Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, (born February 26, 1954, Rize, Turkey), Turkish politician who served as prime minister (2003–14) and president (2014– ) of Turkey. In high school Erdoğan became known as a fiery orator in the cause of political Islam. He later played on a professional football (soccer) team and attended Marmara University. During this time he met Necmettin Erbakan, a veteran Islamist politician, and Erdoğan became active in parties led by Erbakan, despite a ban in Turkey on religiously based political parties. In 1994 Erdoğan was elected mayor of Istanbul on the ticket of the Welfare Party. The election of