Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that handed the festival’s prestigious top prize to a twisty French Alps courtroom drama.
“Anatomy of a Fall” is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. It stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death. Cannes’ Grand Prix, its second prize, went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz.
Turkish actress Merve Dizdar and Japan’s Koji Yakusho won the best actress and actor awards on Saturday at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Tran Anh Hung won best director for “The Pot-au-Feu.”
Turkey’s Merve Dizdar won best actress for “About Dry Grasses”, the latest from festival favorite Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
She said she played “someone who is fighting for her life and she has overcome a lot of difficulties.”
“Under normal circumstances, I would have to work hard on this character in order to understand her but I live in a part of the country which enabled me to fully understand who she is,” she said.
“I understand what it is, being a woman in that area.”
The film focuses on a dejected schoolteacher frustrated with his life in a remote Anatolian village.
Shot in Ceylan’s visually arresting style, it looks at teacher-pupil relations and the roots of political engagement.
Ceylan previously won the Palme d’Or for “Winter Sleep”, among multiple awards he has received over the years at the Cannes Film Festival.
Japan’s Koji Yakusho won best actor at Cannes for “Perfect Days” by German director Wim Wenders, a touching tale about a Tokyo toilet cleaner.
“I want to specifically thank Wim Wenders… who truly created a magnificent character,” he said as he received the award.
The festival, which closed on Saturday evening, sometimes felt like a dream retirement home populated by aging male icons.
There was a glitzy out-of-competition premiere for the new Indiana Jones movie, with an 80-year-old Harrison Ford getting weepy when he received an honorary Palme d’Or.
Martin Scorsese, also 80, premiered his much-anticipated Native American epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” with Robert De Niro, 79.
European auteurs Marco Bellocchio, 83, Wim Wenders, 77, and Victor Erice, 82, all brought new films.
The oldest of all, 86-year-old Ken Loach, showed he still had fighting spirit with the final entry in the competition on Friday, “The Old Oak”, a moving homage to working-class solidarity.
Loach has had no fewer than 15 films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu have rallied their supporters on the final day of campaigning before Sunday’s decisive presidential election run-off.
The two candidates are aiming to attract some 8 million voters who did not go to the polls in the first round.
A first round of voting on May 14 showed Erdogan with a lead over the opposition’s Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and Erdogan’s AK Party and its allies secured a parliamentary majority in the initial vote.
Erdogan paid homage to his conservative predecessor with a visit to Istanbul’s Adnan Menderes mausoleum on Saturday, to rally his conservative base.
Menderes was tried and hanged one year after the military staged a coup in 1960 to put Turkey back on a more secular course. Erdogan survived a putsch attempt against his own Islamic-rooted government in 2016.
“The era of coups and juntas is over,” the 69-year-old declared after laying a wreath at his mentor’s tomb.
“I once again call on you to go to the ballot boxes. Tomorrow is a special day for us all.”
Erdogan speaks during an election campaign rally in Istanbul, Turkey [Khalil Hamra/AP Photo]
Erdogan told his followers in January that he wanted to continue Menderes’s fight for religious rights and nationalist causes in the officially secular but overwhelmingly Muslim republic of 85 million people.
Erdogan beat Kilicdaroglu by nearly five percentage points in the first round of voting.
But Erdogan’s failure to top the 50-percent threshold set up Turkey’s first run-off on Sunday and underscored the gradual ebbing of his support. Erdogan, who has led the country for 20 years, is still seen as the frontrunner. Recent opinion polls suggest a close race.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Ankara, said Erdogan’s message has not changed significantly from the first round of the election.
“He was making a promise to make the next century the century of Turkey. He told voters that he would continue the mega project and enhance the defence industry in the country. He was promising a more powerful and assertive Turkey in the international arena,” he said.
Kilicdaroglu, who is heading up an opposition coalition of conservatives, secular parties and nationalists, ended his campaign with a speech at the “Family Support Insurance Meeting” in the capital, Ankara.
Kilicdaroglu has focused on more immediate issues as he tries to come up from behind. In an attempt to win over nationalist voters, the opposition challenger has promised to expel Syrian refugees.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkey’s main opposition alliance, speaks during an indoor campaign event ‘Family Support Insurance Meeting’ in Ankara, Turkey [Cagla Gurdogan/Reuters]
“To attract the nationalist vote, Kilicdaroglu has focused on anti-refugee sentiments in the country and he was promising to send millions of Syrian, Afghan, and Pakistani refugees back to their countries. For now, the opposition is trying to appeal to nationalists,” said Al Jazeera’s Serdar.
On Friday, Kilicdaroglu used a late-night TV interview to accuse Erdogan’s government of unfairly blocking his mass text messages to voters.
“They are afraid of us,” the 74-year-old former civil servant said.
He repeated the same claim on Saturday.
“I can’t send a text message to reporters to announce our campaign program. Telecommunication companies are preventing me from sending text messages to journalists. I’m under a total blackout. We can’t even hold an election in Turkey. This man [Erdogan] is a coward, he is a coward,” he said.
Observers have said Turkey’s votes are free of meddling on election days – but unfair because the odds are stacked against the opposition in advance.
“These were competitive but still limited elections,” the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election observer mission’s chief Michael Georg Link said after the first round.
“The criminalisation of some political forces … prevented full political pluralism and impeded individuals’ rights to run in the elections,” Link said.
Erdogan’s consolidation of power included a near-complete monopolisation of the media by the government and its business allies.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) estimated that Erdogan received 60 times as much airtime on the TRT Haber state broadcaster as Kilicdaroglu in April.
“They have taken over all the institutions,” Kilicdaroglu said in his television interview.
Many issues have turned voters for or against Erdogan: While his first decade in power was marked by strong economic growth and warm relations with Western powers, his second began with a corruption scandal and soon descended into a political crackdown and years of economic turmoil that erased many of the early gains.
Another issue that has taken centre-stage in the lead-up to the elections has been the state of the economy, the growing alarm about the fate of Turkey’s beleaguered lira and the stability of its banks.
Erdogan forced the central bank to follow through on his unconventional theory that lower interest rates bring down inflation, but Turkey’s annual inflation rate touched 85 percent last year while the lira entered a brief freefall.
Economists feel that Erdogan’s government will need to reverse course and sharply raise rates or stop supporting the lira if it wants to avoid a full-fledged crisis after the vote.
The first round of Turkey’s key presidential elections saw a third nationalist candidate and his alliance potentially emerge as a determining force on the fate of the run-off vote that takes place on Sunday.
In the May 14 polls, incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan scored 49.5 percent of the ballots, while the candidate of the main opposition alliance, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, acquired 44.8 percent.
The third candidate, Sinan Ogan, who was a not familiar figure to the Turkish public before the polls, took 5.2 percent in the election with the backing of the newly established ultranationalist ATA Alliance led by the Victory Party of Umit Ozdag, a seasoned far-right politician. The alliance secured 2.4 percent of the votes in the May 14 parliamentary election.
With such an outcome, the nationalist nominee and the alliance emerged as possible kingmakers in the aftermath of the first round – until their recent fallout, that is.
Analysts say some of their votes came from the backers of a fourth candidate, Muharrem Ince, who withdrew from the race days before the first round, as well as some younger people who dislike both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu.
Mesut Yegen, a professor of sociology at Istanbul’s Sehir University, said there is a voter bloc that wants to see neither main contender as president and is unimpressed with the mainstream political parties in Turkey today.
“Many of them have secular sensitivities and, therefore, they are against the religion-based conservative politics Erdogan and his People’s Alliance pursue,” Yegen told Al Jazeera.
He added this group is also disturbed by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party’s support for Kilicdaroglu and cooperation between the two sides.
Ogan, an academic of international relations, entered parliament in 2011 with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – the closest ally of Erdogan and his party today – before launching an unsuccessful bid for its leadership in 2015, after which he was expelled.
He had been away from politics since then until he was named a presidential candidate through a deal he reached with Ozdag.
Meanwhile, Ozdag, a professor of international relations, is a former deputy leader of the MHP who later took the same position in the IYI Party, which is in Kilicdaroglu’s alliance, before being expelled and establishing the Victory Party in 2021.
The party has grown public support using ultranationalist rhetoric in a country hit hard by its worst economic crisis in decades, and embracing anti-refugee sentiment rapidly spreading among struggling Turks.
Ultranationalist platform
According to Etyen Mahcupyan, a political analyst and writer, Ogan was without a significant voter base before the polls, and if he did not agree with Ozdag on his candidacy, the latter would have found another contender to side with.
“The name of Ogan might mean something only to people in narrow nationalistic political and academic circles, but Ozdag and the Victory Party have actually established a voter base,” Mahcupyan told Al Jazeera.
Ogan and Ozdag’s election campaign platform was strongly opposed to Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
Their agenda revolved around a promise to send millions of refugees in the country back to their homelands and used harsh language towards “terror” groups – as well as, what they allege, are corruption and nepotism in the government.
However, in an unexpected twist on May 22, Ogan endorsed Erdogan in the run-off vote, which led to the end of the ATA Alliance the same day.
Ogan told a televised news conference that “stability” played a large role in making his decision, noting Erdogan’s alliance secured a parliamentary majority in the polls on May 14. The politician did not reveal any possible promises made by Erdogan for siding with him.
