Ever since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched the election campaign with the motto “reconquering Istanbul,” it has been clear that the real competition in the upcoming March 31 local elections will be for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Now, with almost a week left until the election, this race is neck and neck. It is
Former Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu returned to the public sphere 100 days after losing his seat to Özgür Özel, hinting his return to active politics. Visiting small businesses in the OSTIM Industrial Site in Ankara, the previous leader of the main opposition party quoted former President Süleyman Demirel and said: “politics has
Since the May 2023 election defeat, Türkiye’s main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has grappled with internal conflicts that have taken a toll on the party. However, in addition to this, an unprecedented situation has emerged in Turkish politics: the CHP, not President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), appears to
Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) leader Özgür Özel is set to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Germany. The CHP Leader will travel to Berlin Germany on December 8-10, upon an invitation of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) to attend the party’s congress. On the sidelines of the congress,
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) changed its leader at a highly contested November 4 congress, and delegates elected young Parliamentary Group Chair Özgür Özel to replace Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who refused to resign despite his failure in the presidential and parliamentary elections that took place in May. The 49-year-old pharmacist challenged the 13-year-old Kılıçdaroğlu-chairmanship
Before the May 2023 elections, the opposition voters in Turkey focused on changing the current government, which has been trying to rule the country for more than 20 years and whose mistakes have created serious concerns about our future. In fact, a wide political spectrum ranging from right to left, ethnic nationalist to religious, which
Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) seem to be on edge, evinced by their prominent member’s behaviour when they visited the western province of Muğla, Akbelen, to support the protesters who have been in clash with security forces to prevent their forest to be cleared for a coal field. The CHP Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, along
There has been a remarkable change in the assessments of foreign diplomatic missions in Ankara in the last month, regarding the result of the May 14 elections in Türkiye. Until recently, there was little doubt in the assessments of countries and international organizations that President Tayyip Erdoğan would make a last-ditch push and win the
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
Until last week, President Tayyip Erdoğan had not been utilising the US-bashing discourse. The foreign policy items such as demand for the F-16 fighter jets, the YPG issue in Syria, and the $100 billion trade volume prevented him from using the anti-US rhetoric that would have cemented his image as a world leader in the