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☆ Erdogan says Putin talks could lead to restoring Black Sea grain deal, media report
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ANKARA, July 21 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin could lead to restoration of the Black Sea grain initiative, and called on Western countries to consider Russia's demands, Turkish broadcasters reported on Friday. "I believe that by thoroughly discussing the matter with President Putin, we can ensure the continuation of this humanitarian effort," Erdogan added. Western countries say Russia has had no trouble selling food, which is exempt from financial sanctions. "We are aware that President Putin also has certain expectations from Western countries, and it is crucial for these countries to take action in this regard," Erdogan said. "I believe that, without prolonging the process, we will ensure the continuation of the Black Sea grain initiative.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, Erdogan, Putin, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daren Butler, Jason Neely, Peter Graff Organizations: United, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Turkish, Gulf, Cyprus, Russia, United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Moscow

☆ Saudi drone deal entails technology transfer, joint production -Baykar
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, July 18 (Reuters) - An accord which Saudi Arabia signed to buy Turkish drones entails cooperation in technology transfer and joint production, the Turkish company Baykar said on Tuesday in a statement. "With the comprehensive agreement, there will cooperation on technology transfer and joint production in order to advance the high technology development capability of the two countries," the statement said. Baykar said 75% of its revenues had come from exports since it began drone research and development in 2003. It said it had signed export agreements with 30 countries for its Bayraktar TB2 combat drone and with six countries for the larger Bayraktar Akinci combat drone. Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Huseyin Hayatsever and Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Baykar, Tayyip Erdogan's, Daren Butler, Huseyin Hayatsever, Alison Williams Organizations: Turkish, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, Saudi Arabia, Turkish

Saudi state-run al-Ekhbariya television showed several Saudi officials welcoming Erdogan as he arrived at the venue of a Saudi-Turkish business forum in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. Erdogan is expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, later on Monday. "Turkey will have a serious investment opportunity in the defence industry, infrastructure and superstructure investments in the three countries," he said. Ekhbaria carried live footage showing Saudi Investment Minister Khaled al-Falih addressing dozens of businessmen from both sides at the Saudi-Turkish business forum in Jeddah. Turkey's budget deficit surged to 219.6 billion lira ($8.37 billion) in June, seven times the deficit a year earlier, data showed on Monday.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ekhbaria, Khaled al, Cevdet Yilmaz, Mehmet Simsek, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Yilmaz, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ali Kucukgocmen, Daren Butler, Aziz El Yaakoubi, William Maclean Organizations: Saudi Crown, . Investments, United, Turkish, Saudi Investment, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Saudi, Turkish, Red Sea, Jeddah, Ankara, United Arab Emirates, Istanbul, Qatar, UAE, Nahyan

☆ Erdogan says he is in agreement with Putin that grain deal should be extended
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, July 14 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he is in agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin that a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukraine grain should be extended. Speaking to reporters, Erdogan said that the deal will hopefully be extended from its current July 17 deadline as results of the efforts by the United Nations and Turkey. The European Commission is helping the United Nations and Turkey try to extend the grain deal and is open to "explore all solutions", a European Union spokesperson said on Thursday. The U.N. and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports. Ukraine and Russia are among the world's leading grain exporters.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, Erdogan, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ali Kucukgocmen, Alison Williams Organizations: Black, United, European Commission, European Union, Ece Toksabay, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, Ukraine, United Nations, Turkey, Russia, Ukrainian

Those export controls, which "were imposed for important reasons," remain in place, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office said in statement. "The Prime Minister discussed Sweden's accession to NATO with our partners in Vilnius, including with President Erdogan," the statement said. Ahead of the NATO summit, Turkey, already seeking assurances over the F-16s in talks with Washington, asked that Canada's export controls also be rolled in to the final discussion, the person familiar with the talks said. At Vilnius, Canada outlined its position to Turkey on rules regarding uses of any exported technologies, and was awaiting a response. This means the talks on export controls are no longer frozen, a move that helped play a role sealing Erdogan's pledge over Sweden, the person said.