“It is important for stability of the country that the majority of the parliament and the president are from the same alliance,” Ogan said, asking people who voted for him to support the incumbent in the second round.
Ozdag disagreed and said Ogan’s stance was his own. Two days later, Ozdag threw his weight behind Kilicdaroglu in a joint press conference after the two politicians signed a memorandum of understanding.
The deal includes strong statements on the repatriation of refugees in Turkey within a year, the fight against corruption, nepotism and “terror”, as well as protection of the unitary nature of the Turkish state.
Different paths
Mahcupyan said the ATA Alliance, which existed a mere two months, could have played a key role in the vote but individual agendas led to its downfall.
“Ogan looks like he thought about his own individual career without worrying about any future voter support while deciding, aiming to return to the MHP and continue politics there. Perhaps he sees himself as the next leader of the party,” he said.
“However, the Victory Party has grown its organisation and gathered a voter base as an opposition party,” the analyst continued.
“Umit Ozdag has goals for his party and wants it to stay afloat after the polls so he has to stand with the opposition, in the same line the party has established itself up until today.”
The big question a day before the key vote is what effect this division in the potential “kingmaker” coalition will have on the outcome of the run-off.
Yegen said the vast majority of the Zafer Party voters will back Kilicdaroglu following the deal between himself and Ozdag, and after the main opposition candidate adopted a stance appealing to them over the last two weeks.
He added the rest of Ogan’s voters may respond in three different ways in the second round. “Some will lean towards Erdogan, others will move in the direction of Kilicdaroglu, while the remaining will not go to the ballot box,” said Yegen.
Mahcupyan noted most of those voting for Ogan have no emotional connection to him. “They voted for him because they wanted a third path separate from the other two candidates,” he said.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set for another five years as Turkey’s president after winning a divisive election that at one point seemed to threaten his hold on power.
The 69-year-old, who has dominated his country’s politics for two decades, was on track to win the runoff vote by 52 percent to 48 percent, with more than 99 percent of ballot boxes counted, beating opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, according to preliminary official results from Turkey’s Supreme Election Council.
In the first round of voting on May 14, the president also came out on top, defying the polls, but fell short of an outright majority, which triggered the runoff vote.
Erdoğan declared victory in front of his residence in Istanbul, singing his campaign song before his speech. “I thank our nation, which gave us the responsibility of governing again for the next five years,” he said.
“We have opened the door of Turkey’s century without compromising our democracy, development and our objectives,” he added.
Erdoğan also called on his supporters to take Istanbul back in the next local elections in 2024. His AK Party lost the city to the opposition in the 2019.
The triumphant president continued his campaign tactic of targeting LGBTQ+ people. “Can LGBT infiltrate AK Party or other members of the People’s Alliance [the broader coalition backing Erdoğan]? Family is sacred to us,” he said.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and French leader Emmanuel Macron were among the first world leaders to congratulate Erdoğan on his victory. Both leaders emphasized working together on world affairs. The government of Qatar and Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, also congratulated the re-elected president.
Erdoğan’s victory follows a campaign in which he accused his rival of being linked to terrorism and argued that the country faced chaos if the six-party opposition alliance came to power.
He has ruled Turkey since 2003, first as prime minister and then as president, and the election has been widely seen as a defining moment for the country.
Erdoğan’s supporters say he has made the country stronger, but his critics argue that his authoritarian approach to power is fatally undermining Turkey’s democracy.
Kılıçdaroğlu said it had been “the most unfair election process in years” in his own post-election speech.
“All the resources of the state have been mobilized for one political party. They have been spread at the feet of one man,” he said.
The opposition candidate gave no indication that he was planning to resign, adding that the struggle would go on.
Erdogan taunted his rival, saying: “Bye, bye, bye Kemal.”
By contrast with earlier elections in which the president and his Islamist-oriented AK party easily beat their secular rivals, Erdoğan headed into this May’s contest behind in the polls.
His reelection campaign had to contend with economic problems such as painfully high inflation — currently 43 percent — and a weak currency, as well as the legacy of February’s devastating earthquake. At least 50,000 died in the disaster and the government was criticized for poor construction standards and its own slow response.
But Erdoğan’s first round performance on May 14 put him five percentage points ahead of Kılıçdaroğlu and just a few hundred thousand votes short of an absolute majority.
The opposition candidate then shifted to a more nationalist stance, promising to deport millions of Syrians and Afghans, but that move proved ultimately unsuccessful. Sinan Oğan, the nationalist candidate who won 5 percent in the first round then endorsed Erdoğan, not Kılıçdaroğlu.
Political analysts say Erdoğan’s victory highlights the polarization in Turkish society, particularly divisions between Islamists and secularists. While much of Turkey’s coastline, the big cities and the largely Kurdish southeast voted for Kılıçdaroğlu, the heartlands strongly favored Erdoğan.
Opposition supporters also argue that the election reflected Erdoğan’s grip on power, including his near-total influence on the country’s media, which is largely controlled by groups friendly toward the governing party.
After Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy was backed by Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, Erdoğan accused his rival of being in league with Kurdish terrorists, showing a doctored video in the closing days of the campaign to make his case.
This article has been updated to include reaction from Erdoğan.
LULEÅ, Sweden — Sweden has met all of its commitments to join NATO and expects to become part of the transatlantic military alliance by July, Tobias Billström, the country’s foreign minister, told POLITICO.
Speaking on the sidelines of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council summit, Billström said Stockholm had assuaged all of the concerns from Turkey, an existing NATO member which has held up Sweden’s application over concerns about its support for Kurdish groups which Ankara considers to be terrorist entities. Longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured a new term as Turkish president on Sunday.
Sweden’s tweaks included updating its domestic terrorism legislation, which will come into effect on June 1, to include lengthy prison terms for individuals convicted of participating in extremist organizations in ways that promote such groups. That is a veiled reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has a following in Sweden but is banned in Turkey.
Billström said he now expected Sweden to join the alliance ahead of a NATO meeting in Vilnius on July 11.
“We have delivered everything that we said that we were going to do,” Billström said. “There is a high expectation that we will be a member before Vilnius.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan touted his country’s “special relationship” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, speaking to CNN during an interview broadcast Friday.
“We are not at a point where we would impose sanctions on Russia like the West have done. We are not bound by the West’s sanctions,” Erdogan told the network. “We are a strong state and we have a positive relationship with Russia.”
“Russia and Turkey need each other in every field possible,” Erdogan said.
He added that the U.N. and Turkey-brokered Black Sea Grain Corridor Initiative, in which he played a key role helping to unlock crucial Ukrainian grain exports blocked by Russia’s invasion, “was possible because of our special relationship with President Putin.”
“The West is not leading a very balanced approach. You need a balanced approach towards a country such as Russia, which would have been a much more fortunate approach,” he said.
The powerful Turkish leader’s closeness to Putin, despite its membership in NATO, has made many Western leaders and diplomats nervous.
The comments came ahead of Turkey’s runoff presidential election vote, the second round in a highly-charged and tense race being held on May 28 because neither Erdogan nor his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu won more than 50% of the vote in the first round.
Erdogan finished ahead by a few points in the initial vote, and is leaning into his image of a strong nationalist leader that pushes back against Western dominance, despite Turkey being a member of NATO. Kilicdaroglu, meanwhile, has pledged to strengthen Turkey’s ties with the West and NATO. Turkey is home to the alliance’s second-largest military after the United States, and houses 50 American tactical nuclear warheads.
Erdogan has played a mediating role between Ukraine and Russia since the war began, sending aid and weapons to Ukraine and brokering prisoner swaps, but has also significantly expanded its trade ties with Russia.
His decision not to abide by Western calls to sanction Russia has served Turkey’s economy well so far; its trade with Russia doubled to $68.19 billion in 2022 from $34.73 billion in 2021, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. Russian tourists and expatriates, including billionaire oligarchs escaping sanctions, have poured into the country as their options for travel became severely limited.
Earlier in 2023, Putin waived the cost of Russian gas exports to Turkey, a move broadly seen as an effort to help Erdogan’s election chances.
Turkish imports from Russia also nearly doubled last year to $58.85 billion, pushing Russia ahead of China as Turkey’s top trading partner. Turkey is now the destination for 7% of Russian exports, up from 2% in 2021.
Erdogan is also accused of stymying NATO’s expansion with his refusal to approve the membership of Sweden, which applied to join the bloc in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Approving a new country into the alliance requires unanimous approval by its existing members. Turkey accepted Finland’s membership in March after much negotiation, but is holding out against Sweden over Ankara’s conviction that Stockholm backs terrorist groups that have harmed Turkey. Whether Erdogan will relent on Sweden if he wins the May 28 election is an open question.
As the results of Turkey’s presidential election trickled in, many opposition supporters took to social media to express their anger, directing much of it at voters living in areas devastated by February’s earthquakes.
Sunday’s election ended with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan taking 49.5 percent of the vote and his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, getting 44.9 percent.
The majority of voters in eight of 11 cities affected by the earthquakes cast their ballots for Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) while the other three cities favoured Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP).
