Lemonese vendor, player wanted by Fenerbahce and president: Who is Erdogan?

This article is prepared on the day of the presidential election from Periscope.

Today, presidential elections are being held in the Republic of Turkey, where President Erdogan on one side competes in front of all others. It is not designed to be that easy for him, though it is expected to go first in the first round.

But who really is Rexhep Tayyip Erdogan beyond the clothing of politician, harsh speeches, iron hand, and opposing political attitudes?

Erdogan is 64, born in Kasimpasa, Turkey. His father is named Ahmet Erdogan, while Mother Tenzile. In 2003, he had said that his family was from Georgia, but in 2014, when his popularity was coming, he declared that this was not true.

His childhood, writes Periscope, Erdogan spent it in Rize. As a teenager, he said he sold lemons and buns over the streets of town to earn extra money.

In his youth, Rexhepi had played in a local club at the semi-professional level. Fenerbahce is said to have wanted to move him, but his father had not allowed him to go to the team in which Vokry had played. His connection to football doesn't end here. The renowned Kasimpasa team, the town in which Rexhepi was born, is currently named in his name: Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium. Kosovo football player Loret Sadiku also plays at this club.

Erdogan is married to Emine Gulbarani and has four children, two boys and two girls.

While playing a semiprofessionist football and studying business administration, Erdogan set up politics at the Turkish National Student Union, an anti-communist group. Erdogan from this period began to express a strong link to Turkey's national and religious identity. In a protest by the fundamentalist Peace Party, declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, he had recited a poem of Ziya Gokalp, but changing it into a part: “Jasmine are our barracks, where the helmets are the helmets, the minarets are the dungonettes and the believers are our soldiers...” Erdogan had held four months in prison for his unconstitutional activity before forming his own party in 2001. /Periscopi