Emine Erdoğan

Emine Erdoğan (née Gülbaran; born 16 February 1955) is the wife of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and current First Lady of Turkey.

Biography

Emine Erdoğan was born in Üsküdar, Istanbul. She is of ethnic Arab descent, her family comes from the south-eastern province of Siirt 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, Necmettin Bilal, and Esra.

Political life

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.