In the wake of the quakes, Erdogan’s government was criticised for its slow initial response to the disaster and lax enforcement of building codes. Three months later, the president’s critics could not understand why earthquake survivors would support Erdogan at the ballot box. Many used Twitter to lob insults at these voters.
Gidenlere bişey demiyorum ama deprem bölgesinde geriye kalanların Allah belasını versin …. Onların yerine insanlığımızdan utanıyoruz
Translation: “I am not saying anything to those who left, but to those who stayed in the earthquake zone, may God damn you … We are embarrassed of our humanity in their place.”
Ulan o kadar rezillik cektik depremden sonra vermezler ya bu kadarini da yapmazlar dedim yaptilar daha enkazda olan cesetlerin ahinda bogulun
— Ebrr#kemaldedesinintorunu (@ebrrm_) May 14, 2023
Translation: “We suffered from so much embarrassment after the earthquake. I said they could not have given it, they wouldn’t have done this, but they did. May you drown in the cries of the dead who are still under the rubble.”
Thousands tweeted comments filled with verbal assaults and threats towards voters living in the earthquake zone.
Translation: “71 percent votes to Erdogan from the earthquake zone ..?
“You burn Urfa, I’ll burn Antep”
“Ok”
Some users stated because of the election results, they would no longer send aid to earthquake survivors.
Üzgünüm ama bu sondu bundan sonra ne olursa olsun asla hiç bir afette yardım yapmayacağım günlerce ağladım çırpındım devletin 3 gün sonra geldiği kızılayın parayla sattığı çadırları unutup hala AKP güveniyorlarsa artık ben yokum.
Translation: “I’m sorry but this was the last. No matter what, after this I will not help during any disaster. I cried for days. If they forgot that the government came 3 days later, that Kizilay sold tents and still trust AKP, I’m done.”
İnanamıyorum gerçekten. Çoğuna üzülmeyeceğim artık. Depremden beri kendimi parçaladım birşeyler yapabilmek için, hasta oldum üzüntüden. Gitsinler akp den yardım istesinler, diyecek bişey yok
Translation: “I really cannot believe this. I will not be sad for most of them any more. I have strained myself so much since the earthquake so that I could do something, I became sick from sadness. They can go ask the AKP for help, there is nothing to say.”
Government’s response
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it has begun an investigation into individuals who have made “provocative posts” and “created inhumane rhetoric” towards earthquake survivors, the Anadolu news agency reported.
The promises to no longer send help to the earthquake zone have already turned into action. According to Melike Hatipoglu, who said she has been personally organising relief efforts from the first day of the earthquakes, many people have cancelled their financial support for the victims.
“I don’t think my heart can take all that I have experienced in the past three days. The help for 174 orphans has been cut off. Almost 2,000 boxes of supplies have been cancelled. People asked [for me to give] back the furniture they had donated to those left homeless. They forbade the help given to kids, disabled and elderly people. I leave you all to comment.”
The backlash has carried over into government as well. On Tuesday, the Tekirdag Metropolitan Municipality announced it was terminating its temporary accommodation services to earthquake survivors.
CHP’li Tekirdağ Belediyesi Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’na oy çıkmayan deprem bölgelerini faturasını depremzedelere kesti.
Kumbağ’da otellere yerleştirilen vatandaşlar kapı dışarı edilmek istendi.
Depremzedeler, “Deprem bölgesi AK Parti’ye verdi diye bize bunu mu reva ediyorsunuz?”… pic.twitter.com/FftLpy2IUc
Translation: “The CHP Tekirdag Municipality punished the earthquake victims because Kemal Kilicdaroglu could not get enough votes from the earthquake zone.
“They tried to evict citizens who were relocated to hotels in Kumbag.
“The earthquake victims said, ‘This is what you think we are worthy of because the earthquake zone voted for AK Party?’”
After the public outcry, the Tekirdag governor and Disaster and Emergency Management Authority intervened and said they will continue providing shelter to the earthquake victims.
In response to the barrage of insults from opposition supporters on social media, videos and pictures of survivors from the earthquake zone giving back aid they received from CHP municipalities have been circulating on social media.
In one video, a victim from Elbistan in Kahramanmaras province, the earthquakes’ epicentre, said he is returning the free fertilizer he received from the CHP-run Ankara Metropolitan Municipality.
Elbistan’da bir depremzede, uğradıkları hakaretlerden sonra CHP’li Ankara Büyükşehir Belediye’sinin kendilerine verdiği gübreyi Kahramanmaraş CHP Elbistan İlçe Başkanlığı’na iade etti.
Translation: “The Nation Alliance has not made any statements condemning [the insults]. We are not without pride or dishonourable enough to use this fertilizer.”
Another victim shared with Murat Kurum, minister of environment and urbanisation, that during the earthquake he had taken a free bottle of water from an Ankara Metropolitan Municipality stand.
Benim de kanıma çok dokundu, güzel kardeşim. Ama hiç üzülme, biz varız. Sözümüzü tutacağız! pic.twitter.com/yN598V6tEe
Translation: “A request, the best answer is to give to those who lost their humanity. Whichever one you trust…”
Yaparız. Zira insan canının siyasi kararların üstünde olduğunu biliriz. Depremzede çocuklara, annesini kaybetmiş gençlere elimizden gelen daimi desteği iletiriz. İkinci turda gönlümden geçen gerçekleşsin ya da gerçekleşmesin, bizzat yeni bir yardım programını ben düzenleyeceğim. https://t.co/GWGnXzPIP8
Translation: “If the result of democracy did not please us, the action to take is to increase constructive criticism, to improve the opposition. However, it is not threatening those who were affected by tragedy. Just as this country raised us, we will continue to help its children unconditionally.
“We will. Because we know that human life is above political decisions. We convey our constant support to earthquake survivors and young people who have lost their mothers. In the second round, whether my heart is fulfilled or not, I will personally organise a new aid programme.”
Erdogan’s response
Prior to the general election, both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu campaigned in the earthquake-devastated cities. Members and leaders from their coalitions also held rallies and visited the area.
In a tweet, Erdogan denounced the negative reactions on social media.
“We are witnessing attacks that are incompatible with human values due to this mentality because they could not get votes from our citizens. These circles display all kinds of unscrupulousness, from cutting off the aid they send to the earthquake area to kicking earthquake victims out of hotels.”
Meclis seçiminin Cumhur İttifakı’nın zaferiyle sonuçlanması, Cumhurbaşkanı seçiminde de açık ara bir farkın ortaya çıkması; CHP Genel Başkanı’nın ve yönetiminin dengesini iyice bozdu.…
After a hotly-contested first round of elections on Sunday, Turkey will have a run-off vote on May 28.
Here’s what we may see happen next:
What can we expect from the run-off?
Analysts predict that incumbent candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more likely to win in a second round as he garnered a five-percentage point advantage from Sunday’s first-round vote against his main contender, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
With more than 99 percent of votes counted, Erdogan had received 49.51 percent of the vote, electoral chief Ahmet Yener said. Kilicdaroglu had secured 44.89 percent, according to Yener, citing results from the Supreme Election Council.
Overall, Erdogan performed better than expected, with his alliance also managing to secure a majority in the 600-seat parliament.
Political analyst Ali Carkoglu said Erdogan has “the momentum behind him” following those polls.
“Erdogan maintained his base of support in the heartland of Anatolia, although he lost some support in the southeast … He also maintained some credible level of support in the big cities,” Carkoglu told Al Jazeera.
“He was very successful also in the earthquake-hit regions. Some people find it surprising, but he apparently delivered what they expected of him and promises that he will deliver even better in the aftermath of the election,” the analyst added.
Meanwhile, there are some members of the opposition who are disappointed with Kilicdaroglu and consider him the wrong candidate as he was not able to chip away the conservative votes, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said.
As for the third-place candidate, Sinan Ogan, he did better than expected, making him the “kingmaker” because he could play a pivotal role in the outcome of a second round if he endorses one of the two candidates facing off in the second round.
Ogan has yet to make any such endorsement. Onur Erim, an analyst at Dragoman Strategies, told Al Jazeera that he will want ministries or vice presidencies in exchange for an endorsement.
What are the opposition’s challenges?
The opposition alliance will have its work cut out for it in reassuring its supporters that it is the alliance that can take Erdogan out, given how dismayed they are about the results of the first round.
Dozens of opposition officials were shocked at the poor result and are scrambling to rethink strategy, they told Reuters news agency.
The opposition will have to appeal to factions of the population who are questioning Kilicdaroglu’s alliance with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which the Turkish government considers to be a political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK has been fighting the Turkish state since the 1980s, during which time tens of thousands have died.
But that may be a challenge, as Erdogan has linked the opposition to the PKK. At a rally before Sunday’s vote, he showed his supporters a fake video of a PKK commander singing an opposition campaign song.
“We have two weeks. We need a quick recovery,” one official told Reuters.
What would an Erdogan victory mean?
An Erdogan win would grant him a third term, extending his two-decade rule and in continuation of him being the longest-serving leader the country has known.
Under him, Turkey would see a continuation of the presidential system that was adopted in 2018.
To relieve rising living costs, he has promised to introduce subsidised energy bills and hikes to pensions, public workers’ salaries and the minimum wage. Additionally, he will lower interest rates to tackle the country’s economic crisis.
