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The polls also show the opposition bloc, called the Nation Alliance, leading the parliamentary race, at least six points ahead of Erdogan's AK Party (AKP) and its allies. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) remains comfortably above 10%. A poll conducted on March 6-7 by Alf Research showed Kilicdaroglu at 55.1% and Erdogan on 44.9%. Piar Research showed Kilicdaroglu winning with 57.1%, with Erdogan lagging on 42.9%. ORC Research showed Kilicdaroglu ahead with 56.8% and Erdogan on 43.2%, according to a poll conducted on March 4-6, before Kilicdaroglu was officially announced as the opposition candidate.

[1/5] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with people in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 8, 2023. "The earthquake definitely changes our opinion because the first responders and tents were very late to arrive," he said. How big a challenge Erdogan faces is difficult to determine, given the lack of polling in the region. One party official said they would "re-direct" residents' focus to efforts to rebuild and stress no one but Erdogan could do this quickly. The region voted 65% or more for the AKP and its nationalist ally the MHP in the last election in 2018.

Mithat Sancar, co-leader of the left-wing Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), parliament's third biggest, made the appeal late on Monday after the six-party opposition bloc announced that Kemal Kilicdaroglu would be its candidate. "The open support of the HDP would draw (negative) reactions, notably from the IYI Party and its grassroots," he said of the nationalist party, second-biggest in the alliance. "HDP support is extremely critical," he said, but added it could undermine backing elsewhere. In campaigning, Erdogan will likely play up alleged links and the HDP's opposition role, analysts say. The second official, who was not authorised to speak on the record, said some Kurdish voters would not back the opposition alliance due to IYI's involvement.

☆ Explainer: What's at stake in Turkey's upcoming elections?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The opposition promises to reverse many of the policies of Erdogan, who has championed religious piety, military-backed diplomacy and low interest rates. WHAT'S AT STAKE IN THIS ELECTION FOR TURKEY ... Erdogan has also centralised power around an executive presidency, based in a 1,000-room palace on the edge of Ankara, which sets policy on Turkey's economic, security, domestic and international affairs. Economists say Erdogan's calls for low interest rates sent inflation soaring to a 24-year high of 85% last year, and the lira slumping to one tenth of its value against the dollar over the last decade. How the opposition will garner support among the Kurdish voters, accounting for 15% of the electorate, remains key.

☆ Turkey’s Opposition Leader Enters Election Race Against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jared Malsin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ISTANBUL—Turkish opposition parties named elder statesman Kemal Kilicdaroglu as their presidential candidate on Monday in a historic election campaign against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , who is facing a public outcry over his handling of last month’s catastrophic earthquakes. Mr. Kilicdaroglu, 74 years old, is the long-serving leader of the country’s largest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the secular bloc formed over a century ago by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , the founder of the modern Turkish republic.

FOREIGN POLICYThe opposition bloc will adopt the slogan of "Peace at Home, Peace in the World" as the cornerstone of Turkey's foreign policy. While promising to "work to complete the accession process" for the full membership in the European Union, the alliance has vowed to review Turkey's refugee deal of 2016 with the EU. They have also promised to establish relations with the United States with an understanding of mutual trust, and to return Turkey to the F-35 fighter jet programme. They say Turkey would maintain relations with Russia "with an understanding that both parties are equal and strengthened by balanced and constructive dialogue." They will also reform the structure and elections processes for higher courts, such as the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation and Council of State.

[1/2] Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, accompanied by IYI Party leader Meral Aksener and Felicity Party leader Temel Karamollaoglu, talks to media following a meeting of the opposition alliance in Ankara, Turkey March 6, 2023. A cost-of-living crisis amid rampant inflation and years of economic turmoil have eroded Erdogan's support, giving Kilicdaroglu another advantage. Recent polling showed Erdogan's support had edged up since last summer thanks to measures including a raise in the minimum wage. The following year, he was elected unopposed as CHP leader after his predecessor's resignation in the wake of scandal. His election fuelled party hopes of a new start, but support for CHP has since failed to surpass about 25%.

Under a new proposal following a weekend of political intrigue, two popular mayors would serve as vice presidents should the opposition win in the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. With polls showing a close race, the vote is the biggest challenge Erdogan has faced in two decades in power. Instead, Aksener proposed that either Ekrem Imamoglu or Mansur Yavas, mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, be the candidate. "She has conveyed the proposal that the two mayors serve as executive vice presidents," Zorlu said. The opposition has failed in previous national votes to pose a serious challenge to Erdogan, whose AKP came to power in 2002.

☆ Turkey's opposition alliance to meet after split over election candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISTANBUL, March 4 (Reuters) - Leaders of Turkey's opposition alliance were expected to meet on Saturday after one of the group's main parties quit the bloc amid disagreement over who should run for president in a national election scheduled for May. The public split on Friday followed months of simmering discord in the alliance and was seen by analysts as a blow to opposition hopes of unseating President Tayyip Erdogan. She said that at a presidential candidate selection meeting this week, five parties in the alliance proposed Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), as their candidate. According to Kilicdaroglu's daily schedule, the leaders of opposition alliance will meet at 1400 GMT. However, analysts said the opposition disagreement benefited the ruling alliance of Erdogan and his nationalist ally MHP.

