Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ( born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who has been the  President of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the  Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as the  Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the  Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001 and led it to three general election victories in  2002,  2007 and  2011 before standing down as leader upon his  election as President in 2014. Originating from an Islamist political background and as a self-described  conservative democrat, his administration has overseen  social conservative and liberal economic policies.  His political agenda and ideals are often referred to as  Erdoğanism.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan was a semi-professional  footballer<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> playing for  Kasımpaşa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> before being  elected<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as the Mayor of  Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> from the Islamist Welfare Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in 1994. He was stripped and banned from office and imprisoned for 4 months for the recitation of a poem in a political speech in 1998 <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> after which he abandoned openly Islamist politics and established the moderate conservative AKP in 2001. The AKP won a landslide victory in the  2002 general election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, with the party's co-founder  Abdullah Gül<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> becoming Prime Minister until  his government<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> annulled Erdoğan's ban from political office. Erdoğan subsequently became Prime Minister in March 2003 after winning a seat in a  by-election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> held in  Siirt<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">As part of his ' 2023 vision<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">' for the centenary of the  Turkish Republic<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan's government oversaw  accession negotiations for Turkey's membership<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of the  European Union<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, an economic recovery following a  financial crash in 2001<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, two successful constitutional referendums in  2007<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  2010<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a  Solution process<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with  Kurdish militants<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, an allegedly  Neo-Ottoman<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> foreign policy and investments in infrastructure that included new  roads<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  airports<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and a  high-speed train network<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> With the help of  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s  Cemaat Movement<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan was able to  curb the political power<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of the  military<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> through the controversial  Sledgehammer<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Ergenekon<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> court cases. In late 2012, his government began  peace negotiations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with the  Kurdistan Workers Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> (PKK) to end the  ongoing PKK insurgency<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> that began in 1978. The ceasefire broke down in 2015, leading to a  renewed escalation in conflict<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. In 2016, a  coup d'état was unsuccessfully attempted<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> against Erdoğan and Turkish state institutions. This was followed by  purges<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and an ongoing state of emergency.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Nationwide protests against the perceived authoritarianism of Erdoğan's government began in May 2013, with the internationally criticised police crackdown resulting in 22 deaths and the stalling of EU membership negotiations. Following a split with long-time ally Fethullah Gülen, Erdoğan brought about large-scale judicial reforms that were criticised for threatening judicial independence, but which Erdoğan insisted were necessary to purge sympathisers of the preacher Fethullah Gulen. A US$100 billion  government corruption scandal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in 2013 led to the arrests of Erdoğan's close allies, with Erdoğan himself incriminated after a recording was released on social media. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's government has since come under fire for alleged  human rights violations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and crackdown on press and social media<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, having blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on numerous occasions. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's government lifted the bans upon court orders. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Opposition journalists and politicians have criticised authoritarian tendencies. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Analysts suggest that Turkey is a majoritarian democracy. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan's proponents suggest that since the attempted coup, press restrictions are changing, Erdoğan's government dropped charges against the secular Dogan Group, including Hurriyet paper after it was alleged that the $4.5 billion tax fraud charge was initially perpetrated by Gulenist officers. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In the aftermath of the coup attempt, Erdoğan issued a Presidential pardon against those who 'insulted' him. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan aims to bring the executive Presidency to a referendum in 2017, with a bill likely to pass parliament due to agreement between Erdoğan's conservative AKP and the nationalist MHP.

Personal life and education
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  Early life and career of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan was born in the  Kasımpaşa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> neighborhood of  Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to which his family had moved from  Rize Province<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Erdoğan allegedly said in 2003, "I'm a  Georgian<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, my family is a  Georgian<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> family which migrated from  Batumi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to  Rize<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, in a 2014 televised interview on the  NTV<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> news network, he said, "You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian ... even with much uglier things, they have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan spent his early childhood in  Rize<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, where his father was a member of the  Turkish Coast Guard<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> His summer holidays were mostly spent in  Güneysu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Rize<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, where his family originates from. Throughout his life he often returned to this spiritual home, and in 2015 he opened a vast mosque on a mountaintop near this village. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The family returned to Istanbul when Erdoğan was 13 years old.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">As a teenager, he sold lemonade and sesame buns ( simit<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">) on the streets of the city's rougher districts to earn extra money. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Brought up in an observant Muslim family, Erdoğan graduated from Kasımpaşa Piyale primary school in 1965, and  İmam Hatip school<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a religious vocational high school, in 1973. He received his high school diploma from Eyüp High School. He subsequently studied  Business Administration<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> at the Aksaray School of Economics and Commercial Sciences, now known as  Marmara University<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">—although several Turkish sources dispute that he graduated.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In his youth, Erdoğan played semi-professional  football<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> at a local club. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Fenerbahçe<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> wanted him to transfer to the club but his father prevented it. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The stadium of the local football club in the district where he grew up,  Kasımpaşa S.K.<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> is named after him.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan married Emine Gülbaran (born 1955,  Siirt<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">) on 4 July 1978. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> They have two sons;  Ahmet Burak<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Necmettin Bilal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and two daughters, Esra and Sümeyye. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> His father, Ahmet Erdoğan, died in 1988 and his 88-year-old mother, Tenzile Erdoğan, died in 2011. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He is a member of the  Community of İskenderpaşa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a Turkish sufistic community of  Naqshbandi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  tariqah<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

Early political career
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">While studying business administration and playing semi-professional football, Erdoğan engaged in politics by joining the National Turkish Student Union, an  anti-communist<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> action group. In 1974, he wrote, directed and played the lead role in the play  Maskomya<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, which presented  Freemasonry<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Communism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Judaism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as evil. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 1976, he became the head of the  Beyoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> youth branch of the Islamist  National Salvation Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> (MSP), <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and was later promoted to chair of the Istanbul youth branch of the party.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After the  1980 military coup<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan followed most of  Necmettin Erbakan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s followers into the  Islamist<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Welfare Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. He became the party's Beyoğlu district chair in 1984, and in 1985 he became the chair of the Istanbul city branch. He was elected to parliament in 1991, but barred from taking his seat.

Mayor of Istanbul (1994–98)
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In the  local elections of 27 March 1994<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan was elected  Mayor of Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, with a plurality (25.19%) of the popular vote. Many feared that he would impose Islamic law; however, he was pragmatic in office, tackling chronic problems in Istanbul including  water shortage<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, pollution and  traffic chaos<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. The water shortage problem was solved with the laying of hundreds of kilometers of new pipelines. The garbage problem was solved with the establishment of state-of-the-art recycling facilities. While Erdoğan was in office, air pollution was reduced through a plan developed to switch to natural gas. He changed the  public buses<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to environmentally friendly ones. The city's traffic and transportation jams were reduced with more than fifty bridges, viaducts, and highways built. He took precautions to prevent corruption, using measures to ensure that municipal funds were used prudently. He paid back a major portion of Istanbul  Metropolitan Municipality<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s two billion dollar debt and invested four billion dollars in the city.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan initiated the first roundtable of mayors during the  Istanbul conference<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, which led to a global, organized movement of mayors. A seven-member international jury from the United Nations unanimously awarded Erdoğan the  UN-HABITAT<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> award.

Imprisonment
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 1998, the  fundamentalist<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Welfare Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was declared unconstitutional on the grounds of threatening the  secularism of Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and was shut down by the  Turkish constitutional court<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Erdoğan became a prominent speaker at demonstrations held by his party colleagues.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In December 1997, Erdoğan recited a poem in  Siirt<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> from a work written by  Ziya Gökalp<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a pan-Turkish activist of the early 20th century. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> His recitation included verses translated as "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> which are not in the original version of the poem. Erdoğan said the poem had been approved by the education ministry to be published in textbooks. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Under  article 312/2 of the Turkish penal code<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> his recitation was regarded as an incitement to violence and religious or racial hatred. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He was given a ten-month prison sentence of which he served four months, from 24 March 1999 to 27 July 1999. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Due to his conviction, Erdoğan was forced to give up his mayoral position. The conviction also stipulated a political ban, which prevented him from participating in parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister (2003–14)
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2001, Erdoğan established the Justice and Development Party (AKP). <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The AKP won a landslide victory in the  2002 election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, taking nearly two-thirds of the seats. Erdoğan could not become Prime Minister as he was still banned from politics by the judiciary for his speech in Siirt. Gül became the Prime Minister instead. In December 2002, the Supreme Election Board canceled the general election results from Siirt due to voting irregularities and  scheduled a new election for 9 February 2003<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. By this time, party leader Erdoğan was able to run for parliament due to a legal change made possible by the opposition Republican People's Party. The AKP duly listed Erdoğan as a candidate for the rescheduled election, which he won, becoming Prime Minister after Gül handed over the post.

Kurdish issue
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">See also:  Solution process

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2009, Prime Minister Erdoğan's government announced a plan to help end the quarter-century-long  Turkey–Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> that had cost more than 40,000 lives. The government's plan, supported by the  European Union<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, allowed the  Kurdish language<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to be used in all broadcast media and political campaigns, and restored Kurdish names to cities and towns that had been  given Turkish ones<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan said, "We took a courageous step to resolve chronic issues that constitute an obstacle along Turkey's development, progression and empowerment". <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan passed a partial amnesty to reduce penalties faced by many members of the Kurdish guerrilla movement  PKK<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> who had surrendered to the government. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 23 November 2011, during a televised meeting of his party in Ankara, he apologised on behalf of the state for the  Dersim massacre<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, where many  Alevis<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Zazas<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were killed.

