A biography for Recep Tayyip Erdoganhasn’t been written yet.
“I cannot deceive my people.”
“We have never done anything to stop freedom of expression or freedom of press.”
“Those who claim we buy oil from Daesh are obliged to prove it. If not, you are slanderer.”
“Even in the Western world, one cannot argue that the ideal has been achieved given the existence of issues like the integration, participation and representation of Muslim citizens, and occasional but lingering anti-Semitism.”
“So far, I have not come to any of the positions that I have filled through wanting to be there. I was sought - people wanted me to come to those posts. I am talking about all my positions: mayor of Istanbul, chairman of the party, prime minister.”
“It is essential that policy instruments be developed that would firmly establish democratization on the basis of social consensus and enable transformation on stable grounds.”
“Whatever our Lord says, whatever our beloved Prophet says, we shall follow that path.”
“Several experts on the Middle East concur that the Middle East cannot be democratized.”
“Attempts by one ethnic group to exercise sovereignty over another are not fair. It doesn't matter if that ethnicity is Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, Chaldean or whatever.”
“You cannot defend a terrorist group just because they are fighting Daesh.”
“I am a person who is inclined to define relations between individuals based on principles.”
“My visit to the United States has also given me the opportunity to emphasize the objective of establishing close and intensive links between the Turkish and American peoples, scholars and businessmen.”
“My legal bond with the A.K.P. may have ended the day I took the presidential oath of office, but my bonds of love have never ended and never will.”
“A confidence problem exists on the part of the people of the region who desire democratic rule in principle, but remain suspicious of both the fashion with which democratization is presented and the purposes of the democratic world.”
“We're really willing to see more and more U.S. entrepreneurs conducting investments in Turkey. I'm optimistic for the future.”
“If you're the leader, you have to communicate the message of immortality to your people. Because I believe if a leader hides behind a rock, then the people will hide behind a mountain.”
“Invariably, also a Palestinian state should live side by side with Israel within recognized and secure borders and the security and prosperity of the Palestinian people must be guaranteed.”
“The advanced levels which the democratic world has attained at the end of lengthy processes may have created the perception in the region that democracy is a distant concept; this perception can be addressed.”
“In this context, social consensus, and institutions that embody this consensus, must be made effective in order for democratization not to be abused as a provisional instrument to establish an anti-democratic regime.”
“Turkey must feel at ease. It mustn't say, 'For me, it's the European Union at all costs.' That's my view.”