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[1/2] An election campaign billboard of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition alliance, with a slogan that reads "Syrians will go! ", is pictured, ahead of the May 28 presidential runoff vote, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 25, 2023. "Most Syrians now feel as if the course of their entire lives depends on the results of the elections," he lamented. Like other regional leaders, Erdogan is also mending fences with Assad, raising the possibility of a rapprochement that could worry many Syrians in Turkey. He recounted an incident when a friend was robbed but feared he would be assaulted if he went to the police to illustrate the precarious position many Syrians feel themselves to be in in Turkey.

☆ A Kurdish Turkish Writer on the Tensions Between Politics and Art
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The momentous Turkish presidential election, whose second round will take place on Sunday, has more than just geopolitical consequences; it is a watershed for culture as well. For the novelist Burhan Sönmez, who is part of the country’s ethnic Kurdish minority, the upheavals of the Erdogan years are only the latest chapter in an ongoing struggle between Turkish power and Turkish art. Born outside Ankara in 1965, where his first language was Kurdish, he worked as a human rights lawyer but went into exile in Britain after a police assault. He has written five novels, including the prizewinning “Istanbul Istanbul,” “Labyrinth” and “Stone and Shadow,” newly out in English by Other Press. His novels delve into imprisonment and memory, with echoes of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Jorge Luis Borges.

☆ Ayvalık and Cunda: Turkey's prettiest Aegean coast resorts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Feride Yalav-Heckeroth | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Alongside classic beach towns like Bodrum and Alaçatı, two of the coast’s loveliest spots are the little-known seaside town of Ayvalık and the nearby island of Cunda. Near the Taksiyarhis Memorial Museum, in a beautifully renovated historic house with large arched windows, is Moyy Atölye. For a truly Aegean dining experience inside an olive grove, Karina Ayvalık is worth the 10-minute drive south to the village of Küçükköy. “I can breathe in the Aegean air and feel history as I walk through the old streets with their historic houses. Getting lost on Cunda leads to discoveries – like the Cunda Taksiyarhis Rahmi M. Koç Museum inside a renovated Greek Orthodox church with a collection of antique cars, motorcycles and toys.

☆ UN concerned by lack of grain ships going to one Ukrainian port
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Black Sea grain deal - brokered by the U.N. and Turkey last July - allows for the safe export of ammonia and Russia has been pushing for the pipeline to be restarted. Russia agreed last week for the Black Sea pact to be extended for two months. The Black Sea grain deal ground to a halt last week as Russia decided whether to continue it. He noted that no fertilizers, including ammonia, had yet been exported under the Black Sea agreement. The Kremlin said on Monday that the EU's reluctance to reconnect Russia's state agricultural bank to SWIFT showed the bloc's "non-constructive stance" on the Black Sea grain deal.

☆ Turks abroad begin voting in presidential election runoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Daren Butler | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The runoff election will be held in Turkey on May 28 after Erdogan fell just short of the 50% threshold needed to win the presidential vote outright last Sunday in what had been expected to be his greatest ever political challenge. Some 3.4 million Turks are eligible to vote abroad, out of a total electorate of more than 64 million, and will cast their ballots from May 20-24. Germany is home to the world's largest Turkish diaspora, where there are some 1.5 million Turkish citizens eligible to vote. Kilicdaroglu, candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, won 44.88% support in the presidential election, trailing Erdogan on 49.52% and confounding expectations in opinion polls that the challenger would come out ahead. Any decision by him to support one of the two candidates in the runoff could potentially have a decisive role.

We are not bound by the West’s sanctions,” Erdogan told CNN’s Becky Anderson. APBy contrast, Erdogan has doubled down on his relationship with Putin – and he thinks the West should follow suit. “This was possible because of our special relationship with President Putin,” he told CNN, referring to the grain deal. In his interview with CNN, Erdogan tackled another key flashpoint in Turkish tensions with the West: Sweden’s accession to NATO. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells CNN's Becky Anderson, left, he expects voters who value stability and confidence to back him in the May 28 runoff vote.