Armenian Genocide
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Prime Minister Erdoğan expressed multiple times that Turkey would acknowledge the  mass killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as genocide only after a thorough investigation by a joint Turkish-Armenian commission consisting of historians,  archaeologists<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  political scientists<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and other experts. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2005, Erdoğan and the  main opposition<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> party leader  Deniz Baykal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> wrote a letter to  Armenian President<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Robert Kocharian<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, proposing the creation of a joint Turkish-Armenian commission. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Armenian Foreign Minister  Vartan Oskanian<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> rejected the offer because he asserted that the proposal itself was "insincere and not serious." He added: "This issue cannot be considered at historical level with Turks, who themselves politicized the problem."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In December 2008, Erdoğan criticised the  I Apologize campaign<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> by Turkish intellectuals to recognize the Armenian Genocide, saying, "I neither accept nor support this campaign. We did not commit a crime, therefore we do not need to apologise ... It will not have any benefit other than stirring up trouble, disturbing our peace and undoing the steps which have been taken." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In November 2009, he said, "it's not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2011, Erdoğan ordered the tearing-down of the  Statue of Humanity<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a Turkish-Armenian friendship monument in  Kars<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, which was commissioned in 2006 and represented a metaphor of the rapprochement of the two countries after many years of dispute over the events of 1915. Erdoğan justified the removal by stating that the monument was offensively close to the tomb of an 11th-century Islamic scholar, and that its shadow ruined the view of that site, while Kars municipality officials said it was illegally erected in a protected area. However, the former mayor of Kars who approved the original construction of the monument said the municipality was destroying not just a "monument to humanity" but "humanity itself". The demolition was not unopposed; among its detractors were several Turkish artists. Two of them, the painter Bedri Baykam and his associate, Pyramid Art Gallery general coordinator Tugba Kurtulmus, were stabbed after a meeting with other artists at the Istanbul Akatlar cultural center.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 23 April 2014, Erdoğan's office issued a statement in nine languages (including two dialects of Armenian), offering condolences for the mass killings of Armenians and stating that the events of 1915 had inhumane consequences. The statement described the mass killings as the two nations' shared pain and said: "Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences – such as relocation – during the First World War, (it) should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes among one another".

Human rights
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">During Erdoğan's time as Prime Minister, the far-reaching powers of the  1991 Anti-Terror Law<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were reduced and the  Democratic initiative process<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was initiated, with the goal to improve democratic standards in general and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in particular. However, after Turkey's bid to join the  European Union<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> stalled, European officials noted a return to more authoritarian ways, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> notably on freedom of speech, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  freedom of the press<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Kurdish minority rights<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Demands by activists for the recognition of  LGBT rights<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were publicly rejected by government members, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and members of the Turkish LGBT community were insulted by cabinet members.

Reporters Without Borders<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> observed a continuous decrease in Freedom of the Press during Erdoğan's later terms, with a rank of around 100 on the  Press Freedom Index<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> during his first term and a rank of 154 out of a total of 179 countries in 2013. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Freedom House<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> saw a slight recovery in later years and awarded Turkey a Press Freedom Score of 55/100 in 2012 after a low point of 48/100 in 2006.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2011, Erdoğan's government made legal reforms to return properties of Christian and Jewish minorities which were seized by the Turkish government in the 1930s. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The total value of the properties returned reached $2 billion (USD).

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Under Erdoğan, the Turkish government tightened the  laws on the sale and consumption of alcohol<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, banning all advertising and increasing the tax on alcoholic beverages. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> A law raising the  legal drinking age<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> from 18 to 24 was in place from 2011 until it was abolished in 2013.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan argues that the crackdown against Gulenists is a necessary measure, his supporters insist he is maintaining the rule of law, 6000 teachers were re-instated after it was shown they didn't have Gulenist links.

Economy
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2002, Erdoğan inherited a  Turkish economy<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> that was beginning to recover from a recession as a result of reforms implemented by  Kemal Derviş<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan supported Finance Minister  Ali Babacan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in enforcing macro-economic policies. Erdoğan tried to attract more foreign investors to Turkey and lifted many government regulations. The cash-flow into the Turkish economy between 2002 and 2012 caused a growth of 64% in real GDP and a 43% increase in GDP per capita; considerably higher numbers were commonly advertised but these did not account for the inflation of the US dollar between 2002 and 2012. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The average annual growth in GDP per capita was 3.6%. The growth in real GDP between 2002 and 2012 was higher than the values from developed countries, but was close to average when developing countries are also taken into account. The ranking of the Turkish economy in terms of GDP moved slightly from 17 to 16 during this decade. A major consequence of the policies between 2002 and 2012 was the widening of the current account deficit from 600 million USD to 58 billion USD (2013 est.)

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Since 1961, Turkey has signed 19 IMF loan accords. Erdoğan's government satisfied the budgetary and market requirements of the two during his administration and received every loan installment, the only time any Turkish government has done so. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan inherited a debt of $23.5 billion to the IMF, which was reduced to $0.9 billion in 2012. He decided not to sign a new deal. Turkey's debt to the IMF was thus declared to be completely paid and he announced that the IMF could borrow from Turkey. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2010, five-year  credit default swaps <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">for Turkey's sovereign debt were trading at a record low of 1.17%, below those of nine EU member countries and Russia.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2002, the Turkish Central Bank had $26.5 billion in reserves. This amount reached $92.2 billion in 2011. During Erdoğan's leadership, inflation fell from 32% to 9.0% in 2004. Since then, Turkish inflation has continued to fluctuate around 9% and is still one of the highest inflation rates in the world.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The Turkish public debt as a percentage of annual GDP declined from 74% in 2002 to 39% in 2009. In 2012, Turkey had a lower ratio of public debt to GDP than 21 of 27 members of the European Union and a lower budget deficit to GDP ratio than 23 of them.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The unemployment rate increased from 10.3% in 2002 to 11.0% in 2010.

Labor rights
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2003, Erdoğan's government pushed through the Labor Act, a comprehensive reform of Turkey's labor laws. The law greatly expanded the rights of employees, establishing a 45-hour workweek and limiting overtime work to 270 hours a year, provided legal protection against discrimination due to sex, religion, or political affiliation, prohibited discrimination between permanent and temporary workers, entitled employees terminated without "valid cause" to compensation, and mandated written contracts for employment arrangements lasting a year or more.

Education
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan increased the budget of the  Ministry of Education<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> from 7.5 billion lira in 2002 to 34 billion lira in 2011, the highest share of the national budget given to one ministry. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Before his prime ministership the military received the highest share of the national budget. Compulsory education<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was increased from eight years to twelve. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2003, the Turkish government, together with  UNICEF<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, started a campaign called "Come on girls, let's go to school!" ( Turkish<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">:  <span lang="tr" style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Haydi Kızlar Okula! <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">). The goal of this campaign was to close the gender-gap in primary school enrollment through the provision of a quality basic education for all girls, especially in southeast Turkey.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2005, the parliament granted amnesty to students expelled from universities before 2003. The amnesty applied to students dismissed on academic or disciplinary grounds. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2004, textbooks became free of charge and since 2008  every province in Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> has its own university. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> During Erdoğan's Premiership, the number of  universities in Turkey <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">nearly doubled, from 98 in 2002 to 186 in October 2012.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The Prime Minister kept his campaign promises by starting the  f@tih project<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in which all state schools, from preschool to high school level, received a total of 620,000 smart boards, while tablet computers were distributed to 17 million students and approximately one million teachers and administrators.

Infrastructure
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Under Erdoğan's government, the number of  airports in Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> increased from 26 to 50. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Between the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and 2002, there had been 6000 km of  dual carriageway<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> roads created. Between 2002 and 2011, another 13500 km of expressway were built. Due to these measures, the number of motor accidents fell by 50 percent. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> For the first time in Turkish history,  high speed railway lines<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were constructed, and the country's  high-speed train service<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> began in 2009. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 8 years, 1076 km of railway were built and 5449 km of railway renewed. The construction of  Marmaray<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, an undersea rail tunnel under the  Bosphorus strait<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, started in 2004. When completed, it will be the world's deepest undersea  immersed tube tunnel<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Construction of the 1.9 km long  Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> began in 2013. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The chosen name for the bridge led to protests by  Alevis<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in Turkey because of the role Sultan  Selim I<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, nicknamed "the Grim" due to his cruelty, played in the  Ottoman persecution of Alevis<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

Justice
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In March 2006, the  Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> (HSYK) held a press conference to publicly protest the obstruction of the appointment of judges to the high courts for over 10 months. The HSYK said Erdoğan wanted to fill the vacant posts with his own appointees. Erdoğan was accused of creating a rift with Turkey's highest court of appeal, the  Yargıtay<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and high administrative court, the  Danıştay<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Erdoğan stated that the constitution gave the power to assign these posts to his elected party.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In May 2007, the head of Turkey's High Court asked prosecutors to consider whether Erdoğan should be charged over critical comments regarding the election of  Abdullah Gül<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as President. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan said the ruling was "a disgrace to the justice system", and criticized the  Constitutional Court<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> which had invalidated a presidential vote because a boycott by other parties meant there was no  quorum<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Prosecutors investigated his earlier comments, including saying it had fired a "bullet at democracy". Tülay Tuğcu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, head of the Constitutional Court, condemned Erdoğan for "threats, insults and hostility" towards the justice system.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The Turkish parliament agreed to reduce the  age of candidacy<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to the parliament from 30 to 25 and abolished the death penalty in all instances, including war time.

Women and demographics
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan supported the continuation of Turkey's high population growth rate and, in 2008, commented that to ensure the  Turkish population<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> remained  young<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> every family would need to have at least three children. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He repeated this statement on numerous occasions. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2010, Turkey's population was estimated at 73,700,000, with a growth rate of 1.21% per annum (2009 figure).

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 26 May 2012, answering the question of a reporter after a UN conference on population and development in Turkey, Erdoğan said that abortion is murder, saying, "You either kill a baby in the mother's womb or you kill it after birth. In many cases [not all], there's no difference."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan has stated that he opposes Turkey's high and growing rate of  caesarean section<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> births because he believes that they reduce the fertility of Turkish women, and he is in favor of limiting the number of such births in Turkish hospitals.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In  a 2010 meeting<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with women NGO representatives, asked why he kept addressing them exclusively as mothers, Erdoğan said: "I do not believe in the equality of men and women. I believe in equal opportunities. Men and women are different and complementary." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2014, he addressed the Istanbul  Women and Justice Summit<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of the  Women and Democracy Association<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> ( Turkish<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">:  <span lang="tr" style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Kadın ve Demokrasi Derneği <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, or KADEM): "Our religion [Islam] has defined a position for women [in society]: motherhood. You cannot explain this to feminists because they don’t accept the concept of motherhood." Calling for "equivalency" between the genders, he stated: "You cannot bring women and men into equal positions; that is against nature because their nature is different," while reaffirming that full equality regardless of gender before the law should be maintained.

