Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdogan became prime minister of Turkey on 14 March 2003. The leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan took over the prime minister's post from his party deputy, Abdullah Gul, who headed the government following the AKP's landslide victory in the November 2002 elections. Erdogan was elected to a four-year term as mayor of Istanbul in 1994. Addressing concerns in and outside Turkey that the ascent into power of a party with Islamist roots could pose a threat to the secularist establishment, Erdogan insisted the AKP had no secret religious agenda, and espoused a pro-Western conservative programme. Erdogan identified Turkey's EU entry as a top priority, pledging reforms to make Turkey more democratic and pluralist and bring it in line with the Union's membership criteria.