☆ Erdogan's election lead leaves Turkey's opposition reeling and an economy on the brink
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Since neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote, however, the election will go to a runoff on May 28. They also reveal that despite Turkey's current economic turmoil, tens of millions of Turks still see Erdogan as their only viable leader. Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrate at the AK Party headquarters garden on May 15, 2023 in Ankara, Turkey. Still, Kilicdaroglu's 44.9% of the vote is notable as the highest any opposition candidate ever received, said Orcun Selcuk, an assistant professor of political science at Luther College in Iowa, on Twitter. "The opposition clearly did not meet the expectations but it would be a misjudgment to say that opposition coordination failed.

The justices in a second ruling shielded Twitter Inc from litigation seeking to apply a federal law called the Anti-Terrorism Act. This case marked the first time the Supreme Court had examined Section 230's reach. Many conservatives have said voices on the right are censored by social media companies under the guise of content moderation. Gonzalez's family argued that YouTube provided unlawful assistance to the Islamic State by recommending the militant group's content to users. In the Twitter case, the 9th Circuit did not consider whether Section 230 barred the family's lawsuit.

The court in a separate case involving Google LLC sidestepped a bid to weaken legal protections for internet firms. In the Twitter case, the 9th Circuit did not consider whether Section 230 barred the family's lawsuit. Islamic State called the Istanbul attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Twitter in court papers has said that it has terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against "threatening or promoting terrorism." The family had argued that YouTube provided unlawful assistance to the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attack, by recommending the militant group's content to users.

That case involved a lawsuit by the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old college student from California who was fatally shot in an Islamic State attack in Paris in 2015, of a lower court's decision to throw out their lawsuit. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021 allowed it to proceed, concluding that Twitter had refused to take "meaningful steps" to prevent Islamic State's use of the platform. In the Twitter case, the 9th Circuit did not consider whether Section 230 barred the family's lawsuit. Islamic State called the Istanbul attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Twitter in court papers has said that it has terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against "threatening or promoting terrorism."

☆ Manchester City: Is 'unstoppable' team the best in the world?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

For years, this City team has dominated English football – winning four Premier League titles in the last five seasons – but it has failed to really stamp its authority in Europe. “I think that first half performance is one of the best I’ve ever seen,” former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha told Sky Sports. The timing of it, in the Champions League semifinal, that felt like one of the biggest games ever at that stadium. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed a special night. Only one English team, Manchester United, has ever achieved the historic feat, but you’d be brave to bet against Manchester City in its current form.

☆ Opinion | The Earthquake Changed Turkey, but Change Is Complicated
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Naomi Cohen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Neither party managed to claim an outright majority in the first round, and a runoff is planned for May 28. If Mr. Erdogan is confident that he’ll succeed in the second round, it might be because of places like Adiyaman, where he won 66 percent of the vote. A huge poster of Mr. Erdogan nearby promised free natural gas for a year. Mr. Kilicdaroglu pledged free housing for earthquake victims on another poster, but that one was a three-and-a-half-mile drive away. : the party of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and secularism; the party that once supported a ban against the head scarf in public institutions.

☆ Erdogan says Black Sea grain deal extended for two months
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, May 17 (Reuters) - The Ukraine Black Sea grain deal has been extended for two more months, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, one day before Russia could have quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports. Erdogan's comments, made in a speech to officials of his ruling AK Party, came after the last ship left a Ukrainian port under the deal, which allows for the safe export via the Black Sea of Ukrainian grain and was due to expire on Thursday. "The Black Sea grain corridor deal has been extended by two months with the efforts of Turkey," he said in his televised speech, also thanking the Russian and Ukrainian leaders and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres for their help. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea deal for an initial 120 days in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis that has been aggravated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, one of the world's leading grain exporters. To convince Russia in July to allow Black Sea grain exports, the United Nations agreed at the same time to help Moscow with its own agricultural shipments for three years.