Health care
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After assuming power in 2003, Erdoğan's government embarked on a sweeping reform program of the Turkish healthcare system, called the Health Transformation Program (HTP), to greatly increase the quality of healthcare and protect all citizens from financial risks. Its introduction coincided with the period of sustained economic growth, allowing the Turkish government to put greater investments into the healthcare system. As part of the reforms, the "Green Card" program, which provides health benefits to the poor, was expanded in 2004. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The reform program aimed at increasing the ratio of private to state-run healthcare, which, along with long ques in state-run hospitals, resulted in the rise of private medical care in Turkey, forcing state-run hospitals to compete by increasing quality.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In April 2006, Erdoğan unveiled a social security reform package demanded by the  International Monetary Fund<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> under a loan deal. The move, which Erdoğan called one of the most radical reforms ever, was passed with fierce opposition. Turkey's three social security bodies were united under one roof, bringing equal health services and retirement benefits for members of all three bodies. The previous system had been criticized for reserving the best healthcare for civil servants and relegating others to wait in long queues. Under the second bill, everyone under the age of 18 years was entitled to free health services, irrespective of whether they pay premiums to any social security organization. The bill also envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age: starting from 2036, the retirement age will increase to 65 by 2048 for both women and men.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In January 2008, the Turkish Parliament adopted a law to prohibit smoking in most public places. Erdoğan is outspokenly anti-smoking.

Gezi Park protests
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  Gezi Park protests

2013 Gezi Park protests<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> against the perceived  authoritarianism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of Erdoğan and his policies, starting from a small sit-in in  Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in defense of a  city park<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> After the  police<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s intense reaction with  tear gas<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, the protests grew each day. Faced by the largest mass protest in a decade, Erdoğan made this controversial remark in a televised speech: "The police were there yesterday, they are there today, and they will be there tomorrow." After weeks of clashes in the streets of  Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, his government at first apologized to the protestors <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and called for a  plebiscite<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, but then ordered a crackdown on the protesters.

2013 corruption arrests
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  2013 corruption scandal in Turkey

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In December 2013, Turkish police detained more than 50 people <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and arrested 16 others, including the general manager of  Halkbank <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">and the sons of three government ministers, on charges of corruption. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Although Erdoğan blamed foreign ambassadors and pro-Erdoğan newspapers accused the United States or Israel of a plot, outside analysts attribute the arrests to a power struggle between the Prime Minister and  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Gülen, who lives in the U.S., leads a religious movement that had supported the AKP's rise to power. In late 2013, Erdoğan's government proposed shutting down Turkish private schools, many of which are funded by Gülen. Gülen's supporters are believed to have wide influence in the police and judiciary in Turkey.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In late December,  Hürriyet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Yeni Şafak<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> papers published comments by Erdoğan stating that he believes he is the ultimate target of a corruption and bribery probe of his allies. The Turkish Prime Minister told journalists that anyone attempting to enmesh him in the scandal would be "left empty handed." Erdoğan reshuffled his Cabinet on 25 December, replacing 10 ministers hours after three ministers, whose sons were detained in relation to the probe, resigned.

Telephone recordings and social media
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">See also:  Censorship in Turkey

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">A file containing five audio recordings of conversations between Erdoğan and his son from a 26-hour period beginning 17 December 2013, in which he appeared to be instructing his son to conceal very large amounts of money, was posted to YouTube and widely discussed on  social media<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 26 February 2014, Erdoğan acknowledged that his telephone had been tapped, but denied that the conversation was real, instead calling it an "immoral  montage<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">" that had been "dubbed" by combining other conversations. An analysis by  Joshua Marpet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of the United States, published by  McClatchy<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, concluded that the recordings were "probably real", and if not, the fabrication was done with a sophistication he had not previously seen. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On the night of 26 February 2014, Turkey's Parliament, dominated by Erdoğan's  Justice and Development Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, passed a bill that allowed the government the power to block Internet sites, subject to court review within three days, and granting it access to Internet traffic data. Another bill previously approved by a parliamentary committee would grant the  MİT<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> intelligence service access to data held by the government, as well as private institutions and courts. The following day President  Abdullah Gül<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> approved placing an investigative agency that appoints judges and prosecutors under the control of Erdoğan's justice minister. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 20 March, Erdoğan made a speech promising to "rip out the roots" of the Twitter service. Hours later the telecommunications regulator  BTK<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> blocked  DNS<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> service to the site, citing four court orders the Turkish government had made requiring them to remove content to preserve privacy that had not been heeded. Sources covering the story attributed this to the use of Twitter to share links to the Erdoğan recordings on YouTube. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan also threatened to ban Facebook. However, the block of Twitter proved ineffective, with traffic increasing a record 138%, and #TwitterisblockedinTurkey becoming the top trending term worldwide. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> To circumvent the block, Google suggested Turks use  Google Public DNS<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, numbers which were soon graffitied in dozens of locations around Istanbul. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> President  Abdullah Gül<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> criticized the Twitter ban, defying it himself. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Two months later, on 3 June, Turkey's telecommunications watchdog ordered the ban to be lifted, after a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

2014 presidential campaign
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presidential campaign, 2014

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 1 July 2014, Erdoğan was named the  AKP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s presidential candidate in the  Turkish presidential election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. His candidacy was announced by the Deputy President of the AKP,  Mehmet Ali Şahin<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan made a speech after the announcement and used the 'Erdoğan logo' for the first time. The logo was criticised because it was very similar to the logo that U.S. President  Barack Obama<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> used in the  2008 presidential election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan was elected as the President of Turkey in the first round of the election with 51.79% of the vote, obviating the need for a run-off by winning over 50%. The joint candidate of the  CHP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  MHP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and 13 other opposition parties, former  Organisation of Islamic Co-operation<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> general secretary  Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> won 38.44% of the vote. The pro-Kurdish  HDP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> candidate  Selahattin Demirtaş<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> won 9.76%.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 21 August, a 3-hour AKP Central Executive Committee meeting chaired by Erdoğan selected Foreign Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as candidate for the party leadership.

1st AKP Extraordinary Convention
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  2014 Justice and Development Party Extraordinary Congress

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's last public appearance before assuming the presidency was his parting speech during the AKP's first ever extraordinary congress on 27 August 2014, where his successor as party leader was to be elected. In a 110-minute speech, he criticised rival political parties for their opposition to his bid for the presidency and the  solution process <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">with the PKK, vowing to continue the fight against  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s 'parallel structure'. Erdoğan further stated that his departure would not result in a loss of political vision or electoral support for the party.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan was one of 1,420 delegates who cast votes to elect the new leader. Ahmet Davutoğlu was the only candidate, having been handpicked by Erdoğan as his successor in a party executive committee meeting on 21 August. Davutoğlu was unanimously elected with 100% of the vote and the support of 1,382 delegates. There were 6 invalid or blank votes.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The congress was criticised for lacking any reference to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, as well as the lack of competition in the leadership election.

Presidency (2014–present)
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan took the oath of office on 28 August 2014 and became the 12th president of Turkey. He administered the new Prime Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s oath on 29 August. When asked about his lower-than-expected 51.79% share of the vote, he allegedly responded, "there were even those who did not like the  Prophet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. I, however, won 52%."

Presidential agenda
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Assuming the role of President, Erdoğan was criticized for openly stating that he would not maintain presidential neutrality. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan has also stated his intention to pursue a more active role as President, such as utilising the President's rarely used cabinet-calling powers. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The political opposition has argued that Erdoğan will continue to pursue his own political agenda, controlling the government, while his new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu would be docile and submissive. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> One reason for this allegation was the fact that Erdoğan himself chose Davutoğlu to succeed him as Prime Minister, meaning that Davutoğlu was unanimously elected leader unopposed. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Furthermore, the domination of loyal Erdoğan supporters in Davutoğlu's cabinet <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> has also fuelled speculation that Erdoğan intends to exercise substantial control over the running of the government.

Presidential palace
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan has also received criticism for the construction of a new palace called  Ak Saray<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  (pure white palace),<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> which occupies approximately 50 acres of  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Atatürk Forest <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Farm (AOÇ) in  Ankara<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Since the AOÇ is protected land, several court orders were issued to halt the construction of the new palace, though building work went on nonetheless. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The opposition described the move as a clear disregard for the rule of law. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The project was subject to heavy criticism and allegations were made; of corruption during the construction process, wildlife destruction and the complete obliteration of the zoo in the AOÇ in order to make way for the new compound. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The fact that the palace is technically illegal has led to it being branded as the 'Kaç-Ak Saray', the word  kaçak<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in Turkish meaning 'illegal'.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Ak Saray was originally designed as a new office for the Prime Minister. However, upon assuming the presidency, Erdoğan announced that the palace would become the new Presidential Palace, while the  Çankaya Köşkü<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> will be used by the Prime Minister instead. The move was seen as a historic change since the Çankaya Köşkü had been used as the iconic office of the presidency ever since its inception. The Ak Saray has almost 1,000 rooms and cost $350 million (€270 million), leading to huge criticism at a time when mining accidents and workers' rights had been dominating the agenda.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 29 October 2014, Erdoğan was due to hold a  Republic Day<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> reception in the new palace to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the Republic of Turkey and to officially inaugurate the Presidential Palace. However, after most invited participants announced that they would boycott the event and a mining accident occurred in the district of  Ermenek<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">in  Karaman<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, the reception was cancelled.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Amid claims that the Turkish government funds IS fighters, several Kurdish demonstrations broke out near the Turkish-Syrian border in protest against the government's inactivity. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> These protests escalated during the fighting in the border town of  Kobane<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, with 42 protestors being killed following a brutal police crackdown. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Voicing concerns that aid to  Kurdish<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> fighters would assist  PKK<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> rebels in resuming terrorist attacks against Turkey, Erdoğan held bilateral talks with  Barack Obama<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> regarding IS during the 5–6 September  2014 NATO summit<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in  Newport<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Wales. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In early October, United States Vice President  Joe Biden<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> accused Turkey of funding IS, to which Erdoğan angrily responded, "Biden has to apologize for his statements" adding that if no apology is made, Biden would become "history to me." Biden subsequently apologised. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In response to the U.S. request to use İncirlik Air Base <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to conduct air strikes against IS, Erdoğan demanded that  Bashar al-Assad<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> be removed from power first.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Turkey lost its bid for a  Security Council<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> seat in the United Nations during the  2014 election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">; <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> the unexpected result <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> is believed to have been a reaction to Erdoğan's hostile treatment of ethnic Kurds fighting ISIS on the Syrian border <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and a rebuke of his willingness to support IS-aligned insurgents opposed to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">As President, Erdoğan has been a strong advocate of an  executive presidency<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> that would boost his own powers and has maintained an active influence over political affairs despite the symbolic nature of his office. In 2016, he was accused of forcing the resignation of Prime Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> due to his scepticism over the proposed presidential system, resulting in his replacement by close ally  Binali Yıldırım<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. He has also come under fire for constructing  Ak Saray<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, the world's largest palace on Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> for his own use as President and has been repeatedly accused of breaching the constitutional terms of his office by not maintaining political neutrality. In 2015, amid consistent allegations that he maintained financial links with  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> militants, revelations that the state was supplying arms to militant groups in  Syria<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in the  2014 National Intelligence Organisation lorry scandal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> led to accusations of  high treason<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In July 2015, Turkey became involved in the war against ISIS. The Turkish military has simultaneously launched airstrikes against  Kurdistan Workers' Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> bases in Iraq. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In July 2015, a raid by US special forces on a compound housing the Islamic State's "chief financial officer",  Abu Sayyaf<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, produced evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking IS members.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 18 August 2016, Erdoğan said that " terrorist organizations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> such as  Daesh<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Boko Haram<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  al-Qaeda<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were formed to harm  Islam<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and ignite  Islamophobia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> across the world." Furthermore, he said that " Daesh<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> is a terrorist organization that casts a shadow, a dark pall over Islam. We could never take sides with Daesh."

