and passed the exams to earn a diploma from Eyup High School as well.

Influenced by the teachings of National Salvation Party leader Necmettin Erbakan, Erdogan was elected head of the party's Beyoglu Youth Branch and Istanbul YouthBranch in 1976. The party was dissolved in the wake of a 1980 military coup, and after Erdogan earned a graduate degree from Marmara Universitys Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in 1981, he worked as an accountant and a manager in the private sector.

Erdogan returned to politics with the formation of the Welfare Party in 1983, becoming the Beyoglu District head in 1984. The following year, he was voted the IstanbulProvincial head and named to the Central Executive Board. Tasked with improving voter turnout, Erdogan was credited for the party's success in the 1989 municipalelections.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994. The first Islamist to serve in this role, he demonstrated his religious commitment by banning alcohol from city-owned cafes. He also successfully tackled the city's water shortage, reduced pollution and improved infrastructure, helping to modernize the country's capital.

Erdogan came under serious fire in December 1997 after publicly reciting a poem which included the lines "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." Charged with violating secularist law and inciting religious hatred, he was forced to step down as mayor and barredfrom public office, and ultimately wound up serving four months in prison in 1999.

His prison sentence complete, Erdogan co-founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001. The AKP claimed a resounding victory in the 2002 parliamentaryelections, and Erdogan soon had his power officially restored thanks to a constitutional amendment that overturned his political ban. He became prime minister ofTurkey on March 9, 2003, and subsequently was reelected to the position twice more.

As prime minister, Erdogan markedly improved Turkey's economic standing. He reigned in inflation and encouraged foreign investment, leading to a risein per capita income, stronger credit ratings and close ties with Western allies. However, Erdogan also increasingly became known as an authoritarian leader out to increase thebreadth of his power. In 2013, he had several senior military officials imprisoned for life for plotting to overthrow the AKP, and also ordered the military to crushpeaceful demonstrations at Istanbul's Gezi Park. The following year, after condemning the use of social media, he briefly blocked Turkey's access to Twitter andYouTube.

After reaching his term limits as prime minister, Erdogan became the AKP's candidate in Turkey's first direct election for the presidency, and was inaugurated onAugust 28, 2014. Although the role had previously been more of a ceremonial one, Erdogan indicated his intention to establish new powers as president. His goal wastemporarily impeded when the AKP failed to garner a majority in the 2015 parliamentary elections, but after attempts to form a coalition government faltered, the AKPregained the majority in an election that November.

Mountingunrest boiled over in the form of anattempted military coup on the night of July 15, 2016. Erdogan, who was vacationing with his family, narrowly avoided trouble when his hotel was raided, and successfully escaped to Istanbul. Out of harm's way, he took to the video chat app FaceTime to implore his countrymen to fight the renegade military units. He was largely supported by key government officials and influential figures, and within a few hours the coup, which resulted in more than 400 deaths and another 1,400 people injured, had been quashed.

Erdogan blamed the uprising on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in exile in the United States, and demanded the cleric's extradition. Along with imprisoning thousands of military personnel, he had tens of thousands police officers, judges, civil servants and teachers suspended, detained or placed under investigation. He then declared a national state of emergency,lending credence to the idea that he would use the experience to oust his known enemies and claim even more power.

Those fears were realized with the narrow passage of a constitutional referendum in April 2017, which eliminated the post of prime minister and gave Turkey's president new executive powers, including the ability to appoint judges and officials.

After Erdogan called for early elections in 2018, opposition parties put up a spirited fight in an attempt to halt his consolidation of power. However, the incumbent earned a reported 53 percent of the vote in the June 24 election, enough to avoid a runoff with the runner-up, Muharrem Ince. And while hisAKP earned less than 50 percent of the parliamentary vote, its alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party ensured a majority coalition there, as well.

That night, with the results still being processed but pointing toward victory, Erdogan delivered a short speech outside one of his Istanbul residences. "It seems the nation has entrusted me with the duty of the presidency, and to us a very big responsibility in the legislature," he said. "Turkey has given a lesson of democracy with a turnout of close to 90 percent. I hope that some will not provoke to hide their own failure."

