DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Europe markets open higher after U.S. debt ceiling deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sectors were all cautiously higher or flat, with autos and banks leading gains. European stock markets opened higher Monday after U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling. U.S. political leaders must now gather enough bipartisan support to pass the debt ceiling bill in Congress before the June 5 deadline to avoid a federal default. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed even as Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed to trade at the highest levels since July 1990. Elsewhere, the Turkish lira slumped to a near-record low after incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured reelection.

☆ Egypt's Sisi, Turkey's Erdogan agree on reinstating ambassadors -Egypt's presidency
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

CAIRO, May 29 (Reuters) - Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on "the immediate start of upgrading diplomatic relations, exchanging ambassadors," Egypt's presidency said in a statement on Monday. Sisi spoke with Erdogan in a phone call to congratulate him on his presidential win. Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey in April and met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, the two parties agreed then on specific time frame to raise the level of diplomatic relations and to prepare for a summit between the two presidents. The presidents may meet in person again after Turkey's May 14 election, Cavusoglu said in April. Reporting by Mohamed Hendawy, Writing by Ahmed Elimam, Editing by Chris Reese and Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Turkish lira hits new record low after Erdogan election victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Turkey’s lira hit fresh record lows against the US dollar on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured victory in Sunday’s presidential election, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade. The lira weakened to 20.065 to the dollar in early European trade, breaking through the previous record low touched on Friday. “Erdogan’s victory has seen further pressure on the Turkish lira,” said Benjamin Picton, senior macro strategist at Rabobank. Meanwhile, Turkish stocks enjoyed gains with the benchmark BIST-100 index up 3.5% and banking index rising more than 1%. The share of foreign asset managers holding Turkish stocks has dwindled in recent years and the market is chiefly driven by local investors.

☆ Despite Inflation, Earthquakes and Tough Race, Erdogan Is Re-elected
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Ben Hubbard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan beat back the greatest political challenge of his career on Sunday, securing victory in a presidential runoff that granted five more years to a mercurial leader who has vexed his Western allies while tightening his grip on the Turkish state. His victory means Mr. Erdogan could remain in power for at least a quarter-century, deepening his conservative imprint on Turkish society while pursuing his vision of a country with increasing economic and geopolitical might. Turkey’s Supreme Election Council declared Mr. Erdogan the victor late Sunday. He won 52.1 percent of the vote; the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.9 percent with almost all votes counted, the council said. Mr. Erdogan’s supporters shrugged off Turkey’s challenges, including a looming economic crisis, and lauded him for developing the country and supporting conservative Islamic values.

☆ Turkey votes in runoff election after candidates double down on nationalism and fear
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

People walk past an election campaign poster for Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 25, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. The country is holding its first presidential runoff election after neither candidate earned more than 50% of the vote in the May 14 election. Still, no candidate surpassed the 50% threshold required to win; and with Erdogan at 49.5% and Kilicdaroglu at 44.7%, a runoff election was set for two weeks after the first vote on May 14. "Kilicdaroglu has adopted a harder line on immigration and security ahead of the run-off … is unlikely to be enough," Kinnear said. Already, though, his anti-refugee rhetoric has angered many of his supporters and prompted resignations from some of his campaign allies.

☆ Days after Twitter blocked Turkish President Erdogan's political opponents from posting on the site, the increasingly authoritarian leader won re-election after a contested vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won re-election after a contested vote. A day before the election, Twitter blocked posts by Erdogan critics from being viewed in the country. Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule now extends into its third decade. "We will continue to be at the forefront of this struggle until real democracy comes to our country," Kilicdaroglu said in Ankara. He added that the people have shown their will "to change an authoritarian government despite all the pressures."

She had also survived a smaller earthquake in the southeastern province of Elazig in 2020, she said, and expected Mr. Erdogan to help now as he had helped then. “Otherwise, the people wouldn’t have voted for him.”Interviews with quake survivors indicated many reasons that the disaster had not changed their political outlook. Some whose homes were destroyed said they had more faith in Mr. Erdogan to rebuild the affected areas than they had in his challenger, the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. There are empty lots where buildings that collapsed once stood and blue and white tents sheltering quake survivors are scattered around town. Instead of voting based on the government’s quake response, residents said they focused on other issues.