Persons: Erdogan, Tayyip Erdogan's greenlight, Justin Trudeau's, Joe Biden, Devlet Bahceli, We've, Huseyin Hayatsever, Jonathan Spicer, Steve Scherer, John Irish, Tom Perry, Jamie Freed Organizations: NATO, Atlantic, Organization, Canada, Canadian, Washington, U.S, Kurdistan Workers Party, European Union, Nationalist Movement Party, Erdogan's, Thomson Locations: Turkey, Erdogan, ANKARA, Canada, Ankara, Sweden, Stockholm, Vilnius, Washington, United States, Armenia, Nagorno, Karabakh, Finland, Turkish, Ukraine, Turkey's, Helsinki, European, Istanbul, Ottawa

☆ Leaders of Turkey and Greece vow to repair ties after year of tension
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis meets with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan during a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania July 12, 2023. Dimitris Papamitsos/Greek Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERSATHENS, July 12 (Reuters) - Greece and Turkey agreed on Wednesday to resume talks and confidence-building measures as they hailed a new "positive climate" in ties after more than a year of tensions between the historic foes. Relations improved when Greece became one of the first countries to send rescue workers to help pull survivors from the rubble after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey in February. "We are cautiously optimistic we can turn a new page," Mitsotakis told reporters after the summit. Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Additional reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Tayyip Erdogan, Dimitris Papamitsos, Erdogan, Mitsotakis, Renee Maltezou, Huseyin Hayatsever, Conor Humphries Organizations: NATO, Minister's, REUTERS, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Greek, Cooperation, Thomson Locations: Vilnius, Lithuania, REUTERS ATHENS, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, United States, Greek, Thessalonki

Erdogan's ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin have weighed on Turkey's relations with its traditional Western allies for years, along with other factors including concern over his increasingly autocratic rule. "Turkey doesn't want the Turkish-Russian relationship to be badly hurt, but this will inevitably have an impact on relations. Ankara has been important to Moscow as Erdogan has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion. 'ROSE-TINTED SPECTACLES'The Kremlin said it intended to develop relations with Turkey "despite all the disagreements". In 2009, Cyprus blocked six out of the 35 chapters Turkey must conclude as part of its EU accession negotiations.

Persons: Erdogan, Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Dalay, Washington, Biden, Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Evren Balta, Orhan Coskun, Tom Perry, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: NATO Russian, NATO, Western, Analysts, Ukraine, Chatham, VISA, Turkish, Reuters, Kremlin, Russia, European Union, EU, Union, Ozyegin University, Thomson Locations: Sweden, Turkey, Washington, ANKARA, ISTANBUL, U.S, Russia, Ukraine, Ankara, Moscow, Turkish, NATO, Republic of Turkey, Europe, Cyprus

☆ Erdogan links Sweden's NATO membership to Turkey's EU accession
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Turkey's bid to join the EU has been frozen for years after membership talks were launched in 2005 under Erdogan's first term as prime minister. In a surprise change of tack, Erdogan on Monday linked Ankara's approval of Sweden's NATO bid to Turkey finally joining the EU. Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, abandoning policies of military non-alignment that had lasted through the decades of the Cold War in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While Finland's NATO membership was green-lighted in April, Turkey and Hungary have yet to clear Sweden's bid. Erdogan also said that an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia would ease Kyiv's NATO membership process.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's, Erdogan's, Erdogan, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ali Kucukgocmen, Toby Chopra, Alex Richardson Organizations: Union, NATO, EU, European Union, Kurdistan Workers Party, Ece Toksabay, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, Ankara, Turkey, Vilnius, Sweden, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary, Stockholm, Madrid, United States, Russia

U.S. President Joe Biden, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be among the 31 NATO leaders attending the summit in the small Baltic state. The invasion prompted Finland and Sweden to abandon decades of military non-alignment and apply to join NATO. In Vilnius, Finland will attend its first NATO summit as a member. At the summit, the NATO leaders are also expected to agree they should all spend at least 2% of national GDP on defence - an upgrade on a 2014 pledge to move towards that number. The NATO leaders will also meet with counterparts from Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand as Washington presses the alliance to play a greater role in countering China.

