President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who rose to become one of Türkiye’s most influential politicians from humble roots, did not celebrate his 72nd birthday personally, but supporters cheered the long-serving leader. A song devoted to “Reis” (chief) adorned the social media accounts of supporters of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which released the original song accompanied by a video reflecting Erdoğan’s career and life. The song with a refrain "to many more years, reis" highlights how the most famous man in Türkiye right now started out on the cobblestone alleys of Istanbul and rose to the halls of power of Ankara.
Erdoğan is probably the most renowned politician in Türkiye, especially for those born in the 2000s, as he is one of the unchanged figures in the ranks of governance. He first led the AK Party to victory in 2002 and, since then, served either as prime minister or president. His incumbent tenure is expected to end in 2028, though it is unclear whether he will compete, since current laws block his re-election. Yet, he may be able to run again if Parliament approves an early election before his tenure ends.
It is up to Erdoğan to decide his political future, but his legacy is already full of achievements crammed into 24 years. Erdoğan is credited with launching an unprecedented development drive in every field across the country, introducing a new style of politics mixing the good ideas of old political mindsets. Carving out an image of a man of the people, Erdoğan became the voice of the disenfranchised communities, from Muslims ostracized from the public sector, to Alevis and Romanis. Erdoğan and the party, thus, garnered votes from right-wing parties of yesterday as well as left-leaning voters unsatisfied with the performance of opposition “social democrats.”
Though wrinkles and a slower pace give away his advanced years, Erdoğan occasionally proves that age is just a number. Most recently, he was captured on video while shooting hoops with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. A football player in his youth, Erdoğan took up basketball in recent years, occasionally playing matches with intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın and minister of youth and sports Osman Aşkın Bak.
The president was born in Kasımpaşa, a working-class neighborhood on Istanbul’s European side, in 1954 to parents Ahmet, a ferry captain who originally hailed from Black Sea region’s tea hub Rize, and housewife Tenzile. The eldest of three children, Erdoğan was named after his grandfather Tayyip and Recep, the Turkish name of the seventh month of the Islamic calendar, Rajab.
In his early years, Erdoğan was passionate about football and played in amateur clubs in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he made his first foray into activism and politics. In this tumultuous decade, he was a member of the National Turkish Students’ Union. In the same decade, he enrolled in a business school at Marmara University and started rising in the football world of Istanbul with a transfer to the IETT Sports Club.
In 1976, he was elected as head of the youth branch of the National Salvation Party (MSP) for Istanbul, a tenure that would shape his political future. The MSP was the second major party co-founded by Necmettin Erbakan, Erdoğan’s political mentor. The young man rose in politics and his personal life as he married Emine Erdoğan two years later and welcomed his first child in 1979. But a military coup in 1980 disrupted the future president’s life as it did to millions of others. As political parties were shut down one by one by a military junta, Erdoğan had to suspend his political activities. In the same decade, he scrapped his budding football career as well. After graduating from Marmara University in 1981, Erdoğan pursued a business career and enrolled in the army. But politics have always been in his heart, and he joined the Welfare Party (RP) of Erbakan in 1983. A familiar face in the party due to his MSP past and activism in the Students’ Union, Erdoğan quickly rose in the party and was elected as Istanbul chair of the RP in 1985. A skilled orator and organizer, Erdoğan is credited with boosting the RP’s image in Türkiye’s most populated city.
In 1989, Erdoğan embarked on his long journey in political offices when he was nominated as mayor of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul by the RP. He lost but was undaunted. In the 1991 elections, he was nominated for Parliament as a lawmaker from Istanbul, losing again. Erdoğan, however, did not lose hope and further emerged as a popular figure in the RP.
His big break in municipal politics came in 1994 when he beat relatively more popular candidates of other parties and was elected mayor of Istanbul at 40. This proved Erdoğan’s breakthrough and exposed him to national recognition. Erdoğan is credited with resolving the city’s chronic problems, from severe pollution to addressing longstanding water shortage problems. But Erdoğan faced another hurdle during his tenure. At a time of rising opposition to the RP, which formed a coalition government with the Right Path Party (DYP) by military brass eager for a repeat of the 1980 coup, Erdoğan found himself the target of the witch hunt against the conservative population. A poem deemed “reactionary” by the secular elite led by top generals landed him in a brief court battle. In 1997, Erdoğan, a poetry lover who still peppers his speeches with verses from his favorite poets, was sentenced over this poem, which cost him his seat as Istanbul mayor. He started serving his sentence in 1999 and was released a few months later. The incident only served to boost his image in politics.
With the RP suffering from the fallout of a 1997 coup, Erdoğan decided to carve out his own political path and founded the Movement of Virtue with fellow political activists and politicians after his prison stint. The movement evolved into the AK Party in 2001. The rest was history for Erdoğan, who became a household name in Türkiye in his roles as prime minister first and then, president. Along the way, he weathered multiple crises, from an attempt to shut down his party through a lawsuit by the elite circles he beat at the elections, multiple attempts by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), first to undermine his government and then to assassinate the president, as well as the 2013 Gezi Park riots, which sought to overthrow him.
