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OVERVIEW
Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the undeniable leader in the Turkish Republic. Within 2020 he ruled Turkey for twenty-two years. In addition, he became Istanbul mayor for four years. There is no denying that Erdogan is working hard to bring modern Turkey to its present glory. He brought developments to all regions of Turkey. That is why he has been elected as prime minister three times in a row. No one has ever achieved such a thing before in the Turkish republic.
When he was elected municipal chairman of Istanbul in 1994, he proved to be a visionary leader. He was able to become the sculptor of the beautiful Istanbul. When it came to national politics, he formed the party and approached the people with a clear vision of what his 'Ak' party and the country of Turkey would become in the future. Erdogan, who came to power in 2002, changed the face of Turkey by 2012. Known as the Silent Revolution, Turkey owed the IMF $ 2.3 billion but also repaid it to the IMF within ten years. Turkey was ranked 111th in the world economically and 16th in the world. Prior to 2002, exports alone were worth $ 36 billion, rising to $ 152 billion. National income rose to $ 786 billion from $ 230 billion, while inflation fell to 6 percent from 30 percent. Per capita income rose from $ 3,500 a year to $ 11,000. The value of the Turkish lira has increased 30 times. Unemployment fell from 38 percent to two percent, with wages of workers and employees rising by 300 percent. The country's revenue from tourism rose from $ 12.55 billion to $ 34 billion.
ACHIEVEMENTS AS MAYOR
He was pragmatic in office, tackling many chronic problems in Istanbul including water shortage, pollution, and traffic chaos. The water shortage problem was solved with the laying of hundreds of kilometers of new pipelines. The garbage problem was solved with the establishment of state-of-the-art recycling facilities. While Erdogan was in office, air pollution was reduced through a plan developed to switch to natural gas. He changed the public buses to environmentally friendly ones. The city's traffic and transportation jams were reduced with more than fifty bridges, viaducts, and highways built. He took precautions to prevent corruption, using measures to ensure that municipal funds were used prudently. He paid back a major portion of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's two billion dollar debt and invested four billion dollars in the city.
ERDOGAN AS PRIME MINISTER
The first concern of the Erdogan government was the problems of the people. For that, the financial status must be secured. This will be possible by establishing more trade relations with European countries. Erdogan, a political strategist, was able to implement this policy without being caught by any of the rumors. Salim Paul, chairman of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Lebanon, said: "If this goes on, it will be Turkey's century. This is because Turkey is the only country in the Middle East that is moving towards the future with clear goals and preparations".
Istanbul has been the capital of three major empires in world history Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. This is due to its geopolitical and geostrategic nature. With a visionary leader, Turkey can regain that lost position. Erdogan and his team had done good homework on all of this. The method they chose was to use the soft power of diplomacy. The strategy is to bring the Zero Problem Policy to zero by resolving border disputes with other
countries and other conflicts for historical reasons. This is also known as Strategic Depth. In short, the first Erdogan cabinet came to power with a clear sense of purpose and foresight. The emphasis of that regime was on four areas.
1. IMPROVE THE ECONOMIC SITUATION
Even before winning the election, the party's Economic Studies Division had prepared a blob of 300 financial plans to be implemented immediately. So there was no ambiguity or confusion at the beginning of the rule. From the first day, the regime began to move. The poor were the priority in all the projects. The first step was the distribution of free textbooks to all students. Scholarships were also introduced for struggling students. One and a half million tonnes of coal was delivered free of cost to the poorest sections of the region experiencing extreme cold. Two hundred and eighty thousand flats were built for poor families for a very small fee. He also opened the battle against corruption. Top government officials confiscated and sold thousands of illegally owned villas and transferred the money to the public treasury. The first round of the Erdogan government was able to reduce unemployment from 15 percent to 9.7 percent. Welfare schemes for the poor were also announced. Various funds were made available to the hospitals. Giving green cards will help poor families get free treatment and medicine from there.
