Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then mayor of Istanbul 🇹🇷, is surrounded by journalists while he inspects a public park on 21 April 1998
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In power since 2003, first as Prime Minister until 2014 and as President since, Erdogan is the longest-serving elected leader in the MENA region - with only King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Qatar, King Mohammed of Morocco, and Bashar al-Assad of Syria having longer terms.