Erdogan also said he will wage an independent foreign policy that will continue to influence the region and elsewhere in Africa and Central Asia.
Still, his critics say he has stifled dissent in the last decade of his rule, especially by cracking down on opposition groups.
What would a Kilicdaroglu victory mean?
A Kilicdaroglu win would symbolise the yearning of large parts of the electorate for change and would change Erdogan’s reputation as the country’s most electorally successful politician.
The centrist leader is promising a return to a “strong parliamentary system”, a solution to the “Kurdish issue”, a return of Syrian refugees back home, and closer relations with the European Union and the United States under a more muted foreign policy.
While promising further democratisation, the opposition has also said it will return to more conventional economic policies in a manifesto under the banner: “I promise you, spring will come again.”
Still, Erdogan’s parliamentary majority will mean that the opposition will have a tough time passing legislation in the Grand National Assembly.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Voter support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dipped below the majority required for him to win reelection outright with the ballot count from Turkey’s national election nearly completed Sunday, making it more likely the country was headed toward a May 28 presidential runoff.
With almost 95% of ballot boxes counted, unofficial returns had Erdogan with 49.6% of the vote, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. His main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, had 44.7% as the gap between the two shrank as the night went on.
Meanwhile, the opposition-leaning Anka news agency reported that with nearly all ballot boxes counted, Erdogan had 49% and Kilicdaroglu 45%. Ballots from about Turkish citizens who voted from outside the country still needed to be added to the tallies, officials said, and a runoff election was not assured.
If neither candidate secures more than half of the vote, the two top candidates will compete in a head-to-head contest in two weeks. Turkey’s election authority, the Supreme Electoral Board, said it was providing numbers to competing political parties “instantly” but would not make the results public until the count was completed and finalized.
Erdogan, 69, has governed Turkey as either prime minister or president for two decades. In the run-up to the election, opinion surveys had indicated the increasingly authoritarian leader narrowly trailed his challenger. The opposition candidate’s party accused Anadolu of manipulating results, insisting at one point that the 74-year-old finance official was narrowly leading.
The race, which largely centered on domestic issues such as the economy, civil rights and a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people, had appeared to be shaping up as the toughest re-election bid of the Turkish leader’s 20-year rule.
With the partial results showing otherwise, members of Kilicdaroglu’s center-left, pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, contended the state-run news agency was biased in Erodgan’s favor.
Omer Celik, a spokesperson for Erdogan’s Justice and Development, or AK, party, in turn accused the opposition of “an attempt to assassinate the national will” by claiming the state news agency was distorting the results. He called the opposition claims “irresponsible.”
While Erdogan hoped to win a five-year term that would take him well into his third decade as Turkey’s leader, Kilicdaroglu, 74, campaigned on a promise to return the country to a more democratic path and to repair its economy, battered by high inflation and currency devaluation.
Voters also elected lawmakers to fill Turkey’s 600-seat parliament, which lost much of its legislative power after a referendum to change the country’s system of governance to an executive presidency narrowly passed in 2017.
With 88% of ballot boxes counted, Anadolu said Erdogan’s ruling party alliance was hovering above 50% and Kilicdaroglu’s Nation Alliance had around 35%.
More than 64 million people were eligible to vote. This year marks 100 years since Turkey’s establishment as a republic — a modern, secular state born on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Voter turnout in Turkey is traditionally strong, but the government has suppressed freedom of expression and assembly since a 2016 coup attempt. Erdogan blamed the failed coup on followers of a former ally, cleric Fethullah Gulen, and initiated a large-scale crackdown on civil servants with alleged links to Gulen and on pro-Kurdish politicians.
Internationally, the elections were seen as a test of a united opposition’s ability to dislodge a leader who has concentrated nearly all state powers in his hands and worked to wield more influence on the world stage.
Erdogan, along with the United Nations, helped mediate a deal with Ukraine and Russia that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach the rest of the world from Black Sea ports despite Russia’s war in Ukraine. The agreement, which is implemented by a center based in Istanbul, is set to expire in days, and Turkey hosted talks last week to keep it alive.
But Erdogan also has held up Sweden’s quest to join NATO while demanding concessions, contending that nation was too lenient on followers of the U.S. based cleric and members of pro-Kurdish groups that Turkey considers national security threats.
Critics maintain the president’s heavy-handed style is responsible for a painful cost-of-living crisis. The latest official statistics put inflation at about 44%, down from a high of around 86%. The price of vegetables became a campaign issue for the opposition, which used an onion as a symbol.
In contrast with mainstream economic thinking, Erdogan contends that high interest rates fuel inflation, and he pressured the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey to lower its main rate multiple times.
Erdogan’s government also faced criticism for its allegedly delayed and stunted response to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that left 11 southern provinces devastated. Lax implementation of building codes is thought to have exacerbated the casualties and misery.
In his election campaign, Erdogan used state resources and his domineering position over media to try to woo voters. He accused the opposition of colluding with “terrorists,” of being “drunkards” and of upholding LGBTQ+ rights, which he depicts as threatening traditional family values in the predominantly Muslim nation.
In a bid to secure support, he increased wages and pensions and subsidized electricity and gas bills, while showcasing Turkey’s homegrown defense and infrastructure projects.
Kilicdaroglu’s Nation Alliance pledged to return Turkey’s governance system to a parliamentary democracy if it won both the presidential and parliamentary ballots. It also promised to restore the independence of the judiciary and the central bank, and to reverse crackdowns on free speech and other forms of democratic backsliding in Turkey.
“We have all missed democracy so much. We all missed being together,” Kilicdaroglu said after voting at a school in Ankara.
Also running for president was Sinan Ogan, a former academic who has the backing of an anti-immigrant nationalist party. His candidacy was expected to siphon potential backers from the two main candidates.
At polling stations, many voters struggled to fold bulky ballot papers — they featured 24 political parties competing for seats in parliament — and to fit them into envelopes along with the ballot for the presidency.
In the 11 provinces affected by the earthquake, nearly 9 million people were eligible to vote. Some 3 million people left the quake zone for other provinces, but only 133,000 people registered to vote at their new locations.
In Diyarbakir, a Kurdish-majority city that was hit by the earthquake, Ramazan Akcay arrived early at his polling station to cast his vote.
“God willing it will be a democratic election,” he said. “May it be beneficial in the name of our country.”
Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Mucahit Ceylan contributed from Diyarbakir, Turkey.
Early returns from Turkey’s national election Sunday had President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a solid lead after some 47% of ballot boxes were counted, the Turkish state-run news agency said, while the longtime leader’s main challenger disputed the numbers that showed him trailing.
Erdogan, who has governed NATO member Turkey as either prime minister or president for two decades, had 52.2% of the vote from the partial count, compared to 41.9% garnered by opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the Anadolu Agency reported.
In the run-up to the election, opinion surveys had indicated the increasingly authoritarian Erdogan narrowly trailed his challenger. The race, which largely centered on domestic issues such as the economy, civil rights and a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people, had appeared to be shaping up as the toughest re-election bid of the Turkish leader’s 20-year rule.
Erdogan was applauded during his first decade as leader for transforming Turkey into an economic and political success story, but over the last 10 years he’s faced mounting criticism — both domestically and internationally — for quashing dissent and adopting rules and laws typical of autocratic regimes.
Once a poster child for developing nations, Turkey is also currently battling high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis, both of which are regularly blamed by opponents and economists on Erdogan’s unorthodox economic policies.
Supporters of Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s, presidential candidate of Turkey’s main opposition alliance, react after early exit polls at the Republican People’s Party (CHP) headquarters on May 14, 2023 in Ankara, Turkey.
BK / Getty Images
Erdogan’s chief rival, KiIicdaroglu, is a secular social democrat politician who has emphasized messages of freedom and democracy on the campaign trail. The opposition alliance he represents has promised to roll back constitutional changes introduced after a 2017 referendum that significantly expanded the powers of the presidency, and to bring back the parliamentary system.
With the partial results showing otherwise, members of Kilicdaroglu’s center-left, pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, disputed Anadolu’s numbers, contending the state-run agency was biased in Erodgan’s favor.
“We are ahead,” tweeted Kilicdaroglu, 74, who ran as the candidate of a six-party opposition alliance.
The election could grant Erdogan, 69, another five-year term or see him unseated by Kilicdaroglu. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the winner will be determined in a May 28 run-off.
Voters also elected lawmakers to fill Turkey’s 600-seat parliament, which lost much of its legislative power after Erdogan’s executive presidency. The opposition has promised to return Turkey’s governance system to a parliamentary democracy if it wins both the presidential and parliamentary ballots.
More than 64 million people, including 3.4 million overseas voters, were eligible to vote. This year marks 100 years since Turkey’s establishment as a republic — a modern, secular state born on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Voter turnout in Turkey is traditionally strong, but the government has suppressed freedom of expression and assembly since a 2016 coup attempt. Erdogan blamed the failed coup on followers of a former ally, cleric Fethullah Gulen, and initiated a large-scale crackdown on civil servants with alleged links to Gulen and on pro-Kurdish politicians.
Internationally, the elections were seen as a test of a united opposition’s ability to dislodge a leader who has concentrated nearly all state powers in his hands and worked to wield more influence on the world stage.