It brought an innovative development model to the cities of Turkey, taking into account their geographical features. The city of Istanbul, for example. From there it is possible to reach 53 countries by air within three and a half hours, lying in the middle of the world markets of the European Union, Russia, the Middle East, the Arab world, and the Middle East. Utilized all these possibilities. Thus, by 2005, GDP had reached $362.5 billion. In 2001, it was only $147.7 billion. During the same period, the average annual per capita income jumped from $2,230 to $8,400. According to a World Bank report, Turkey's economic growth did not slow to six percent between 2003 and 2007. In 2002, public debt accounted for 73 percent of GDP. By 2007, it had dropped to 39 percent. Enterprises such as MUSIAD, a consortium of small and medium entrepreneurs, spearheaded this economic revolution. The nation's exports jumped from $30 billion to $130 billion in five years.
2. INTERNAL CEASEFIRE
The Erdogan government sought to reach a consensus with all major factions, recognizing that conflict between different ideologies was the main reason for Turkey's backwardness. The first consideration was to solve internal problems. At a party-based conference, Erdogan declared: "This party is being set up to eradicate poverty and hunger. Poverty should never be part of this great nation." “All poverty alleviation schemes have been implemented without any regional discrimination. This led to the apostasy of all races. Especially the Kurds and Alawites. All but one of the previous governments looked at the Kurdish population with suspicion. There are historical reasons for that. The ruling party saw a change in that. The Kurds were allowed to produce textbooks in their language. Kurdish programs were broadcast extensively on official radio and TV channels.
Erdogan has always been aware of his two strongest rivals. One, ultra-seculars. Two, the army. He was very careful not to rub both sides. That is why he sent his daughter to the United States to teach, as she is not allowed to wear the hijab in Turkish educational institutions. The hijab was not worn in the presidential palace either. To avoid provocation, ministers did not accompany their veiled wives when they went to see the president. The party said the hijab issue should be resolved through a national consensus and that it should wait until then. In addition to avoiding confrontation with the military leadership, there have been some strategic moves on the part of Erdogan to prevent the military from using excessive force in public life. In early 2003, the EU introduced seven laws as part of its compliance with EU entry criteria. The military dominated the National Security Council and General Secretariat. The people's representatives did not have a significant position. The European Union has been calling for a change. With that in mind, the law was brought in and stipulated that the Secretary-General of the Security Council should be the representative of the people. Amended the provision that the Security Council may intervene in any matter. It was stipulated that only the security issue should be dealt with. The aim was to eliminate the possibility of a military coup. The requirement to have a military general on the Central Education Committee and the Radio Television High Committees was also removed. The law was introduced to prosecute corrupt former generals and to stop military prosecution of civilians.
3. COMFORTING FOREIGN NATIONS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made several foreign visits to Brussels, the European Union's headquarters, to "allay suspicions" when foreign countries, especially those in the European Union, seem to be distancing themselves from Turkey since the AK Party came to power. He assured that certain standards would be met for the protection of human rights, which is a condition for union entry. He soon visited the United States. In parallel, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul visited the Arab world to pursue similar diplomatic goals.
4. RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
Erdogan has probably been widely criticized for maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel. But some facts are forgotten. Israel has long had diplomatic relations with Turkey. In the past, Turkey has not reacted significantly to Israeli atrocities. It did not affect diplomatic relations between the two countries. When the AKP came to power, diplomatic relations continued as part of its foreign policy of creating new conflicts. At the same time, in contrast to the previous position, he strongly criticized the atrocities committed by the Zionist state. International pressure was put on the nation. Helped the Palestinians in every way. When Hamas came to power in Gaza in the 2006 election, Turkey was the first to recognize and applaud it. This angered the United States and Israel. Khalid Mish'al, a senior Hamas leader, has said he does not receive support from the Arab world.
