RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN
(Recep Tayyip Erdoğan)
He did not originate this line. It came from a Turkish religious poet. As a young politician, He was advocating a Muslim government. But Turkey is the only majority Muslim country whose Constitution requires a secular government as a result of the great revolution and reform of Kamal Ataturk who also ended the Caliphate. Erdogan was jailed for 90 days for attacking the secular government and urging a religious replacement. When he served his sentence he stayed away form demagogic and religious appeals to return the state to a theocracy. though some have always suspected him of having that motive.
In his early political career he talked and acted like a democrat forcing the military out of politics which they had been active in. He obtained the support of the democrats in Turkey and the Western Democratic governments. However as he amassed power he weakened or eliminated most of the4 democartic aspects of Turkish society. He eradicated the independence of the judiciary, gained control over the schools and the universities,, adopted many Islamic aspects of government eradicating the secular government which was the cornerstone of the Attaturk bloodless revolution, prohibited demonstrations against the government and jailed over 150 journalists and forcing many others to flee thereby controlling the press and other information sources. Ironically, despite his one-man autocratic rule, about half the population, many of whom had supported him when he pretended to be a democrat, opposed him causing him to become even more autocratic.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician serving as the current President of Turkey. He previously served as Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001, leading it to election victories in 2002, 2007, and 2011 before being required to stand down upon his election as President in 2014. He later returned to the AKP leadership in 2017 following the constitutional referendum that year. Coming from an Islamist political background and self-describing as a conservative democrat, he has promoted socially conservative and populist policies during his administration.
