Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — In the year in which the Turkish republic marks its centenary, the country is being closely watched to see if a united opposition can succeed in unseating an increasingly authoritarian leader in the NATO-member country.

Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, taking place on Sunday, could stretch President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule into a third decade — or they could set the country on a new course.

ANKARA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday a 45 percent wage hike for 700,000 public workers ahead of May 14 elections.

"We are increasing the wages by 45 percent, including the welfare share. With this protocol, we determine the framework of the wages that approximately 700,000 of our brothers will receive in the 2023-2024 period," Erdogan said at a signing ceremony for the Public Collective Labor Agreement.

The minimum monthly wage for public workers will be 15,000 Turkish liras (768.72 U.S. dollars), he said.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — For Nidal Jumaa, a Syrian from Aleppo, life in Turkey is tough. He works part-time at a furniture workshop and collects plastics and cardboard from trash cans that he sells for recycling, but can hardly afford the rent for his run-down house in a low-income neighborhood of Ankara.

08 May 2023; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticised on Sunday the British magazine The Economist for vilifying President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an editorial.

ISTANBUL (AP) — More than a dozen people have been detained over violence against an opposition election rally in Turkey’s eastern city of Erzurum over the weekend, the country’s justice minister said Monday. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, was speaking atop a campaign bus Sunday afternoon when a large group of roughly 200 protesters began throwing rocks.

08 May 2023; AA: Türkiye's Istanbul Airport has been ranked the busiest in Europe with an average of 1,446 daily flights, the European Air Navigation Safety Organization (EUROCONTROL) said in its latest Air Traffic Operations Report covering the April 26-May 2 period.

It was followed by Amsterdam with 1,314 daily flights, London Heathrow with 1,272 flights, Paris-Charles de Gaulle with 1,245 flights and Frankfurt with 1,194 flights.

07 May 2023; MEMO: Washington once proposed that Turkiye send to Ukraine the S-400 missile defense system it bought from Russia but which the US objected to, but Ankara refused this proposal, said the Turkish foreign minister.

As it claimed the S-400 system had to exclude Türkiye from the F-35 fighter jet program, the US proposed to Turkiye that it give control of the system to the US or another country, including Ukraine, as it tries to fight off Russian forces, said Mevlut Cavusoglu.

ANKARA, May 7 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least 12 people were killed, and 31 others were injured, in the southern Hatay province of Türkiye yesterday, at a multiple-vehicle collision, Turkish Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca, said.

“A fire broke out in a truck and a bus; 12 of our citizens lost their lives and 31 of our citizens were injured, three of them seriously, at a multiple-vehicle collision, in the Topbogazli region of the Antakya district,” the Turkish minister tweeted.

ANKARA, May 7 (Reuters) - With his two-decade rule in the balance, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has pulled out all the stops on the campaign trail as he battles to survive his toughest political test yet and shield his legacy from an emboldened opposition.

Erdogan, the son of a sea captain, has faced stiff political headwinds ahead of a May 14 election: he was already facing blame over an economic crisis when a devastating earthquake in February left saw his government accused of a slow response and lax enforcement of building rules that may have saved lives.

ISTANBUL (AP) — A multi-vehicle crash in southern Turkey’s Hatay province killed at least 12 people and injured 31 others, including three seriously, officials said.

A truck crossed into opposite lanes after the driver lost control late Saturday, colliding with nine cars and two minibuses, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Many of the vehicles were parked by the roadside near a gas station as friends and relatives said goodbye to men leaving to carry out mandatory military service.