Imprisoned for Subversion:
In 1997, Erdogan said in a speech: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes are our helmets, the minarets are our swords, and the faithful are our army.” He was the leader the Islamic-oriented Welfare Party at the time. In January 1998, Turkey’s highest court closed the Welfare Party and
banned its members from politics, saying the party sought to undermine Turkey’s secular basis. Weeks later, Erdogan was indicted on subversion charges, including inciting “an army of jihad” and “using democracy to establish an evil order.” A military court sentenced him to 10 months in jail, which he started serving in March 1999.
He was given a prison sentence after he had read poetry regarded as a violation of Kemalism by judges. It included verses
translated as "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...."[4]
However,
the original poem did not include the verses which were deemed to violate the secular regime.[12][13].
Since returning to politics after his imprisonment, Erdogan Erdogan has overseen the moderation and reform of many Turkeish policies, including, in 2001, the abolition of the death penalty (except in times of war and for acts of terrorism), the abolition of torture in Turkish prisons, and allowing the use of the Kurdish language in broadcasting and education, and supported George Dumbya Bush’s request to use Turkey as a staging ground for the war on Iraq, but was ultimately rebuffed by the Turkish parliament.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdoğan#cite_ref-charismatic_3-2
http://middleeast.about.com/od/turkey/p/me080210.htm
