Emine Erdoğan

Emine Erdoğan
First Lady of Turkey
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 August 2014
Preceded by	Hayrünnisa Gül
Personal details
Born	Emine Gülbaran 16 February 1956 Üsküdar, Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Spouse(s)	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (m. 1978)
Children	Necmettin Bilal Ahmet Burak Sümeyye Esra
Residence	Istanbul (private) Presidential Complex (official)
Religion	Sunni Islam

Emine Erdoğan (née Gülbaran; born 16 February 1956) is the wife of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Biography

Emine Erdoğan was born in Üsküdar, Istanbul. She is of ethnic Arab descent, her family comes from the south-eastern province of Siirt^[1] and the youngest child of a family of five children. She attended Mithat Paşa Akşam Art School, but left before graduation.

Erdoğan joined the "Idealist Women's Association". During these activities she met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a conference. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Emine Gülbaran married on 4 February 1978. The couple has four children: Ahmet Burak Erdoğan, Sümeyye, who married defense industrialist engineer Selçuk Bayraktar in May 2016,^[2] Necmettin Bilal, and Esra.^[3]

Political life

Emine Erdoğan meets with Michelle Obama in the Yellow Oval Room, White House, 8 December 2009

On 7 December 2010, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani conferred the Pakistani Nishan-e-Pakistan on Emine Erdoğan, in recognition of her personal efforts for the flood-stricken people of Pakistan. In October 2010, Erdoğan visited Pakistan and the flood hit areas to personally witness the devastation caused by the floods and contributed significantly in the fund-raising campaign to help the country’s flood victims.^[4]

On 16 February 2011, Emine Erdoğan was presented with the "Prix de la Fondation" by the Crans Montana Forum at a ceremony in Brussels.^[5]

First Lady Erdogan played an active role in opposing Turkey's child marriage bill, stating clearly that "Forced child marriage is clearly unacceptable under any conditions".^[6]

References

1. "Mrs Erdogan's many friends", The Economist, 12 August 2004
2. http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/402467/Thousands-expected-to-attend-wedding-of-Erdo%C4%9Fan-s-daughter
3. "Emine Erdoğan". Biyografi (in Turkish). 15 October 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
4. "PM confers Hilal-e-Pakistan award on Emine Erdogan". Associated Press of Pakistan. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
5. "Turkish PM's wife presented with women's award". Anatolian Agency. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
6. http://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/news/542/35764/emine-erdogan-cocuk-yasta-zorla-evlilik-hicbir-surette-kabul-edilemez.html