Erdogan is to be sworn in as President

Friday, June 2, 7:45 p.m.: Re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be sworn in on Saturday. The 69-year-old is to receive his certificate of appointment in Parliament in Ankara this afternoon. According to the Presidential Office, the new cabinet will also be announced in the evening.

Erdogan was confirmed as president in a runoff election last Sunday with almost 52 percent of the vote. By May 14, his AK party and its partners had already won a majority in parliament. The election was considered unfair because of the AKP’s and Erdogan’s control over state resources and the country’s media.

The decision on the occupation of the Ministry of Finance is awaited with great excitement. Inflation in Turkey is currently at 44 percent. Experts blame Erdogan’s interest rate policy for this. The lira had lost value after his re-election. The former economics minister and former deputy prime minister Mehmet Simsek is being traded as a candidate.

With his decisions, the president must give the impression that he wants to seriously tackle the problem of the lira and inflation, said Ulrich Kater, chief economist at DekaBank. “Turkey is slowly running out of foreign exchange. This increases the risk of the lira going into free fall.”

German-Turks are torn about Erdogan’s victory

Thursday, June 1, 07:32: A look at the Turkish community in this country: Around three million people with Turkish roots live in Germany – figures from 2.8 to 3.5 million are circulating; the group is heterogeneous. Nationwide, 1.5 million people were eligible to vote this time. Of them, 50.4 percent cast their votes in the runoff – a good 500,000 of them for Erdogan. The Turkish community in Germany (TGD) makes it clear that – based on three million people of Turkish origin – that’s only about 17 percent. Yunus Ulusoy from the Center for Turkish Studies says: “We don’t know how the others tick who didn’t vote or who aren’t eligible to vote.”

More information is available here: Election victory – Erdogan’s victory is not only joy among German-Turks, but also frustration and helplessness

Union reprimands jubilee celebrations for Erdogan – No to easier naturalization

Wednesday, May 31, 07:38: The Union sees its rejection of the planned new citizenship law confirmed by the celebrations of Turks living in Germany after the re-election of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei, told the newspaper “Welt” on Tuesday: “Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s plans increase the risk that more people will be naturalized who are not sufficiently integrated. The countless motorcades that could be seen in many German cities on Sunday evening should be a warning.” The CDU politician called the enthusiasm of many Turks in Germany about Erdogan’s election victory “depressing”.

There are no convincing reasons to lower the requirements for the German passport, stressed Frei about the coalition’s plans. With its new project, the government is putting the reins on the horse. “First the integration has to succeed, then you can think about granting citizenship,” he said.

The coalition factions see no reason to change the planned reform. The Greens interior expert Lamya Kaddor described in the “world” the “high election result of almost 65 percent for Erdogan among the German-Turks for the Turkish opposition, but also the Turkish diaspora difficult to bear”. But only half of the approximately 3.5 million Germans with a Turkish migration background are even entitled to vote – again only every second person ultimately went to the polls. The “significantly larger number of non-voters, including hundreds of thousands of Germans of Kurdish origin,” did not vote for Erdogan. “We therefore reject debates about changing the reform of citizenship law,” she said. Interior experts from the SPD and FDP also want to stick to the citizenship reform.

The federal government had recently agreed on the basics of a new citizenship law. The core are shorter minimum stays for naturalization – instead of eight years, five years should be enough, with special integration services only three.

The author Ahmad Mansour, who deals a lot with anti-Semitism, radicalization and the dangers of political Islam, evaluates the rejoicing in German cities of Turks living here over Erdogan’s re-election as “an absolute sign of failed integration”. Mansour told Welt TV on Tuesday: “These are people who, in their parallel societies, have completely different values ​​that are incompatible with a democracy.” , have become part of this society, but completely reject basic democratic principles”, could be achieved through clarification and educational work “before Erdogan does that”.

Scholz congratulates Erdogan and invites him to Berlin

Monday, May 29, 7:23 p.m.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his re-election and invited him to Berlin. During a telephone call on Monday, the two politicians agreed “to approach the cooperation between the two governments with renewed vigour, and to agree on common priorities early on,” explained government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin.

