The Erdogan Era: Tracing 20 years of Turkiye's history

August 14, 2001 | Erdogan, along with other members of the reformist wing of the Welfare Party, formed the Justice and Development Party (AKP), a conservative political party. (Image: Reuters)

November 3, 2002 | AKP won a parliamentary majority in the general elections, just a year after its formation. However, Erdogan was barred from running due to his previous conviction for "inciting hatred." (Image: Reuters)

March 9, 2003 | Erdogan was elected to the Turkish parliament in a by-election after his political ban was lifted, allowing him to resume his political career. (Image: Reuters)

March 14: 2003 | Erdogan replaces his AKP colleague Abdullah Gul as prime minister. (Image: Reuters)

October 3, 2005 | Turkey began formal accession talks with the European Union (EU) after Erdogan's government introduced a series of political and economic reforms to bring the country in line with EU standards. (Image: Reuters)

July 22, 2007 | Erdogan wins 46.6 percent of the votes in general elections. (Image: Reuters)

March 31, 2008 | The Constitutional Court of Turkey accepted an indictment seeking the closure of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) on the grounds that the party had allegedly acted against the principles of secularism. However, the court ultimately ruled against shutting down the party but instead reduced the treasury financing available to all political parties. (Image: Reuters)

October 20, 2008 | The first trial in a series of legal proceedings against military officers, lawmakers, and public figures began in Turkey. The accused were charged with plotting to overthrow the government, but the trials were later revealed to be based on fabricated evidence and were designed to eliminate Erdogan's political opponents. These trials were attributed to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. (Image: Reuters)

September 12, 2010 | Erdogan won a referendum on constitutional changes that granted the government the authority to appoint high court judges, limited the powers of the military, and established a system where presidents were elected by a national vote rather than by parliament. (Image: Reuters)

June 12, 2011 | Erdogan wins general elections with a landslide 49.8 percent of the vote. (Image: Reuters)

May 28, 2013 | Nationwide protests against the Turkish government erupted over plans to remove trees in Istanbul's Gezi Park. These demonstrations, which became the largest in Turkey's history, resulted in eight deaths, and the government was accused of using excessive force against the protesters. (Image: Reuters)

August 10, 2014 | Erdogan wins Turkey's first presidential election held by direct popular vote. Despite the presidency being largely ceremonial, Erdogan was accused of overstepping his authority and interfering in the governance of the country. (Image: Reuters)

June 7, 2015 | AKP, then led by Ahmet Davutoglu after Erdogan became president, lost its parliamentary majority in the national elections, forcing it to seek a coalition with other political parties. (Image: Reuters)

November 1, 2015 | AKP regained its parliamentary majority in a re-run of the national elections, which came after months of insecurity in Turkey, including suicide bombings carried out by the Islamic State group and the re-escalation of a long-standing conflict with Kurdish militants. (Image: Reuters)

July 15, 2016 | Erdogan’s government survives a military coup attempt blamed on followers of US-based cleric Gulen, a former ally. The failed coup results in nearly 290 deaths. The government then embarks on a large-scale crackdown on Gulen’s network, arresting tens of thousands and purging more than 130,000 from government jobs. Many media and nongovernmental organisations are closed down and the crackdown then expands to critics, including Kurdish lawmakers and journalists. The EU accession talks, which had made slow progress, are frozen amid the democratic backtracking. (Image: Reuters)

April 16, 2017 | Voters in a referendum narrowly approve switching the country’s political system from a parliamentary democracy to an executive presidential system, abolishing the post of prime minister and concentrating a vast amount of power in the hands of the president. Critics call the system a “one-man rule”. (Image: Reuters)

June 24, 2018 | Erdogan won the presidential election with 52.59 percent of the vote, making him Turkey's first president with executive powers. His party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), also formed an alliance with a nationalist party, which secured a majority in the parliament. (Image: Reuters)

June 22, 2019 | Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered a major defeat in the re-run election for Istanbul's mayor. The AKP had contested the March elections, which were narrowly won by the main opposition party's candidate, but the results were later annulled due to alleged irregularities. In the June re-run, the opposition candidate won by a landslide, marking the first time since Erdogan's mayoral win in 1994 that his party and its predecessors had lost control of Turkey's most important city. (Image: Reuters)

February 6, 2023 | A powerful earthquake devastates parts of Turkey and Syria, killing more than 48,000 people in Turkey. Erdogan’s government is criticised for its poor response to the disaster and for failing to prepare the country for a large-scale quake. (Image: Reuters)