Persons: Joe Biden, Tayyip Erdogan, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, Rishi Sunak, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Jens Stoltenberg, Stoltenberg, Erdogan, Ulf Kristersson, John Irish, Andrius Sytas, Huseyin Hayatsever, William Maclean Organizations: Russia VILNIUS, NATO, Patriot, U.S, British, Ukraine Council, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Soviet Union, Vilnius, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Vilnius, Sweden, Europe, Lithuanian, Germany, Prague, Eastern Europe, Russia, United States, Bucharest, France, Britain, TURKEY, SWEDEN, Soviet, Finland, Turkey, Stockholm, Ankara, Swedish, Greece, Cyprus, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Washington, China, Istanbul

☆ Turkey's Erdogan to host Putin, hopes for Black Sea grain deal extension
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Can Sezer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ISTANBUL, July 8 (Reuters) - Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that he was pressing Russia to extend a Black Sea grain deal by at least three months and announced a visit by President Vladimir Putin in August. Erdogan said work was under way on extending the Black Sea grain deal beyond its expiration date of July 17 and for longer periods beyond that. The deal would be one of the most important issues on the agenda for his meeting with Putin in Turkey next month, he said. "Our hope is that it will be extended at least once every three months, not every two months. Russia, angry about aspects of the grain deal's implementation, has threatened not to allow its further extension beyond July 17.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy's, Erdogan, Putin, Zelenskiy, Petr Fiala, Stringer, Dmitry Peskov, Ezgi Erkoyun, Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Orhan Coskun, Elaine Monaghan, Huseyin Hayatsever, Jonathan Spicer, Gareth Jones, Diane Craft Organizations: Ukraine, United Nations, Zelenskiy, REUTERS, NATO, Western, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Czech, Prague, Crimean Tatars, Istanbul

Egypt expelled Turkey's ambassador and accused Ankara of backing organisations bent on undermining the country. Amr Elhamamy will become Egypt's ambassador in Ankara while Turkey nominated Salih Mutlu Sen to become its ambassador in Cairo, the foreign ministries said in a joint statement. The appointments marked an important milestone in the normalisation of relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said following the announcement. After a series of further steps towards rapprochement, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey to show solidarity after the massive earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria in February. Turkey's foreign minister made a return visit to Egypt the following month.

Persons: Egypt's, Abdel Fattah al, Sisi, Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi, Tayyip Erdogan, Amr Elhamamy, Salih Mutlu Sen, Hakan Fidan, Fidan, Erdogan, Sameh Shoukry, Nadine Awadalla, Huseyin Hayatsever, Frank Jack Daniel, Christina Fincher, Emma Rumney Organizations: Turkey's, Turkish, United Arab, Thomson Locations: Turkey, ANKARA, CAIRO, Egypt, Ankara, Cairo, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Doha, Syria, Libya

☆ Sweden will not get Turkey's nod for NATO bid unless it stops sheltering 'terrorists' -Erdogan
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ANKARA, July 3 (Reuters) - Turkey will not lift its opposition to Sweden joining NATO unless it stops harbouring groups Ankara considers to be terrorists, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, ditching long-held policies of military non-alignment after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Applications for membership must be approved by all NATO members, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to clear Sweden's bid. Turkey expects Sweden to stop harbouring members of both groups, Erdogan said in a speech after a cabinet meeting. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last month said that Sweden and Turkey would convene a high level meeting in Brussels on the possible accession of Sweden to NATO before the alliance's summit in Vilnius this month.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Jens Stoltenberg, Eid, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ezgi, William Maclean Organizations: NATO, Kurdistan Workers ' Party, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Turkey, Sweden, Ankara, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary, Kurdistan, Stockholm, Madrid, Brussels, Vilnius

