President Erdoğan’s Ramadan home visits

When I saw a few Twitter messages about the home visits, I asked Perplexity to compile what is noted about President Erdoğan’s and also a few other governmnent officials’ home visits during the Ramadhan. I have also added a gallery of visit images. I understand that some staging needed in any case, but it could be done better?

An X user, Serhat Ayan, interpreted the image above:

On days when the president doesn’t visit their home, how does this family watch television? They’ll either sit on the distant couch and watch the TV from a 160-degree angle, or they’ll sit on top of the stove to watch. It struck me as if there were a couch in the place where the stove is in normal life. The fact that the stove standing there hasn’t damaged the unsoiled wall paint also suggests this. I don’t know how many people still have stoves in their homes, but we didn’t run the stove pipe through the middle of the living room and into the chimney; the pipe always ran close to the wall. I’m not even discussing the white high chairs, which are different from the house’s own brown chairs that are kept high off the floor.

Erdoğan’s Ramadan Iftar Visits: Political Communication, Visual Analyses, and Public Debate

Overview

President Erdoğan’s household iftar visits during Ramadan have become a recurring and heavily scrutinized feature of AKP’s political communication strategy. While the specific X post by @serhatayan (status/2025480254836326707) could not be directly retrieved, extensive research reveals a rich landscape of visual analyses, critical commentary, and public debate surrounding the 2026 Ramadan iftar visits and their historical precedents. These visits function as a populist performance of proximity to “ordinary citizens,” but they routinely generate social media backlash when visual details in the staged photographs contradict official narratives.

The 2026 Kayacık Family Visit — The Stove Controversy

The most discussed iftar visit of the current Ramadan season took place on February 19, 2026, when President Erdoğan and his wife Emine Erdoğan visited the home of Ali and Miyase Kayacık in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. The visit was framed as a modest, heartfelt encounter — the mother later told the press, “We never could have imagined our president would visit people like us”.[1][2][3]

However, the press-distributed photographs sparked immediate controversy. Social media users noticed the house was heated by a wood-burning stove (soba), with no natural gas connection — in the center of Istanbul. This visual detail directly contradicted Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar’s statement from November 2025 budget hearings, when he told CHP MPs that “everyone uses natural gas” in response to complaints about empty gas cylinders in kitchens. Pro-government media had celebrated Bayraktar’s retort as the “answer of the year”.[4][5][6][1]

The contradiction was widely discussed across opposition and mainstream media, including Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Halk TV, and T24. T24 ran a comparative piece titled “From yesterday to today: Erdoğan’s iftar visits — poverty increased, tables shrank, children decreased,” comparing visual evidence from past and present Ramadan visits to document worsening economic conditions. Halk TV’s İsmail Saymaz described the visit as revealing “failure” — that even in Istanbul’s core, citizens lack access to basic utilities that the government claims to have provided universally.[7][6][8][9][1]

The Işıkhan Poster Scandal

A second iftar visit generated even sharper criticism. Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan visited earthquake survivor Seyran and Murat Yıldırım’s new TOKİ apartment in Elazığ as part of AKP’s “Yeni Evim, İlk İftarım” (My New Home, My First Iftar) program. Photographs showed that a large standing poster/banner featuring Erdoğan’s photograph and the slogan “Our intention is one, our belief is one, our path is one” had been brought into the family’s living room and placed in a prominent position behind the iftar spread.[10][11][12][13]

CHP MP Umut Akdoğan dissected the visuals on social media, pointing out several incongruities:[10]

• Eight portions of ordered döner kebab were brought to a yer sofrası (floor spread) — suggesting the meal was not home-cooked
• A large AKP propaganda banner was installed inside a private home
• The home had LED lighting, curtains, and stylish furniture, but the iftar was staged on the floor rather than at a table

The critique centered on the performative nature of the visit: the floor spread is a visual code meant to signal modesty and closeness to the people, while the propaganda banner reveals the event as an orchestrated PR exercise.[14]

AKP’s Systematic Ramadan PR Program

These individual visits are not spontaneous. AKP’s Organization Directorate announced a comprehensive Ramadan program under the slogan “Niyetimiz Bir, İnancımız Bir, Yolumuz Bir” (Our Intention Is One, Our Belief Is One, Our Path Is One). The program includes:[15][16]

• “Yeni Evim, İlk İftarım”: Ministers and officials visit earthquake survivors in their new TOKİ homes
• “Gönül Sofraları” (Heart Tables): Iftar gatherings with martyrs’ families, veterans, disabled individuals, and orphans
• Newlywed visits: AKP officials visit young couples who received government marriage loans
• Campus iftars: University iftar events and youth tents
• Ramadan decorations: Party offices and neighborhoods decorated with Ramadan-themed materials

MYK and MKYK members, ministers, MPs, and local party officials participate across all 81 provinces. President Erdoğan himself praised the program, noting that the “Yeni Evim, İlk İftarım” events “touch hearts”.[17][18][19][20]