In the phone call, Scholz emphasized “the close ties between Germany and Turkey, not least as common allies in NATO”. Together, the two politicians wanted “among other things to work on positive developments in the eastern Mediterranean, on the decisions currently being made in NATO and on Turkey’s relationship with the European Union,” Hebestreit explained.

Runoff election in Turkey – Erdogan declares himself the winner before the end of the count

6:16 p.m.: The Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared himself the winner of the presidential election before all the votes were counted. He thanks everyone who would have made it possible for him to govern for the next five years, Erdogan told cheering supporters in Istanbul on Sunday.

So far, Erdogan has received around 55.41 percent of the votes, said the head of the electoral authority Ahmet Yener in Ankara on Sunday. His challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 46.59 percent of the votes. According to the state news agency, after counting almost 99 percent of the votes, the Turkish president came to 52 percent, his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu to 48 percent. The agency Anka, which is close to the opposition, recorded almost the same values.

Erdogan leads according to projections in the presidential election in the Türkiye

5:41 p.m.: According to projections, Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan will lead in the presidential elections in Türkiye. The incumbent received 56.4 percent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff, state news agency Anadolu reported after counting 49.4 percent of ballots cast. His challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu comes to 43.6 percent.

In the first round of elections two weeks ago, none of the candidates had received the required absolute majority. Polls before the first round of elections had put the Social Democratic opposition leader ahead. Contrary to what was predicted, however, Erdogan landed almost five percentage points ahead of Kilicdaroglu in the first ballot and only just missed the absolute majority. Erdogan then went into the runoff as the clear favorite.

Here you can read more about it: Runoff election for Turkish presidential office – projections – incumbent Erdogan leads according to state media

Polling stations closed in Turkey

4:20 p.m.: Voting in the presidential elections in Turkey has ended. Polling stations across the country closed at 4 p.m. CEST on Sunday. Preliminary results are expected in the evening.

The 69-year-old incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan entered the voting as the favorite after narrowly missing out on an absolute majority in the first round two weeks ago. His opponent, the 74-year-old opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, stood for an alliance of six parties.

There were around 2.5 million votes between Erdogan and his opponent in the first round. The election campaign was considered unfair, partly because of the government’s media dominance.

Erdogan has been in power for 20 years. Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, he has more power than ever before. Critics fear that the country, with a population of around 85 million, could slide completely into autocracy if he wins again. Kilicdaroglu promises to democratize the country. Internationally, the vote in the NATO country is being closely observed.

Around 61 million people were called to vote in Turkey. Eligible voters in Germany and other countries have already voted. Sunday also marked the anniversary of the 2013 Gezi protests critical of the government.

Türkiye election: Opposition complains of attack on observers in the south-east

1:57 p.m.: During the presidential elections in Turkey, the largest opposition party in the south-east of the country, the CHP, has complained that its election observers have been attacked. In the province of Sanliurfa, the party’s election observers were beaten and their phones smashed because they objected to irregularities, the deputy parliamentary group leader Özgür Özel wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

The incident happened in a village in the province, and CHP MP Ali Seker was there. The information could not be independently verified. Özel also criticized the fact that there were not enough security forces on site and called on the authorities to ensure the security of the election.

In the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan narrowly missed out on an absolute majority. He is now running in a runoff against opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Around 61 million people in Turkey are called to vote. Eligible voters in Germany have already voted.

Kilicdaroglu: Election in Türkiye takes place under difficult conditions

12:09 p.m.: In the battle for the presidency in Turkey, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu have cast their votes. Kilicdaroglu voted for Erdogan in the metropolis of Istanbul on Sunday in a school in the capital Ankara. Kilicdaroglu said: “I invite all citizens to go to the polls to end oppression and authoritarianism and bring real freedom and democracy to this country.” He also called on his supporters to protect the ballot box, ” because this election is taking place under very difficult conditions.” The opposition had been defamed, for example.

Erdogan said when he voted in Istanbul that it was the first run-off election in Turkey’s history. He praised the high turnout in the first round on May 14 and said he expected another high turnout.