Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician who became prominent as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998 before founding the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001. He served as Turkey’s prime minister from 2003 to 2014 and became the country’s first popularly elected president in August 2014. Born in Istanbul on February 26, 1954, Erdoğan has remained Turkey’s president since then, winning reelection in 2018 and 2023.