Messages of congratulations poured in on social media on Sunday, the 69th birthday of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Officials from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) also shared celebratory messages on social media.

Erdoğan rarely publicly celebrated his past birthdays, and this year was no different. The president was away from the public eye on Sunday. Instead, he spent weeks visiting provinces hit by devastating earthquakes on Feb. 6 that he dubbed the "disaster of the century."

Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the leaders congratulating Erdoğan’s birthday. The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin sent a congratulatory message to Erdoğan on the occasion.

According to the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called Erdoğan to extend their birthday wishes.

Born in 1954 in a working-class neighborhood of Istanbul, Erdoğan was elected mayor of the city years later after a political career in the Welfare Party (RP) and National Salvation Party (MSP). His election was a turning point in the political life of Erdoğan, who had already made his mark on the political scene as a fiery orator in his youth. In the years he served as mayor, he turned around Istanbul’s fortunes after years of chronic problems, from water shortages to pollution and traffic chaos. His legacy as mayor helped propel him to the forefront in the 2002 elections, where his party won a landslide victory, the first in years after a long period of coalition governments. Since then, the AK Party has run the country after successive election victories. Erdoğan rose to the Presidency from Prime Ministry in the past two decades and introduced the executive presidency system.