Among the first steps Erdogan took in his second term was the formation of a response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports. In August, Turkey announced its own tariffs on a string of U.S. goods that included cars and alcohol, while Erdogan delivered a speech in which he called for a boycott of American electronic products.

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan - President (non-U.S.) - Biography

ISTANBUL (AP) Turkeys opposition looked poised to win control of the countrys two biggest cities Monday as it dealt President Recep Tayyip Erdogans conservative party one of its most serious electoral setbacks in years. The opposition won Ankara, a ruling party stronghold for decades, and was leading a tight race for mayor in Istanbul, according to unofficial figures Monday.

The leader who has dominated Turkish politics for 16 years declared victory despite the opposition gains.

Sundays local elections were widely seen as a gauge of support for Erdogan as the nation of 81 million faces a daunting economic recession. They were also a first test for Erdogan who has been accused of increasingly authoritarian tendencies since he got widely expanded presidential powers last year.

If confirmed, the swings in Ankara and Istanbul could be excruciating for the politician who campaigned hard to retain hold of them. The opposition also retained its hold over Izmir, Turkeys third-largest city.

Although Erdogan was not running for office Sunday, he became the face of the campaign, rallying tirelessly for months across Turkey, using hostile rhetoric against opposition parties and portraying the vote as a matter of national survival.

The decline in urban support for his conservative, religious-based party came despite the fact that Erdogan wields tight control over the media, which hardly covered the opposition candidates campaigns.

Behlul Ozkan, an associate professor at Marmara University, said Erdogans loss of ground in Ankara and Istanbul indicated that his socially conservative and construction-driven policies no longer resonated in Turkeys cities.

Political Islams quarter-century old hegemony in Turkeys two largest cities is over, he said. The basic problem is that Erdogan is not able to get votes from middle-income earners, who believe that the economy, education and urban administration are not run well.

More than 57 million voters were eligible to choose leaders for 30 major cities, 51 provincial capitals and 922 districts in Turkey, as well as thousands of local positions. The election was marred by sporadic violence, with five dead and scores injured across Turkey.

Erdogans party and its nationalist allies garnered some 52% of the vote overall but the opposition made momentous inroads.

A strategic decision by a pro-Kurdish party to sit out critical races in major cities contributed to the oppositions gains. The opposition also increased its support along the Mediterranean, taking the city of Adana from the nationalists and the resort destination of Antalya from the ruling party.

Erdogan acknowledged setbacks in a speech to his supporters, saying his party would work to understand what had gone wrong and fix the problem.

Unofficial results reported by the state-run Anadolu news agency after all votes were counted showed a razor-thin win for the opposition in the race for mayor of Istanbul, Turkeys largest city and commercial hub. The opposition vote was at 48.8% support to the ruling partys 48.5% support.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition candidate in an alliance led by the secular Republican Peoples Party, or CHP, declared that he won Istanbul but his rival, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim of the ruling party, said it was still too early to call.

Yildirim accepted that his rival was leading but said his party would file an objection, suggesting a recount of the 319,500 votes declared void in Istanbul.

Both Ankara and Istanbul have been held by Erdogans Justice and Development Party, the AKP, and its Islamic-oriented predecessor for 25 years. Erdogans own ascent to power began as Istanbul mayor in 1994.

Unofficial results showed Mansur Yavas, the candidate of the CHP-led alliance, winning the top post in Ankara with 50.9% support. The AKP still holds a majority of Ankaras 25 districts. The government had accused Yavas of forgery and tax evasion, which he called slanderous.

The AKPs candidate for Ankara mayor, Mehmet Ozhaseki, won 47.1% support and his party said it would challenge the results.

Sundays election was a significant victory for the opposition, which displayed good strategies and promising candidates, said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the Ankara director of the German Marshall Fund.

This will certainly lead to an emerging new political landscape in Turkey, he said.

He argued, however, that a pause in elections until 2023 would benefit Erdogan.

This gives the governing party and President Erdogan a window of opportunity to undertake economic reforms, political reforms if they wish, fix Turkeys relations with foreign countries, he said.