The rate hike came in the first policy meeting under new Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan. The central bank's net reserves rose to $9.19 billion in the week to June 23, its biggest rise on record. Although the central bank's reserves have rebounded since mid-June, state banks are still selling dollars to meet demand from maturing lira deposit accounts known as KKM. Authorities were not seeking to support the lira and the central bank maintained its stance of not selling via state banks, the person added, requesting anonymity. "The committee evaluated that the current monetary policy framework is far from achieving the 5% inflation target, given the inflation outlook and upside risks," the central bank said.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, Erkan, Erdogan, Nevzat Devranoglu, Jonathan Spicer, Daren Butler, Christina Fincher Organizations: Central Bank Governor, Reuters, Authorities, stoke, Thomson Locations: Turkey, ANKARA

☆ Erdogan tells NATO Sweden must stop Kurdish protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ANKARA, June 25 (Reuters) - Sweden must stop protests by supporters of outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Stockholm to get a green light on its NATO membership bid, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told NATO's Secretary-General in a phone call on Sunday. Erdogan told Stoltenberg that Turkey had a constructive attitude, but Sweden's change of terrorism laws to meet demands from Ankara was "meaningless" while PKK supporters hold protests in the country, the Turkish presidency said in a statement. Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, NATO's, Erdogan, Stoltenberg, Huseyin Hayatsever, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: Kurdistan Workers ' Party, NATO, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Sweden, Kurdistan, Stockholm, Turkey, Ankara

☆ Police detain 50 after Pride march in Istanbul
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Turkey's LGBT+ community gather for a pride parade, banned by local authorities, in central Istanbul, Turkey, June 25, 2023. REUTERS/Dilara SenkayaISTANBUL, June 25 (Reuters) - Turkish police detained at least 50 people on Sunday after Istanbul's LGBT community held their annual Pride march. They chanted slogans while organisers read a statement to mark Pride week. "We don't accept this hate and denial policy," Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week said in their statement. In the coastal city of Izmir, the country's third largest, police detained at least 44 people on Sunday after authorities banned the Pride march, Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week said.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Davut Gul, Dilara, Huseyin Hayatsever, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Turkish, Sunday, Pride, Police, Amnesty, Twitter, Bulent Usta, Thomson Locations: Istanbul, Turkey, Dilara, ISTANBUL, Mistik Park, Sisli, Izmir

☆ Turkey central bank takes fresh measures for increasing functionality of market mechanisms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ANKARA, June 25 (Reuters) - Turkey's central bank took fresh steps on Sunday in line with its goals to increase functionality of market mechanisms, after it hiked rates to 15% from 8.5% this week. Turkey's securities maintenance regulation has been simplified to increase the functionality of market mechanisms and strengthen macro financial stability, the Turkish central bank said on Sunday. In a statement after the committee meeting, the bank said it would simplify and improve the existing micro- and macroprudential framework to increase the functionality of market mechanisms and strengthen macro financial stability. With the new regulation, securities that banks must maintain ranged between 3% and 12% of their lira deposits. Previously the requirement of seven additional points applied to banks which held less than 60% lira deposits.

Persons: Nevzat Devranoglu, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Gazette, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Turkish

☆ Erdogan urges Putin to act with common sense
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ANKARA, June 24 (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday and urged him to act with common sense, the Turkish presidency said, after Russian mercenary fighters began an armed mutiny overnight. Erdogan was among the first leaders to hold a phone call with Putin after his speech on Saturday. The Turkish presidency said the two discussed recent developments in Russia and Erdogan told Putin that Turkey was ready to do its part to help bring about a peaceful resolution. The Kremlin said in a separate statement that Erdogan had backed the Russian government's handling of the mutiny during the conversation with Putin. Erdogan has sought to maintain strong ties with both Moscow and Kyiv since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Wagner, Erdogan, Huseyin Hayatsever, Hugh Lawson, Alexander Smith Organizations: Saturday, NATO, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Russian, Russia, Turkey, Moscow, Kyiv, Ukraine

