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Erdogan was awarded the title for his reforms to start membership talks with the EU
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BRUSSELS,
December 1 (IslamONline.net & News Agencies) - Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been chosen by the readership of a
European weekly as the “European of the Year”.
Belgium’s
European Voice announced the winner late Tuesday,
November 30, at a black-tie dinner, saying Erdogan was singled out for
his recent reforms introduced by his ruling party to pave the way for
a seat in the expanding 25-nation European Parliament, the EU Observer
website reported Wednesday, December 1.
The
Turkish parliament adopted
last month a far-reaching overhaul of the country's 78-year-old penal
code, clearing a major obstacle to accession talks with the euro-bloc.
The
award comes just over two weeks before EU leaders meet to decide
whether Turkey should be given a date to commence membership talks.
The
European Commission on October 6 gave Turkey a green
light to start talks to join the EU, but set a series of
tough conditions warning there was no guarantee of success.
Turkey,
an official candidate since 1999, has been waiting to join the bloc
for decades but its efforts have stumbled over its civil rights
record.
Titles
of the Year
The
weekly said Ireland’s Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was voted
“Statesman of the Year” for completing negotiations on the EU
constitution while Member of the European Commission Günter
Verheugen, from Germany, was declared “Commissioner of the Year”
for his work on enlargement.
Hans-Gert
Pöttering, leader of the European People's Party group in the
European Parliament, was voted “MEP of the Year”.
Former
Irish health minister Michéal Martin picked up “Campaigner of the
Year” for introducing the EU’s first national ban on smoking in
bars, pubs and restaurants in Ireland.
Collecting
more titles, Ireland's ambassador to the EU Anne Anderson was awarded
“Diplomat of the Year.”
Spanish
film-maker Pedro Almodovar received the “Visionary of the Year”
award for his films challenging social stereotypes.
In
total, 50 nominees were handpicked by a selection committee and the
winners were chosen by an on-line poll among readers of the weekly
paper.
Erdogan
in Brief
Self-made
Erdogan, former leader of the Islamic Justice and Development Party
(AK), rose
from selling toasted bread in the streets of Istanbul to the helm of
the political party.
He
graduated from a religious high school, then joined the Faculty of
Commerce, Marmarah University.
During
his early age, he joined the National Safety Party (NSP), led by
veteran Islamic leader Necmettin Erbakan, in the early seventies.
In
1985, Erdogan headed the Welfare Party branch in Istanbul. He was
nominated twice, within the party's lists, for parliamentary
elections, in 1978 and 1991, but he failed to make it.
In
1994, he was nominated as the head of the Welfare Party and became
Istanbul mayor for four years.
He
was then sentenced for a one-year jail term for reciting poetry by
Islamic poet Mohammad Akef. Erdogan served the sentence and quit the
post as Istanbul's mayor in 1999, a year before his term in office
ended.
Erdogan
helped solve many problems in Istanbul like the water-shortage issue.
He further carried out social services such as providing food aid,
money and clothes to the poor and needy during the Muslim fasting
month of Ramadan and in other Islamic occasions.
After
the emergence of the modernist wing in the banned Virtue Party in
2001, Erdogan assumed the leadership of the AK. In 2002, the party won
a majority representation in the Turkish parliament, even if it only
gains 36% of the votes.
He
became prime minister on March 14, 2003.