LATER PHASES OF RULING
The economic boom was also a feature of Erdogan's second term. Annual GDP reached close to $1 trillion in 2010 exactly $960.5 billion. It is important to remember that this is a time of global recession. The annual growth rate has not gone back from six percent. In 2008, per capita income reached $10,000. That means a family of five would earn half a million dollars. This is a leap that the average Turkish person could not dream of. At this point, Turkey is the sixteenth economic power in the world. By 2011, inflation had fallen to 3.5 percent. Inflation has not reached such a low level in half a century.
In 2010, exports reached $117 billion. By 2023, the centenary of the modern Republic of Turkey, Istanbul was the 27th most influential city in the world in terms of economic activity. Awakening and excitement were also seen in the industrial sector. New records were born in car manufacturing. In 2009, four lakh and sixty thousand cars were launched, but next year it will be five lakh and nine thousand. The plans were aimed at building the vehicles entirely locally. Erdogan has also announced that by 2023, the country will have built all of its military and civilian aircraft.
OUTLOOK TO DIFFERENT ASPECTS
Erdogan is a proven genius in different fields of politics. Let us take a look at some of the important changes that have taken place in Turkey since Erdogan came to power.
HEALTH CARE
After assuming power in 2003, Erdogan's government embarked on a sweeping reform program of the Turkish healthcare system, called the Health Transformation Program (HTP), to greatly increase the quality of healthcare and protect all citizens from financial risks. Its introduction coincided with the period of sustained economic growth, allowing the Turkish government to put greater investments into the healthcare system. As part of the reforms, the "Green Card" program, which provides health benefits to the poor, was expanded in 2004. The reform program aimed at increasing the ratio of private to state-run healthcare, which, along with long queues in state-run hospitals, resulted in the rise of private medical care in Turkey, forcing state-run hospitals to compete by increasing quality.
In April 2006, Erdogan unveiled a social security reform package demanded by the International Monetary Fund under a loan deal. The move, which Erdogan called one of the most radical reforms ever, was passed with fierce opposition. Turkey's three social security bodies were united under one roof, bringing equal health services and retirement benefits for members of all three bodies. The previous system had been criticized for reserving the best healthcare for civil servants and relegating others to wait in long queues. Under the second bill, everyone under the age of 18 years was entitled to free health services, irrespective of whether they pay premiums to any social security organization. The bill also envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age: starting from 2036, the retirement age will increase to 65 by 2048 for both women and men.
In January 2008, the Turkish Parliament adopted a law to prohibit smoking in most public places. ErdoÄŸan is outspokenly anti-smoking.
ECONOMY
In 2002, Erdogan inherited a Turkish economy that was beginning to recover from a recession as a result of reforms implemented by Kemal Dervis. Erdogan supported Finance Minister Ali Babacan in enforcing macro-economic policies. Erdogan tried to attract more foreign investors to Turkey and lifted many government regulations. The cash flow into the Turkish economy between 2002 and 2012 caused a growth of 64% in real GDP and a 43% increase in GDP per capita considerably higher numbers were commonly advertised but these did not account for the inflation of the US dollar between 2002 and 2012. The average annual growth in GDP per capita was 3.6%. The growth in real GDP between 2002 and 2012 was higher than the values from developed countries but was close to average when developing countries are also taken into account. The ranking of the Turkish economy in terms of GDP moved slightly from 17 to 16 during this decade. A major consequence of the policies between 2002 and 2012 was the widening of the current account deficit from US $600 million to the US $58 billion (2013 est).
Since 1961, Turkey has signed 19 IMF loan accords. Erdogan's government satisfied the budgetary and market requirements of the two during his administration and received every loan installment, the only time any Turkish government has done so. ErdoÄŸan inherited a debt of $23.5 billion to the IMF, which was reduced to $0.9 billion in 2012. He decided not to sign a new deal. Turkey's debt to the IMF was thus declared to be completely paid and he announced that the IMF could borrow from Turkey. In 2010, five-year credit default swaps for Turkey's sovereign debt were trading at a record low of 1.17%, below those of nine EU member countries and Russia. In 2002, the Turkish Central Bank had $26.5 billion in reserves. This amount reached $92.2 billion in 2011. During Erdogan's leadership, inflation fell from 32% to 9.0% in 2004. Since then, Turkish inflation has continued to fluctuate around 9% and is still one of the highest inflation rates in the world. The Turkish public debt as a percentage of annual GDP declined from 74% in 2002 to 39% in 2009. In 2012, Turkey had a lower ratio of public debt to GDP than 21 of 27 members of the European Union and a lower budget deficit to GDP ratio than 23 of them.
