Key dates of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 20-year rule in Turkey

The presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14 may be Erdogan’s still the hardest. They will be held in the midst of economic turmoil and high inflation, just three months after the devastating earthquake. killed tens of thousands of people.

Let’s take a look at some key dates during Erdogan’s reign:

March 27, 1994: Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul on the ticket of the pro-Islamist Rifah Party.

December 12, 1997: Erdogan is found guilty of inciting hatred and sentenced to 4 months in prison for reciting a poem that the courts consider against Turkey’s secular principles.

August 14, 2001: Erdogan splits from the Welfare Party along with other members of its reform wing to form the conservative Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

November 3, 2002: One year after its establishment, the AKP wins the parliamentary majority in the general elections. However, Erdogan cannot run for office because he is convicted.

March 9, 2003: Erdogan was re-elected to parliament after his political ban was lifted.

March 14, 2003: Erdogan replaces his AKP colleague Abdullah Gul as prime minister.

October 3, 2005: Turkey begins membership negotiations with the European Union after the Erdogan government implements a series of reforms.

July 22, 2007: Erdogan won 46.6% of the vote in the general election.

March 31, 2008: The Constitutional Court accepted an indictment demanding the closure of the AKP for anti-secular actions. The court ultimately ruled that the party should not be banned, but cut off treasury funding for political parties.

October 20, 2008: The first of a series of trials against military officers, lawmakers and public figures begins. The suspects are accused of plotting to overthrow the government, a sham trial based on false evidence and designed to destroy Erdogan’s opponents. Later, the network of Fethullah Gülen, a cleric living in the United States, was blamed in the courts.

September 12, 2010: Erdogan wins a referendum on constitutional changes that allow the government to appoint high court judges, limit the powers of the military and ensure that presidents are elected by popular vote rather than by parliament.

June 12, 2011: Erdogan won the general election with a majority of 49.8%.

May 28, 2013: Nationwide anti-government protests erupt over plans to cut down trees in Gezi Park in central Istanbul. Eight people have died in Turkey’s biggest-ever protests, and the government has been accused of using excessive force against protesters.

August 10, 2014: Erdogan wins Turkey’s first presidential election by direct popular vote. Although this post is largely ceremonial, he has been accused of overstepping his authority and meddling in the country’s governance.

June 7, 2015: After Erdogan became president, the AKP led by Ahmet Davutoglu loses its majority in parliamentary elections and is forced to form a coalition.

November 1, 2015: After months of instability, including suicide attacks by the Islamic State group and the rekindling of a decades-long conflict with Kurdish militants, the AKP regains a parliamentary majority in rerun parliamentary elections.

July 15, 2016: Erdogan’s government survives an attempted military coup blamed on followers of its former ally, the US-based cleric Gulen. The failed coup resulted in the death of about 290 people. After that, the government started a large-scale repression against the Gülen network, arresting tens of thousands of people and releasing more than 130 thousand people from government jobs. Many media and non-governmental organizations are closed, and the pressure then spreads to critics, including Kurdish MPs and journalists. EU accession talks, which have been making slow progress, have been frozen amid a democratic backlash.

April 16, 2017: In a referendum, voters narrowly approve the transition of the country’s political system from a parliamentary democracy to an executive presidential system, abolishing the post of prime minister and concentrating a large amount of power in the hands of the president. Critics call the system one-man rule.

June 24, 2018: Erdogan won the presidential election with 52.59% of the vote, becoming Turkey’s first president with executive powers, his party’s alliance with a nationalist party securing a majority in parliament.

June 22, 2019: Erdogan’s party is narrowly defeated in Istanbul’s mayoral election after struggling in the March elections, which were narrowly won by the candidate of the main opposition parties. It is the first time since Erdogan won the mayorship in 1994 that his party and its predecessors have lost Turkey’s most important city.

February 6, 2023: Strong earthquake It devastates some parts of Turkey and Syria, caused more than 48,000 deaths in Turkey. Erdogan’s government has been criticized for its poor response to the disaster and for not preparing the country for a large-scale earthquake.

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Associated Press writer Zeynep Bilginsoy contributed from Istanbul.