I was talking to a ranking official about the escape of Abdulgadir Masharipov, the Tajik-origin Uzbek citizen who is wanted for killing 39 people on Jan. 1 in Istanbul’s Reina nightclub on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), or DEASH in Arabic.
Once the word of an early election is out in Turkey, it usually happens.
The first concrete words that Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan wants to hear from the Donald Trump administration, scheduled to take office on Jan. 20, came from Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, during his Jan. 11 testimony to the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Despite the prediction by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ that the government bloc will have no difficulty in taking to a referendum on constitutional amendments for a shift to an executive presidential model, unexpected speculations have started between and within the parties at Turkey’s parliament, which could change the format of the changes
The debate on the constitutional shift from a parliamentary system to an executive presidential system, as demanded by Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, started in parliament on Jan. 9 in a highly strained atmosphere.
One the same day as tense debates started in Turkey’s parliament for a constitutional shift from a parliamentary to a presidential system to grant him more executive power, President Tayyip Erdoğan addressed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, saying Ankara wanted to make a fresh start in its relations with its ally Washington, which have become stuck in the final years of outgoing President Barack Obama.
The debates on the draft for constitutional amendments proposing a shift from Turkey’s parliamentarian system to an executive presidential one are scheduled to start on Jan. 9 in parliament.
For the last two days, Turkey has been talking about the heroic move by Fethi Sekin, a police officer who prevented a disaster from happening in the western city of İzmir on Jan. 5.
On Jan. 3, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım slammed U.S. President Barack Obama and called on incoming president Donald Trump to “end this shame” in the U.S.’s Syria policy.
