Who is the president of turkey
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: A History
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on january 11
2017 a brawl broke out on the floor of
turkey's parliament
over a constitutional reform bill which
would change the structure of government
from a parliamentary democracy to a
strong executive presidency
the bill is up for a popular vote on
april 16th and it's shaping up as a
referendum on president rajiv tayyip
erdogan
whose islamic leanings have put him at
odds with many in turkey's old political
elite and civil society
here's a look at his political career
over the last two and a half decades
in march 1994 mr erdogan is elected
mayor of istanbul
he bans alcohol sales in some of the
city's cafes
which some of turkey's political elite
see as a sign that mr erdogan
wants to islamicize society turkey
secularism is written into their
constitution but many welcome the
changes
four years later he is convicted of
inciting religious hatred because of a
poem he read during a political rally
mr erdogan serves four months in jail
and is banned from holding office for
life
in august 2001 mr erdogan along with
political leaders and businessmen
formed the justice and development party
akp
with ambitious goals to open turkey to
europe and the world
on november 3rd 2002 the awk party
sweeps to victory in a national election
and in december turkey's parliament
reverses the bans against mr erdogan
a few months later he enters parliament
and is named the country's prime
minister
in the next general election on july
22nd 2007
mr erdogan's ruling party dominates with
46
of the vote the election hardens divides
between turkey's secular elite
and the majority or religious muslims on
june 12
2011 mr erdogan and the ag party win a
third consecutive national election
strengthened by their social reforms and
free-market policies
that have attracted record amounts of
foreign investment
another key to the act party's success
is the close political relationship
between the party
and turkish religious leader fethullah
gulen in october 2013
the awk party overturns what's known as
the headscarf man that had prevented
religiously observant women from
attending university and taking jobs in
the civil service
but later that year prosecutors and
judges leak a corruption investigation
against four turkish ministers and some
erdogan confidants
including his son sparking widespread
protests
mr erdogan believes fethullah gulen is
to blame for orchestrating the probe
and erdogan starts official
investigations against gulen
and his followers in turkey mr erdogan
and others
say there is no merit to the corruption
allegations against
them and the original investigation is
quashed
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in august 2014 mr erdogan becomes
turkey's
first popularly elected president but
his position is weakened
the akp temporarily loses its
parliamentary majority
peace talks with the kurdish rebels
break down
arab and western fighters use turkey as
a gateway to join islamic state and
other groups
terror attacks become more and more
frequent syrian refugees
pour over the border the currency
plummets
then on july 15 2016
a military coup attempt shakes the
country to its core
president erdogan is seen as a rallying
point for citizens against a violent
right
but that unity is short-lived erdogan
enacts a state of emergency
tens of thousands of suspected coup
sympathizers and political opponents are
arrested
more than 150 000 turks are summarily
fired from jobs
without evidence of wrongdoing turkey
becomes the world's leading jailer of
journalists
and the government closes 160 media
outlets
this is where we are now as turkey
decides whether to centralize power in
the executive branch
and possibly allow mr erdogan to rule
for another decade
it's unclear what will happen if the
referendum is rejected
turkey's future hangs in the balance
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