Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 1954) became prime minister of Turkey in March 2003. He is the leader of the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AK Party, or Justice and Development Party).Erdoğan's appointment was delayed after his party's victory in the elections of November, 2002, for legal reasons. The prime minister in Turkey must be a member of parliament and the constitution excluded those with previous convictions from standing. Erdoğan had been convicted and jailed for several months in 1998 for reading an Islamist poem at a political rally. Abdullah Gül became prime minister temporarily. The constitution was modified and Erdoğan won a seat in a by-election, after which Gül resigned.
Erdoğan became the mayor of Istanbul in 1994.
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