ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, headed for election victory Sunday, is a charismatic, tenacious leader who rose from a poor Istanbul district to become prime minister by way of four-month stint in jail for Islamist sedition.
Erdogan, 53, is poised for the second victory in a row in parliamentary elections of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), formed in 2001 as the moderate offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement.
Once a religious firebrand who, as mayor of Istanbul, banned alcohol at municipal cafes and urged Turks to chose between Islam and secularism, Erdogan has evolved into an advocate of democracy and won his followers` trust as the man who can best understand the economic woes of the masses.
The reforms he spearheaded to start Turkey`s accession talks with the European Union in 2005 were so far-reaching that some skeptics stopped questioning the change he claimed to have undergone from Islamist hardliner to conservative democrat.
But hardline secularists still see in him a wolf in sheep`s clothing who capitalises on popular frustration with past economic failures to advance secret ambitions to turn Turkey into an Iran-style Islamic republic.
For the urban elite, he remains the rough-hewn man from Kasimpasa, a tough working-class neighbourhood in Istanbul, who sticks to conservative prejudices, lacks political finesse and knows more about football than foreign affairs.
But for the rural and poor urban masses, he is one of their own: the son of a sea captain, Erdogan grew up selling sweets in the streets to support his studies in a Koranic school.
A practising Muslim whose wife and daughters wear the Islamic headscarf, he does not drink alcohol and regularly goes to the mosque for Friday prayers.
As the former partner of a food company, Erdogan is today worth more than a million dollars, wears tailored suits and expensive watches and holidays at luxury resorts.
In the final days of the campaign, the main opposition Republican People`s Party (CHP) accused Erdogan of fraud and corruption, asking him to account for his wealth, but the last-ditch offensive apparently left voters unimpressed.
Erdogan still likes to keep close to the people, living in a modest Ankara neighbourhood instead of the palatial official residence and often visiting shanty towns, dining with workers and distributing toys and sweets to children.
A man of colourful language, surprise turns and personal charisma, Erdogan is often criticzed for his belligerence and for not mincing his words in moments of anger.
In 2005, he picked a fight with the EU over plans to make adultery a jailable offense, in which many saw undertones of Koranic law.
He warned the outraged EU not to meddle and called women protesting against the plan "marginals" -- only to back down soon afterwards.
He once scolded a journalist for "stinking of alcohol" to fend off a pointed question. On another occasion, he drew the ire of protestors denouncing the death of conscripts at the hands of Kurdish rebels by saying that "military service is not where you lie down and relax."
But his tough attitude has earned him applause as well.
In April, when the army accused the AKP of tolerating Islamist extremism and threatened to step in, the government responded with an equally strong statement calling the generals to order.
It was a response no other government had dared give the army, which has toppled four governments since 1960.
Erdogan became prime minister in March 2003, four months after the AKP came to power and amended laws that had kept him on the sidelines of politics since 1997.
Erdogan`s career nosedived that year when he recited a poem with strong Islamist messages at a political rally, which earned him a four-month jail term for religious sedition and a political ban.
Erdogan joined the ranks of political Islam during his university years in a movement led by Necmettin Erbakan, who later became Turkey`s first Islamist prime minister.
Elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994, Erdogan won popularity with improved communal services that brought some relief to the chaotic city.
In 1997, the army forced Erbakan to resign after his policies sparked fears that Turkey`s pro-Western path was under threat.
Erbakan`s Welfare Party was banned and its successor met the same fate in 2001, prompting Erdogan and his "modernist" followers to rethink their vision of state and religion.
After he was released from jail, Erdogan disowned political Islam and endorsed Turkey`s traditionally pro-Western, secular stance, but continues to advocate broader religious rights.
07/22/2007 20:31 GMT