Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Parents: Meet Tenzile Erdoğan and Ahmet Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was born into a conservative Muslim family, to Tenzile Erdogan and Ahmet Erdogan.

Tenzile Erdogan

Erdogan’s mother, Tenzile, was born on May 3, 1924, and passed away on October 7, 2011, in Koşuyolu Medipol Hastanesi, İstanbul, Türkiye.

She was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery, İstanbul, Türkiye.

Tenzile, and her husband, Ahmet, had two children, Vesile İlgen, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Ahmet Erdogan

Erdogan’s father, Ahmet, was a captain, born in 1905.

Erdogan remembers his father for giving him a weekly allowance of 2.5 Turkish lira, less than a dollar, for his postcard business as a youth.

With the money, Erdoğan bought postcards, bottles of water and street snacks for sale.

Ahmet died on December 8, 1988.

Who Is Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a Turkish politician and current serving President of Turkey since 2014.

Born on February 26, 1954, in Istanbul, Turkey, Erdogan attended Marmara University, where he studied economics and graduated in 1981.

Before he became a politician, Erdogan was an amateur footballer and a street snack vendor.

Erdogan ventured into politics in the late 1970s and was a member of the Islamist National Salvation Party in the 1980s.

In 1994, he was elected as the Mayor of Istanbul and served in that capacity until 1998, following his removal from office and four-month prison sentence for reciting a poem that was considered to be Islamist.

After he came out of prison, Erdogan co-founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001 and became the party leader.

During the 2002 general election, the party recorded a victory and Erdogan was sworn in as Prime Minister in 2003, and served until 2014 when he became the nation’s president.

During his time as Prime Minister, Erdogan implemented a number of political and economic reforms that helped his country in many ways.

Erdogan’s government has over the years, been met with domestic and foreign criticisms, and is considered to be a leader with a complex legacy.

For his contributions to politics and humanity, Erdogan has received several awards and recognitions including the Palestinian International Award for Excellence and Creativity (PIA) in 2011, and the ‘Gold Statue Special Award’ by the Polish Business Center Club (BCC) in 2012.