Turkish PM shares intimate anecdotes during program devoted to his life

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan poses with his wife Emine Erdoğan and his daughter Sümeyye during his visit to his hometown Rize on Aug. 26. AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shared intimate anecdotes of his life during a three-hour long special program devoted to his life named "The Master's Story," which aired on private broadcaster Beyaz TV on Sept. 3.

Erdoğan reflected on many aspects of his life in the program, from early childhood memories to his encounter with his wife Emine, from his passion for football to his time spent in prison following his conviction in 1997.

The prime minister touched on how he sold traditional simits and water at weekends to earn money to buy books when he was still a child. "Seeing my enterprise, my father asked a carpenter to make a library where I could store my books," he recalled.

Erdoğan also spoke about his "crush" for his wife, revealing that he first saw Emine among the audience when he was making a political speech in 1977. "She caught my attention. As the youth says, I received electricity. I always say that love is annihilation in the person you are fond of. I fell in love once, but I fell in love [forever]," he said.

The prime minister also got emotional when a video was shown of letters he received when he was serving a sentence for reciting a poem while he was Istanbul mayor. "There were over a hundred visitors every day. In the mornings I talked with those who came, and during the nights I answered the letters," he said with regard to his prison days.

Celebrities such as singer Ajda Pekkan, actors Kenan Işık and Kenan İmirzalıoğlu, producer Acun Ilıcalı, football coach Fatih Terim appeared in recorded videos and shared their own anecdotes about their experiences of the prime minister.

The program also became a trending topic on Twitter, reaching the world's second highest place and staying among the top 10 for over four hours.