In 2003, Erdogan's government pushed through the Labor Act, a comprehensive reform of Turkey's labor laws. The law greatly expanded the rights of employees, establishing a 45-hour workweek and limiting overtime work to 270 hours a year, provided legal protection against discrimination due to sex, religion, or political affiliation, prohibited discrimination between permanent and temporary workers, entitled employees terminated without "valid cause" to compensation, and mandated written contracts for employment arrangements lasting a year or more.
EDUCATION
Erdogan increased the budget of the Ministry of Education from 7.5 billion lire in 2002 to 34 billion lire in 2011, the highest share of the national budget given to one ministry. Before his prime ministership, the military received the highest share of the national budget. Compulsory education was increased from eight years to twelve. In 2003, the Turkish government, together with UNICEF, initiated a campaign called "Come on girls, let's go to school!" The goal of this campaign was to close the gender gap in primary school enrollment through the provision of quality basic education for all girls, especially in southeast Turkey. In 2005, the parliament granted amnesty to students expelled from universities before 2003. The amnesty applied to students dismissed on academic or disciplinary grounds. In 2004, textbooks became free of charge and since 2008 every province in Turkey has its university. During Erdogan's Premiership, the number of universities in Turkey nearly doubled, from 98 in 2002 to 186 in October 2012.
The Prime Minister kept his campaign promises by starting the Fatih project in which all state schools, from preschool to high school level, received a total of 620,000 smart boards, while tablet computers were distributed to 17 million students and approximately one million teachers and administrators.
In June 2017 a draft proposal by the ministry of education was approved by ErdoÄŸan, in which the curriculum for schools excluded the teaching of the theory of evolution of Charles Darwin by 2019. From then on the teaching will be postponed and start at the undergraduate level.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Under Erdogan's government, the number of airports in Turkey increased from 26 to 50. Between the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and 2002, there had been 6,000 km of dual carriageway roads created. Between 2002 and 2011, another 13,500 km of the expressway were built. Due to these measures, the number of motor accidents fell by 50 percent. For the first time in Turkish history, high-speed railway lines were constructed, and the country's high-speed train service began in 2009. In 8 years, 1,076 km of railway were built and 5,449 km of railway renewed. The construction of Marmaray, an undersea rail tunnel under the Bosphorus strait, started in 2004. It was inaugurated on the 90th anniversary of the Turkish Republic 29 October 2013. The inauguration of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the third bridge over the Bosphorus, was on 26 August 2016.
JUSTICE
In March 2006, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) held a press conference to publicly protest the obstruction of the appointment of judges to the high courts for over 10 months. The HSYK said Erdoğan wanted to fill the vacant posts with his appointees. Erdoğan was accused of creating a rift with Turkey's highest court of appeal, the Yargıtay, and high administrative court, the Danıştay. Erdogan stated that the constitution gave the power to assign these posts to his elected party.
In May 2007, the head of Turkey's High Court asked prosecutors to consider whether ErdoÄŸan should be charged over critical comments regarding the election of Abdullah Gül as president. Erdogan said the ruling was "a disgrace to the justice system", and criticized the Constitutional Court which had invalidated a presidential vote because a boycott by other parties meant there was no quorum. Prosecutors investigated his earlier comments, including saying it had fired a "bullet at democracy". Tulay Tugcu, head of the Constitutional Court, condemned ErdoÄŸan for "threats, insults and hostility" towards the justice system.