Erdogan, along with the United Nations, helped mediate a deal with Ukraine and Russia that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach the rest of the world from Black Sea ports despite Russia’s war in Ukraine. The agreement is set to expire in days, and Turkey hosted talks last week to keep it alive.
The war in Ukraine inspired Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership as protection against potential Russian aggression. But Erdogan has held up Sweden’s accession to the alliance and demanded concessions, contending that nation was too lenient on followers of the U.S. based cleric and members of pro-Kurdish groups that Turkey considers national security threats.
Critics maintain the president’s heavy-handed style is responsible for a painful cost-of-living crisis. The latest official statistics put inflation at about 44%, down from a high of around 86%. The price of vegetables became a campaign issue for the opposition, which used an onion as a symbol.
Officials count ballots at a polling station during presidential and parliament elections in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, May 14, 2023.
Bloomberg
In contrast with mainstream economic thinking, Erdogan contends that high interest rates fuel inflation, and he pressured the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey to lower its main rate multiple times.
Erdogan’s government also faced criticism for its allegedly delayed and stunted response to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that caused devastation in 11 southern provinces. A lax implementation of building codes is thought to have exacerbated the casualties and misery.
In his election campaign, Erdogan used state resources and his domineering position over media to try to woo voters. He accused the opposition of colluding with “terrorists,” of being “drunkards” and of upholding LGBTQ+ rights, which he depicts as threatening traditional family values in the predominantly Muslim nation.
In a bid to secure support from citizens hit hard by inflation, he increased wages and pensions and subsidized electricity and gas bills, while showcasing Turkey’s homegrown defense and infrastructure projects.
Kilicdaroglu’s six-party Nation Alliance pledged to dismantle the executive presidency system, to restore the independence of the judiciary and the central bank, and to reverse crackdowns on free speech and other forms of democratic backsliding in Turkey.
At polling stations, many voters struggled trying to fold bulky ballot papers — they featured 24 political parties competing for seats in parliament — and to fit them into envelopes along with the ballot for the presidency.
“It’s important for Turkey. It’s important for the people,” said Necati Aktuna, a voter in Ankara. “I’ve been voting for the last 60 years. I haven’t seen a more important election that this one.”
“We have all missed democracy so much. We all missed being together,” Kilicdaroglu said after voting at a school in Ankara, where his supporters chanted “President Kilicdaroglu!”
Also running for president was Sinan Ogan, a former academic who has the backing of an anti-immigrant nationalist party.
In the 11 provinces affected by the earthquake, nearly 9 million people were eligible to vote. Some 3 million people left the quake zone for other provinces, but only 133,000 people registered to vote at their new locations.
Erdogan said voting went ahead “without any problems,” including in the earthquake-affected provinces.
“It is my hope that after the evening’s count … there will be a better future for our country, our nation and Turkish democracy,” Erdogan said.
In Diyarbakir, a Kurdish-majority city that was hit by the earthquake, Ramazan Akcay arrived early at his polling station to cast his vote.
“God willing it will be a democratic election,” he said. “May it be beneficial in the name of our country.”
Turkish flag over a DenizBank building. Turkey is expected to head to the polls on Sunday.
Ismail Ferdous | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Turkish lira is already facing some of the most volatile conditions across global currency markets in the run-up to the country’s landmark elections this weekend, with traders predicting a likely collapse if incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan retains his presidency.
The lira is currently trading at record lows of 19.56 against the U.S dollar — and market watchers forecast that it still has further room to plunge.
Turkey is holding both its presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday. In the event of a victory by Erdogan, it’s “highly likely the Turkish lira collapses within months,” the founder of advisory firm Cribstone Strategic Macro Mike Harris told CNBC.
“Ultimately the lack of confidence in investment will mean that the Turkish Lira will probably be among the worst performing currencies in the world for some time,” he said.
This is largely owed to the current president’s unorthodox economic policies.
“For a number of years under the guiding hand of Erdogan’s nutty monetary ideas, the Turkish lira has been wildly volatile and in a state of crisis,” saidSteve H. Hanke, who is a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
Turkey’s monetary policy prioritizes the pursuit of growth and export competition rather than assuaging inflation. Erdogan endorses the unconventional view that raising interest rates increases inflation, rather than taming it.
“Concerns about the actual election uncertainty, and then the uncertainty over a potential change in government and how they might manage FX is what is behind the sharp rise in FX volatility to this 42.7% level,” said Paresh Upadhyaya, director of fixed income and currency strategy at Amundi US, who added that the lira’s volatility rate hovered around 10-12% in December.
“Should Erdogan win, which is our base case assumption, USD/TRY could move to 23.00,” Wells Fargo’s Emerging Markets Economist and FX Strategist Brendan McKenna wrote in an e-mail.
“The lira is heavily overvalued as a result of intervention efforts, and depending which way the election ends up going, the currency could move sharply in either direction,” McKenna said.
Erdogan’s biggest contender lies in joint opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who pledged to reinstate orthodox economic policies and cool Turkey’s sky-high inflation rate.
And if the opposition emerges victorious, the lira will begin to see some strengthening, at least initially, said Upadhyaya.
“It will mean that the central bank of Turkey regains its independence, that they will be allowed full mandate to pursue traditional economic policies,” he said.
Higher interest rates would help lower the country’s inflation rate, lead to a “pretty serious recession” and help firm up the foreign currency reserves that have been depleted trying to defend the lira, he continued.
In a regime change scenario, the lira may still experience downside in the very near-term as FX intervention efforts halt, but longer-term could see a very sharp rally.
“The coalition is made up of smaller parties, which came together only to oust Erdogan,” wrote the bank’s Senior Emerging Markets Economist Tatha Ghose.
“The market’s enthusiasm could fade if the coalition were to run into cooperation or policy implementation challenges, which would remind markets that Erdogan can return to power,” the report elaborated.
In spite of that, Wells Fargo’s McKenna anticipates a more optimistic long-term outlook for the currency.
“In a regime change scenario, the lira may still experience downside in the very near-term as FX intervention efforts halt, but longer-term could see a very sharp rally.”
Turkey is currently grappling with an inflation rate of close to 50%, after breaching a 24-year high of 85.51% last October.
Whether the lira takes a freefall or regains some ground, the impact is still likely to be contained domestically.
“Turkey is now a mainly de-linked market with much smaller flows and no real international participation,” Ghose told CNBC in an e-mail. Similarly, Upadhyaya does not foresee any spillover impacts.
“I do not expect any contagion effects affecting other emerging market currencies or even G-10 currencies,” he said.
A person holds a ballot at a polling station in Ankara on May 14, 2023, for parliamentary and presidental elections in Turkey.
Adem Altan | Afp | Getty Images
Millions of Turks are headed to the polls Sunday in what is set to be Turkey’s most consequential election in two decades, and one whose results will have implications far beyond its own borders.
The country of 85 million holds both its presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. For the presidency — which is expected to be close — if no candidate wins more than 50%, the vote goes to a run-off two weeks later.
Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing his toughest test yet after two decades in power, grappling with public anger over worsening economic conditions and the slow government response to a series of devastating earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 people.
His primary opponent, 74-year-old Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP), is running as a unity candidate representing six different parties that all want to see Erdogan out of power.
In a possibly game-changing development, one of the four presidential candidates, Muharrem Ince, pulled out of the race Thursday. A former CHP member, he had been under heavy criticism for splitting the opposition vote in a way that would hurt Kilicdaroglu’s chances.
Now, with Ince out of the race, his votes may go to Erdogan’s top challenger Kilicdaroglu, helping him tremendously and spelling more trouble for the 69-year-old Erdogan.
Another crucial factor will be turnout: More than 5 million young Turks will be voting for the first time, and the greater the youth turnout, the better for the challenger candidate and the worse for the incumbent, election analysts say.
Campaign posters of the 13th Presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kiliçdaroglu (L) and the President of the Republic of Turkey and Justice Development Party (AKP) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) are seen displayed.
With such a high-stakes contest, many inside and out of the country are asking whether Erdogan may dispute the result if he does not win.
“The most likely tactics that he’s going to use to try to tip the vote will be to use influence in the electoral board (the YSK), courts, and media to build a narrative that either elections should be re-run or that they are illegitimate,” said Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at Rane. Erdogan did this in 2019 when his party narrowly lost the Istanbul mayoral race, only to lose again by a greater margin after demanding a re-run.
Some even fear violence and instability if the result is disputed, which would bring more volatility to Turkey’s already damaged economy. Turkish and foreign analysts and rights activists have for years been sounding the alarm over increasingly autocratic governance coming from Erdogan’s administration.
CNBC has reached out to the Turkish Presidency’s office for comment.
The election’s outcome and its impact on stability in the country, which sits as a crossroads between Europe and Asia and is home to NATO’s second-largest military, is of paramount importance both domestically and internationally.
“There is so much at stake for President Erdogan and his AKP (Justice and Development Party) for the first time, as his 20-year rule over Türkiye may come to an end given the unified opposition has managed to maintain a strong alliance and stay on a hope-building positive campaign,” said Hakan Akbas, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Advisory Services based between Istanbul and Washington.
This is similar, he noted, to “what Istanbul Mayor Emrak Imamoglu did to win twice against Erdogan’s AKP candidate in the mayoral election in 2019.”
