Exactly 25 years have passed since those words: Now Erdoğan is also 70!

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview with Star newspaper on March 15, 1999, said regarding Necmettin Erbakan, "To be a candidate at 65 means to be finished at 70." Today, Erdoğan has turned 70.

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Exactly 25 years have passed since those words: Now Erdoğan is also 70!

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was set to enter prison 12 days after March 15, 1999, and would remain detained for 4 months.

In an interview he gave to Star newspaper at that time, Erdoğan said the following regarding Necmettin Erbakan:

"AGE 70, WORK IS FINISHED"

"I do not have a party right now. After my 4-month sentence, I might join a new party. However, I have conditions. In this party, those over 65 will not be able to engage in politics... One can be a candidate at the latest at 65. To be a candidate at 65 means to be finished at 70."

HE BECAME A CANDIDATE AT 69 AND WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT FOR THE 3RD TIME

President Erdoğan announced his candidacy when he was 68 before the elections on May 28, 2023, and was elected President for the 3rd time at the age of 69.

Born on February 26, 1954, in the Kasımpaşa district of Istanbul, Erdoğan is 70 years old today.

Here is the newspaper clipping containing those words of Erdoğan: