Noticias

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s spokesperson İbrahim Kalın has denied any new peace process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), after a chief presidential advisor suggested that such an initiative could be launched after the June 24 snap election. 

“Our president’s agenda does not include such a solution process. The struggle against the PKK will continue,” Kalın said in a written statement issued on May 18.

The lawyers of Selahattin Demirtaş, the presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), have appealed for his release from jail, saying his official candidacy constitutionally necessitates active participation in the election period.

Demirtaş’s lawyers appealed to the Ankara 19th High Criminal Court on May 15 demanding his release, stating that Turkey’s constitution and European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) legislation stipulates the “right to a free election.”

Muharrem İnce, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) presidential candidate, has urged all candidates to focus on projects rather than engaging in a war of words.

People are standing in long queues outside civil registry offices across the country to be registered as voters for the upcoming June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections. 

The voter lists have already been posted at neighborhood councils for people to check if their names are on the list as eligible voters.  The deadline to notify authorities of change of address is May 12. 

The presidential candidate for Turkey's main opposition on May 5 called for the release of Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to "let us race like men" in next month's snap elections.

On May 4, the Republican People's Party (CHP) nominated Muharrem İnce to challenge Erdoğan in the June 24 presidential election. The Kurdish issue-focused HDP nominated its jailed former leader Selahattin Demirtaş.

The state of emergency “should be lifted” and imprisoned journalists should be released ahead of the upcoming elections on June 24, the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) said in a statement to mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3. 

“We have been considering the necessity of lifting the state of emergency, releasing journalists in jail, the return of fundamental rights and freedoms to the citizens for healthy elections,” it said.

The opposition İYİ (Good) Party on April 30 vowed to host the “reopening of Wikipedia,” which has been banned in Turkey for over a year, a day after snap elections on June 24. 

“All of Turkey’s citizens are invited to Wikipedia’s [re]opening on June 25,” the party’s official Twitter post read.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will begin working intensely for the early June 24 general and presidential elections as President and Chairman of the AK Party Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will kick off the campaign tomorrow in the western province of İzmir, a city known for being a stronghold for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

Bill to bring Turkey’s election system in line with constitutional reforms approved in 2017 referendum. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday signed a harmonization law to bring Turkey’s election system in line with constitutional reforms approved last year in a referendum, according to the presidency.

Under the law, Turkish citizens living abroad can cast their votes until three days before election day in Turkey, scheduled for June 24.