Andrew Dawson, head of the Council of Europes election observation mission, said Monday his monitors were not fully convinced that Turkey currently has the free and fair electoral environment which is necessary for genuinely democratic elections.

In predominantly Kurdish provinces, the Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, won back some seats from government-appointed trustees, including the symbolic capital of Diyarbakir, but lost several former strongholds to the ruling party.

The government has replaced 95 elected officials since 2016 for alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants.

Dawson urged the Turkish government to respect the election results.

Political parties have three days to submit objections and official results are expected in the coming days.

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Fraser reported from Ankara. Mehmet Guzel contributed from Istanbul.

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Erdogan faces serious setbacks in Turkish local elections

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling party led Sundays mayoral elections but suffered setbacks as the opposition regained hold of the capital Ankara and made significant inroads in other parts of Turkey. The elections, which the Turkish strongman had depicted as a fight for the countrys survival, were largely seen as a test of his support amid a sharp economic downturn.

Both the ruling party and the opposition claimed victory in the neck to neck race in Istanbul.

Erdogans conservative, Islamic-based Justice and Development Party, or AKP, took 44 percent of the votes in the elections after 99% of the more than 194,000 ballot boxes were counted, according to the official Anadolu Agency. The secular, main opposition party, the Republican Peoples Party, or CHP had 30 percent.

The CHPs mayoral candidate for Ankara, Mansur Yavas, however, won control of Ankara after 25 years of rule by the AKP and a predecessor party. The 63-year-old lawyer received nearly 51 percent of the votes, according to Anadolu. The CHP and its allies also posted gains elsewhere, increasing the number of city mayoral seats from 14 in the previous local elections in 2014 to 20, according to the preliminary results.

History is being written in Ankara, said deputy CHP leader Haluk Koc, while thousands of supporters celebrated outside the partys headquarters in Ankara.

Former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the ruling partys candidate for mayor of Istanbul declared victory even though the race in Turkeys largest city and commercial hub was too close to call. Yildirim garnered 48.70 percent of the votes against the opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglus 48.65 percent, according to Anadolu, which drew criticism for failing to update results in Istanbul after Yildirims declaration.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu rebuked Yildirim for declaring victory in Istanbul in haste and claimed his party had now control of Turkey three largest city: Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Imamoglu said he had won Istanbul by more than 29,000 votes, according to results tallied by his party.

Erdogan attaches great importance to Istanbul where he began his rise to power as its mayor in 1994. He has said at campaign rallies that whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey. He refrained from declaring victory in the city of 15 million people.

Ankara was considered the main battleground of the race, where a former government environment minister, Mehmet Ozhaseki, ran for mayor under the banner of Erdogan and his nationalist allies. The ruling party accused his opponent Yavas of forgery and tax evasion. Yavas said he is the victim of a smear campaign.

Ozhaseki and his dirty politics have lost, Yavas said in a victory speech.

Sundays elections were a first test for Erdogan since he won re-election under a new system of government that gave the presidency expanded powers. Erdogan campaigned tirelessly for AKPs candidates, framing the municipal elections as a matter of national survival. He also portrayed the countrys economic woes as attacks by enemies at home and abroad.

Those who have tried to bring our country on its knees by damaging our peoples unity and togetherness, have once again been dealt a blow, Erdogan said, noting that the party had emerged as the winner nationwide by a large margin.

The voting was marred by scattered election violence that killed at least four people and injured dozens of others across Turkey.

Years of economic prosperity provided Erdogan and his party with previous election victories. But the race for 30 large cities, 51 provincial capitals and hundreds of districts were held as Turkey grapples with a weakened currency, a double-digit inflation rate and soaring food prices.

The high stakes of the local contests were brought into stark display with the deaths of two members of the Islamic-oriented Felicity Party, a small rival of the presidents Justice and Development Party. Felicitys leader, Temel Karamollaoglu, alleged a polling station volunteer and a party observer were shot by a relative of a ruling party candidate.

The killings werent caused by simple animosity, but happened when the volunteers tried to enforce the law requiring ballots to be marked in private voting booths instead of out in the open, Karamollaoglu tweeted.

