Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hinted on Friday that he was planning to retire soon, saying local elections scheduled for this month could be his last.
Erdoğan, 70, is Türkiye’s 12th president and the first to be directly voted for by citizens.
He first became the country’s head of state in 2014 and was re-elected several times for five-year terms, the last being in 2023.
He previously served as prime minister and mayor of Istanbul.
“This is a final for me, under the mandate given by the law this is my last election,” Erdogan said on Friday, the Reuters news agency cited the state-run news outlet Anadolu as saying.
“The result that will come out will be the transferring of a legacy to my siblings who will come after me,” he told a meeting of the TUGVA Young Turks foundation.
According to the US news website Semafor, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, is seen a possible future leader of Türkiye.
Erdogan is regarded as modern Türkiye most successful leader.
The Turkish leader has expressed confidence that his Justice and Development (AKP) party would remain in power and would be in good hands after has left office.
His defence of Palestinian rights and support for Muslim nations have led him to being seen as a hero across the Islamic world.
In 2018, the Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre ranked Erdogan as the most influential Muslim alive.
