FROM OUR REPORTER
ISTANBUL — Recep Tayyip Erdoganface the challenge of a lifetime today. Charismatic, centralizing, surly, so much so that his loyalists are afraid to contradict him, the Turkish president is a “self made man”. Born in the modest neighborhood of Kasimpasa, he first managed to become mayor of Istanbul (1994-1998), then premier (2003-2014) and finally president.
Georgian origins
According to historian Hakan Yavuz, Erdogan was born in Guneysu, Rize province, and later his family moved to Istanbul’s Kasimpasa neighborhood. His family is originally from Adjara, a region of Georgia. Erdogan himself admitted it in 2003 but later denied it.
Cake seller
In Istanbul he starts working when he is still in elementary school. To contribute to the family economy, she takes to the streets to sell simitthe typical Turkish flatbread covered with sesame.
The Islamic school
Erdogan studied at an Islamic school before attending Marmara University in Istanbul. In 2014 it has a reform that extends the teaching of the Islamic religion to all schools, also providing for the study of Arabic to allow students to understand the Koran.
The militancy
His militancy began at the age of 15 when he took part in the first demonstrations of the National Union of Turkish Students, an organization in which he soon moved on to positions of responsibility. During this period you will meet your mentor, Necmettin Erbakan, founder of the National Order Party (MNP), opponent of the Westernization of Turkey.
The prison
In 1999 Erdogan was sentenced to 10 months in prison for “inciting religious hatred” after reading an Islamic poem which read: “Mosques are our barracks, domes our helmets, minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers.” He was released from prison after four months. Paradoxically, the banner of freedom of expression was one of his strong points in the early years. The founder of the Republic Kemal Ataturk had in fact imposed an exaggerated secularism of the state which forbade, for example, girls to go veiled to university.
Footballer
The Turkish President boasts a real competitive career, having played for Erokspor, Camtli and then for Iett Istanbul. About him He made his debut at the age of 15 for Erokspor, a team from his neighborhood in Istanbul, Kasimpasa. It is said that the mother Tenzile was very proud of her sports son so much that she carefully washed his shorts and shirt while the father concentrated on his studies.
The first defeat
. He returned there in 1983 with another Islamist formation, the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, Rp). In 1989 he was nominated for the first time for mayor of Istanbul for the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, Rp) but was defeated, despite the good electoral result. He will have to wait until 1994 to become mayor with unexpected success. One of his measures as mayor is the prohibition of the sale of alcohol in the city’s cafes.
The villa by the sea
Now at the 1,125-room Presidential Palace in the heart of Ankara, twin of Ceausescu’s in Bucharest, the president has had a new extra-luxury residence built for his family’s summer holidays. The complex is located on the southern Aegean coast of Turkey, in Marmaris, and is the place from which he managed to escape in extremis on the night of the failed coup in the summer of 2016. We are talking about a 300-room villa, built on an area as large as 130 football pitches and cost Turkish taxpayers over 60 million euros between 2018 and 2021.
The pro-Lgbt+ discourse
Shortly before becoming prime minister, in 2002, during an event with an audience of young people, Erdogan declared himself absolutely in favor of the LGBT+ community and respect for its rights.