Draft:Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
File:Erdoğan 11.jpg
Name	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Personal Details
Birth Place	Turkey, Istanbul
Religion	Islam

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the current President of Turkey and the leader of the country's Justice and Development Party.

Biography

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was born in 1954 AD in a religious family in Istanbul. He spent his childhood in Rize province located on the coast of the Black Sea, but returned to his birthplace Istanbul at the age of thirteen.

Education

While Erdoğan was a teenager, he attended an Imam Khatib school, which is equivalent to high school and specialized for training Imams and preachers, and completed his studies there. He subsequently went to Marmara University and graduated in Economics and Administrative Sciences. However, since his teenage studies at the Imam Khatib school did not align with this economics field, he had to provide another diploma separate from the seminary school certificate related to the economics field for admission to Marmara University.

Start of Political Activities

In the 1970s, Erdoğan joined the National Salvation Party, which was led by Necmettin Erbakan, and began his political activities. After the military coup in 1980 AD, this party was dissolved along with other parties by order of the army. However, Erdoğan once again began his political activity by joining the Welfare Party. In 1994 AD, Erdoğan volunteered for the position of Mayor of Istanbul on behalf of the Welfare Party and eventually secured the mayorality of this city.

Erdoğan's Record in Istanbul Municipality

During his tenure at the Istanbul Municipality, Erdoğan caused extensive transformations, particularly in the fields of environment and transportation. A few years later, when the Constitutional Court of Turkey ruled to dissolve the Welfare Party, Erdoğan participated in a protest gathering and recited poems in front of the party's supporters that promoted violence and religious hatred, which was not pleasing to Turkish laws. Therefore, he was sentenced to ten months in prison.

Ban from Political Activity

In 1999 AD, Erdoğan was in prison for about 4 months. This issue led to his removal from the position of Mayor and disqualification from participating in the parliamentary elections of Turkey.

Resumption of Political Activities

After some time away from the world of politics, he re-entered this circle and in 2001 AD established the Justice and Development Party and after one year achieved a significant victory in the parliamentary elections. Since he had a prior judicial conviction, he could not attain the position of Prime Minister, so Abdullah Gül became the Prime Minister of Turkey. The following year, due to electoral violations by the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey, while annulling the previous elections, it held new elections. This was at a time when, with the amendment of the law; party leaders of the objecting party gained the possibility of participating in the elections, and thus after the renewed victory of the Justice and Development Party, Erdoğan reached the Prime Ministership and remained in this position for 11 years.

Prime Ministership Era

During his eleven-year Prime Ministership, especially in the final years, Erdoğan faced many challenges, one of which was the creation of discord between the Justice and Development Party and an individual named Fethullah Gülen.

Ascension to the Presidency

Among the regulations of the Justice and Development Party is limiting presence in power to three terms, and Erdoğan could not hold power for more than three terms, so he aspired to reach the position of Presidency and the Justice and Development Party nominated him for this post. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the first President who achieved a decisive victory with the direct vote of the people on 10 August 2014. It is worth noting that before that, the Turkish Parliament selected the President. In his electoral competitions, he promised the people that he intended to transform the presidency from a ceremonial position and resolver of disputes among ruling politicians to an effective and key authority. Erdoğan's first 5-year presidential term passed, and he participated again in the 2018 Turkish general elections and this time was elected as the President of the Presidential System of Turkey for another five-year term.

According to Article 106 of the Constitution of Turkey, if something happens to Erdoğan, Fuat Oktay, Erdoğan's deputy, will assume the responsibilities and powers that Erdoğan had until the Turkish presidential elections are held within 45 days and the new President takes the oath. This process is very clear and standard. Analysts of Turkish affairs have long raised the hypothesis that in Turkey after Erdoğan, the Justice and Development Party will suffer internal schism, such that the chance of any of the opposition parties for victory in the general elections will be very high.

Palestine and Israel

Erdoğan participated in a conference held in Davos, Switzerland, regarding Gaza. At that conference, Shimon Peres spoke of his support in dealing with Hamas and also gave a speech boasting of his pride in harsh confrontations with Palestinians and their massacre. At this point, Erdoğan became deeply upset and, in opposition to Peres' words, said: "You are older than me, you have a loud voice, and I believe that when you speak loudly, it shows that you are suffering from a kind of guilty psychological feeling. But surely my voice will not rise like this. You are masters in the massacre of innocent people. You have had prime ministers who said that when we enter the lands of Palestine on tanks, we feel pleasure. But I condemn those who applaud such oppression, because I believe encouraging these killers of children and humans is itself a form of complicity in crimes against humanity, but here we cannot ignore a truth." Before the end of his speech, the moderator tried to calm Erdoğan with hand gestures, but Erdoğan stood up from his seat, left the session, and immediately returned to Turkey, announcing that no decision regarding relations between Israel and Turkey would be made.

Gaza Massacre

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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, finally broke his 22-day silence and announced important matters in support of Gaza and against Israel at a large gathering of the Turkish people. He addressed the Western countries, saying: "The Gaza massacre is entirely the work of the West."

He also said: "Israel has been committing war crimes for the past 22 days. We will introduce Israel to the world as a country that has committed war crimes. We are now preparing for this, working on it. The West itself is the biggest responsible party for the massacre in Gaza."

Erdoğan continued, saying: "The West owes you (Israel), but Turkey does not owe you. This is why we speak so freely. Because Turkey does not owe you, Erdoğan speaks this way. Gaza, Palestine, what was it in 1947, what is it today? Israel, how did you get here? How did you enter? You are an occupier, you are a group."

Following these remarks, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, "Eli Cohen", recalled Israeli diplomats from Turkey and wrote on the social network X that this action was taken to re-evaluate relations between Israel and Turkey.

View towards the West

On November 27, 2014, Erdoğan, in a meeting with members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, referred to the West as strangers whose goal is access to the resources and wealth of Muslims, while they have no interest in us, and added that Westerners appear to show themselves as our friends but in reality wish for our death.

Reconversion of Hagia Sophia to Mosque

In July 2020 AD, the Council of State of Turkey annulled the Turkish Cabinet's decision in 1934 to convert Hagia Sophia into a museum. The reason for this ruling was declared to be the illegality of the 1934 decision under Ottoman and Turkish laws, due to Hagia Sophia being endowed as a mosque by its owner, Sultan Mehmed. Then Erdoğan declared Hagia Sophia a mosque again via a decree. This decision was condemned by some organizations and individuals such as UNESCO, the World Council of Churches, and the Pope.