Historical Pattern of Household Iftar Visits

Erdoğan’s tradition of visiting citizens’ homes during Ramadan dates back years and has consistently attracted both media coverage and critical analysis:

Critical and Academic Analyses

Social Media Visual Analysis

The type of analysis conducted by @serhatayan — close reading of the visual details in official iftar photographs — has become a widespread genre on Turkish social media. Users routinely examine:

• The soba/doğalgaz question: Does the house have natural gas or use a stove? This reveals socioeconomic reality
• Table vs. floor: Whether iftar is served at a table (masa) or on the floor (yer sofrası) — the floor is read as a performance of humility
• Staged vs. authentic elements: Ordered food vs. home-cooked meals, propaganda materials brought into the home, visible security detail
• Contradictions with official claims: The 2026 stove detail vs. the Energy Minister’s claims about universal gas access

Halk TV, Sözcü, Cumhuriyet, and various X/Twitter commentators have all published detailed visual breakdowns of these photographs.[32][9][7]

Academic and Analytical Perspectives

Several academic works provide frameworks for understanding these visits:

• Batu & Tos (2018) conducted a semiotic analysis of Erdoğan’s visual image on social media during the 2017 referendum, finding that his visual identity is “professionally managed” and that images shared are carefully selected to “positively influence the electoral process”.[33]
• Çay & Kalkamanova (2023) measured Erdoğan’s populist discourse quantitatively, identifying “people-centrism” as the largest dimension of his rhetoric — the iftar visits are a visual embodiment of this people-centric populist performance.[34][35]
• A study published in the International Journal of Communication examined how AKP uses food and culinary culture as political communication, arguing that efforts to “appeal to average people” through items like ayran and traditional iftar settings serve both populist and social engineering functions.[36]
• Şener et al. noted that even opposition figure İmamoğlu adopted the strategy of breaking fast with conservative families during Ramadan as a way to enter private spaces and build cross-ideological trust.[37][38]

The “Halkla İlişkiler” (Public Relations) Critique

The dominant opposition critique frames these visits as halkla ilişkiler (PR) exercises rather than genuine encounters. Key arguments include:

• The visits are pre-planned, with security sweeps, media coordination, and party officials in attendance
• Families are selected to fit a narrative (modest homes, working-class backgrounds, health issues requiring presidential intervention)
• Visual codes (floor seating, modest food, stoves) are carefully managed — but sometimes contradict the government’s own claims
• The visits serve to personalize the leader as a compassionate figure in contact with ordinary people, masking systemic failures in social policy

İmamoğlu’s public invitation to Erdoğan — “Come, let’s sit in a Ramadan tent with the people in Istanbul’s most beautiful square” — was itself a counter-move designed to highlight the difference between staged private encounters and genuine public engagement.[39]

Conclusion

Erdoğan’s Ramadan iftar visits are a well-established, institutionalized component of AKP’s political communication strategy that operates at the intersection of populist performance, religious symbolism, and media management. The 2026 season has produced particularly rich material for critical analysis, with the Kayacık family stove detail and the Işıkhan poster incident both exposing the tensions between curated populist imagery and underlying socioeconomic realities. The genre of close visual reading of these official photographs — exemplified by the @serhatayan post referenced — has become a significant form of citizen media criticism in Türkiye’s digital public sphere.

References

1. Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyaretinde, sobalı ev ayrıntısı dikkat çekti – Cumhuriyet – Erdoğan ile eşi Emine Erdoğan, dün İstanbul Beyoğlu’nda Kayacık ailesinin iftar sofrasına misafir ol…
2. Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan Ramazan’da hane ziyaretlerini sürdürdü – Hür Haber – Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ramazan’da hane ziyaretlerini sürdürdü. Cumhurbaşkanı, Beyoğlu’nd…
3. Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan Misafirleri Oldu! ‘ Hayal Edemezdik ‘ – Başkan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve eşi Emine Erdoğan, Ramazan ayının bereketli günlerinde Beyoğlu’nda ik…
4. Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyaretinde, sobalı ev detayı dikkat çekti: Bakan Bayraktar’ın sözleri akıllara geldi! – Erdoğan ile eşi Emine Erdoğan, dün İstanbul Beyoğlu’nda Kayacık ailesinin iftar sofrasına misafir ol…
5. Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyareti Bayraktar’ı zora soktu: Doğal gaz yok, soba var – Erdoğan ve eşi Emine Erdoğan Beyoğlu’nda Kayacık ailesinin iftar sofrasına misafir oldu. Evin sobalı…
6. Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyaretinde ‘soba’ detayı: Bakanın sözleri akıllara geldi – Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan ile eşi Emine Erdoğan, dün İstanbul Beyoğlu’nda Kayacık ailesinin iftar sofras…
7. Erdoğan iftarını yoksul yurttaşın evinde açtı! Yayınlanan o fotoğraf … – Erdoğan iftarını yoksul yurttaşın evinde açtı! Yayınlanan o fotoğraf sosyal medyayı karıştırdı! 75K …
8. Dünden bugüne Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyaretleri: Yoksulluk arttı, sofralar … – Erdoğan’ın ramazan ziyaretinde kurulan mütevazı iftar sofrası ve sobalı ev görüntüleri, düşen alım g…
9. Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyaretine o detay damga vurdu! Saymaz’dan ezber bozan yorum! “Başarısızlık…” – Erdoğan’ın iftar ziyaretine o detay damga vurdu! Saymaz’dan ezber bozan yorum! “Başarısızlık…”