☆ Blinken encourages Turkish counterpart to support Sweden's NATO bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ANKARA/WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken encouraged Ankara to support Sweden in its bid to join NATO in a meeting with new Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson said. "(Blinken) also... encouraged Turkey's support for Sweden to join the NATO Alliance now," he said. Blinken welcomed Ankara's support for Kyiv and its work on the grain deal, which allows Ukrainian exports from Black Sea ports, the spokesperson said. Sweden and Finland both reversed decades of military non-alignment last year and applied to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Fidan said he was there to demonstrate Turkey's support for Ukraine.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Hakan Fidan, Fidan, Blinken, Matthew Miller, Tayyip Erdogan, Tobias Billstrom, Huseyin Hayatsever, Rami Ayyub, Daren Butler, Ali Kucukgocmen, Christina Fincher Organizations: NATO, Turkish, State Department, NATO Alliance, Kyiv, Swedish, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, WASHINGTON, Ankara, Sweden, Turkey, Vilnius, Ukraine, London, Black, finalise, Finland, Stockholm, Blinken, Washington

☆ Two local officials in northeast Syria killed by Turkish drone, Kurdish authorities say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QAMISHLI, Syria, June 20 (Reuters) - Two local civilian officials and their driver were killed in Syria's Kurdish-run northeast on Tuesday when their car was targeted by a Turkish drone strike, regional Kurdish authorities said. Kurdish medical sources and a security source said a Turkish drone had targeted their car in the village of Tal Shaeer in northeast Syria. It named the figure as Ridvan Ulugana and said he had been active in operations targeting the Turkish military. It did not say that any civilians were killed, or mention Tal Shaeer. (This story has been corrected to fix Chamoun's first name and job title in paragraph 2)Reporting by Orhan Qereman in Qamishli, Syria; Daren Butler and Huseyin Hayatsever in Turkey; writing by Maya Gebeily; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yusra Darwish, Liman Shawish, Gabriel Chamoun, Tal Rifaat, Tal Shaeer, Ulugana, Orhan Qereman, Daren Butler, Huseyin Hayatsever, Maya Gebeily, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: MIT, Turkish, Kurdistan Workers ' Party, European Union, Syrian Democratic Forces, Islamic, Thomson Locations: QAMISHLI, Syria, Turkish, Kurdish, Qamishli, Tal Shaeer, Tal, Turkey, Syria's, Ankara, United States, Islamic State

☆ Turkey lifts minimum wage by 34% to address inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ANKARA, June 20 (Reuters) - Turkey raised monthly minimum wage by another 34% beginning on July 1, the government said on Tuesday, bringing it to a net 11,402 lira ($483) for the second half of the year in an effort to address soaring inflation. "The minimum wage assessment commission completed its work with an agreement between the workers and employers," Labour Minister Vedat Isikhan said in announcing the decision. Inflation is well above the official 5% target and touched a 24-year peak of 85.5% in October, prompting Ankara to raise the minimum wage by 100% over the course of last year. Annual inflation dipped to 39.6% in May as the government provided natural gas free of charge, offsetting price rises in other goods. The central bank is holding its policy-setting meeting on Thursday and is expected to start ramping up its rate from 8.5% currently.

Persons: Vedat Isikhan, stoked, Tayyip Erdogan, Mehmet Simsek, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daren Butler, Jonathan Spicer Organizations: Labour, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Turkey, Ankara

His case on Thursday was adjourned to Nov. 30 and the trial is set to hang over the opposition as it tries to regroup and rally disheartened voters ahead of local elections in March. At the same time, calls have grown louder for the opposition's defeated presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu to resign as chairman of Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP). Tanju Tosun, political science professor at Ege University, said the CHP's internal politics could overshadow its preparations for next year's local elections. "If the internal rifts within the CHP continues until local elections, candidates from the ruling AK Party (AKP) could defeat opposition candidates in many cities," he said. "YSP may field candidates (in Istanbul and Ankara)," Meral Danis Bestas, a senior YSP official, said.