☆ Erdogan seeks new term in Turkey runoff election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Tamara Qiblawi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Polls have opened in Turkey’s presidential runoff as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fights for a historic third term on Sunday. Erdogan is going head-to-head with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a 74-year-old bureaucrat and leader of the left-leaning CHP. In the first round of voting on May 14, Erdogan secured a nearly five-point lead over Kilicdaroglu but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to win. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey May 15, 2023. Umit Bektas/ReutersSix opposition groups had formed an unprecedented unified bloc behind Kilicdaroglu to try to wrest power from Erdogan.

☆ Turkey's President Erdogan seals election victory to enter third decade in power
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Turkey's Election Board on Sunday confirmed that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won Turkey's 2023 presidential election, extending his rule into its third decade in power after facing the tightest race of his career. Erdogan won Turkey's presidency in a runoff election with 52.14% of the votes, the High Election Board head Ahmet Yener said, making the results official. With 99.43% of ballot boxes opened, Erdogan's rival Kilicdaroglu received 47.86% of the votes, Yener said. Earlier Sunday, Turkish public broadcaster TRT had called the presidential election for incumbent Erdogan. Analysts saw the 69-year-old Erdogan's victory as all but in the bag after the first vote on May 14, which saw him come out five percentage points ahead of his rival, in a giant blow to the opposition.

☆ 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.

☆ Turkey's runoff election is paralyzing key oil exports from northern Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Oil typically flows through Turkey from both the Iraqi state and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). More specifically, this Kirkuk crude flows down the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline linking the north of the Gulf country with Turkey's Ceyhan port in the Mediterranean. But the flows have been paralyzed since March 25 by a legal dispute involving federal Iraq, the KRG and Turkey. This decision led to U.S. companies deciding to exit contracts in Kurdistan and deterred some KRG oil buyers from further purchases. "The ruling party in Turkey [Erdogan's AKP] wants to settle the elections and then deal with KRG's oil with Baghdad."

Persons: KRG, Hayan Abdul, Ghani, —, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Lawk Ghafuri, Yerevan Saeed, Saeed, Bilal Wahab, Wagner Organizations: CNBC, Kurdistan Regional Government, Turkey Pipeline, International, Commerce's, Reuters, ICC, Baghdad, BTC, Kurdistan, Gulf Institute, Sinjar, Washington Institute for Near East Locations: Turkey, Ankara, Baghdad, Iraqi, Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Iraq, Basra, Paris, U.S, Ceyhan, Baku, Syria, Erbil, Yerevan, Washington

☆ Erdogan Secures Endorsement of Former Rival for President
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Ben Hubbard | Gulsin Harman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The candidate who came in third in Turkey’s presidential election last week announced on Monday that he was endorsing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the runoff vote on Sunday, granting Mr. Erdogan an additional boost against his remaining challenger. Mr. Erdogan, the dominant figure in Turkish politics for 20 years, appears to have an edge in the runoff, whose victor will shape Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies for the next five years. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Erdogan aimed to link himself in voters’ minds with the image of a strong Turkey, with expanding military might and geopolitical clout. Although most polls in the run-up to the initial vote on May 14 showed Mr. Erdogan trailing his main challenger, the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the president overcame voter anger at high inflation and frustration with the government’s initially slow response to catastrophic earthquakes in February to win 49.5 percent of the vote. Mr. Kilicdaroglu, the joint candidate of a coalition of six opposition parties that came together to try to unseat Mr. Erdogan, won 44.9 percent.

☆ Opinion: A boast that could sink Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. CNN —“I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade,” former President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday on Newsmax. Congress has the power to rein in the court, wrote CNN legal analyst and law professor Steve Vladeck, whose new book “The Shadow Docket” focuses on the Supreme Court. Courtesy Boaz FreundIn 2019, then-President Trump issued an executive order requiring hospitals to post the prices of common medical services and procedures. For some, its celebration of a multiracial but purely fictional British aristocracy may even be a big part of its appeal.”As escapism, “Queen Charlotte” is a success.