Ha…

10. Çalışma Bakanı Işıkhan’ın ‘Erdoğan’ posterli iftar ziyareti… CHP’li Akdoğan – Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanı Vedat Işıkhan’ın iftar için ziyaret ettiği bir evde sofranın yanın…
11. Bakan Işıkhan’ın iftar ziyaretinde tartışma yaratan görüntü: İftar sofrasına Erdoğan posterli reklam panosu! – Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanı Vedat Işıkhan’ın Elazığ’da depremzede bir aileye yaptığı iftar ziy…
12. LED aydınlatma var, masa yok! Evde AKP afişli iftar sofrası – Sözcü Gazetesi – Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanı Vedat Işıkhan, Elazığ’da depremzede ailenin evinde katıldığı iftar…
13. Vedat Işıkhan’ın iftara konuk olduğu eve Erdoğan’ın ayaklı posteri konuldu – Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanı Vedat Işıkhan, Elazığ’da depremzede Yıldırım ailesinin iftar sofra…
14. Bakan Işıkhan ‘yer sofralı fakir aile’ iftarında AKP afişini … – Ramazan ayının başlamasıyla birlikte başta Cumhurbaşkanı ve AKP Genel Başkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan o…
15. AK Parti ramazan ayında sahaya iniyor: Niyetimiz Bir, İnancımız Bir … – Başkan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın talimatıyla AK Parti Teşkilat Başkanlığınca ramazan ayında sahaya ini…
16. AK Parti ramazan programını açıkladı: 81 ilde iftar buluşmaları yapılacak – Haber 7 – AK Parti, ‘Niyetimiz bir, inancımız bir, yolumuz bir’ sloganıyla başlatılan Ramazan progra…
17. Erdoğan’dan Ramazan genelgesine karşı çıkanlara tepki: Bunların … – Bazı kesimlerin MEB’in yayınladığı Ramazan genelgesine tepki göstermesine değinen Erdoğan, “Genelge …
18. AK Parti, ramazan boyunca 81 ilde vatandaşlarla iftar sofralarında buluşacak – AK Parti Teşkilat Başkanlığınca ramazan ayına özel hazırlanan program kapsamında Türkiye genelinde v…
19. AK Parti, ramazan boyunca 81 ilde vatandaşlarla iftar sofralarında buluşacak – Ankara Haberleri – AYNUR EKİZ – AK Parti Teşkilat Başkanlığınca ramazan ayına özel hazırlanan program kapsamında Türkiy…
20. AK Parti, ramazan boyunca 81 ilde vatandaşlarla iftar sofralarında … – Program kapsamında 6 Şubat depremlerinin ardından kalıcı konutlarına yerleşen vatandaşlarla “Yeni Ev…
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İhlas Hab…

23. Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, orucunu yer sofrasında açtı – Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve eşi Emine Erdoğan, iftarda bir vatandaşın evine konuk oldu.
24. Erdogan partage le repas d’iftar du Ramadan avec les … – – Le chef de l’état turc a effectué une visite surprise à des soldats en poste à Hakkari – Anadolu A…
25. ASIA/TURKEY – Erdogan hosts religious leaders at iftar dinner – Ankara (Agenzia Fides) – On Wednesday, 5 May, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted and o
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27. President Erdoğan shares iftar with martyrs’ families
28. President Erdoğan praises security forces at Ramadan iftar in Beştepe – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended an iftar dinner at the Beştepe Millet Exhibition Hal…
29. Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, iftar programında sporcular ve gençlerle … – Erdoğan, “Yarım asrı bulan siyasi hayatım boyunca daima gençlerle yürüdüm, gençlerle dava arkadaşlığ…
30. Bugün iftarımızı değerli çiftçi kardeşlerimle, ülkemizin dört bir … – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan). 392 replies. Bugün iftarımızı değerli çiftçi kardeşlerimle, ülkem…
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33. 16 Nisan 2017 Anayasa Değişikliği Referandumunda Recep Tayyip
34. Microsoft Word – POLITIKON_VOL_55_2023
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37. [PDF] Discourse analysis of İmamoğlu’s campaign – Hakan Yücel – In the 1980s, the Social Democratic Populist Party represented another remarkable ex- ample of left-…
38. The Pushback Against Populism: Running on “Radical … – Yet if we examine the premises underlying much of populism’s support, we find reason to believe that…
39. İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’ı iftar yapmaya davet etti: ‘İstediği yere gidelim…’ – İBB Başkanı Ekrem İmamoğlu, Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ı iftara davet etti.