Persons: Imamoglu, Tayyip Erdogan, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Kilicdaroglu, Tanju Tosun, Kemal Polat, Polat, We've, Ali Kucukgocmen, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daren Butler, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Istanbul Mayor, opposition's, Republican People's Party, Ege University, CHP, AK Party, Council of State, IYI Party, IYI, Left, Thomson Locations: Istanbul, ISTANBUL, Beylikduzu, Balikesir, Denizli, Kurdish, Ankara

☆ Turkey won't back Swedish NATO bid unless it stops anti-Turkish protests -Erdogan
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Erdogan made his comments before officials from Turkey, Sweden, Finland and NATO met on Wednesday in Ankara for talks to try to overcome Turkish objections that have delayed Sweden's NATO membership bid. In justifying its objections to Swedish membership, Turkey has accused Stockholm of harbouring members of Kurdish militant groups it considers to be terrorists. On the day he was having talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg earlier this month, a similar protest was held in Stockholm, Erdogan said. He added that he also told Stoltenberg Sweden should prevent such actions to secure Turkey's approval for its NATO membership. After meeting Erdogan, Stoltenberg said a deal on Sweden joining the alliance could be reached before the NATO summit in Vilnius next month.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Jens Stoltenberg, Stoltenberg, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daren Butler, Nick Macfie, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: NATO, Wednesday, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Kurdistan Workers Party, European Union, Ece Toksabay, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Sweden, Ankara, Turkey, Stockholm, Azerbaijan, Finland, Hungary, Madrid, extraditions, Stoltenberg Sweden, Vilnius

☆ Erdogan sees swift steps from new finance minister but says his own monetary views unchanged
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Some of our friends should not be mistaken, such as (asking) 'Is our president going for a serious change in interest rate policies?'" "But upon the thinking of our treasury and finance minister, we have accepted that he will take steps swiftly, comfortably with the central bank," Erdogan said. Analysts at leading investment banks now expect Turkey's central bank to start ramping up rates at its monetary policy committee meeting on June 22. Erdogan said he told the new central bank governor about his expectations. "God willing, neither our finance minister nor our central bank governor will embarrass us and I think we will hopefully obtain positive results."

Persons: Erdogan, Tayyip Erdogan, Mehmet Simsek, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Simsek, Orhan Coskun, Nevzat Devranoglu, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ali Kucukgocmen, Daren Butler, Peter Graff Organizations: stoke, Authorities, Wall Street, Toksabay, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Azerbaijan, Turkish, Ankara

Erdogan spoke as officials from Turkey, Sweden, Finland and NATO met on Wednesday in Ankara for talks to try to overcome Turkish objections holding up Sweden's NATO membership bid. The parties agreed to continue working on the "prospective concrete steps" for Sweden's NATO membership, the statement said. In justifying its objections to Swedish membership, Turkey has accused Stockholm of harbouring members of Kurdish militant groups it considers to be terrorists. While he was having talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg earlier this month, a similar protest was held in Stockholm, Erdogan said. He added that he also told Stoltenberg Sweden should prevent such actions to secure Turkey's approval for its NATO membership.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Umit, Erdogan, Oscar Stenstrom, Stenstrom, Jens Stoltenberg, Stoltenberg, Huseyin Hayatsever, Simon Johnson, Johan Ahlander, Niklas Pollard, Daren Butler, Nick Macfie, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, NATO, Wednesday, Turkish, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Kurdistan Workers Party, European Union, Ece Toksabay, Thomson Locations: Ankara, Turkey, ANKARA, Sweden, Stockholm, Azerbaijan, Finland, Madrid, Ukraine, Hungary, extraditions, Stoltenberg Sweden, Vilnius

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