Two other people were killed in fighting in the southern city of Gaziantep. Fights related to local elections in several provinces also produced dozens of injuries, Anadolu reported. Election campaigning was highly polarized, with Erdogan and other officials using hostile rhetoric toward opposition candidates.

Erdogans ruling party had renewed an alliance with the countrys nationalist party to increase votes. Opposition parties also coordinated strategies and put forward candidates under alliances in an effort to maximize the chances of unseating members of the AKP.

Erdogans supporters expressed dismay at losing the capital.

We did not think that we would lose Ankara in this election, said Mehmet Akcam, 18. Ankara will see the consequences of what it did.

The pro-Kurdish, Peoples Democratic Party appeared to have regained seats in several districts in Turkeys mostly-Kurdish southeast region where Erdogans government had replaced elected mayors with government-appointed trustees, alleging that the ousted officials had links to outlawed Kurdish militants.

However, the party lost control of two key cities in the region.

The pro-Kurdish party had sat out critical mayoral races in major cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, with the aim of sending votes to a rival secular opposition party to help challenge Erdogans party.

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Turkish President Erdogans ruling party dealt a blow, loses ...

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP on Tuesday appealed against results in Istanbul and Ankara following a weekend election after tallies showed the ruling party lost both key cities.

Erdogan's AKP and coalition partner won more than 50 percent of votes nationwide in Sunday's local ballot, but defeat in both Turkey's capital and its economic hub would be a setback after the party's decade and a half in power.

The AKP appeals with electoral authorities, who have two days to decide whether the claims of irregularities have merit, may signal more ruling party challenges to the surprise opposition victories.

"We have filed our objections with the electoral authorities in all 39 districts," AKP's Istanbul chief Bayram Senocak told reporters. "We have identified irregularities and falsifications."

He said the party had found an "excessive" difference between votes cast at ballot stations for their candidate and the data sent to electoral authorities.

Hakan Han Ozcan, AKP's Ankara chairman, told reporters they were also filing an appeal in 25 districts of the capital. Anadolu state news agency said results showed CHP opposition candidate Mansur Yavas with 50.93 percent of votes against 47.11 percent for the AKP.

Istanbul, the largest city in the country, was a key prize for Erdogan and he had fielded former premier and loyalist Binali Yildirim as candidate for mayor.

But Istanbul was a very tight race and both Yildirim and the opposition CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu claimed victory in the early hours of Monday when tallies showed them in a dead heat.

- Symbolic gesture -

Electoral authorities on Monday announced Imamoglu was ahead by 28,000 votes with nearly all ballot boxes tallied, prompting AKP officials to challenge to the result.

But AKP deputy chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz later on Tuesday claimed there was now a difference of 20,509 between Imamoglu and Yildirim during a press conference.

"The difference continues to fall," Yavuz said in Istanbul, adding that the election in the city was the "most flawed in our democratic history". "There are many errors, irregularities," he said.

Imamoglu had 48.79 percent of the votes while Yildirim had 48.52 percent, Anadolu reported on Tuesday, citing preliminary results.

Imamoglu on Tuesday travelled to Ankara to lay flowers at the mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in a highly symbolic gesture Erdogan often does himself soon after his election wins.

The defence ministry later issued a statement criticising the visit. "The ceremony was not in compliance with the ceremonial procedures and principles," it said, adding that relevant staff had been given warnings.

"Had the other party won, I would have said 'congratulations Mr Binali Yildirim', which I do not say because I am the one who won," Imamoglu told reporters.

"They are behaving like a kid who has been deprived of his toy."

AKP party spokesman Omer Celik on Monday had said they had found discrepancies between reports from polling stations and vote counts in both Ankara and Istanbul.

Erdogan, himself a former Istanbul mayor, had campaigned hard in the city. But the ruling party may have been stung by the economy with Turkey in recession for the first time since 2009 and inflation in double digits.

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Erdogan party appeals Istanbul, Ankara results after Turkey vote

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP suffered a blow in Sunday's local election with the ruling party set to lose the capital Ankara and risking defeat in the country's economic hub Istanbul.