Concerns over neutrality
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The  President of Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> is required to be neutral and independent from partisan politics and all presidents must pledge to adhere to these requirements whilst taking the oath of office. Breaking the presidential oath of office is a violation of the  Constitution of Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. However, shortly after he assumed the presidency, the opposition accused Erdoğan of breaking the terms of office by being openly partisan in his dealings with the AKP government. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In February 2015, Erdoğan was widely condemned by the opposition for calling for people to vote for the AKP in the upcoming  June 2015 general election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 6 February 2015, while giving a speech at  Bursa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan publicly called for 400 MPs at the next general election in order to push through constitutional changes, continue the  Solution process<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with  Kurdish rebels<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and establish a  presidential system<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Although he did not mention a specific party, only the AKP formally endorses these three policies. In addition, Erdoğan made an indirect reference to the opposition and criticised them for allegedly being on the side of  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, which he said would not carry them into government. He also criticised the opposition's legal effort to prevent him from speaking publicly until the  June 2015 general election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

Ottomanism
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">As President, Erdoğan has overseen a revival of  Ottoman<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> tradition, greeting Palestinian President  Mahmoud Abbas<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with an Ottoman-style ceremony in the new presidential palace, with guards dressed in costumes representing founders of  16 Great Turkish Empires<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in history. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">While serving as the Prime Minister of Turkey, Erdoğan's AKP made references to the Ottoman era during election campaigns, such as calling their supporters 'grandsons of Ottomans'  (Osmanlı torunu).<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> This proved controversial, since it was perceived to be an open attack against the republican nature of modern Turkey founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. In 2015, Erdoğan made a statement in which he endorsed the old Ottoman term  külliye<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to refer to university campuses rather than the standard Turkish word  kampüs<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Many critics have thus accused Erdoğan of wanting to become an Ottoman  sultan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and abandon the secular and democratic credentials of the Republic. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> When pressed on this issue in January 2015, Erdoğan denied these claims and said that he would aim to be more like  Queen Elizabeth II<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of the United Kingdom rather than like an Ottoman sultan.

Silencing the press
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">President Erdoğan and his government press for court action against the remaining free press in Turkey. The latest newspaper that has been seized is  Zaman<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> After the seizure  Morton Abramowitz<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Eric Edelman<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, former U.S. ambassadors to Turkey, condemned President Erdoğan's actions in an opinion piece published by the  Washington Post<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">: "Clearly, democracy cannot flourish under Erdogan now." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> "The overall pace of reforms in Turkey has not only slowed down but in some key areas, such as freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary, there has been a regression, which is particularly worrying," rapporteur  Kati Piri<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> said in April 2016 after  the European Parliament<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> passed its annual progress report on Turkey.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 22 June 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that he considered himself successful in "destroying" Turkish civil groups "working against the state", <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> a conclusion that had been confirmed some days earlier by  Sedat Laçiner<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Professor of International Relations and rector of the  Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">: "Outlawing unarmed and peaceful opposition, sentencing people to unfair punishment under erroneous terror accusations, will feed genuine terrorism in Erdoğan's Turkey. Guns and violence will become the sole alternative for legally expressing free thought."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After the coup attempt, over 200 journalists were arrested and over 120 media outlets were closed. Cumhuriyet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> journalists were detained in November 2016 after a long-standing crackdown on the newspaper. Subsequently,  Reporters Without Borders<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> called Erdoğan an "enemy of press freedom" and said that he "hides his aggressive dictatorship under a veneer of democracy".

Intimidation of the Constitutional Court
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In a speech broadcast live on television, President Erdoğan said on Friday, 11 March 2016: "I hope the constitutional court would not again attempt such ways which will open its existence and legitimacy up for debate". <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 26 February, Erdoğan had said in a public speech that he did "neither respect nor accept" a constitutional court ruling that the detention of  Can Dündar<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and Ekrem Gül <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> from  Cumhuriyet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> had violated their rights.

Relations to Europe
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In an interview to the news magazine  Der Spiegel<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, the German  minister of defence<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Ursula von der Leyen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> said on Friday, 11 March 2016, that the refugee crisis had made good cooperation between EU and Turkey an "existentially important" issue. "Therefore it is right to advance now negotiations on Turkey's EU accession".

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In its resolution "The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey" from 22 June 2016, the  Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> warned that "recent developments in Turkey pertaining to freedom of the media and of expression, erosion of the rule of law and the human rights violations in relation to anti-terrorism security operations in south-east Turkey have ... raised serious questions about the functioning of its democratic institutions."

Coup d'état attempt
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 15 July 2016, a coup d'état was attempted by the military, with aims to remove Erdoğan from government, however by the next day Erdoğan’s government managed to reassert effective control in the country. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Reportedly, no government official was arrested or harmed, which among other factors raised the suspicion of a  false flag<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> event staged by the government itself.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan, as well as other government officials, have blamed an exiled cleric, and once an ally of Erdoğan,  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, for staging the coup attempt. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Suleyman Soylu, Minister for Labor in Erdoğan's government, accused the US of planning a coup to oust Erdoğan.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan, as well as other high-ranking Turkish government officials have issued repeated demands to the US to extradite Güllen.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Following the coup attempt, there has been a significant deterioration in Turkey-US relations. European and other world leaders have expressed their concerns over the situation in Turkey, with many of them warning Erdoğan not to use the coup attempt as an excuse for crackdown against his opponents.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The rise of Islamic state and the collapse of the Kurdish peace process lead to a sharp rise in terrorist incidents in Turkey until 2016 Erdoğan was accused by his critics of having a 'soft corner' for  ISIS <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">However, after the attempted coup, Erdoğan ordered the Turkish military into Syria to combat  ISIS <span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.4px;">and Kurdish militant groups. <span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan's critics have decried purges in the education system and judiciary as undermining the rule of law <span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.4px;"> however Erdoğan supporters argue this is a necessary measure as Gulen-linked schools cheated on entrance exams, requiring a purge in the education system and of the Gulen followers who then entered the judiciary.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's plan is to reconstitute Turkey as a presidential system,that would enable him to better tackle Turkey’s internal and external threats. One of the main hurdles allegedly standing in his way is  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">’s <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  movement<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In the aftermath of the  2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a groundswell of national unity and consensus emerged against cracking down on the coup plotters with a National Unity rally held in Turkey that included Islamists, secularists, liberals and nationalists. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan has used this consensus to remove Gulen followers from the bureaucracy, curtail their role in NGOs, Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Turkish military, with 149 Generals discharged. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In a foreign policy shift Erdoğan ordered the Turkish Armed Forces into battle in Syria and has liberated towns from IS control. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> As relations with Europe soured over in the aftermath of the attempted coup, Erdoğan developed alternative relationships with Russia, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Saudi Arabia <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and a "strategic partnership" with  Pakistan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with plans to cultivate relations through free trade agreements and deepening military relations for mutual co-operation with Turkey's regional allies.

State of emergency and purges (20 July 2016 – present)
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  2016 Turkish purges

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 20 July 2016, President Erdoğan declared the  state of emergency<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, citing the coup d'état attempt as justification. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> It was first scheduled to last three months. The Turkish parliament approved this measure. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The state of emergency was later extended for another three months, amidst the ongoing  2016 Turkish purges<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> including  comprehensive purges of independent media<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and detention of tens of thousands of Turkish citizens politically opposed to Erdoğan.