☆ Black Sea grain deal: A crucial pact aimed at averting a global food crisis has been extended
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Sophie Tanno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —A crucial deal aimed at averting a global food crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been extended for two months. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday an agreement has been reached with Russia and Ukraine to extend the Black Sea grain deal. Murat Kula/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesWhat is the Black Sea grain deal and why is it important? The Black Sea grain deal was first reached in July 2022. The Black Sea grain deal was an agreement made between Russia and Ukraine – however, it was not a direct agreement.

☆ Factbox: What are the deals on Ukraine, Russia grain exports?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

UKRAINE BLACK SEA GRAIN EXPORT DEALBrokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal has so far allowed Ukraine to safely export more than 30 million tonnes of grain from several of its Black Sea ports. Under the deal:- Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations set up a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, staffed by officials from each party. - Ukraine can safely export grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers, including ammonia, from the ports of Odesa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. Under the memorandum of understanding:- Russia agreed to continue commercial supplies of food and fertilizers and inform the U.N. of any impediments to such exports, including fertilizer raw materials like ammonia. Russia agreed to facilitate the unimpeded export of food, sunflower oil and fertilizers from Ukrainian-controlled Black Sea ports.

☆ Last ship to leave Ukraine as fate of Black Sea grain deal in Russia's hands
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (Reuters) - The last ship is due to leave a port in Ukraine on Wednesday under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, said a U.N. spokesperson, a day before Russia could quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports. To convince Russia in July to allow Black Sea grain exports, the United Nations agreed at the same time to help Moscow with its own agricultural shipments for three years. Senior officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. met in Istanbul last week to discuss the Black Sea pact. RISKSOfficials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. make up a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, which implements the Black Sea export deal. The United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine did continue the Black Sea agreement in October during a brief suspension by Russia of its participation.

☆ I had feeling Man City were ready to deliver, says Guardiola
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Lori Ewing | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MANCHESTER, England, May 17 (Reuters) - Manchester City were perfectly prepared with the right mix of calmness and tension for their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, manager Pep Guardiola said on Wednesday. "I had the feeling these last days that we had a mix of calm and tension to play these type of games," Guardiola told reporters. "And after 10 or 15 minutes, I had the feeling that all the pain that we had, what happened last season . "In sport, obviously you have another chance and when the draw was Madrid, I said, 'Yeah, I want it'," Guardiola said. "This season is really really good, what we've really done already.

For two decades, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has loomed large over Turkish politics. But skyrocketing inflation and a devastating earthquake have eroded his power and, in a presidential election over the weekend, he was forced into a runoff. Ben Hubbard, The Times’s Istanbul bureau chief, discusses how Turkey’s troubles have made Mr. Erdogan politically vulnerable.

☆ Man City outclass Real Madrid to reach Champions League final
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MANCHESTER, England, May 17 (Reuters) - Manchester City marched into the Champions League final for the second time in three seasons after outclassing holders Real Madrid 4-0 for a 5-1 aggregate victory at a raucous Etihad Stadium on Wednesday. With Inter Milan awaiting in the final, City will now be huge favourites to finally deliver the trophy Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour has craved since buying the club in 2008, having lost to Chelsea two years ago. Just as in the Spanish capital, City took an early stranglehold with Real barely stringing two passes together and finding it almost impossible to escape their own half. City toyed with the 14-times champions for the rest of the half and could have been further ahead. With their place in the Istanbul showpiece secured, City can win their fifth Premier League title in six seasons this weekend and they also have an FA Cup final to look forward to.

