President of Turkey

During a joint interview with Ulke TV and Kanal 7 on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had to abruptly pause the live broadcast and later apologized for his absence, citing a sudden bout of stomach flu. 

Erdogan, now 69, had been campaigning for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, and he had given three speeches earlier that day. 

At a special ceremony in the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Erdogan awarded representatives of the foreign teams that joined the rescue operations after the severe earthquakes in February.

Electoral Engineering

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a press conference after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, 21 March 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/NECATI SAVAS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to express his best wishes for Greek Independence Day.

Erdogan also thanks the Greek government and the people for their solidarity following February's disastrous earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and more than 7,000 in neighboring Syria.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday officially set parliamentary and presidential elections for May 14, a month early and just three months after earthquakes that left millions homeless across southern Turkey.

The authoritarianism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as his stance with regard to Sweden and Finland's NATO application, is drawing the ire of an increasing number of international media. 

The latest publication to denounce him was the German magazine Stern, whose cover on Thursday had his photo under the title "The Arsonist."

With the Turkish elections set for May 14, we are now entitled to hope that it will not be long before the date of our own elections is announced, ending those cryptic government statements.

As 2023 is a year of elections in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, it is useful to remember that we are now experiencing the calm before the storm. However great the tension between parties in each of these countries may seem today, the rivalry will keep intensifying, without any indication that the result of the elections will lead to any kind of normalcy. 

A scenario stipulating Greece and Turkey may be heading for parallel elections is gaining ground. According to Bloomberg, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has May 14 in mind as the date for elections in Turkey. 

Sweden and Finland must extradite dozens of political opponents that Ankara considers to be terrorists in order for Turkey to approve their joint NATO bid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday.