What you should know about Turkey's President, Recap Tayyip Erdogan:
1. The Turkish economy between 2002 and 2012 caused a growth of 64% in real GDP and a 43% increase in GDP per capita.
2. Erdoğan inherited a debt of $23.5 billion to the IMF, which was reduced to $0.9 billion in 2012. He decided not to sign a new deal. Turkey's debt to the IMF was thus declared to be completely paid and he announced that the IMF could borrow from Turkey.
3. In 2010, five-year credit default swaps for Turkey's sovereign debt were trading at a record low of 1.17%, below those of nine EU member countries and Russia.
4. In 2002, the Turkish Central Bank had $26.5 billion in reserves. This amount reached $92.2 billion in 2011. During Erdoğan's leadership. Inflation fell from 32% to 9.0% in 2004.
5. Under Erdoğan's government, the number of airports in Turkey increased from 26 to 50.
6. Between 2002 and 2011, another 13,500 km of expressway were built.
7. For the first time in Turkish history, high speed railway lines were constructed, and the country's high-speed train service began in 2009. In 8 years, 1,076 km of railway were built and 5,449 km of railway renewed.
8. Erdogan put greater investments into the healthcare system than any predecessor. As part of the reforms, the "Green Card" program, which provides free health benefits to the poor.
9. Erdoğan increased Education spending from 7.5 billion lira in 2002 to 34 billion lira in 2011, the highest share of the national budget given to one ministry and number of universities in Turkey nearly doubled, from 98 in 2002 to 186 in October 2012.
10. In 1996 1$=222 Lira and in 2016 1$=2.94 Lira, even after the recent turmoil.