Imamoglu, a popular figure who was widely expected to run for the presidency as a formidable opponent to Erdogan, was in December sentenced to nearly three years in prison and barred from politics for what a court described as insulting the judges of the Supreme Election Council (YSK). Imamoglu and his supporters say the charges are purely political and were influenced by Erdogan and his party to sabotage his political ambitions.
Turkish President and Leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks as he and his wife Emine Erdogan attend an election rally in Mardin, Turkiye on May 10, 2023.
Turkish Presidency | Handout | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Politically, Turkey is highly divided, with candidates using polarizing and fear-mongering messages in an attempt to galvanize voters. But for most Turkish citizens, economy is top of mind as the country stares down a cost-of-living crisis with the official inflation figure hovering around 50% and a currency that has lost 77% of its value against the dollar in five years.
“The next president of Türkiye will face the challenge of restoring economic stability and state institutions such as the central bank, treasury, and wealth fund and rebuild investor confidence,” Akbas told CNBC.
“The country suffers from historically low FX reserves, widening current account deficit, artificially overvalued local currency, undisciplined fiscal balance and persistent, high inflation.”
Even if Erdogan wins, Akbas said, “after years of low interest rate policies that have contributed to high inflation and currency devaluation, he would likely need to adjust his economic policy to address the current economic crisis and attract investment.”
Polls have opened in Turkey’s fiercely fought presidential and parliamentary elections that could bring an end to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 20-year rule.
Sunday’s race poses the biggest challenge yet to Turkey’s strongman leader. He faces economic headwinds and criticism that the impact of the devastating February 6 earthquake was made worse by lax building controls and a shambolic rescue effort.
His main opponent is CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who represents an election coalition of six opposition parties. For the first time, Turkey’s factious opposition has coalesced around a single candidate.
A candidate must win over 50% of the vote on Sunday night in order to be elected. Otherwise Turkey will head to a run-off on May 28.
Kılıçdaroğlu, a mild mannered 74-year-old former bureaucrat, has promised to fix Turkey’s faltering economy and restore democratic institutions compromised by a slide to authoritarianism during Erdogan’s tenure.
Erdogan has been extolling the virtues of his long rule, campaigning on a platform of stability, independent foreign policy and continuing to bolster Turkey’s defense industry. Recently, he raised the wages of government workers by 45% and lowered the retirement age.
Over the last two years, Turkey’s currency has plummeted and prices have ballooned, prompting a cost of living crisis that has chipped away at Erdogan’s conservative, working class support base.
When a vicious earthquake on February 6 laid waste to large parts of southeast Turkey, Erdogan’s battled political aftershocks. His critics chastized him for a botched rescue effort and lax building controls that his ruling Justice and Development (AK) party presided over for two decades.
In the weeks after the quake, the government rounded up dozens of contractors, construction inspectors and project managers for violating building rules. Critics dismissed the move as scapegoating.
The government has also apologized for “mistakes” that were made in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
The quake claimed over 51,000 lives in Turkey and neighboring Syrian. Thousands are still unaccounted for, with unmarked graves peppering the southeastern Turkish countryside.
On Thursday, Kılıçdaroğlu was boosted further by the late withdrawal from the race of a minor candidate, Muharrem Ince. Ince had low polling numbers but some opposition figures feared he would split the anti-Erdogan vote.
Turkey holds elections every five years. More than 1.8 million voters living abroad already cast their votes on April 17, Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported Wednesday, citing the country’s deputy foreign minister. Over 65 million Turks are eligible to vote.
The Supreme Election Council (YSK) chief Ahmet Yener said last month that at least 1 million voters in quake-stricken zones are expected not to vote this year amid displacement.
Istanbul, Turkey – As his country stands on the verge of its centenary, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has framed the next 100 years as the “Century of Turkey”.
The May 14 elections could be portrayed in similarly striking terms – either an extension of Erdogan’s two-decade rule or a government pledging a return to a parliamentary system from the current executive presidency.
The presidential and parliamentary elections are billed by many as the most important since Turkey held its first fair multi-party vote in 1950, also on May 14.
They are taking place against a background of a cost-of-living crisis that saw inflation peak at 85 percent in October and earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 in the country.
Erdogan, who came to power in 2003, is offering a vision of further development, promising to extend the improvements made by his Adalet ve Kalkınma Party (Justice and Development, AK Party) government.
It is the second national election under the presidential system that concentrated power in Erdogan’s hands.
Erdogan’s challenger
The main opposition challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has pledged further democratisation and to roll back Erdogan’s “one-man rule” while addressing what he calls economic mismanagement.
“Perhaps this will be the most critical election in the history of the republic,” said Bulent Kusoglu, a deputy chairman with Kilicdaroglu’s Cumhuriyet Halk Party (Republican People’s Party, CHP).
“There is also an awakening in society. With this awakening, if we are successful in the elections, society will come to a much better point.”
AK Party parliamentarian Ravza Kavakci Kan also highlighted the importance of the vote. “This election is extra important because currently, we are at a pace where a lot of very good projects are being brought to the public.”
“For the continuation of those projects and to offer new projects, especially to the youth, we are working day and night to find solutions to the newer challenges that may come up. So this is a very important election from that perspective.”
Opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu at a rally in Bursa, Turkey May 11, 2023 [Murad Sezer/Reuters]
Erdogan behind in the polls
The most recent polls show Kilicdaroglu leading Erdogan in the presidential race, which will be rerun in two weeks if none of the three candidates passed the 50-percent threshold. In the parliamentary election, however, the AK Party is predicted to be the largest party in the Grand National Assembly.
The withdrawal of a fourth presidential candidate – the Homeland Party’s Muharrem Ince – on Thursday is expected to translate into more votes for Kilicdaroglu.
Some 192,000 ballot boxes across 87 electoral districts are open between 8am and 5pm (05:00 and 14:00 GMT). Each of Turkey’s 81 provinces counts as an electoral constituency apart from Izmir, Bursa, Istanbul and Ankara, which are split into two or three voting regions.
Across the country, 60.7 million people are eligible to vote. Some 1.8 million Turkish citizens living abroad have already cast their ballots in 73 countries or at border gates.
The votes will see both the president and 600 members of parliament appointed for five years. Parliamentary deputies are selected by proportional representation from party lists.
Political alliances
Political parties – 24 are contesting the elections – have generally formed alliances to stand. This allows smaller parties that fall under the 7 percent national vote threshold to enter parliament.
The AK Party has aligned with Milliyetçi Hareket Party (Nationalist Movement, MHP) and the Great Unity Party from the far-right, plus the conservative New Welfare Party, to form the Cumhur İttifakı (People’s Alliance).
Kilicdaroglu’s CHP is the largest party in the six-strong Millet İttifakı (Nation Alliance), which includes the nationalist İyi Party (Good Party), the conservative Saadet Party (Felicity Party), the centre-right Demokrat Party (Democrat Party) and two parties founded by former Erdogan ministers, the Demokrasi ve Atılım Party (Democracy and Progress, Deva Party) and the Gelecek Party (Future Party).
The pro-Kurdish Halkların Demokratik Party (People’s Democratic Party, HDP), which is fielding candidates under the banner of the Yeşil Sol Party (Green Left Party, YSP) due to a court case that threatens its closure, is the main party in the Labour and Freedom Alliance with the Türkiye İşçi Party (Turkey Workers’ Party, TIP) and several smaller left-wing groups. It has endorsed Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy.
Two other alliances – the right-wing Ata Alliance and the Socialist Union of Forces – are also fielding candidates.
Supporters of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkey’s main opposition alliance, cheer during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Tekirdag, Turkey, April 27, 2023 [Murad Sezer/Reuters]
The voting process
Voters entering the polling booths will have two ballot papers and select either Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu or Sinan Ogan, who represents the Ata Alliance, for the presidency; they pick a political party on a separate ballot for parliament.
Both ballots are placed in the same envelope before being deposited in a ballot box. Votes are counted at polling stations at the end of the day, and a report is sent to the local office of the High Election Board (YSK). Presidential votes are tallied first, and there should be a clear indication of the leadership outcome by late Sunday.
The election process is closely monitored by volunteers, such as those from volunteer group Oy ve Otesi (Vote and Beyond), as well as party representatives, and turnout is usually high – 87 percent was reported in 2018.
Official observers keep a copy of the ballot report from their polling station, and party workers forward these, allowing political parties to maintain their own tally of the nationwide vote. The CHP says it has recruited nearly 564,000 volunteers to monitor the polls.
In the 11 provinces affected by February’s deadly earthquakes, the election council has set up polling stations around temporary shelters for survivors. However, it remains unclear how many of the hundreds of thousands of voters who left the earthquake zone will return for the elections.
The United Nations estimated some three million left the disaster area in the weeks after the quakes struck, mostly for other parts of Turkey. The election council says just 133,000 voters from the earthquake region have transferred their votes to new addresses.
“There are many unknowns that will only become apparent on election day,” said Berk Esen, assistant professor in political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University.
“We don’t have hard data on how many left the earthquake zone. If they didn’t register in their new residences, they need to physically come back to the earthquake zone on election day and that’s not really a realistic possibility.”
