I’m in the dump in the otherwise slightly bohemian and western district of Beyoglu in Istanbul, a district that I also live in. But this area is different. Some houses have partially collapsed. On other buildings, the paint peels off the walls. During the Ottoman Empire, warships were built and maintained in the port area here along the Golden Horn. It must have been an impressive sight. Kasimpasa is a rather tired area in Istanbul. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news But that is not what Kasimpasa is known for anymore. In this somewhat tired, old industrial area, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan grew up in a poor conservative family. The man who has held the entire NATO alliance hostage in the question of Sweden and Finland’s membership. A woman hangs out the laundry in Kasimpasa. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news I’m on my way to where he lived, and step on a steep cobbled street. A group of boys stroll past. It is said that the harsh environment in Kasimpasa’s working class area will take the form of Erdogan. Here he learned to speak straight from the liver and developed a contempt for secular supremacy. Behind the iron lattice in one of the windows, a woman looks out. The old lady remembers that Erdogan was playing in the street as a little boy. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news – I remember him well. He was a good boy, says the old lady with the scarf well pulled over her hair. – That was where his house stood, but it has been demolished, she says and points to a gray concrete block, which appears to be from the 1970s. Erdogan moved in there as a newlywed, she adds. Where Erdogan lived as a child, a newer block has sprung up. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news A Turkish flag hangs across the street in front of the block. It is twisted around the string and has faded in the sun. A man shouts from the balcony on the top floor. The mustache is revealing – We were neighbors for 20 years. I can meet Tayyip whenever I want, he says and smiles under his mustache. The same mustache that Erdogan also has and which is popular among his followers. Beard and facial hair tell who you are voting for in Turkey. The slightly short, straight mustache shows that you are a conservative Muslim. Erdogan has shaved it like this for over 40 years. Once, many years before he came to power, he was ordered by his boss to take it away. He refused and was fired. The left side has a thicker, more walrus-like mustache, while the nationalists like to shave it a bit like a crescent moon pointing downwards. There is no doubt about which camp Erdogan’s neighbor belongs to. – I and other ordinary people want him to sit as president for the rest of his life. There is no leader who is as unifying as him, the man claims. I think of the advice I have received about never asking what a Turk thinks of Erdogan. Either they hate him or love him. Huseyin Ustunbas is looking for more pictures of him and Erdogan. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news The Islamists’ advance The former neighbor describes Erdogan as a hard-working and just man. A man of the people. It is similar to the way Erdogan himself wants to present himself, the man tells about a time he joined Erdogan to the election directorate to complain because he thought he was exposed to election fraud. At the time, Erdogan was running for mayor of the borough. But the person who was to receive the complaint was not interested in listening. He was an arrogant snob who sipped whiskey. Erdogan was furious and slapped him, says the former neighbor. That someone with Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s background should gain power in the then secular Turkey is quite incredible. In many ways, he was aided by the Turkish generals, who tried to suppress the Islamist movement. When large parts of the left were almost wiped out after the military coup in 1980, it created a vacuum that the Islamists took. In 1994, Erdogan was elected mayor of his hometown of Istanbul. Eight years later, his party, the AKP, won the parliamentary election by a narrow margin. Erdogan’s party AKP won the parliamentary elections in November 2002. Photo: FATIH SARIBAS / REUTERS But before that, the generals had carried out what is called the soft coup and which sent Erdogan’s popularity to new heights. In 1997, the government was pressured to resign, thousands of alleged Islamists were fired from their jobs and the party shut down. Erdogan ended up in prison accused of trying to persuade Islamists to revolt. Erdogan and his wife Emine just before he was sent to prison in 1999. Photo: FATIH SARIBAS / REUTERS After 4 months behind the walls, Amnesty got him released, and he came out as a hero. 20 years in power Next year, he has been in power for 20 years, first as prime minister and then as president with executive power. He is both head of state and head of government after he got through a change in the constitution four years ago. During these years he has learned many political tricks and is a master at juggling alliances both at home and abroad. He made this clear before and during the NATO summit, when Sweden and Finland’s NATO applications became his bargaining chip. Erdogan accused the two Nordic countries of being in cahoots with the PKK. The same PKK that he himself tried to get a peace solution with a few years ago. In the twelfth hour, he agreed to let NATO process their applications anyway, but said at the end of the summit that he would not automatically send the matter to parliament for approval. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the end of the NATO summit that he does not automatically send the applications to Finland and Sweden for approval in parliament. Photo: YVES HERMAN / Reuters – For Erdogan, it’s just about Erdogan, and he uses all the tricks in the book to strengthen his power base, a professor of international relations told me a couple of weeks ago. We met in Ankara where he has a permanent home office after he was fired as one of many thousands of university employees after the coup attempt exactly six years ago. In total, over 150,000 people lost their jobs accused of being in cahoots with the coup plotters. Many thousands were arrested, and prisons are now being built for hard life. From cramped living to a palace Although Erdogan tries to portray himself as the ordinary man in the street, the contrast from growing up to the life he now lives could not have been greater. In Kasimpasa, he lived in a cramped apartment and had to save on family finances by selling water on the street. Today he lives in a palace he has built for himself, which is much larger than the White House or Buckingham Palace. The “White Palace” in Ankara has over 1,200 rooms. Photo: ADEM ALTAN / Afp He also has his own private plane which he has received as a gift from the emir of Qatar. By June next year, he must hold elections. Later the same year, the 100th anniversary of Turkey is also marked. Erdogan’s plan is to be in power then as well, but his success story has always been that he has improved the Turks’ economy. Popularity is now declining in line with rising inflation, which according to official figures is closer to 80 percent. The former neighbor was on the street to stop the coup plotters that night six years ago. He thinks the election wind is turning this time too. – We are not concerned about inflation and living costs. Erdogan has promised to increase his pension and minimum wage, so he has a cure for this, says the loyal neighbor. But he comes with an admission. The grandson will not vote for Erdogan. Erdogan and his wife Emine during the election four years ago. Photo: MURAT CETIN MUHURDAR / AFP
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The area that shaped Turkish President Erdogan – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