Controversies
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Early during his prime ministership, Erdoğan was praised as a role model for emerging Middle Eastern nations due to several reform packages initiated by his government which expanded religious freedoms and minority rights as part of  accession negotiations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with the  European Union<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-222" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;font-size:11.2px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">[222] <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, his government underwent several crises including the Sledgehammer<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Ergenekon<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> cases against the  Turkish Armed Forces<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, corruption scandals, accusations of media intimidation, as well as the pursuit of an increasingly polarising political agenda; the opposition accused the government of inciting political hatred throughout the country. Central to the accusations of authoritarianism are Erdoğan's controversial ties with exiled Islamic cleric and former ally  Fethullah Gülen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, who has been accused of calling for the dismantling of the secular Turkish state in favour of an  Islamic Republic<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, although Gülen had been acquitted in 2006 of the charge, based on the same alleged statements, of trying to overturn the government.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In response to criticism, Erdoğan made a speech in May 2014 denouncing allegations of dictatorship, saying that the leader of the opposition, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was there at the speech, would not be able to "roam the streets" freely if he was a dictator. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Kılıçdaroğlu responded that political tensions would cease to exist if Erdoğan stopped making his polarising speeches for three days. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> One observer said it was a measure of the state of Turkish democracy that Prime Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> could openly threaten, on 20 December 2015, that, if his party did not win the election, his country's Kurds would endure a repeat of the era of the "white Toros", the Turkish name for the Renault 12, "a car associated with the gendarmarie's fearsome intelligence agents, who carried out thousands of extrajudicial executions of Kurdish nationalists during the 1990s."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In February 2015, a 13-year-old child was arrested after allegedly criticising Erdoğan on Facebook. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2016, a waiter was arrested for not serving tea to Erdoğan.

Accusations of antisemitism
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan referred to the Turkish novelist and Islamist ideologue,  Necip Fazıl Kısakürek<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, as his muse. Kısakürek was regarded by some analysts, such as Günther Jikeli and Kemal Silay, as the source of his views on Jews. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Kısakürek's publications included the Turkish translation of  The Protocols of the Elders of Zion<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and praise for industrialist  Henry Ford<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s  The International Jew<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, as well as a political program in which he wrote: “Chief among these treacherous and insidious elements to be cleansed are the Dönmeh and the Jews".

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">A 2009 report issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, said that Erdoğan "indirectly incites and encourages"  antisemitism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In 2013, Erdoğan was placed second on the  Simon Wiesenthal Center<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s list of the year's top ten antisemitic personalities, after Erdoğan blamed the "interest rate lobby" as organizers of the mass protests against him in cities around the country in June 2013. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In another quote that was regarded as antisemitic, he said "When the word 'media' is pronounced, Israel and Israel's administration comes to mind. They have the ability to manipulate it as they wish." He then claimed that not only the international press but also Turkish newspapers were run by Israel. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> During the  campaign for the Turkish elections<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in June 2015, Erdoğan accused  The New York Times<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of being represented by "Jewish capital" after foreign media outlets expressed concern over the corrosion of freedom of expression in Turkey.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">When during a televised press conference he was asked if he believed a  presidential system<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was possible in a  unitary state<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> he affirmed this and cited Nazi  Germany<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as an example of how this is possible. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, the Turkish president's office said that Erdoğan was not advocating a Hitler-style government when he called for a state system with a strong executive. Furthermore, that the Turkish president had declared the  Holocaust<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  anti-semitism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Islamophobia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as crimes against humanity and that it was out of the question for him to cite  Hitler<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s  Germany<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as a good example.

Politicisation of the judiciary
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The judiciary has traditionally adhered to strict secular principles as outlined in the  Constitution of Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. This resulted in the closing down of two former parties of which Erdoğan was a member, namely the  Welfare Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in 1998 and the  Virtue Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in 2001. The judiciary was thus seen as a significant threat to the  Justice and Development Party<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> (AKP). In 2008, the  Constitutional Court of Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> heard a  case in favour of closing down the AKP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and banning 71 senior members from politics for five years. Although the AKP survived closure, it lost 50% of its state funding.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In April 2014, the President of the Constitutional Court,  Haşim Kılıç<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, accused Erdoğan of damaging the credibility of the judiciary, labelling Erdoğan's attempts to increase political control over the courts as 'desperate'.

Ergenekon and Sledgehammer
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Both the military and judiciary were widely known for their secular credentials, both therefore representing a threat to Erdoğan's moderately Islamist government. During the chaotic  2007 presidential election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, the military issued an  E-memorandum<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> warning the government to keep within the boundaries of secularism when choosing a candidate. Regardless, Erdoğan's close relations with Fethullah Gülen and his Cemaat Movement allowed his government to maintain a degree of influence within the judiciary through Gülen's supporters in high judicial and bureaucratic offices. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Shortly after, an alleged coup plot codenamed  Sledgehammer<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> became public and resulted in the imprisonment of 300 military officers including  İbrahim Fırtına<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Çetin Doğan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Engin Alan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Several opposition politicians, journalists and military officers also  went on trial<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> for allegedly being part of an ultra-nationalist organisation called  Ergenekon<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Both cases were marred by irregularities and were condemned as a joint attempt by Erdoğan and Gülen to curb opposition to the AKP. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The original Sledgehammer document containing the coup plans, allegedly written in 2003, was found to have been written using  Microsoft Word 2007<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Despite both domestic and international calls for these irregularities to be addressed in order to guarantee a fair trial, Erdoğan instead praised his government for bringing the coup plots to light. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> When Gülen publicly withdrew support and openly attacked Erdoğan in late 2013, several imprisoned military officers and journalists were released, with the government admitting that the judicial proceedings were unfair.

2013–14 judicial reform
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">When Gülen withdrew support from the AKP government in late 2013, a  government corruption scandal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> broke out, leading to the arrest of several family members of cabinet ministers. Erdoğan accused Gülen of co-ordinating a " parallel state<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">" within the judiciary in an attempt to topple him from power. He then removed or reassigned several judicial officials in an attempt to remove Gülen's supporters from office. Erdoğan's 'purge' was widely questioned and criticised by the European Union. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In early 2014, a new law was passed by parliament giving the government greater control over the judiciary, which sparked public protest throughout the country. International organisations perceived the law to be a danger to the  separation of powers<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Several judicial officials removed from their posts said that they had been removed due to their secularist credentials. The political opposition accused Erdoğan of not only attempting to remove Gülen supporters, but supporters of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">principles as well, in order to pave the way for increased politicisation of the judiciary. Several family members of Erdoğan's ministers who had been arrested as a result of the 2013 corruption scandal were released, and a judicial order to question Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan was annulled. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Controversy erupted when it emerged that many of the newly appointed judicial officials were actually AKP supporters. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> İslam Çiçek, a judge who ejected the cases of five ministers' relatives accused of corruption, was accused of being an AKP supporter and an official investigation was launched into his political affiliations. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 1 September 2014, the courts dissolved the cases of 96 suspects, which included Bilal Erdoğan.

Media intimidation and censorship
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">See also:  Censorship in Turkey

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan has been criticised for his politicisation of the media, especially after the 2013 protests. The opposition  Republican People's Party <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">(CHP) alleged that over 1,863 journalists lost their jobs due to their anti-government views in 12 years of AKP rule. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Opposition politicians have also alleged that intimidation in the media is due to the government's attempt to restructure the ownership of private media corporations. Journalists from the  Cihan News Agency<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and the Gülenist  Zaman newspaper<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were repeatedly barred from attending government press conferences or asking questions. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Several opposition journalists such as  Soner Yalçın<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were controversially arrested as part of the  Ergenekon trials<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Sledgehammer coup investigation<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Veli Ağbaba, a CHP politician, has called the AKP the 'biggest media boss in Turkey.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2015, 74 US senators sent a letter to US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to state their concern over what they saw as deviations from the basic principles of democracy in Turkey and oppressions of Erdoğan over media.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Notable cases of media censorship occurred during the 2013 anti-government protests, when the mainstream media did not broadcast any news regarding the demonstrations for three days after they began. The lack of media coverage was symbolised by  CNN International <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">covering the protests while  CNN Türk<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> broadcast a documentary about penguins at the same time. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The  Radio and Television Supreme Council<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> (RTÜK) controversially issued a fine to pro-opposition news channels including  Halk TV<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Ulusal Kanal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> for their coverage of the protests, accusing them of broadcasting footage that could be morally, physically and mentally destabilising to children. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan was criticised for not responding to the accusations of media intimidation, and caused international outrage after telling a female journalist ( Amberin Zaman<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of  The Economist<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">) to know her place and calling her a 'shameless militant' during his  2014 presidential election campaign<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> While the  2014 presidential election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was not subject to substantial electoral fraud, Erdoğan was again criticised for receiving disproportionate media attention in comparison to his rivals. The British newspaper  The Times<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> commented that between 2 and 4 July, the state-owned media channel  TRT<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> gave 204 minutes of coverage to Erdoğan's campaign and less than a total of 3 minutes to both his rivals.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan also  tightened controls over the internet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, signing into law a bill which allows the government to block websites without prior court order on 12 September 2014. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> His government blocked Twitter and YouTube in late March 2014 following the release of a recording of a conversation between him and his son Bilal, where Erdoğan allegedly warned his family to 'nullify' all cash reserves at their home amid the  2013 corruption scandal<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan has undertaken a media campaign that attempts to portray the presidential family as frugal and simple-living; their palace electricity-bill is estimated at $500,000 per month.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Despite extensive censorship, Erdoğan has become the world's most insulted president, according to  Burak Bekdil<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> writing in the  Gatestone Institute<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Insults have been punished with prison sentences; for example, in May 2016, former  Miss Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> model  Merve Büyüksaraç<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was sentenced to more than a year in prison for allegedly insulting the president. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In a 2016 news story,  Bloomberg<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> reported, "more than 2,000 cases have been opened against journalists, cartoonists, teachers, a former Miss Turkey, and even schoolchildren in the past two years."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In November 2016, the Turkish government <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> blocked access to social media in all of Turkey <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as well as sought to completely block internet access for the citizens in the Southeast of the country.