Amid concerns that the AK Party could challenge an opposition victory, Erdogan on Thursday pledged to do “as democracy requires”.
“I believe in my nation and those who do not respect the result of the ballot box have no respect for the nation either,” he said during a TV interview. He also suggested changing the current threshold for the presidential race from over 50 percent.
Turkey’s two main presidential candidates made their final appearances in public during the last hours of campaigning on the eve of presidential and parliamentary elections that could significantly shape the NATO member’s future.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held his last election rallies in Istanbul on Saturday, before a so-called propaganda ban went into effect, accusing the opposition of working with US President Joe Biden to topple him while making a final appeal in the run-up to the biggest challenge to his 20-year rule.
Polls show Erdogan trailing behind the main opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. If neither of the candidates wins more than 50 percent of the vote to secure an outright win, there will be a run-off on May 28.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said that Erdogan spent the last two days of his campaign in Istanbul. “He met up with youth and visited various neighbourhoods, including the Beyoglu district where he was born, played football and started his political career,” she said.
On Saturday, he picked the Hagia Sophia mosque for evening prayers – and his final election message – Koseoglu said, adding, “This is a symbolic move by President Erdogan.”
First constructed as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire, then converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and later a museum in 1935 in the early days of the modern secular Turkish state, the iconic monument was reconverted into a mosque in 2020, under Erdogan.
Kilicdaroglu at Ataturk mausoleum
Kilicdaroglu did not hold a rally on Saturday, instead paying his respects at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in Ankara. He was accompanied by crowds of supporters, each carrying a single carnation to lay on the tomb.
On Friday, he asked tens of thousands gathered to hear his final speech to vote on Sunday to “change Turkey’s destiny”.
“We will show the whole world that our beautiful country is one that can bring democracy through democratic means,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Ankara, said that Kilicdaroglu remained confident and determined: “He says it will be a historic moment for the people of Turkey.”
Ahelbarra said the visit to the mausoleum of Ataturk, also the founder of the Cumhuriyet Halk Party (Republican People’s Party, CHP), on the last day of campaigning was important because “Kilicdaroglu has kept saying during the campaign that he is fighting for the secular identity of Turkey.”
“He wants this election to be the end of an era and the beginning of a new one which, he says, is going to be more about political personal freedoms and vibrant democracy in the country,” said Ahelbarra.
Voters will also elect a new parliament, likely a tight race between the Cumhur İttifakı (People’s Alliance) comprising Erdogan’s conservative Adalet ve Kalkınma Party (Justice and Development Party, AK Party), the ultranationalist Milliyetçi Hareket (Nationalist Movement Party, MHP) and other far-right groups. Kilicdaroglu’s Millet İttifakı (Nation Alliance) includes six parties.
Erdogan’s campaign over the past month has focused on his government’s achievements in the defence industry and infrastructure projects, and his assertion that the opposition would roll back such developments.
One of his talking points has been that the opposition is receiving orders from the West, and that they will bow down to Western nations’ wishes if elected. At a rally in Istanbul, Erdogan also recalled comments made by Biden, and published by the New York Times in January 2020, when he was campaigning for the White House.
At that time, Biden said Washington should encourage Erdogan’s opponents to defeat him electorally, stressing he should not be overthrown in a coup.
“Biden gave the order to topple Erdogan, I know this. All my people know this,” said Erdogan. “If that is the case, then the ballots tomorrow will give a response to Biden, too,” he added.
While there has been concern about how Erdogan might react if he loses, the president said in a televised interview on Friday that he would accept the outcome of the election, no matter the result.
“If our nation decides to make such a different decision, we will do exactly what is required by democracy and there is nothing else to do,” he said.
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Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main opposition candidate in Turkey’s presidential election, is decidedly calm and mild-mannered in his bid to end the two-decade rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Much of his campaign messaging has been delivered from his quintessentially Turkish middle-class home and posted on Twitter, in videos that some observers have called his “kitchen diaries.”
Seated, often with tea in an “ince belli”, a Turkish teacup, he lays out his key campaign promises, announces members of his potential coalition, and sometimes just speaks candidly to the people, virtually welcoming the public into his home.
Such gestures are in stark contrast to the elitist image he and his party once had. Analysts say the desire to appeal to today’s voters has seen the presidential candidate undergo an image makeover over the years. His messages now target Turkey’s middle class and the downtrodden, the very constituency that Erdogan has always championed.
But Erdogan is now seen by his critics as being responsible for the economic turmoil the country is facing, largely due to his inability to control runaway inflation, an issue that polls have said is high on the agenda of voters who go to the ballot box on Sunday. Inflation in the country was at 43% in April, down from its peak of 85% last October.
For Erdogan’s opponents, that’s fodder for campaigns against him.
Promising to fix Turkey’s faltering economy has been a cornerstone of Kilicdaroglu’s campaign. In a video posted on Twitter on Friday, he stood in the kitchen and held up staples like bread, eggs, and yogurt, reminding viewers how much their price had soared in a year. In a separate four-second clip, he says: “Today, if you are poorer than yesterday, the only reason is Erdogan.”
Gulfem Saydan Sanver, a political communication expert who works with several politicians in Kilicdaroglu’s center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the kitchen has become a “symbol” of the candidate, “that he is living in a humble (life), and he is dealing with daily life problems of the ordinary Turkish citizens.”
“(He) wanted to show that Erdogan is the one who has forgotten about the problems of the lower income families,” she said.
His use of Twitter to reach the electorate may not have been out of choice, however. The majority of mainstream media outlets in the country are controlled by government loyalists, prompting the opposition to lean heavily into social media messaging.
When he took control of the CHP in 2010, Kilicdaroglu had an image problem, experts say. His party was staunchly secular and fiercely nationalistic. Today, however, it has unified disparate political players, is trying to court the Kurdish vote and has even welcomed defectors from Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning Ak Party.
According to some of those who’ve known him, the career bureaucrat turned politician was seen as elitist and disconnected from the working class as he took control of the party, much as the CHP itself was perceived. Erdogan’s government capitalized on that.
“The government used very much the people-versus-elite distinction… in order to discredit the opposition by showing them as part of some kind of power elite,” said Murat Somer, a political science professor at Koc University in Istanbul. That created a “very hard, ossified, negative image that the opposition could not get rid of,” he told CNN.
The home videos would have been hard to imagine in the early days of his political career since his natural inclination is to keep his private life to himself, said Mehmet Karli, CHP member and longtime adviser to Kilicdaroglu.
“He has come to understand over the course of (his) … political life that private and public are very much intermeshed, especially if one is leading a movement,” he told CNN.
But the soft-spoken demeanor portrayed from his home could have downsides.
Sanver said the kitchen videos had the potential to come off as too soft for some of the tougher foreign policy issues in Turkey – including ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the United States.
Erdogan has been able to leverage personal relationships and has shown effective leadership in one of the world’s most intractable issues. Alongside the United Nations, he managed to broker a deal on grain exports between Ukraine and Russia, helping prevent a global food crisis.
“It’s one of the critiques I had,” Sanver, who has met with Kilicdaroglu throughout his campaign, told CNN. “He needs to look strong because Erdogan is also very strong.”
Delivering some addresses from his office may have helped establish a more serious persona while showing he’s still a different leader than Erdogan, she said.
In a country where ethnic and religious identity often plays a part in the public discourse and is exploited by some politicians, Kilicdaroglu has moved swiftly to deprive his opponents of ammunition.
In a video posted on Twitter from his office last month, he declared to the electorate that he belongs to the Alevi sect, a minority faith group from the east of Turkey that has for years complained about persecution in the majority Sunni Muslim country. The video was watched 36 million times.
“We will no longer talk about identities; we will talk about achievements,” he said. “We will no longer talk about divisions and differences; we will speak of our commonality and our common dreams. Will you join this campaign for this change?”
Istanbul — Turkey will hold national elections on Sunday that look set to be the toughest test of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long political career. After ruling the country for two decades, polls showed Erdogan neck-and-neck with rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate fielded jointly by the opposition Nation’s Alliance.
Erdogan was applauded during his first decade as leader for transforming Turkey into an economic and political success story, but over the last 10 years he’s faced mounting criticism — both domestically and internationally — for quashing dissent and adopting rules and laws typical of autocratic regimes.
Once a poster child for developing nations, Turkey is also currently battling high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis, both of which are regularly blamed by opponents and economists on Erdogan’s unorthodox economic policies.
Erdogan’s chief rival, KiIicdaroglu, is a secular social democrat politician who has emphasized messages of freedom and democracy on the campaign trail. The opposition alliance he represents has promised to roll back constitutional changes introduced after a 2017 referendum that significantly expanded the powers of the presidency, and to bring back the parliamentary system.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses supporters at the AK Party’s “Great Istanbul Rally” on May 7, 2023, in Istanbul, Turkey, ahead of the May 14 election.
Ercan Arslan /dia images via Getty Images
To win the election outright a candidate must secure more than 50% of the votes. Polling suggests that’s unlikely, so the nail-biting race between the two leading candidates could easily carry on to a second round of runoff voting, which would be held on May 28.
Below is a look at why Turkey’s national elections will be followed closely around the world.
