Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a political master of disguise who has a unique boldness in making sharp changes in his politicking. While some could say Erdoğan is only doing things that are politically expedient without an actual ideology, he started to do better dealing with pressing foreign policy issues, because no matter how
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu described the upcoming May 14 elections as a “political coup” plot, erupting a furor as opposition reacted harshly to the comment. “July 15 was their de facto coup attempt. May 14th is their political coup attempt. It is that clear and unambiguous. May 14, 2023, is the West’s political coup
Shortly before the 14 May 2023 general elections, the political debate in Türkiye is intensifying. The Free Cause Party’s (Hüda-Par) decision to support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the People’s Alliance in the elections, as well as the announcement that it will run under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lists, further heightened the public
In the last two weeks, the citizens of Türkiye have witnessed two troubling developments that should upset everyone who loves their country. Neither development received the media attention it deserved, beyond a handful of news stories barely noticed by the average citizen too immersed in the troubles of their own daily lives. Yet both developments
The general fuss over presidential candidate nominations in Ankara seems to settle down after Kurdish-issue focused People’s Democracy Party (HDP) and its Labor and Freedom Alliance announced that they would not nominate any presidential candidate. While their indirect support to six-party opposition alliance’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stirred yet another debate, the other 11 candidates, who
It was a few hours after the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi) leader Fatih Erbakan announced that his political-islamist party refused to endorse the ruling People’s Alliance in the elections after meetings with President Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials. Erbakan not only refused to support, but also announced his candidacy for
The date of the elections has been officially announced as May 14, 2023 and the election process has begun. We have less than two months ahead of us. Now that the presidential candidates have been selected, the next step is to prepare and submit the parliamentary lists to the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK). Let us
Fear Not! The election video released by the opposition Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi) on March 12 began with this word on the screen. The date is the 102nd anniversary of the adoption of the National Anthem by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The anthem, written by Mehmet Akif Ersoy and composed by Osman Zeki Üngör
The series of earthquakes that shook Türkiye and snuffed out lives has forced President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Tayyip Erdoğan to change his electoral tactics. Both the impression from the ruling circles in Ankara and Erdoğan’s recent moves and outbursts suggest that the president is preparing to turn the state’s earthquake repair
The February 6 Kahramanmaraş double-earthquake not only shook Türkiye with terrible loss of life and destruction. It also upset the political balance and increased economic uncertainty ahead of a critical election. Politically, President Tayyip Erdoğan and his twenty-odd year old AK Party government have been the most affected by this trauma. Erdoğan has a difficult