Recep Tayyip Erdogan won his third term as president of Turkey after the election on May 28. The moment prompted the journalists to search through the archives and thus some images from the period when the current head of state played soccer in amateur teams came to light. It is said that he was a very good striker who could have made his way in the sport. He even captained a team that won five titles in amateur competitions.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan dreams himself more important than Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Recep Tayyip Erdogan won his third term as president of Turkey, a journey he began in 2014 after serving as prime minister three times. He is the man leading the country, with a strong hand, European and American analysts say, for more than two decades.
The media say that the big dream of the “dictator” is to become more important in the hearts of his countrymen than Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered father of the modern republic. Even so, the country is experiencing rampant inflation and has also experienced a series of earthquakes that have brought death, much pain, and significant material loss. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the one who brought Turkey back to the negotiating table when discussing regional and even global issues, and Turkey’s voice is very strong. A “dance” between East and West that exudes strength and makes him highly respected in the country, but which has also caused him a lot of problems, even domestically, including an attempted coup in 2016.
He managed to keep his relationship with Vladimir Putin intact, despite some very serious problems, even though Turkey is one of the most important actors in the NATO bloc. And because we kept mentioning the term “dictator”, let’s say that after winning the elections, Erdogan asked ironically if anyone else saw “a dictator in the second round”, a line by which he wanted to show how free the elections were.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan played football as a striker
The elections in Turkey have prompted journalists to once again look for information about the one they often call “the Sultan”. They found several photos from the time he played football in amateur teams. It is said that he was quite a talented striker, a fact demonstrated in a match a few years ago, when he was premier, in which he managed three goals. “My football adventure started when I was 15 years old. We used to play with balls made of paper in our neighborhood,” said the well-known politician in an interview carried by daily sabah.
Did you know? Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used to be a semi-professional footballer when he was young. pic.twitter.com/tq8dS5b1pK
— ilmfeed (@IlmFeed) June 24, 2018
The president of Turkey comes from a rather poor family with five children. His father was a coast guard, and young Erdogan sold lemonade and sesame buns to earn extra money. His parents found out quite late that he took up football. “My mother never complained. She was washing and ironing my shirt. However, I had a hard time convincing my father. He always said I had to learn. He found out later that I was playing football at the club.”
Don’t stop, keep on scoring… 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/i5f10sfHtT
— Recep Tayyip Erdogan (@RTErdogan) February 22, 2021
Erdogan revealed in the same interview that the teams were playing football on pitches without grass and also recalled receiving a single red card after protesting the referee’s decisions. He was the captain of the amateur team İETT where he played for seven years and which he helped to win five titles.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan lives in a palace 30 times bigger than the White House in Washington DC
His detractors often complain that Erdogan is behaving like an Ottoman sultan, suppressing rights and freedoms. It is clear that he lives like a sultan, with the presidential palace in Ankara being 30 times the size of the White House in Washington DC. The “White Palace” cost 165 million euros and has 150,000 square meters of land at its disposal. There are 1150 rooms and nine million euros were paid for the carpets alone.
The complex houses a conference center, accommodation for visitors, a laboratory to detect a possible nuclear or chemical attack, a mosque and a library.
Erdogan has been married to Emine Gülbaran since 1978 and they have four children together: Ahmet, Bilal, Esra and Sumeyye. His two boys, Ahmet and Bilal are both businessmen, the eldest daughter is married to a former minister in two governments, and the youngest was her father’s adviser.
