Who is Erdogan's wife who has been by his side for 45 years?

Amina Erdoğan (Amina Gülbaran) was born in February 1955 in Istanbul. Her parents have five children of which she is a daughter.

She studied at the Mithatpaşa Girls Technical Institute in Istanbul and has been working in social affairs since her childhood.

In July 1978, she was married to Rajab Tayyip Erdoğan, who had known each other for some time, and she has been his side ever since.

She was praised for contributing to the political participation of Turkish women, especially when her husband was the mayor of Istanbul.

During her husband's tenure as the mayor of Istanbul (1994-1998), she carried out many social projects in that city, especially "iftar for the poor and the rich."

Amina Erdoğan gave birth to four children (two sons and two daughters) focused on helping the poor in Turkey and around the world.

With the help of the Ministry of Education in Turkey, she started the project to ensure that all the girls in that country get an education.

About three hundred thousand girls have benefited from her project "Girls let's go to school". She also emphasized that uneducated women should have an opportunity to study.

She has spoken extensively about the problems and tragedies that have occurred around the world such as Gaza, Myanmar and Pakistan.

During the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2009, Amina Erdoğan held a meeting for the wives of diplomats in Ankara in Arab and Western countries, and called on the world to "stop the war".

In August 2011, she accompanied her husband, who was then the Prime Minister of Turkey, on his famous visit to Somalia, where she saw the people affected by the severe drought.

In 2017, she visited the Kutupalong refugee camp where Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live. She called on the world to do something about the situation of these people.

She has been honored with several awards including one for her humanitarian work.

Criticism

In 2016, she was widely criticized for a speech in which she defended the private houses of the wives of Ottoman rulers.

She said that these places were educational and prepared women for life.

Human rights groups point out that these places are where women lose their rights.

In 2018, Amina Erdoğan was criticized for buying a bag of women's underwear whose value was said to be 50 thousand dollars.

People who write on social media pointed out that the poor people of Turkey need that money, which is equivalent to the salary they can work for 11 years.

It was also alleged that when she accompanied her husband on an official visit to the capital of Warsaw in Poland, she paid more than 49,000 dollars.

However, Amina Erdoğan played an important role in the political success of Rajab Tayyip Erdoğan, who has now been elected to lead Turkey for the next five years.