Losing Turkey's two major cities would be a clear setback for Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) who won every vote in a decade and a half in power thanks in part to economic growth.

Erdogan portrayed the vote for mayors and district councils as a fight for Turkey's survival, but the election was a test for the AKP as an economic slowdown took hold after a collapse of the lira currency.

With 99 percent of the ballot boxes counted, the joint opposition candidate for Ankara mayor, Mansur Yavas was winning with 50.89 percent of votes and the AKP on 47.06 percent, Anadolu state agency reported citing preliminary results.

In Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, the race for mayor was deadlocked with the AKP candidate claiming victory with 48.70 percent of votes, but his opponent on 48.65 percent also saying he had won, after almost all ballot boxes were counted there.

The last results published by Anadolu gave the AKP a lead of just 4,000 votes and the ruling party said it planned to challenge tens of thousands of ballots it considered invalid in both of the major cities.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in Ankara, Erdogan portrayed the election as a victory for AKP, which along with coalition partner, the rightwing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), won more than 50 percent of the votes nationwide. But he did not refer directly to the loss of Ankara.

"If there are any shortcomings, it is our duty to correct them," Erdogan told supporters. "Starting tomorrow morning, we will begin our work to identify our shortcomings and make up for them."

He suggested if his party lost in Istanbul, they would still control district councils even if the opposition held the mayor's office.

Sunday's poll was the first municipal ballot since Turks approved constitutional reforms in 2017 to create an executive presidency that gave Erdogan wider powers after 16 years in office.

But Erdogan, whose ability to win continuously at the polls is unparalleled in Turkish history thanks to support among more pious, conservative Turks, was more vulnerable with the economy in recession, unemployment higher and inflation in double digits.

- Ankara fireworks -

For his supporters, Erdogan remains the strong leader they believe Turkey needs and they tout the country's economic development over the years he and the AKP have been in power.

But rights activists and even Turkey's Western allies say that under Erdogan's leadership, democracy has been eroded, particularly after a failed 2016 coup that led to tens of thousands of people being arrested.

Much of the AKP's success has been down to Erdogan's perceived economic prowess, but days before the vote, the Turkish lira was sliding again, provoking memories of the 2018 currency crisis that badly hurt Turkish households.

In Ankara, Yavas -- the candidate for both the opposition Republican People's Party or CHP and the nationalist Good Party -- claimed victory in a large rally full of supporters waving red Turkish flags and setting off fireworks.

"No one has lost. Ankara has won. All of Ankara has won, hand in hand," he told supporters.

Yavas had been slightly ahead in some recent opinion polls before the election.

"Erdogan is known with his success in the local elections and his model of government is highly based on his local experience," Emre Erdogan, a professor at Istanbul Bilgi University and no relation to the president.

"These losses will harm his reputation as a good local politician."

- Istanbul dead heat -

In Istanbul, a city where Erdogan had sometimes described victory as like winning Turkey itself, the race had been very tight. Erdogan fielded one of his loyalists, former prime minister Binali Yildirim, in a push to win the city.

Erdogan, who began his own political career as Istanbul mayor, personally campaigned hard across Turkey, often with several rallies a day, even though he was not on the ballot. He was often rallying in Istanbul's districts.

"We have won the election in Istanbul. We thank Istanbul's residents for the mandate they have given us," Yildirim told supporters as final tallies were arriving.

But his opponent Ekrem Imamoglu dismissed Yildirim's claim as an attempt to manipulate opinion.

"I would like to announce to Istanbul's residents and all of Turkey that our numbers show that it is clear we won Istanbul," Imamoglu said in a speech in the early hours of Monday.

Looking to galvanise his base among conservative Turks, the president cast the election as a matter of survival, attacking opposition candidates by branding them as linked to PKK Kurdish militants.

Observers say that with most media pro-government, opposition parties campaigned at a disadvantage because Erdogan's daily rallies dominated TV coverage.

The opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has refused to field candidates in several cities, saying the elections are unfair. Some of its leaders have been jailed on terror charges, accusations they reject.

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Erdogan's ruling AKP suffers setback in Turkey's local election