Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has refused to comment on the nomination of Ekmelettin İhsanoğlu as the joint opposition presidential candidate, simply stating that the “most valuable evaluation” will be made by the people in the election.
The two main opposition parties are planning to establish a joint election campaign center for an efficient bid by their joint candidate, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, in a rare instance of cooperation between Turkish political parties.
“We will finalize our road map in four or five days. Our initial decision is that each party will carry out its own work for İhsanoğlu’s bid,” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told daily Hürriyet on June 17.
A recent survey shows that nearly 60 percent of people in Turkey believe there is no freedom of press in their country.
According to a recent poll conducted by Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center, which was based on interviews with 2,576 adults, 59.4 percent of Turks believe that the press does not have freedom of expression in the country.
The result also showed that only 35.6 percent of the respondents consider the Turkish press as unrestricted, while five percent declined to comment.
The announcement of Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as the joint opposition presidential candidate has drawn mixed reactions from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), while a senior Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker heralded “the end of the opposition."
Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, a senior academic and diplomat nominated June 16 by Turkey’s two major opposition parties as their joint candidate to run against an expected bid by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the August presidential election, has actually become a more visible figure for the Turkish public after his election as the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2004.
The two major opposition parties represented at the Turkish Parliament have finally announced their agreement for nominating the former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, as their joint presidential candidate.
Two pro-Kurdish parties have indicated that they would consider supporting the presidential candidate of the main opposition party in the second round of polls if this nominee is someone who can provide assurances on democracy, freedom and the Kurdish question.
While still not officially announcing his candidacy, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has used a gathering with executives from his ruling party’s local branches to publicly instruct them to begin campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has arrived at the final point with regard to nominating its candidate for the presidency, Erdoğan said on June 11, delivering a speech at a meeting with AKP-member mayors from across the country.
Some 750 youths under the age of 18 joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK) forces in one year, according to a fresh report by a police agency.
The report said the PKK’s high school and youth organizations, the urban arm and educational support branch, also known as EDEV, were used in accelerating the process of recruiting youths and taking them to the mountains for training.
Turkey’s main opposition leader has called on the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and its sister party, The Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), to provide support in the presidential elections against the ruling party candidate, marking a first concrete appeal to reach out to Kurdish voters.
A senior official from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has said President Abdullah Gül should become the next prime minister if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is elected president.
“If Erdoğan runs for the presidency and is elected president, it is my wish to see Gül return to the party, become its general chairman and be elected prime minister in the 2015 elections,” said AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehmet Ali Şahin during a meeting held in the Safranbolu district of Karabük.
With less than a month for the announcement of presidential candidates, the two largest oppositional parties continued June 4 their consultative meetings with trade unions and civil society to find out “what kind of president the people prefer?”
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli accused both the government and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) of “incompetence” against the rising activity of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), suggesting that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was going soft as he needs the support of the PKK and its jailed leader for his presidential ambitions.
With the procedure for the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate four former ministers already delayed due to the failure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to nominate its members, the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office has also vetoed a majority of opposition nominees.
Parliament has started discussing the fifth judicial reform package, including an amendment to current legislation that criminalizes intervening in a judicial process.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is still not at the stage of voicing its presidential candidate, its leader has said, pouring cold water on reports that the CHP’s former Ankara mayoral candidate, Mansur Yavaş, was set to be announced.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost out in two provinces, but won in five of 13 district municipalities, in partial reruns of the June 1 local polls.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Vefa Salman won in the northwestern province of Yalova with 29,227 votes, 228 ahead of the AKP’s candidate, Yakup Koçal.
AKP Deputy Chairman Abdulhamit Gül vowed to appeal the results yet again. “We have objections to around 800-900 votes,” Gül said.
With Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan set to declare his candidacy for the presidency, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay has suggested that the more urgent question facing the government was convincing President Abdullah Gül to lead the party in the run-up to parliamentary elections in 2015.
The head of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) provincial branch inAnkara has resigned, apparently as part of a reorganization of the party according to results of the March 30 local elections.
Since the elections, AKP officials have been expecting changes in Ankara as the party leadership has apparently decided to renew the organization via changes at provincial branches where the ruling party failed to achieve its targets.
