“According to this view, democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background.”

Turkish politician

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician. He has served as president of Turkey since 2014 and was prime minister from 2003 to 2014. He co-founded the Justice and Development Party in 2001 and was mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He emerged from an Islamist political background and is associated with socially conservative policies. Since 2003, he has been Turkey's de facto leader. His long public career is also tied to a period of democratic backsliding and the suppression of dissent in Turkey.