Erdogan: The man who has dominated Turkish politics for 20 years

This weekend, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the man who has dominated Turkish politics for two decades, is seeking to extend his rule for another five years.

Erdogan is vying to secure a third term as president, in addition to his three previous terms as prime minister from 2003 to 2014, in presidential and parliamentary elections widely billed as the toughest he has faced to date.

The 69-year-old comes from a conservative political tradition and has built a reputation as a divisive figure in a country founded along secularist lines by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s.

Erdogan surpassed Atatürk’s 15 years in Turkey’s top post five years ago, becoming the longest-serving leader the country has ever known. In 2014, he became the first president elected by the people and subsequently won a referendum that concentrated power in the hands of the president.

Worsening crisis in the cost of living

Sunday’s elections will be held as Turkey goes through a series of economic crises that have led to rampant inflation and a deepening crisis in the cost of living.

The February earthquakes in southeastern Turkey put further pressure on Erdogan, with many people criticizing his government’s response and failure to enforce building regulations, claiming these factors contributed to the loss of more than 50,000 lives.

“He has to go. It is his one-man regime that helped bring about this disaster,” said Furkan Ozbilgin, a 29-year-old resident of Antakya, the city worst hit by the earthquakes and an opposition stronghold.

“It is through his rule that contractors were allowed to get away with building such shabby buildings that collapsed, killing thousands,” charged Ozbilgin.

However, the president has many supporters who point to his successes over the years and see him as the man to tackle Turkey’s current problems.

“Of course in 20 years there will be both bad and good periods,” said Ahmet Gokkaya, a shopkeeper in Istanbul’s conservative Fatih district. “Our president cannot be held responsible for the earthquake. Does he control every construction site in Turkey?

“We have seen what he has done for this country and we must not abandon him now.”

Rising through the political ranks

Erdogan’s political career stretches back to the 1970s in Beyoglu, the Istanbul neighborhood that also includes his childhood home in Kasimpasa, a working-class neighborhood on the slopes leading from the glitzy shops of Istiklal Avenue to the waters of the Golden Horn.

His first political role came in 1976 as head of the National Salvation Party’s Beyoglu youth wing, led by Necmettin Erbakan, a future prime minister widely regarded as Erdogan’s mentor.

He rose through the ranks and became mayor of Istanbul in 1994, addressing many of the problems faced by the city’s burgeoning population, such as air pollution, waste collection and a lack of clean water.

But four years later, he caught the attention of the courts for reciting a controversial poem. This led to a four-month prison sentence for inciting religious discrimination.

Erdogan was released from prison in July 1999 still under a political ban and founded the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) two years later.

Fifteen months after its formation, the party won the 2002 elections against the background of a financial crisis. Due to his ban on politics, Erdogan was unable to take office as prime minister until March.

Thus began two decades of power that many observers believe have seen a dramatic change in Erdogan’s politics.

Changes in 20 years

Most commentators view the first decade of the AK Party’s rule as one in which the government embraced democratic reforms as Turkey sought to join the European Union. Erdogan has been praised by liberals at home and abroad for loosening the military’s grip on the country and addressing the rights of women and minorities.

In the past 10 years, however, Erdogan has been criticized for adopting a more authoritarian outlook that many say has further polarized Turkey, particularly in the wake of nationwide anti-government protests 10 years ago and an attempted coup in 2016 that saw him narrowly defeated. escaped. with his life.

Purges following the failed coup saw tens of thousands jailed or fired as the government went after supporters of US-based Muslim leader Fethullah Gülen, who accused the Turkish government of orchestrating the putsch attempt with his followers.

Critics said the suppression was used as a cover to address wider political disagreements and that the term “gulenist” had become a brush to tease any opponent.

Erdogan’s success in national elections hit a bump in 2015 when the AK Party lost its parliamentary majority, leading the president to ally with ultra-nationalists and leave the Kurdish peace process.

Four years later, Erdogan suffered his first electoral defeat when major cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, chose the opposition in local elections. A repeat of the vote in Istanbul, held after the AK Party protested the outcome, resulted in the opposition mayoral candidate winning by an even larger margin.

Erdogan now promises future economic prosperity and in the run-up to the election has sought to alleviate the rising cost of living by introducing subsidized utility bills and increases in pensions, civil servants’ salaries and the minimum wage.

Focusing on the AK Party’s track record of building bridges, roads and hospitals, Erdogan has also highlighted the improvements made to the daily lives of Turks, while also highlighting prestigious projects announced, many of them in the military field, such as the development of drones.