Turkey's media watchdog to elect its chair next week

ANKARA

Turkey’s media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), will hold a new round of elections next week in order to choose its president after failing to name its president after two rounds of votes on July 22.

The next round of elections will be held on July 29. RTÜK consists of nine members elected by parliament. It was dominated by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) until results of the June 7 parliamentary election, which changed the board’s composition as well.

Now, four seats are held by the AKP, two seats each by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and one by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

The AKP’s İlhan Yerlikaya, CHP’s Ali Öztunç, MHP’s Esat Çıplak and HDP’s Ersin Öngel ran for the presidency post. In both rounds, Yerlikaya got four votes, Çıplak got four votes and Öngel got one vote. Results prompted Öztunç to withdraw his candidacy, as he said he was not “greedy” to hold a title.

“Our aim is to provide a blood change and there was a need to sacrifice for this. We are supporting Esat Çıplak,” Öztunç said.

Öztunç had already proposed the idea of a rotating presidency for the post, thus withdrawing his candidacy in favor of the MHP candidate. In this case, the HDP’s vote during next week’s voting has become vital, as the MHP candidate will need HDP support in order to be elected to the post.