Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the President of Türkiye and former Prime Minister and Mayor of Istanbul. In 1998, he was convicted of inciting religious hatred for reciting a poem and banned from politics; he served time in prison before returning to office. Regarding the Akbil trial, which involved allegations of embezzlement, fraud, and corruption during his time as Istanbul mayor (1994–1998), Erdoğan was quietly acquitted in 2025 after proceedings were suspended for years due to parliamentary and presidential immunity. The 2013 graft probe implicated his inner circle and cabinet ministers in bribery, money laundering, and sanctions evasion. Erdoğan characterized this investigation as a political coup, leading to the removal of prosecutors and police officers. Other allegations include reports of leaked recordings involving his family and government-linked financial misconduct, which his administration has dismissed as fictitious or unfounded.