NATO expansion
Turkey is a member of the NATO military alliance, and it has the second-largest army among all 31 members, behind only the U.S. But relations between Ankara and its NATO partners haven’t always been smooth.
Last year, Erdogan frustrated his allies by blocking Sweden and Finland’s bids to join the alliance, which were prompted directly by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although Turkey lifted its block on Finland’s accession last month, allowing the country to join, talks with Sweden fell through.
Erdogan argues that Sweden doesn’t take Turkey’s domestic security concerns seriously and provides refuge to militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a banned group that’s fighting an insurgency against the Turkish state.
Unal Cevikoz, a senior aide on foreign affairs to Erdogan’s challenger Kilicdaroglu, told CBS News the opposition alliance has noted “positive steps” taken by Sweden concerning Turkey’s security concerns, and it hopes the Nordic nation’s NATO membership won’t be delayed “too much,” signaling support for the Swedish accession bid.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the joint presidential candidate of the Nation Alliance, attends a campaign rally in Aydin, Turkey, on May 10, 2023.
Omer Evren Atalay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Turkey-U.S. ties
Located on the very border between the Eastern and Western worlds, Turkey is a strategically significant ally and partner for the U.S. unilaterally as well as in the context of NATO.
Relations between the two countries spiraled downward after Turkey purchased S-400 long-range missile systems from Russia in 2019, however, and there have been other points of contention.
The U.S. said the missile purchase would endanger American military technology, and hit Turkey with sanctions in response.
Another sore point is Muhammed Fethullah Gülen. The Turkish dissident has lived in exile in the U.S. for years. Turkey alleges that his organization, which it also considers a terrorist group, was behind a 2016 coup attempt and has long demanded that the U.S. hand him over.
But despite the differences, Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has pledged to strengthen ties with the U.S. and ensure tangible steps are taken to resolve all the disputes.
In an interview with the BBC, Kilicdaroglu said he wants to prioritize relations with the West, rather than Russia.
Turkey as a mediator, and ties with Russia
Erdogan has cultivated a close personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Not long after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Turkish leader declared himself a mediator.
Initial talks hosted in Turkey failed to make any headway, but a deal brokered by the United Nations in 2022 and supervised by Turkey has enabled the export of some 25 million tons of grain from Ukrainian ports to ease a global food crisis. That deal is set to expire in about a week, and Russia has so far objected to its renewal. Turkey remains directly involved in the extremely tense negotiations over the agreement’s renewal.
Erdogan has refused to implement Western sanctions against Russia, and trade between the two countries has soared since the Ukraine invasion. Turkey is an energy-poor country, and it helps export Russian gas around the world. Russia is also funding and building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
Cevikoz, the aide to Erodgan’s challenger, said the opposition alliance did not “approve” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, if their candidate wins, they would “continue to facilitate” solutions for the problems between Russia and Ukraine.
Turkey’s role in the region
Erdogan’s ambitious foreign policy has made Turkey a key player in the Middle East.
Turkey openly supported some of the rebel factions that battled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, and it has provided safe haven for Syrian opposition members. But Turkey also occupied portions of northwest Syria in 2019, citing security concerns from Kurdish rebel factions, and still controls a vast area of land where 4.5 million people live.
Turkey currently has the world’s largest refugee population, with some 4 million displaced people living in the country. Most are Syrians, though there are also large number of Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans. The high numbers and Turkey’s geographic location have made the country a de-facto gatekeeper for the European Union: Ankara signed a deal with the EU to limit the number of asylum seekers reaching European soil.
But a shift in public opinion on refugees, including rising populist rhetoric against them, prompted Erdogan to take steps towards reconciliation with the Assad regime in Syria.
Turkey’s political opposition has vowed to facilitate the return of refugees to Syria if it comes to power, but it has not provided details on how they would do it.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed on Sunday that the country’s intelligence forces had killed the leader of ISIS in Syria as he vowed to continue the country’s fight against terrorism.
In a broadcast, Erdogan said Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization had been tracking a man known as Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini Al-Qurshi “for a long time.”
“This person was neutralized in the operation carried out by MIT (Turkish National Intelligence Organization) yesterday in Syria,” he said. “From now on, we will continue our fight without discrimination against terrorist organizations.”
He added that Turkey’s fight against terrorism contributes to Europe’s security, claiming that Europe “is not aware of this or does not want to be aware of it.”
Al-Qurshiwas named ISIS leader after the death of his predecessor, Abu al-Hasan al-Hashmi al-Qurayshi, who was killed last October by the Free Syrian Army in Syria.
Little was known about Al-Qurshi, but at the time of his appointment, ISIS described him as an “old fighter.”
Erdogan’s announcement came after a recent absence from the public eye due to illness.
Media reports had speculated that his health was deteriorating just two weeks before a crucial election.
The speculation followed a televised interview on Tuesday, which was interrupted after Erdogan left his chair in the middle of a question, before returning to explain he had a “serious stomach flu.”
Following Tuesday’s incident, Erdogan was advised by his doctors to rest at home and canceled a number of public events.
On Thursday, the Turkish government rejected news reports about his health as “baseless claims.” He appeared on video link the same day for the inauguration of the Akkuya nuclear power plant.
Erdogan made his return to public stage for the first time in three days on Saturday, at an aviation festival in Istanbul, where he rallied his supporters as he seeks to extend his 20-year stint in power.
Turkey goes to the polls on May 14, just three months after a devastating earthquake and amid soaring inflation and a currency crisis that last year slashed nearly 30% off the lira’s value against the dollar.
Turkish President discloses intelligence operation took place in Jinderes in northwestern Syria on Saturday.
Turkish intelligence forces have killed the suspected leader of the ISIL (ISIS) group, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.
Erdogan said Turkish intelligence had been monitoring the alleged leader of the hardline group for a long time before launching their operation.
“This individual was neutralised as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organisation in Syria yesterday,” Erdogan said in an interview with TRT Turk broadcaster on Sunday.
“We will continue our struggle with terrorist organisations without any discrimination,” the president added.
Syrian local and security sources said the raid took place near the northern Syrian town of Jinderes, which is controlled by Turkey-backed rebel groups and was among the worst-affected areas in the February 6 earthquake that hit both Turkey and Syria.
There was no announcement from ISIL (ISIS). The Syrian National Army, an opposition faction with a security presence in the area, did not immediately issue any comment.
A correspondent from the AFP news agency in northern Syria said Turkish intelligence agents and local military police, backed by Turkey, had sealed off a zone in Jindires on Saturday.
The compound allegedly housing #ISIS’s global leader was located outside the town of #Jinderes, surrounded by fields of olive trees.
The area was hit very hard by the earthquake, resulting in many visits by foreign media & some aid groups.
Residents told AFP that an operation had targeted an abandoned farm that was being used as an Islamic school.
One resident told the Reuters news agency that clashes started on the edge of the town overnight from Saturday into Sunday, lasting for about an hour before residents heard a large explosion.
The area was later encircled by security forces to prevent anyone from approaching.
The ISIL (ISIS) group took over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, and its head at the time, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared an Islamic caliphate across an area that was home to millions of people.
But the group lost its grip on the territory after campaigns by US-backed forces in Syria and Iraq, as well as Syrian forces backed by Iran, Russia and various paramilitaries.
Its remaining fighters are now mostly hiding in remote areas of Syria and Iraq, and still launch attacks from time to time.
Masked Iranian navy commandos conducted a helicopter-borne raid to seize a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, footage aired by Iran’s state television showed Friday.
The capture on Thursday of the Turkish-managed, Chinese-owned Advantage Sweet represents the latest seizure by Iran amid tensions with the U.S. over advancing nuclear program. While Tehran says the tanker was seized after it ran into another Iranian vessel, it has provided no evidence yet to support the claim — and the Islamic Republic has taken other ships as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.
In this frame grab from video footage released Friday April 28, 2023 by the Iranian Navy, Iranian marines rappel onto the Advantage Sweet, a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker’s deck in the Gulf of Oman.
/ AP
The footage showed the commandos descending on the deck of the Advantage Sweet by ropes from a hovering helicopter. A photograph showed one commando with his fist in the air after apparently taking the vessel.
“Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy while transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman,” U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement Thursday. “Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability. The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker.”
The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet has said the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years.
“Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” it added.
Iran claimed the tanker had crashed into one of its vessels, leaving two Iranian crew members missing, and injuring several others.
The vessel’s manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was “being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute.” All the ship’s 24 crew members are Indian.
“The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority,” the firm said. “Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger.”
The vessel had picked up oil from Kuwait and was chartered by Chevron Corp, an Advantage Tankers spokesperson said. It was bound for Houston, Texas, according to the MarineTraffic tracking website.
Thursday’s seizure was the latest incident in the sensitive waters of the Gulf, which carry about a third of the world’s seaborne oil.
Such incidents have grown more frequent since 2018 when the U.S. withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and major powers and reimposed crippling sanctions. Marathon efforts to restore the deal have stalled.
Last December, an Iranian patrol boat allegedly “attempted to blind” two U.S. vessels that were conducting “a routine transit in international waters.” That incident occurred in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint that connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It’s considered the world’s most important oil transit route, since about one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies travel through the strait each day.
Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet sails at Marmara sea near Istanbul, Turkey January 10, 2023.
