Turkey

ISTANBUL, May 6 (Reuters) - Stuck in Tayyip Erdogan's shadow throughout his career, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu believes his time has come to set Turkey on a new path and roll back much of the legacy of the man who has dominated politics for two decades.

An alliance of six opposition parties named the earnest and sometimes feisty former civil servant as its candidate to take on Erdogan in the May 14 elections, which are seen as perhaps the most consequential in the country's modern history.

ISTANBUL, May 6 (Reuters) - Stuck in Tayyip Erdogan's shadow throughout his career, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu believes his time has come to set Turkey on a new path and roll back much of the legacy of the man who has dominated politics for two decades.

An alliance of six opposition parties named the earnest and sometimes feisty former civil servant as its candidate to take on Erdogan in the May 14 elections, which are seen as perhaps the most consequential in the country's modern history.

05 May 2023; MEMO: Whoever wins Turkiye's elections this month, the NATO-member is expected to maintain cordial relations with Russia that have already endured several years of dramatic change in Ankara's foreign policy, Reuters reports.

What prompted that change was Turkiye's severe economic crisis, which forced President Tayyip Erdogan to mend strained relations with nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel, which he had previously vehemently criticised, analysts said.

ANKARA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Ukrainian delegates had scuffles during a meeting of Black Sea countries in Ankara, the Turkish parliament speaker confirmed on Friday.

The fightings broke out late Thursday at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in the Turkish parliament building.

When the head of the Russian delegation began to deliver a speech, people from the Ukrainian delegation started to raise banners and flags, and speak loudly, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop told reporters on Friday.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Early in his political career, a devastating earthquake and economic troubles helped propel Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power in Turkey. Two decades later, similar circumstances are putting his leadership at risk.

The highly divisive and populist Erdogan is seeking a third consecutive term as president on May 14, after three stints as prime minister, which would extend his rule into a third decade. He already is Turkey’s longest-serving leader.

04 May 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's Parliament Speaker, on Thursday, called for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, saying the war that broke out last year in February threatens security of the Black Sea region, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"The war left behind hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded, devastated cities, millions of people displaced from their homes and a completely paralysed Black Sea.

02 May 2023; MEMO: Turkiye officially opened Europe's biggest solar power plant in Konya, built on a single site and one of the five largest in the world, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, the solar power plant, bulit in Konya, Karapinar, is the size of 2,800 football fields and supplies the electricity needs of 2 million people.

It will increase Turkiye's share of installed solar energy by 20 per cent on its own, the report added.

ANKARA/BAGHDAD, May 2 (Reuters) - ISIS leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi's six-month rule ended when he detonated a suicide vest during a Turkish special forces raid in northwest Syria on Saturday after refusing to surrender, a senior Turkish security official said.

The third ISIS leader to die by detonating an explosive vest during a raid since 2019, Qurashi leaves behind an organization that once ruled millions of people via its control of a third of Iraq and Syria but has now been forced underground.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The main challenger trying to unseat Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in this month’s presidential election cuts a starkly different figure than the incumbent who has ruled the country for two decades.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish forces have killed the leader of the Islamic State group during an operation in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Sunday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told TRT Turk television in an interview that the IS leader, code-named Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi, was killed in a strike conducted on Saturday.

Erdogan said the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT, had been following him “for a long time.”

“We will continue our struggle against terrorist organizations without discriminating against any of them,” Erdogan said in the interview.