DOMESTIC POLICY
KURDISH ISSUE
In 2009, Prime Minister Erdogan's government announced a plan to help end the quarter-century-long Turkey Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict that had cost more than 40,000 lives. The government's plan, supported by the European Union, intended to allow the Kurdish language to be used in all broadcast media and political campaigns, and restored Kurdish names to cities and towns that had been given Turkish ones. Erdogan said, "We took a courageous step to resolve chronic issues that constitute an obstacle along with Turkey's development, progression, and empowerment". Erdogan passed a partial amnesty to reduce penalties faced by many members of the Kurdish guerrilla movement PKK who had surrendered to the government. On 23 November 2011, during a televised meeting of his party in Ankara, he apologized on behalf of the state for the Dersim massacre, where many Alevis and Zazas were killed. In 2013 the government of Erdogan began a peace process between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish Government, mediated by parliamentarians of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). In 2015 he decided that the peace process was over and supported the lift of the parliamentary immunity of the HDP parliamentarians.
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Prime Minister Erdogan expressed multiple times that Turkey would acknowledge the mass killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide only after a thorough investigation by a joint Turkish Armenian commission consisting of historians, archaeologists, political scientists, and other experts. In 2005, Erdogan and the main opposition party leader Deniz Baykal wrote a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian, proposing the creation of a joint Turkish-Armenian commission. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian rejected the offer because he asserted that the proposal itself was "insincere and not serious". He added: "This issue cannot be considered at historical level with Turks, whom themselves politicized the problem". In December 2008, Erdogan criticized the I Apologize for the campaign by Turkish intellectuals to recognize the Armenian Genocide, saying, "I neither accept nor support this campaign. We did not commit a crime, therefore we do not need to apologize. It will not have any benefit other than stirring up trouble, disturbing our peace and undoing the steps which have been taken". In November 2009, he said, "it is not possible for those who belong to the Muslim faith to carry out genocide".
In 2011, Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the Monument to Humanity, a statue dedicated to fostering Armenian and Turkish relations, to be destroyed. In 2011, Erdogan ordered the tearing-down of the Statue of Humanity, a Turkish– Armenian friendship monument in Kars, which was commissioned in 2006 and represented a metaphor of the rapprochement of the two countries after many years of dispute over the events of 1915. Erdogan justified the removal by stating that the monument was offensively close to the tomb of an 11th-century Islamic scholar and that its shadow ruined the view of that site, while Kar's municipality officials said it was illegally erected in a protected area. However, the former mayor of Kars who approved the original construction of the monument said the municipality was destroying not just a "monument to humanity" but "humanity itself". The demolition was not unopposed; among its detractors were several Turkish artists. Two of them, the painter Bedri Baykam and his associate, Pyramid Art Gallery general coordinator Tugba Kurtulmus, were stabbed after a meeting with other artists at the Istanbul Akatlar cultural center.
On 23 April 2014, ErdoÄŸan's office stated in nine languages (including two dialects of Armenian), offering condolences for the mass killings of Armenians and stating that the events of 1915 had inhumane consequences. The statement described the mass killings as the two nations' shared pain and said: "Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences – such as relocation – during the First World War, (it) should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes among one another". The Ottoman Parliament of 1915 had previously used the term "relocation" to describe the purpose of the Tehcir Law, which resulted in the deaths of anywhere between 800,000 and over 1,800,000 Armenian civilians in what is commonly referred to as the Armenian Genocide.
Pope Francis in April 2015, at a special mass in St. Peter's Basilica marking the centenary of the events, described atrocities against Armenian civilians in 1915–1922 as "the first genocide of the 20th century". In protest, ErdoÄŸan recalled the Turkish ambassador from the Vatican, and summoned the Vatican's ambassador, to express "disappointment" at what he called a discriminatory message. He later stated, "we don’t carry a stain or a shadow-like genocide". US President Barack Obama called for a "full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts", but again stopped short of labeling it "genocide", despite his campaign promise to do so.
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