Electoral fraud
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's government developed the SEÇSİS secure vote counting system in order to reduce fraud. However, it has been criticised for being prone to manipulation. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Particular controversy was generated by the fact that the system was developed in the United States.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The first significant cases of election fraud under Erdoğan's rule were documented during the  2009 local elections<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, where numerous cases of ballot paper theft were reported in Ankara<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and Adana.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In the  2011 general election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, a minivan containing ballot papers with a pre-stamped vote for the AKP was impounded by police in  İzmir<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> An independent candidate from  Yalova <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">also accused officials at polling stations of intimidating voters to vote for the AKP.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Substantial levels of fraud were documented during the  2014 local elections<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, including the theft and burning of ballots cast both for and against the AKP and the intimidation of officials counting the votes, including European Union Minister  Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, by government forces. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Several cases of opposition votes being counted as invalid and vote totals per ballot box being recorded incorrectly also caused controversy. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> With an unusually high number of power outages occurring throughout the country while votes were being counted, the government was ridiculed when Energy Minister  Taner Yıldız<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> blamed them on cats entering  transformers<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan was criticised for disregarding the high number of fraud cases and declaring victory none-the-less. Significant cases of misconduct were documented in  Yalova<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Ankara<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Antalya<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Ağrı<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. The  Supreme Electoral Council<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> ordered a repeat of the election in Yalova and Ağrı, both of which the AKP had initially narrowly lost to the  CHP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  BDP<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> respectively.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Despite strong surveillance by citizens during the  2014 presidential election<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, no serious cases of fraud were documented during the voting or counting process. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, Erdoğan was still heavily scrutinised over what was perceived to be excessive media bias in his favour during the campaigning process.

Political polarisation
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Political polarisation in Turkey soared during the 2013–14 anti-government protests, due to the government's response. A more general polarisation was caused by the undermining of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> principles and the  Constitution<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, which created tension between  secularists<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and government supporters. Both have been allegedly fuelled by Erdoğan's ignorance of the opposition, as well as strongly partisan speeches which have referred to anti-government protestors as 'looters,' 'terrorists,' and 'traitors.'

Mehmet Aksoy lawsuit
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2009, Turkish sculptor  Mehmet Aksoy<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> created the  Statue of Humanity<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in  Kars<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia. When visiting the city in 2011, Erdoğan deemed the statue a "freak", and months later it was demolished. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Aksoy sued Erdoğan for "moral indemnities", although his lawyer said that his statement was a critique rather than an insult. In March 2015, a judge ordered Erdoğan to pay Aksoy 10,000 lira.

Crackdown on Academics for Peace
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In January 2016, more than a thousand academics signed a petition criticizing Turkey's military crackdown on ethnic Kurdish towns and neighbourhoods in the east of the country, such as Sur (a district of  Diyarbakır<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">),  Silvan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Nusaybin<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Cizre<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Silopi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and asking an end to violence. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan accused those who signed the petition of "terrorist propaganda", calling them "the darkest of people". He called for action by institutions and universities, stating, "Everyone who benefits from this state but is now an enemy of the state must be punished without further delay." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Within days, over 30 of the signatories were arrested, many in dawn-time raids on their homes. Although all were quickly released, nearly half were fired from their jobs, eliciting a denunciation from Turkey's Science Academy for such "wrong and disturbing" treatment. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan vowed that the academics would pay the price for "falling into a pit of treachery".

The Pelican Brief memorandum
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 1 May 2016, a controversial anonymous blog post named  The Pelican Brief<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> demanded the resignation of Turkish Prime Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 4 May Ahmet Davutoglu met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the  Presidential Complex<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and it was announced Davutoglu that would not run for leadership again in the upcoming special party congress. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> It was described as a palace coup d'état on Turkish social media <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and by other sources.

Foreign policy
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main articles:  Foreign policy of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">,  List of prime ministerial trips made by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">, and  List of people by number of countries visited

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan is a co-founder of the so-called " Alliance of Civilizations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">" (AOC). The AOC initiative was proposed by the Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, at the 59th  General Assembly of the United Nations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in 2005. The initiative seeks to galvanize international action against  extremism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> through the forging of international, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue and cooperation.

European Union
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan was named "European of the Year 2004" by the newspaper  European Voice<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> for the reforms in his country. He said, "Turkey's accession shows that Europe is a continent where civilisations reconcile and not clash." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 3 October 2005, during Erdoğan's tenure as Prime Minister, negotiations for Turkey's accession to the EU formally started.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's government is not unconditionally pro-European. The  European Commission<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> generally supports Erdoğan's reforms, but remains critical of his policies. Negotiations about possible EU membership came to a standstill in 2009 and 2010, when Turkish ports were closed to Cypriot ships. Furthermore, fundamental rights remain an issue in Turkey. A law establishing the Turkish National Human Rights Institution was adopted by the Turkish parliament, but the law does not comply fully with the UN Paris principles on human rights institutions. In a 2012 European Commission report about possible Turkish accession to the  European Union<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, the Commission specifically mentioned the lack of the freedoms of; expression<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  thought<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  conscience<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  religion<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  assembly<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as well as restricted access to; independent and impartial  justice<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  children's rights<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and trade union rights, as areas where the Turkish government needs to implement reforms. Freedom of the press<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> continues to be restricted in practice, according to the report. No progress was made on anti-discrimination policies, such as discrimination against homosexuals. The position of socially vulnerable persons and/or persons with disabilities, torture in prisons and the issue of  violence against women<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in relationships outside marriage, as well as early and  forced marriages<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, also remain concerns, according to the report.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In February 2016, Erdoğan has threatened to  send the millions of refugees in Turkey to EU<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> member states, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> saying: "We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and we can put the refugees on buses ... So how will you deal with refugees if you don't get a deal? Kill the refugees?"

Greece and Cyprus dispute
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">During Erdoğan's Prime Ministership, relations with  Greece<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were normalized and political and economic relations improved significantly. In 2007, Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister  Kostas Karamanlis<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> met on the bridge over the Evros River, at the border between Greece and Turkey, for the inauguration of the Greek-Turkish natural gas pipeline. Linking the longtime Aegean rivals, this project will give Caspian gas its first direct Western outlet and help ease Russia's energy dominance. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Turkey and Greece signed an agreement to create a Combined Joint Operational Unit within the framework of NATO to participate in Peace Support Operations. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan and his party strongly supported the  EU-backed referendum<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to reunify Cyprus in 2004. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Negotiations about Turkey's possible EU membership came to a standstill in 2009 and 2010, when Turkish ports were closed to Cypriot ships in "revenge" for the economic isolation of the  Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and the failure of the EU to end the isolation, as it had promised in 2004. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The Turkish government continues its refusal to recognize the Republic of Cyprus.

Armenia
Armenia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> is Turkey's only neighbouring country that Erdoğan did not visit during his prime ministry. Turkish-Armenian relations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> are difficult due to the  denial of the Armenian Genocide<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> by Erdoğan and have been frozen since 1993 because of the  Nagorno-Karabakh War<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> with Turkey's close ally Azerbaijan.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Diplomatic efforts resulted in the  signing of protocols<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> by the Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministers in  Switzerland<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to improve relations between the two countries in 2010. One of the points of the agreement was the creation of a joint commission on the issue. The  Armenian Constitutional Court<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> decided that the commission contradicts the  Armenian constitution<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Turkey said that the Armenian court's ruling on the protocols was not acceptable. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The  parliament of Armenia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Turkey's National Assembly<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> decided to suspend the ratification process.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 5 August 2014, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a televised interview on  NTV<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> news network, remarked that being Armenian is "uglier" even than being Georgian, saying "You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian ... they have said even uglier things – they have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish."

Egypt
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  Egypt–Turkey relations

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan made his first official visit to  Egypt<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> on 12 September 2011, accompanied by six ministers and 200 businessmen. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">This visit was considered a diplomatic success. It was made very soon after Turkey had ejected Israeli ambassadors, cutting all diplomatic and bilateral military agreements <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> because Israel refused to apologize for the  Gaza flotilla raid<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> which killed eight Turkish and one Turco-American aboard a convoy headed to Gaza. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> This was the first visit to Egypt by a Prime Minister of Turkey in 15 years and the first after the  Egyptian Revolution of 2011<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's visit to Egypt was met with much enthusiasm by  Egyptians<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Even though it was midnight, Cairo traffic was reported to be jammed as thousands rushed to welcome the Turkish Prime Minister with Turkish flags. CNN<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> reported some Egyptians saying "We consider him as the Islamic leader in the Middle East", while others were appreciative of his role in supporting Gaza. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan was later honored in Tahrir Square by members of the Egyptian Revolution Youth Union, and members of the Turkish embassy were presented with a coat of arms in acknowledgment of the Prime Minister's support of the Egyptian Revolution. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> His visit brought criticism from  Middle Eastern Christians<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, however, when he drew comparisons in a speech between the fall of Mubarak and the  Fall of Constantinople<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, describing the  Byzantine Empire<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as a "dark civilization".

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">When asked in an interview with Mona Al Shazly on Dream TV, Erdoğan stated that he recommended secularism for Egypt, which generated rage among Islamic movements, especially the Freedom and Justice party – the political wing of the  Muslim Brotherhood<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. A week after he left, Turkish Foreign Minister,  Ahmet Davutoğlu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> proclaimed his vision of a strategic alliance between Turkey and Egypt, which he described as an "Axis of Democracy". <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, some voiced concerns that the Egyptian revolution was not fulfilled and that Erdoğan was seeking his own country's strategic interests. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> It was feared that by forming an alliance with the military junta in Egypt during the country's transition to democracy, Erdoğan may have tipped the balance in favor of those that stood between the Egyptians and their freedom. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In July 2014, after  Mohammed Morsi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Egypt's first democratically elected leader, was ousted in 2013, Erdoğan called Egyptian President  Abdel Fattah el-Sisi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> an "illegitimate tyrant".

Iraq
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Turkey under Erdoğan was named by the  Bush Administration<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as a part of the " coalition of the willing<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">" that was central to the  2003 invasion of Iraq<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Under Erdoğan,  Iraq<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and Turkey signed 48 trade agreements at the Iraqi-Turkish Strategic Council in Baghdad. Agreements were signed on issues including security, energy, oil, electricity, water, health, trade, environment, transport, housing, construction, agriculture, education, higher education, and defense. The Turkish government mended relations with  Iraqi Kurdistan<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> by opening a Turkish university in  Arbil<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and a Turkish consulate in  Mosul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 23 March 2009,  Abdullah Gül<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> became the first Turkish head of state to visit Iraq in 33 years.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's government fostered very strong economic and political relations with  Irbil<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and Turkey has begun to consider the  Kurdistan Regional Government<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in northern Iraq as an ally against Maliki's government.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In March 2015, Erdoğan criticized  Iran<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s regional ambitions in Iraq.

