Recep Tayyip Erdogan

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is due to pick a successor to take over from Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkey's Prime Minister.

By Costas Iordanidis

Last Sunday’s Turkish presidential election confirmed Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the third most powerful political leader of the European system – in the broader sense of the word – after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prime Minister Erdogan’s use of his official position plus biased media coverage gave him a distinct advantage in Turkey’s presidential vote, international observers have said.

Having won Turkey’s first direct presidential elections, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday pledged a "new era" for the country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now only awaiting official confirmation that he will become the country's next president.

After almost all of the ballots cast at Sunday's first-ever presidential vote in Turkey were counted, he had 51.8% of the votes.

Millions of Turkish citizens are casting ballots on Sunday in the country's first direct presidential elections.

Some 53 million people are eligible to vote for a head of state to take over from Abdullah Gul, whose seven-year term expires on August 28.

Three options are offered in the polls, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also a contender.

Ambassador of Turkey to Romania Omur Solendil and Turkey's Consul-general Ali Bozçaliskan will attend on Sunday evening the Ramazan Bayrami religious service at the Abdul Medgid Mosque in the eastern city of Medgidia, celebrated by Dr. Mufti Muurat Yusuf, the head of the Muslim Cult in Romania.

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke July 24 to his counterparts in Qatar and Turkey, which support the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as he pressed for a Gaza ceasefire.
      
Kerry -- who is in Egypt, which has drafted a truce proposal for the Israel-Hamas conflict -- spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Qatar and Turkey, a US official said.
      

Showbiz has always had a thing for politics. Whether it was Hollywood and the White House, or Turkey’s celebrities showing up for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “Vision 2023” campaign launch

President Abdullah Gül denied claims in one national newspaper yesterday, July 17, that he was so sidelined in the Justice and Development Party (AKP) – of which together with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Bülent Arınç, he was one of the three founders – that he might continue politics in a new party.