Speaking at party headquarters in Ankara, the leader of Turkey's right-wing IYI Party, Meral Aksener, said the other five parties in the alliance had put forward Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), as their presidential candidate. But Aksener said her party, the second biggest in the alliance, would not "bow down" to pressure to accept him. "It is no longer a platform through which potential candidates can be discussed but a table that works to rubber-stamp a single candidate," she said. "Just like over the past 20 years, the opposition turned out to be President Tayyip Erdogan’s greatest asset," Piccoli wrote. "With the main opposition bloc in disarray, Erdogan is now much better positioned to prevail on 14 May."

After serving as mayor of Istanbul, he stepped onto the national stage as head of the AK Party, which triumphed in 2002 national elections. Western allies initially saw Erdogan's Turkey as a vibrant mix of Islam and democracy which could be a model for Middle East states struggling to shake off autocracy and stagnation. Faced with a struggling economy, a weak currency and a countdown to this year's election, Erdogan sought rapprochement with rivals across the region. Now he must convince voters he is the leader to rebuild Turkey from the rubble after this month's earthquake. That will be, in all likelihood, to the detriment of the ruling AK Party and President Erdogan," said Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies.

[1/2] Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey February 14, 2023. "I don't think it's time to talk about elections," an AKP official told Reuters, citing the state of emergency. He said the priority was to set an election date and get the High Election Board to start preparations. The AKP official expected the disaster to erode votes for the ruling alliance given the suffering, and the loss of life and property. The constitution sets a two-term limit for presidents, but they can seek another term if parliament calls an early election before the second term expires.

☆ Resurfaced videos from 2019 shows Turkish president bragging about builders skirting earthquake construction codes in areas now turned to rubble
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Footage emerged of Turkey's president promoting a policy that weakened building standards, per local media. At least 70,000 buildings in areas where last week's earthquake struck used the policy, experts say. The videos of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are circulating widely in Turkey as the death toll from this month's devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake surpassed 33,000 people. Ihlas News Agency via ReutersZoning peace is another name for the Turkish amnesty policy which, on payment of a fine, gives retroactive permits to structures built without planning permission, or not up to code. Estimates vary as to how many buildings in the earthquake zone had taken advantage of the amnesty policy.

☆ 'A crane, for God's sake': Inside the struggles of Turkey's earthquake response
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Many in Turkey say more people could have survived the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the south of the country and neighboring Syria a week ago if the emergency response had been faster and better organized. Two experts consulted by Reuters partly blamed the delays on the centralisation of emergency response under AFAD by President Tayyip Erdogan's government. U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths, speaking in Kahramanmaras on Saturday, called Turkey's disaster response "extraordinary" given the quake's historic size. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said he commissioned the report precisely to improve Turkey's disaster response. But they have generally seen the state's emergency response as effective.

☆ Turkey detains building contractors as quake death toll passes 33,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

A man reacts next to rescuers in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey February 11, 2023. The quakes were powerful, but victims, experts and people across Turkey are blaming bad construction for multiplying the devastation. Rescuers search for survivors, following the deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 10, 2023. I did everything according to the rules," the DHA news agency reported. In leaked testimony published by Anadolu, the man said the building followed regulations and he did not know the building didn't withstand the quakes.

☆ Turkey orders arrests over collapsed buildings in earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Daren Butler | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/7] Rescuers carry survivor Muzeyyen Ofkeli in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Hatay, Turkey February 12, 2023. Environment Minister Murat Kurum said that 24,921 buildings across the region had collapsed or were heavily damaged in the quake, based on assessments of more than 170,000 buildings. Rescuers were still looking for survivors in the earthquake rubble six days after the disaster, which hit parts of Syria and Turkey. The upmarket 12-storey residential complex was completed a decade ago and contained 249 apartments. The arrested man told prosecutors he did not know why the complex collapsed and that his desire to go to Montenegro was unrelated, Anadolu reported.

[1/6] Rescue workers try to rescue a 15-year-old girl trapped under the rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 10, 2023. The death toll exceeded 24,150 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria a day after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said authorities should have reacted faster to Monday's huge earthquake. Earlier, the World Food Programme said it was running out of stocks in rebel-held northwest Syria as the state of war complicated relief efforts. A similarly powerful earthquake in northwest Turkey in 1999 killed more than 17,000 killed in 1999. In the Samandag district of Turkey, rescuers crouched under concrete slabs and whispered "Inshallah" - "God willing" - as they carefully reached into the rubble and plucked out a 10-day-old newborn.

President Tayyip Erdogan's government has blocked social media in the past and focused in recent months on fighting what it calls "disinformation", which it said prompted the block on Wednesday. Erdogan's ruling party had said a law was needed to tackle false accusations on social media, and it would not silence opposition. A Reuters investigation last summer showed how the mainstream media has become a tight chain of command of government-approved headlines, while the smaller independent and opposition media face the brunt of regulatory penalties. The Twitter block also drew an angry response from opposition DEVA party leader Ali Babacan, a former economy minister and Erdogan ally. The pro-Kurdish HDP party said Twitter had played a crucial role in organizing aid for those affected by the quakes and that blocking social media would only cause more death.