Israel
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">See also:  Israel–Turkey relations

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 1 May 2005, in a rare state visit by a leader of a Muslim majority country, Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, came to Israel offering to serve as a  Middle East<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  peace<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  mediator<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and looking to build on  trade<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  military<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> ties. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Along with him bringing a delegation of businessmen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to further  economic<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> ties. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> During his visit to Israel, Erdoğan also visited the  Yad Vashem<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, which is Israel's official  memorial<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">to the victims of the  Holocaust<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The President of Israel Shimon Peres <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> addressed the Turkish parliament during a visit in 2007, the first time an Israeli leader had addressed the legislature of a predominantly Muslim nation.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">At the 2009  World Economic Forum<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> conference, debate became heated in relation to the  Gaza War<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Peres responded to Erdoğan, stating that Turkey would have done the same if rockets had been hitting Istanbul. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan was interrupted by the moderator while he was responding to Peres: "Mister Peres, you are older than I am. Maybe you are feeling guilty and that is why you are raising your voice. When it comes to killing you know it too well. I remember how you killed the children on beaches ..." Upon the moderator's reminder that they needed to adjourn for dinner, Erdoğan left the panel, accusing the moderator of giving Peres more time than all the other panelists combined.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Following the  Gaza flotilla raid<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in May 2010, tension between the two countries mounted. Erdoğan strongly condemned the raid, describing it as "state terrorism", and called for the Israeli leaders responsible to apologize. Erdoğan described Israel <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as "the main threat to regional peace", and called for Israel's nuclear facilities <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to come under IAEA <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> inspection. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.2px;line-height:11.2px;white-space:nowrap;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan accused Israel of turning Gaza into an "open-air prison". <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> UN Secretary General  Ban Ki-moon<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> subsequently described Erdoğan's remarks as "hurtful and divisive."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">During the March 2012 Gaza-Israel clashes <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan demanded that Israel must stop the 'massacre' of Palestinians in Gaza, saying that it was a part of an Israeli campaign of "genocide" against the  Palestinian people<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In February 2013, Erdoğan called Zionism <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> a "crime against humanity", comparing it to Islamophobia, antisemitism, and fascism. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He later retracted the statement, saying he had been misinterpreted. He said "everyone should know" that his comments were directed at "Israeli policies," especially as regards to "Gaza and the settlements." Erdoğan also said "in several statements I openly condemned anti-Semitism, and it clearly displays my position on this issue." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan's branding of Zionism as a crime against humanity was condemned by the Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, criticized by the US Secretary of State  John Kerry<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and called unacceptable by the German Foreign Minister  Guido Westerwelle<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and EU High Representative  Catherine Ashton<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In August 2013, the  Hürriyet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> reported that Erdoğan had stated to a meeting of the AKP's provincial chairs that Israel was responsible for the  military coup in Egypt<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> which overthrew  Mohammad Morsi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Erdoğan reportedly stated "Who is behind this? Israel. We have evidence". Specifically, Erdoğan cited a video posted online of  Tzipi Livni<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> speaking with French intellectual  Bernard-Henri Levy<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Erdoğan alleged that Levy said: "The  Muslim Brotherhood<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> will not be in power even if they win the elections, because democracy is not the ballot box." However, what Levy said was: "If the Muslim Brotherhood arrives in Egypt, I will not say democracy wants it, so let democracy progress. Democracy is not only elections, it is also values ... I will urge the prevention of [the Muslim Brotherhood] coming to power, but by all sorts of means." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman later stated that Erdoğan's accusation was "a statement well worth not commenting on". Egypt's interim government rejected Erdoğan' allegations, describing it as "baseless", and charged that "Its purpose is to strike at the unity of Egyptians."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Relations between the two countries began to normalize after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu officially apologized for the death of the nine Turkish activists during the Gaza flotilla raid. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, in response to the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan accused Israel of being "more barbaric than Hitler", <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and conducting "state terrorism <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">" and a "genocide attempt" against the Palestinians. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He also stated that "If Israel continues with this attitude, it will definitely be tried at international courts."

Russia
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main article:  Russia–Turkey relations

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In December 2004, Russian president  Vladimir Putin<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> visited Turkey. This was only the second presidential visit in the history of Turkish-Russian relations after that of the Chairman of the  Presidium of the Supreme Soviet<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of the  USSR<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Nikolai Podgorny<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, in 1972. In November 2005, Putin attended the inauguration of a jointly constructed  Blue Stream<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> natural gas pipeline in Turkey. This sequence of top-level visits brought several important bilateral issues to the forefront. The two countries consider it their strategic goal to achieve "multidimensional co-operation", especially in the fields of energy, transport and the military. Specifically, Russia aims to invest in Turkey's fuel and energy industries, and it also expects to participate in the modernisation of Turkey's military.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2010, then-President  Dmitry Medvedev<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> described Turkey as "one of our most important partners with respect to regional and international issues", adding, "We can confidently say that Russian-Turkish relations have advanced to the level of a multidimensional strategic partnership."

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 12 May 2010, Ankara and Moscow signed 17 agreements to enhance cooperation in energy and other fields, including pacts to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant and further plans for an oil pipeline from the  Black Sea<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to the  Mediterranean Sea<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. The leaders of both countries also signed an agreement on visa-free travel, enabling tourists to get into the country for free and stay there for up to 30 days.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan is defender of the  Crimean Tatars<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">' minority rights. He said after meeting with Crimean Tatar leaders in August 2015: "Unfortunately, throughout history, the right of the Crimean Tatar people to live in dignity in their own homeland was undermined with collective deportations and repression. Today we are witnessing the illegal annexation of the Crimea and other regrettable events." <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 20 August 2016 Erdoğan told his  Ukrainian<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> counterpart  Petro Poroshenko<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> that Turkey would not recognize the  2014 Russian annexation of Crimea<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">; calling it "Crimea's occupation".

Saudi Arabia
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Diplomatic ties with  Saudi Arabia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> were established in 1929. In recent years, importance has been given to regional issues and to the improvement of bilateral relations to strengthen political, economic and military ties.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In August 2006,  King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz as-Saud<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> made a visit to  Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. This was the first visit by a  Saudi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> monarch to Turkey in four decades. The monarch made a second visit on 9 November 2007. Turkish-Saudi trade volume exceeded  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;white-space:nowrap;">US$ <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> 3.2 billion in 2006, almost double the figure achieved in 2003. In 2009, this amount reached  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;white-space:nowrap;">US$ <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> 5.5 billion and the goal for the year 2010 was  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;white-space:nowrap;">US$ <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> 10 billion. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Trade is expected to increase further as the strategic locations of both countries mean their economies are in a position to supplement each other.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In March 2015, Erdoğan said that Turkey supported the  Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> against the  Shia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Houthis<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and forces loyal to former President  Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Somalia
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">See also:  Somalia–Turkey relations

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Erdoğan's administration maintained strong ties with the  Federal Government of Somalia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Following a greatly improved security situation in  Mogadishu<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in mid-2011, the Turkish government re-opened its foreign embassy with the intention of more effectively assisting in the post-conflict development process. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> It was among the first foreign administrations to resume formal diplomatic relations with Somalia after the civil war.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Development cooperation between Turkey and Somalia is multi-tiered, and includes military, social, economic and infrastructural partnerships. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In May 2010, the Turkish and Somali governments signed a military training agreement, in keeping with the provisions outlined in the Djibouti Peace Process. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Enforcement of the pact officially began in November 2012. Outlining training, technical and scientific cooperation, the treaty includes joint-service exercises between both national militaries and exchanges of delegations and personnel. It also encompasses training by the Turkish Military Medical Academy and Mapping General Command, between the gendarmerie and coast guard, as well as in-field training and education at national military installations and institutions. Additionally, the agreement includes provisions for the mutual exchange of information vis-a-vis military history, publications and museology.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Turkish Airlines became the first long-distance international commercial airline in two decades to resume flights to and from Mogadishu's  Aden Adde International Airport<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In September 2013, the Turkish company Favori LLC began operations at the airport. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In partnership with the Somali government, Turkish officials also launched various development and infrastructure projects in Somalia. They have assisted in the building of several hospitals, and helped renovate and rehabilitate the National Assembly building, among other initiatives.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In May 2013, the 1st Turkish-Somali Business Forum was held in Istanbul to highlight commercial opportunities in both Turkey and Somalia for Turkish and Somali businesses. Organized by the Somali Council in conjunction with Turkish and Somali government ministries, the event included roundtable discussions on potential commercial ventures in both countries as well as business-to-business meetings between Turkish and Somali firms.

Syria
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">During Erdoğan's term of office, diplomatic relations between Turkey and Syria significantly deteriorated. At first there were hopeful signs. In 2004, President  Bashar al-Assad<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">arrived in Turkey for the first official visit by a Syrian President in 57 years. In late 2004, Erdoğan signed a free trade agreement with Syria. Visa restrictions between the two countries were lifted in 2009, which caused an economic boom in the regions near the Syrian border. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Before the  Syrian civil war<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan and al-Assad were described by  The Economist<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as "the best of friends". <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, in 2011, the relationship between the two countries was strained following the outbreak of conflict in Syria. Erdoğan said he was trying to "cultivate a favorable relationship with whatever government would take the place of Assad". <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> However, he began to directly support the armed opposition in Syria, creating a serious Syrian refugee problem in Turkey, conflict over armed fighter bases in Turkey, and an unpopular conflict with Syria. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan's policy of providing military training for anti-Damascus fighters has also created conflict with Syria's ally, Iran.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">As of 2015, Turkey is actively supporting the  Army of Conquest<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> an umbrella Syrian rebel group that reportedly includes an  al-Qaeda<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> linked  al-Nusra Front<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and another  Salafi<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">coalition known as  Ahrar al-Sham<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Al-Nusra Front and  Islamic State<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> (ISIL) sometimes cooperate with each other when they fight against the Syrian government.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In late November 2016, Erdoğan said that the Turkish military  launched its operations in Syria<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to end the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Days later, Erdoğan sought to retract his statement; media observers attributed his outburst to frustration due to failure of his government's Syria policies. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In an interview with the state-run  Syrian Arab News Agency<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> on 8 December, Syria President  Bashar al-Assad<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> said that "as long as the Turkish policy is run by an abnormal and psychologically-disturbed person like Erdogan, we have to expect all possibilities".