☆ Live updates: Russia's war in ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Heather Chen | Andrew Raine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The move is in response to the "regularly anti-Russian sanctions" imposed by the US administration, according to a statement from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday. Hours earlier, at the Group of Seven summit, the Biden administration unveiled new sanctions targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine. An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine claims the explosions took place at a base for Moscow's forces. US diplomatic appointment: US President Joe Biden formally nominated James O'Brien to serve as the top State Department official for European affairs — a key role for guiding Washington's response to Russia's war in Ukraine. NATO developments: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told CNN he is still not prepared to support Sweden's NATO membership, repeating his claim that Stockholm has allowed terrorist organizations to harbor in the country.

☆ Premarket: Turkey's big economic gamble looks set to continue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Mark Thompson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In an exclusive interview with CNN on Thursday, Erdogan promised to continue cutting interest rates to tackle soaring prices if he is re-elected on May 28, my colleague Olesya Dmitracova reports. “Please do follow me in the aftermath of the elections, and you will see that inflation will be going down along with interest rates,” Erdogan told CNN’s Becky Anderson. “I have a thesis that interest rates and inflation, they are directly correlated. As price hikes started to accelerate around the world in late 2021, Erdogan ordered Turkey’s central bank to slash interest rates. The weekly claims attributed to Massachusetts fell by 14,042 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, representing three-quarters of the decline of 18,605 claims.

☆ Putin wants China to think he can defeat Ukraine. But his expensive military gambit is yet to yield results
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Nic Robertson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Kremlin claimed it had hit one of the United States’ prestigious Patriot missile defense systems. The Kremlin claimed it had hit a US Patriot missile defense system. The White House rebuffed Moscow's claims that the attack hit a Patriot missile defense system. Ankara on the diplomatic fenceXi isn’t the only leader with skin in the Ukraine war that Putin appears to be trying to sway his way right now. There is no guarantee either that Xi cares about Putin’s missile salvo targeting Kyiv’s Patriot missile batteries either, but he will have been paying attention.

☆ 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.

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.

☆ Turkey's Erdogan touts 'special relationship' with Putin, stands by his refusal to impose sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan touted his country's "special relationship" with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, speaking to CNN during an interview broadcast Friday. "We are not at a point where we would impose sanctions on Russia like the West have done. We are not bound by the West's sanctions," Erdogan told the network. "We are a strong state and we have a positive relationship with Russia." The powerful Turkish leader's closeness to Putin, despite its membership in NATO, has made many Western leaders and diplomats nervous.

☆ Turkey economy: Erdogan vows to keep cutting rates to bring inflation down
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Olesya Dmitracova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has promised to continue with his unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to reduce sky-high inflation if he is re-elected on May 28. “I have a thesis that interest rates and inflation, they are directly correlated. The lower the interest rates, the lower the inflation will be,” Erdoğan told CNN. “In this country, the inflation rate will come down along with the interest rates, so that we will come to a point where people will be relieved. This is not an illusion.”Soaring pricesIn late 2021, as price rises started to accelerate around the world, Erdoğan ordered Turkey’s central bank to slash interest rates.

☆ Opinion: What happened to Elon Musk?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Appalled, Enes Kanter Freedom, the Turkish-born former NBA player, a fierce critic of Erdogan, told CNN, “I don’t want to hear about Elon Musk talking about free speech ever again. It turns out Musk’s free speech absolutism is less than absolute. Absurdly, he now says, “By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law.” So, if a tyrant makes a law banning criticism, will Musk believe that muzzling its critics conforms with free speech? Beyond his free speech hypocrisy, there’s the vanishing aura of Musk as the thoughtful futurist concerned about humanity’s fate. Soros, Musk wrote – to almost 140 million Twitter followers – “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.

☆ He Lost Turkey’s Presidential Election, but Could Swing the Runoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ben Hubbard | Safak Timur | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

ANKARA — As Sinan Ogan tells it, he has suddenly become the most sought-after man in Turkey. They all want the same thing — help wooing his critical swing voters one way or the other in the May 28 runoff between the two front-runners. “Very busy,” Mr. Ogan said at his office in the capital, Ankara, on Tuesday afternoon. Since the vote, Mr. Ogan’s has been called everything from a spoiler, who blocked the top presidential contenders from an outright victory, to a kingmaker whose supporters may play a role in deciding the runoff. That has given him a sudden clout, evidenced by the flood of calls he says he has received this week.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

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.

Search resuls for: "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan"

25 mentions found