☆ Plight of homeless deepens as Turkey-Syria earthquake toll passes 17,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The death toll from Monday's quakes, which struck in the early morning, passed 17,000 on Thursday across both countries. It was the biggest natural disaster to strike the region since 1999, when a similarly powerful quake killed more than 17,000 people in Turkey. People, whose relatives are trapped under the rubble, react in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 8, 2023. An aerial view shows tents placed at a stadium in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake, in Kahramanmaras , Turkey, February 9, 2023. Syria overwhelmed In Syria, relief efforts are complicated by a conflict that has partitioned the country and wrecked its infrastructure.

Summary After initial quiet, opposition criticism growsComplaints of slow response, lack of suppliesErdogan visits scene, acknowledges early problemsISTANBUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Criticism of Turkey's earthquake response mounted on Wednesday, with the political opposition and people in the disaster zone accusing the government of a tardy and inadequate relief effort. They cracked infrastructure and flattened thousands of buildings, causing hardship for millions and leaving many homeless in bitterly cold weather. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party, had earlier in the week said the disaster was a time for unity, not criticism. Speaking in Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre of the earthquake, Erdogan said: "We had some problems in airports and roads but we are better today". Selim Temurci, spokesman for the opposition Future Party, said AFAD's efforts were insufficient due to personnel shortages and the vast expanse of destruction.

[1/2] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers of his AK Party during a meeting in parliament in Ankara, Turkey, January 18, 2023. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also condemned the incidents in Sweden and said they would serve Erdogan's re-election campaign. But Erdogan said this week that Sweden could no longer expect Turkey's support for its NATO bid, and Ankara cancelled a planned trilateral meeting. Washington, Stockholm and Helsinki had hoped Ankara would ratify the NATO bids before Turkey's election. While Erdogan's government backs the Nordics' NATO bid with conditions, his political opponents had been more supportive - before the Stockholm incidents.

☆ Explainer: What's at stake in Turkey's upcoming elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

WHAT'S AT STAKE IN THIS ELECTION FOR TURKEY... Opposition parties have pledged to restore central bank independence, bring back parliamentary government and introduce a new constitution enshrining the rule of law. Meanwhile Turkey's top court is hearing a case to shut down the third-largest parliamentary party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and has frozen some of its accounts. Once campaigning starts, opposition parties may find it harder to get their message heard. Though the election deadline is mid-June, Erdogan's party has said they may be brought forward.

☆ Indonesia approves $3 bln development plan for South China Sea gas block
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JAKARTA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia has approved the first plan of development for the Tuna offshore gas field with total estimated investment of $3.07 billion up to the start of production, upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas said on Monday. The Tuna field, located in the South China Sea between Indonesia and Vietnam, is expected to reach peak production of 115 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) in 2027, SKK Migas spokesperson Mohammad Kemal said. SKK Migas chairman Dwi Soetjipto on Monday said that aside from economic benefits, development of the project would underline Indonesia's maritime entitlements. "The Indonesian navy will also participate in securing the upstream oil and gas project so that economically and politically, it becomes an affirmation of Indonesia's sovereignty." China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea citing its own historical maps, claims that an international arbitration tribunal in 2016 ruled have no legal basis.

☆ Thousands protest in Turkey over Istanbul mayor's conviction
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Ezgi Erkoyun | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/15] Supporters of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu gather in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality during a rally to oppose the conviction and political ban of Imamoglu, in Istanbul, Turkey December 15, 2022. Alp Eren Kaya/CHP via REUTERSISTANBUL, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of people rallied in Turkey on Thursday to oppose the conviction and political ban of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, chanting slogans criticising President Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party before elections next year. A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced Imamoglu, a popular rival to Erdogan, to two years and seven months in prison, which like the ban must be confirmed by an appeals court. "We are here today to protect our rights and the votes of millions of people from Istanbul. His comfortable win in the re-run vote ended the 25-year rule in Istanbul of the AKP and its Islamist predecessors.

☆ Turkish court sentences Erdogan rival to jail with political ban
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Ali Kucukgocmen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A six-party opposition alliance has yet to agree their presidential candidate, and Imamoglu has been mooted as a possible leading challenger to run against Erdogan. 'VERY SAD DAY'[1/5] Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and his wife Dilek sit at his office as a Turkish court sentenced Imamoglu, a popular rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, to more than two years in prison and imposed a political ban for insulting public officials, in Istanbul, Turkey, December 14, 2022. A jail sentence or political ban on Imamoglu would need to be upheld in appeals courts, potentially extending an outcome to the case beyond the elections date. "The ruling will be final only after the higher court decides whether to uphold the ruling or not. Under these circumstances, it would be wrong to say that the political ban is in place," Timucin Koprulu, professor of criminal law at Atilim University in Ankara, told Reuters after the ruling.

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