Early life and career of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

	This article is part of a series about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Early life and career Electoral history Political views Erdoğanism Foreign policy 2023 vision Parties National Salvation Party Welfare Party Virtue Party Justice and Development Party Elections 2002 2007 2011 2014 Cabinets First cabinet Second cabinet Third cabinet Prime Minister of Turkey Civil–military ties Foreign trips 2013 protests in Turkey 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey President of Turkey 2014 presidential campaign 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt 2016 Turkish purges 2017 constitutional referendum

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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the 25th Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, was born on February 26, 1954 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was born in Kasımpaşa, a poor neighborhood of Istanbul. His family was originally from Rize, a conservative town on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea, and returned there when Erdoğan was still an infant, coming back to Istanbul again when he was 13. He spent those years attending Istanbul İmam Hatip school and selling lemonade and simit (sesame rings) on the city's streets to make extra money.

While studying business administration at what is today Marmara University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and playing semi-professional football, Erdoğan also engaged in politics by joining the National Turkish Student Union, an anti-communist action group. In 1976, he became the head of a local youth branch of the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP), led by Necmettin Erbakan, who would later go on to found the Felicity Party. This was the beginning of Erdoğan's long career in politics.

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