United States
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">When  Barack Obama<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> became President of the United States, he made  his first overseas bilateral meeting visit to Turkey<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in April 2009.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">At a joint news conference in Turkey, Obama said: "I'm trying to make a statement about the importance of Turkey, not just to the United States but to the world. I think that where there's the most promise of building stronger  U.S.-Turkish relations<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> is in the recognition that Turkey and the United States can build a model partnership in which a predominantly Christian nation, a predominantly  Muslim<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> nation – a Western nation and a nation that straddles two continents," he continued, "that we can create a modern international community that is respectful, that is secure, that is prosperous, that there are not tensions – inevitable tensions between cultures – which I think is extraordinarily important."

Elections and referenda
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In terms of his successes in elections and  referenda<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, Erdoğan is one of the most successful politicians in the Republican era of Turkish history <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Since 1994, he has taken part in 3 general elections, 3 local elections, 1 by-election and 2 referenda, none of which he has lost.

General elections
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main articles:  Turkish general election, 2002<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">;  Turkish general election, 2007<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">; and  Turkish general election, 2011

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The elections of 2002 were the first elections in which Erdoğan participated as a party leader. All parties previously elected to parliament failed to win enough votes to re-enter the parliament. The AKP won 34.3% of the national vote and formed the new government. Turkish stocks rose more than 7% on Monday morning. Politicians of the previous generation, such as  Ecevit<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Bahceli<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Yılmaz<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Çiller<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, resigned. The second largest party, the CHP, received 19.4% of the votes.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The stage of the elections of 2007 was set for a fight for legitimacy in the eyes of voters between his government and the CHP. Erdoğan used the event that took place during the ill-fated Presidential elections a few months earlier as a part of the general election campaign of his party. On 22 July 2007, the AKP won an important victory over the opposition, garnering 46.7% of the popular vote. 22 July elections marked only the second time in the Republic of Turkey's history whereby an incumbent governing party won an election by increasing its share of popular support.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 14 March 2008, Turkey's Chief Prosecutor asked the country's Constitutional Court to ban Erdoğan's governing party. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The party escaped a ban on 30 July 2008, a year after winning 46.7% of the vote in national elections, although judges did cut the party's public funding by 50%.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In the June 2011 elections, Erdoğan's governing party won 327 seats (49.83% of the popular vote) making Erdoğan the only prime minister in Turkey's history to win three consecutive general elections, each time receiving more votes than the previous election. The second party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), received 135 seats (25.94%), the nationalist MHP received 53 seats (13.01%), and the Independents received 35 seats (6.58%).

Presidential elections
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main articles:  Turkish presidential election, 2007<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Turkish presidential election, 2014

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 14 April 2007, an estimated 300,000 people marched in  Ankara<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> to protest against the possible candidacy of Erdoğan in the 2007 presidential election, afraid that if elected as President, he would alter the secular nature of the Turkish state. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Erdoğan announced on 24 April 2007 that the party had nominated  Abdullah Gül<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as the AKP candidate in the presidential election. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The protests continued over the next several weeks, with over one million people reported to have turned out at a 29 April rally in Istanbul, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> tens of thousands at separate protests on 4 May in  Manisa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Çanakkale<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and one million in  İzmir<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> on 13 May.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Early parliamentary elections were called after the failure of the parties in parliament to agree on the next Turkish president. The opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary vote and deadlocked the election process. At the same time, Erdoğan spoke of a failure of the Turkish political system and proposed to modify the constitution. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Gül was later elected President after the general elections on 22 July 2007 that saw AKP and Erdoğan brought back to power with 46.7% of the vote. Later in 2007, a  Turkish constitutional referendum<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was approved with the support of 69% of voters to modify the constitution to allow the people to elect the President.

Local elections
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main articles:  Turkish local elections, 1994<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">;  Turkish local elections, 2004<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">;  Turkish local elections, 2009<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">; and  Turkish local elections, 2014

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 1994 Erdoğan was elected  Mayor of Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, one of the biggest metropolitan areas of the world. He received 25.19% of the popular vote. After the AKP won the 2002 general elections under the leadership of Erdoğan, it has received more votes in the 2004 local elections. The AKP was the biggest party in 12 out of 16 metropolitan municipality.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The Turkish local elections of 2009 took place during the  financial crisis of 2007–2010<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. In these elections the AKP received 39% of the vote, 3% less than in the local elections of 2004. The second party CHP received 23% of the vote and the third party MHP received 16% of the vote. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The AKP won in Turkey's two largest cities:  Ankara<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Istanbul<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

Referenda
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">Main articles:  Turkish constitutional referendum, 2007<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;"> and  Turkish constitutional referendum, 2010

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After the opposition parties deadlocked the 2007 presidential election by boycotting the parliament, the ruling AKP proposed a constitutional reform package. The reform package was first vetoed by president Sezer. Then he applied to the Turkish constitutional court about the reform package, because the president is unable to veto amendments for the second time. The Turkish constituonal court did not find any problems in the packet and 68.95% of the voters supported the constitutional changes. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The reforms consisted of: electing the president by popular vote instead of by parliament, reducing the presidential term from seven years to five, allowing the president to stand for re-election for a second term, holding general elections every four years instead of five and reducing the quorum of lawmakers needed for parliamentary decisions from 367 to 184.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After the opposition parties deadlocked the 2007 presidential election by boycotting the parliament, the ruling AKP proposed a constitutional reform package. The reform package was first vetoed by president Sezer. Then he applied to the Turkish constitutional court about the reform package, because the president is unable to veto amendments for the second time. The Turkish constituonal court did not find any problems in the packet and 68.95% of the voters supported the constitutional changes. <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The reforms consisted of: electing the president by popular vote instead of by parliament, reducing the presidential term from seven years to five, allowing the president to stand for re-election for a second term, holding general elections every four years instead of five and reducing the quorum of lawmakers needed for parliamentary decisions from 367 to 184.

Honors and accolades
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;">See also:  List of honorary doctorates awarded to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan



Awards

 * 29 January 2004: Profile of Courage Award from the  American Jewish Congress, for promoting peace between cultures.   Returned at the request of the A.J.C. in July 2014.
 * 18 April 2004: listed in Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world" and was called a builder of bridges by the magazine.
 * 13 June 2004: Golden Plate award from the  Academy of Achievement  during the conference in Chicago.
 * 3 October 2004: German Quadriga prize for improving relationships between different cultures.
 * 1 December 2004: named European of the Year by the weekly European Voice, for having put Turkey on the path to reform.
 * 2 September 2005: Mediterranean Award for Institutions (Italian: Premio Mediterraneo Istituzioni). This was awarded by the Fondazione Mediterraneo.
 * 1 June 2006: Russian state medal from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
 * 8 August 2006: Caspian Energy Integration Award from the Caspian Integration Business Club.
 * 1 November 2006: Outstanding Service award from the Turkish humanitarian organization Red Crescent.
 * 2 February 2007: Dialogue Between Cultures Award from the President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev.
 * 12 March 2007: together with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, the 2007 RUMI Peace and Dialogue award.
 * 15 April 2007: Crystal Hermes Award from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the opening of the Hannover Industrial Fair.
 * 11 July 2007: highest award of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Agricola Medal, in recognition of his contribution to agricultural and social development in Turkey.
 * 15 January 2008: together with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, the Building Bridges Award from the AMSS(UK), for their efforts to unify communities separated by race, culture and religion, for promoting a climate of respect, and peaceful co-existence through launching the Alliance of Civilizations project.
 * 11 May 2009: Avicenna award from the Avicenna Foundation in Frankfurt, Germany.
 * 9 June 2009: guest of honor at the 20th Crans Montana Forum in Brussels and received the Prix de la Fondation, for democracy and freedom.
 * 25 June 2009: Key to the City of Tirana on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.
 * 26 October 2009: Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award in Pakistan.
 * 29 December 2009: Award for Contribution to World Peace from the Turgut Özal Thought and Move Association.
 * 12 January 2010: King Faisal International Prize for "service to Islam" from the King Faisal Foundation.
 * 23 February 2010: Nodo Culture Award from the mayor of Seville for his efforts to launch the Alliance of Civilizations initiative.
 * 1 March 2010: United Nations–HABITAT award in memorial of Rafik Hariri. A seven-member international jury unanimously found Erdoğan deserving of the award because of his "excellent achievement and commendable conduct in the area of leadership, statesmanship and good governance. Erdoğan also initiated the first roundtable of mayors during the Istanbul conference, which led to a global, organized movement of mayors."
 * 29 April 2010: listed for the second time in Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world".
 * 17 May 2010: Georgia's Order of Golden Fleece for his contribution to development of bilateral relations.
 * 27 May 2010: medal of honor from the Brazilian Federation of Industry for the State of São Paulo (FIESP) for his contributions to industry
 * 31 May 2010: World Health Organization 2010 World No Tobacco Award for "his dedicated leadership on tobacco control in Turkey."
 * 29 June 2010: 2010 World Family Award from the World Family Organization which operates under the umbrella of the United Nations.
 * 4 November 2010: Golden Medal of Independence, an award conferred upon Kosovo citizens and foreigners that have contributed to the independence of Kosovo.
 * 25 November 2010: "Leader of the Year" award presented by the Union of Arab Banks in Lebanon.
 * 29 November 2010: guest of honor at the 3rd EU-Africa Summit in Libya and recipient of the Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights.
 * 11 January 2011: "Outstanding Personality in the Islamic World Award" of the Sheikh Fahad al-Ahmad International Award for Charity in Kuwait.
 * 2 February 2011: Kyrgyzstan's Danaker Order in Bishkek.
 * 25 October 2011: Palestinian International Award for Excellence and Creativity (PIA) 2011 for his support to the Palestinian people and cause.
 * 21 January 2012: 'Gold Statue 2012 Special Award' by the Polish Business Center Club (BCC). Erdoğan was awarded for his systematic effort to clear barriers on the way to economic growth, striving to build democracy and free market relations.
 * ==Sources==
 * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdoğan
 * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdoğan