In 1999 Turkey's President Was Put in Prison, Here's Why
The President of Turkey was arrested and put in prison for Inciting religious hatred. Here's the story.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hailing from Istanbul, was born on February 26, 1954. A fervent political figure, he rose to power in 2003 when he was elected Prime Minister of Turkey and later became the President in 2016.
Under his leadership, Istanbul flourished -- streets were widened and modernized, providing citizens with better public services.
In 1998, however, Erdoğan was accused of inciting religious hatred after reciting a poem by Ziya Gökalp, which compared mosques to barracks, with the faithful acting as an army. He served a brief prison sentence before breaking away from Erbakan's Islamist movement and forming the AKP - a party inspired by European Christian Democratic models. His rise to power has been steeped in controversy ever since.
Erdoğan's rise to power was unstoppable, delivering him a landslide victory in 2002 and then a complete list of his political ban. His resolve could not be shaken, and with a decisive by-election win in Siirt, Erdoğan solidified himself as Prime Minister of Turkey in 2003. Unstoppable, he led the AKP to two more election victories, building an unbreakable foundation for reforms that would bring Turkey closer to EU membership negotiations in 2007.
The economic crisis of 2001 had no effect on Erdoğan as his ambition and determination pushed Turkey towards immense infrastructure investments, including new roads, airports, and high-speed train networks. His people showed their support with votes in two successful constitutional referendums in 2007 and 2010.
Erdoğan tightened his grip on power, reducing the military's influence and brazenly disregarding the E-memorandum, despite facing heavy accusations of having secret ties to the Gülen movement. His efforts led to purges against military officers through Balyoz and Ergenekon trials that left deep scars in Turkey's history.
In 2014, he began peace negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in a bid to end the long-standing Kurdish–Turkish conflict; yet, his actions stirred up even more uproar among the public.
n the midst of a turbulent global arena, Turkey was thrust into a frontline role in dealing with the fallout of the Syrian Civil War. With millions of refugees pouring into its borders, Turkey launched decisive operations against ISIS, SDF and Assad's forces. By leveraging the Libya-Turkey maritime deal to its advantage, military assistance in support of the United Nations-recognized government was swiftly sent across borders. When Russia brazenly invaded Ukraine, Turkey retaliated by stifling Russian naval reinforcements within the Bosphorus. However, it didn't stop there. Through skilled diplomacy, a deal between Russia and Ukraine concerning the export of grain was brokered, and a prisoner exchange was successfully mediated.
Although Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has proven to be an interesting leader for Turkey, we are not so sure about his actions to be a good neighbor for Iraq. Here is a video that shares the downside to having Emdpgam as the head of state of a neighboring country.
