Some 10 million Istanbul residents will head to ballot boxes for the rerun elections on June 23 to elect the new mayor of Turkey’s largest metropolis Istanbul. Latest opinion polls suggest that the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) nominee Ekrem İmamoğlu is ahead of Binali Yıldırım of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). A common understanding out of the surveys of these polls suggests that İmamoğlu will have a two to three point advantage against his rival.
The Greek Cypriot government has long had plans to turn the ongoing dispute with Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean over hydrocarbon reserves into an international crisis in a bid to further isolate its main regional rival and to garner international recognition for its unilateral actions in the region.
The Russian-backed Syrian regime forces’ military operation into the demilitarized zone of Idlib has taken a new turn since early June. In addition to targeting civilian positions, such as schools and hospitals, with an objective of kicking a new refugee influx towards the Turkish border, they are aiming at the Turkish observation posts in the enclave.
The latest statements and moves from Turkey and the United States on the continued disagreement over the former’s plans to deploy the Russian S-400 air defense systems reveal that hopes for a compromise between the two allies have waned.
With less than two weeks to go to the Istanbul rerun elections, a remarkable change in the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) strategy is being observed. An earlier plan of the AKP was to intensify the election campaign following the long Eid al-Fitr holiday with the utmost involvement of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
A letter penned by Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, on the consequences of Turkey’s plans to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems signals that ongoing crisis between the two allies has taken a new turn.
Hardly a day passes without senior U.S. officials criticizing Turkey over its plans to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems or pressuring Turkish authorities to begin drilling for hydrocarbon reserves off the Cyprus Island.
With less than 20 days to go before the Istanbul re-run elections, the latest decision by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) has created yet another controversy over the safety of polls and has drawn reactions from political parties.
Two immediate steps Turkey has to take in order to protect its legitimate rights in the eastern Mediterranean Sea are declaring its own economic exclusive zones (EEZ) without delay and signing a maritime demarcation agreement with Libya, a senior military official and an expert on maritime law has suggested, informing that these moves would increase its EEZ up to 189,000 kilometers square against Greece and Greek Cyprus’ attempts to keep it around four times smaller.
