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Jul 26 08 1:31 PM

Recep Erdogan Prime Minister of Turkey






A bit of history first

He was born in Tokat, (please note that Wiki is incorrect in his birth location ) raised in Rize (and later in Istanbul) and he came to power in Siirt. These 3 places Tokat, Rize and Siirt were once part of the Assyrian Empire.











His family was descended from Georgian immigrants who settled from Batum to Rize. (He announced his origins during his visit to Georgia in 2004.) Born into a poor family he was one of five children. His father worked for Turkey’s coast guard. When Erdogan was 13, the family moved to Istanbul, hoping for better opportunities. Erdogan went to an Islamic school then studied business management at Istanbul’s Marmara University. While there, he joined the country’s growing political Islamist movement. He played soccer professionally and worked for Istanbul’s transportation authority until he was fired for refusing, on religious grounds, to shave his moustache.


Mr Erdogan came to office a popular politician. Charismatic and driven, he saw his support grow after his party helped bring economic and political stability to the country.

But he has always had his secularist opponents, who accuse him and the party he founded of harbouring a secret agenda to turn Turkey into a religious society.

The prime minister's past is associated with hardline Islamic views, and his party has its roots in political Islam. But Mr Erdogan has sought to moderate his position since coming to government.

The country's generals - the guardians of Turkey's secularist constitution - however, have viewed this apparent moderation with suspicion. (hence the news headlines at present)

While Mayor of Istanbul he quoted this poem:

"Mosques are our barracks,
domes our helmets,
minarets our bayonets,
believers our soldiers.
This holy army guards my religion.

Almighty our journey is our destiny,
the end is martyrdom.



Erdoğan was tried and convicted of inciting "religious hatred" in 1998 for quoting this . He was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment of which he served four between March and July 1999 and banned from politics.


But a speedy change in the law cleared the way for Mr Erdogan to run for parliament - and within days of his victory he had been named as prime minister.




The Man who shakes hands with the world.








St Erdogan

Quote:
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has, of course, several characteristics and qualities that make him a good politician and statesman. But with all due respect to him, I think, he is very successful because of his opponents and enemies. With unskilled and sloppy tactics and dishonest moves, his adversaries have consistently contributed to his success. Once they excitedly claimed that he could not even be elected a village headman, and the man is now maybe the most powerful Turkish prime minister we have ever seen.


Quote:
The media outlets of the groups consistently distort facts, lie and even fabricate stories. Whatever they say about Erdoğan, people assume that the opposite must be true.

With his opponents working at full capacity, the next stage could only be sainthood for Erdoğan. But a St. Erdoğan would listen to no one's advice and thus would definitely be unsuccessful in the long run. If this is what his opponents, enemies and the oligarchy intend to achieve, this is not just a tactic but a very good strategy. There is only one cilantro hurdle though: They have to be very patient as this sainthood process could take at least 10 years. Strategies take time to implement.