Erdogan in power

nov 3, 2002

The conservative, Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party(AKP), co-founded by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wins elections

March 11, 2003

Erdogan becomes prime minister

July 1, 2005

Turkey begins negotiations to join the EU. They subsequently run aground

2007

Abdullah Gul is elected president, the first Islamic-rooted politician to hold the office

2013

Hundreds of thousands protest in Istanbul against Erdogan’s hardline stance and call for him to resign

august 10, 2014

Erdogan becomes president in Turkey’s first election by universal suffrage

July 2015

Fragile truce with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) collapses

July 15-16, 2016

250 people die in coup bid blamed by Erdogan on exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Widespread purges follow

aug 9, 2016

Erdogan mends ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after a crisis linked to Turkey’s downing of a Russian plane

april 16, 2017

Erdogan narrowly wins a referendum increasing his presidential powers. The opposition complains of voter manipulation

March 2018

Turkey captures Afrin in N. Syria from a US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia Ankara says has links to the PKK

June 25, 2018

Re-elected as president in snap elections