OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

What we don't know about Erdogan: He sold buns, was in prison, played football

2023-05-14 18:49:46Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
What we don't know about Erdogan: He sold buns, was in prison, played
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

From the mayor of Istanbul, to the president of Turkey. Who is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who this Sunday faces the challenge of his life in the country's presidential elections

Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces the challenge of his life this Sunday. Charismatic, centralizing, eccentric, so much so that his loyalists are afraid to oppose him, the Turkish president is a "self-made man".

Born in the modest neighborhood of Kasimpaşa, he managed to first become the mayor of Istanbul (1994-1998), then prime minister (2003-2014) and finally president.

Georgian origin

According to historian Hakan Yavuz, Erdogan was born in Guneysu, Rize province, and later his family moved to Istanbul's Kasimpasha district. His family is originally from Adjara, a region of Georgia. Erdogan himself admitted this in 2003, but later denied it.

Cake seller

He started working in Istanbul when he was still in elementary school. To contribute to the family economy, he goes out on the streets to sell buns, the typical Turkish focaccia covered in sesame.

Islamic school

Erdogan studied at an Islamic school before attending Marmara University in Istanbul. In 2014, it made a reform that extended the teaching of the Islamic religion to all schools, also providing for the study of the Arabic language to allow students to understand the Koran.

Militancy

His militancy began at the age of 15 when he participated in the first demonstrations of the National Union of Turkish Students, an organization in which he quickly rose to positions of responsibility. During this period, he will meet with his mentor, Necmettin Erbakan, founder of the National Order Party (MNP), an opponent of Turkey's Westerners.

Jail

In 1999 Erdogan was sentenced to 10 months in prison for "inciting religious hatred" after reciting an Islamic poem that said: "Mosques are our barracks, domes are our helmets, minarets are our bayonets and believers are our soldiers."

He was released from prison after four months. Paradoxically, the banner of freedom of expression was one of its strengths in the early years. The founder of the Republic, Kemal Ataturk, had in fact imposed an exaggerated secularism of the state, which, for example, forbade girls to go veiled to university.

footballer

The Turkish president boasts a truly competitive career, having played for Erokspor, Camtli and then Iett Istanbul. He made his debut at the age of 15 for Erokspor, a team from his Istanbul neighborhood, Kasimpasha. It is said that the mother, Tenzile, was so proud of her sporty son that she carefully washed his shorts and shirt while the father concentrated on his studies.

Villas by the sea

Now, in the 1,125-room Presidential Palace in the heart of Ankara, like Ceausescu's in Bucharest, the president has built a new extra-luxurious residence for his family's summer vacations.

The compound is located on Turkey's southern Aegean coast, in Marmaris, and is where he made his desperate escape on the night of the failed coup in the summer of 2016.

It is a 300-room villa built on an area the size of 130 football pitches and costing Turkish taxpayers over 60 million euros between 2018 and 2021.

Pro-Lgbt+ discourse

Shortly before becoming prime minister, in 2002, during an event with an audience of young people, Erdogan declared absolutely in favor of the LGBT+ community and respecting its rights.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×