Emine Erdoğan

First Lady Emine Erdogan has been actively involved in social projects since her youth. She has practiced the spirit of philanthropy, which she inherited from her family, in all fields of her life and lent a helping hand to thousands of people.

Together with the Turkish Ministry of National Education, Mrs. Erdogan launched several country-wide campaigns to encourage girls’ and women’s education and emphasize the importance of early childhood education. Mrs. Erdogan also supported the “Voluntary Envoys” project, developed by the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services to promote volunteering in society and harmonize public services. Moreover, First Lady Erdogan has been actively involved in healthcare projects, particularly promoting universal access to healthcare by women, children, and refugees. More recently, the “Zero Waste” project was launched nationally under the auspices of Mrs. Erdogan in 2017 in order to call attention to climate change, fight plastic pollution, and encourage sustainable waste and resource management.

Most importantly, First Lady Erdogan has paid attention to the cries rising from different geographies in the world, standing by the oppressed and the poor, and vehemently opposing human rights violations. She has not remained silent in the face of the humanitarian tragedies in different parts of the world and organized international events to call attention to these tragedies. Mrs. Erdogan personally traveled to Myanmar in 2012 and to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh in 2017 despite critical security threats and provided humanitarian aid to the region. She has articulated the feelings of millions of mothers by putting this issue on the world agenda and helped launch significant aid campaigns. First Lady Erdogan has been recognized for her humanitarian efforts through several international awards.