☆ Ukraine and Russia Renew a Deal to Allow Ukraine to Ship Grain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | Gulsin Harman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine and Russia agreed Wednesday to a two-month extension of a wartime deal that allows Ukraine to ship its grain across the Black Sea, a rare example of cooperation between the two countries. Under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which began last July, Ukraine, a major exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, can transport grain and other food products along a corridor past Russian naval vessels that have blockaded Ukraine’s ports since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion 15 months ago. The shipments are subject to inspection off the coast of Istanbul, while empty cargo ships headed to Ukraine’s ports are also checked, in part to ensure they are not carrying weapons. Grain exports are important for Ukraine’s economy and their resumption also helps maintain the stability of global food prices, which rose sharply during the first months of war, as grain intended for export piled up in Ukrainian ports and warehouses. The resulting shortages and price increases raised the threat of famine in parts of the Middle East and Africa.

☆ Russia confirms Black Sea grain deal renewed for two months
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 17 (Reuters) - Russia confirmed on Wednesday that a deal to allow Ukraine to export its grain safely across the Black Sea, despite Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, had been extended for two months. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the deal had been extended to help countries in need, but added that Russia's overall assessment of the situation regarding the deal had not changed. "The extension of the grain deal is for two months. Thus, there is a chance, not in words, but in deeds, to help ensure global food security. First of all, to help the most needy countries," Zakharova told reporters in a video briefing.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Russia doubles down on efforts to capture Bakhmut; Ukraine's grain export deal hangs in the balance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An aerial view of a dry cargo ship transporting grain from Ukraine under the U.N,-brokered Black Sea deal. The last ship is due to leave a port in Ukraine on Wednesday under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, said a U.N. spokesperson, a day before Russia could quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports. To convince Russia in July to allow Black Sea grain exports, the United Nations agreed at the same time to help Moscow with its own agricultural shipments for three years. Senior officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. met in Istanbul last week to discuss the Black Sea pact. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week he thought the deal could be extended for at least two more months.

Erdogan got 49.5% in Sunday's vote and fell just short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff in a vote seen as a referendum on his autocratic rule. But many of his supporters, including first-time voter Asim, were gloomy about Kilicdaroglu's chances in the runoff vote. The election is being closely followed in Washington, Europe and across the region, where Erdogan has asserted Turkish power. Opinion polls had shown Erdogan trailing Kilicdaroglu, but Sunday's outcome suggested he and his Islamist-rooted AKP were able to rally conservative voters despite Turkey's economic woes. Kilicdaroglu and his alliance want to restore a parliamentary system of government and scrap the powerful executive presidency introduced by Erdogan.

☆ Turkey's market rout deepens after Erdogan's strong election showing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Libgeorge Canan Sevgili | Canan Sevgili | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Ahead of the elections, opinion polls had showed Kilicdaroglu in the lead, and investors expected him to scrap some of Erdogan's economic policies, including costly efforts to prop up the lira currency. Longer-dated, dollar-denominated government bonds saw the biggest falls in fixed income markets, although key corporate and banking sector bonds also edged lower. Credit ratings agency Fitch said the political and economic uncertainty would continue at least until after the runoff. Banking stocks, which had surged in the week ahead of the election on hopes of a policy change, tumbled another 8% (.XBANK) to take their losses since the election to nearly 20%. The overall Istanbul bourse index (.XU100), which had notched a 6.1% fall on Monday, its largest daily percentage drop since early February, was mostly flat.

☆ Twitter objects to Turkish court orders after pre-election warnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISTANBUL, May 16 (Reuters) - Twitter said it had filed objections to Turkish court orders requesting a ban on access to some accounts and tweets on the platform, after keeping its service available during an election weekend despite warnings from authorities in Ankara. The court orders, which were shared by Twitter, requested the access bans on the grounds that they posed a threat to public order and national security. "So in order to keep Twitter available over the election weekend, we took action on four accounts and 409 Tweets identified by court order." Twitter said five court orders had been issued against it regarding these actions and it had already objected to four of them. Social media companies are required to appoint Turkish representatives and they face bandwidth being throttled by up to 90% immediately after a court order should the representative fail to provide information to the authorities.

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