Rusya Dışişleri Bakanlığı Sözcüsü Mariya Zaharova, Kahovka Hidroelektrik Santrali’ne saldırı konusunda uluslararası araştırma komisyonu kurulmasını öneren Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ı eleştirdiği gerekçesiyle Ukrayna Dışişleri Bakanı Dmitro Kuleba’ya tepki gösterdi.

Medya Günlüğü’nde yer alan habere göre, Zaharova, Telegram kanalında Kahovka Hidroelektrik Santrali’ne saldırıya ilişkin açıklamalarda bulundu. Zaharova, “Kuleba, Zelenskiy’e uluslararası komisyon kurmayı öneren Türkiye Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan hakkında kaba konuştu. Kiev’in BM’deki daimi temsilcisi Kislitsa da, soruşturmanın imkansız olduğunu söyledi” ifadelerini kullandı.

Ukrayna’nın açıklamalarına şaşırmadığını kaydeden Zaharova, “Kiev rejimi Buça’da ölü ilan ettiği insanların listesini BM’ye bile vermemişti. Kahovka’daki terör saldırısına ilişkin soruşturma yapılsa ne yazar!” dedi.

“Rusya, BM’de ABD ve müttefiklerince engellendi”

Rusya Dışişleri Sözcüsü, daha önce Kuzey Akım gaz boru hatlarındaki patlamalara ilişkin bağımsız bir soruşturma yapılmasını öneren Rusya’nın BM’de ABD ve müttefiklerince engellediğini de ifade etti.

Ukrayna Dışişleri Bakanı Kuleba Erdoğan’ın komisyon önerisi için, “Sürekli sözde adalet arama oyunundan bıktık. Kimin ne olduğu çok açık. Ruslarla oyun oynamak niyetinde değiliz” demişti.

“Ziyaretle ilgili olarak Türk tarafıyla iletişime geçin”

Zaharova, düzenlediği haftalık basın toplantısında bir gazetecinin, “Yeni Türkiye Dışişleri Bakanı Hakan Fidan ne zaman Moskova’ya geliyor” sorusuna, “Ziyaretle ilgili olarak Türk tarafıyla iletişime geçin. Bu konuda daha fazla bilgimiz olursa, kesinlikle paylaşacağız” yanıtını vermişti.

Rusya Dışişleri Bakanı Sergey Lavrov ve Dışişleri Bakanı Fidan telefonda konuşmuştu. Rusya Dışişleri Bakanlığı açıklamasına göre, 9 Haziran’da taraflar işbirliğini sürdürme niyetlerini teyit etti ve yaklaşan ikili temasların takvimini görüştü. Bakanlık, “İki ülkenin dışişleri bakanlıkları arasındaki yapıcı iş birliği sürdürmeye hazır olma durumu karşılıklı olarak teyit edildi” açıklamasında bulundu.

DUVAR – Gazeteci Can Ataklı, Cumhurbaşkanı ve AK Parti Genel Başkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın ameliyat olacağını iddia etti.

Cumhurbaşkanlığı İletişim Başkanlığı Dezenformasyonla Mücadele Merkezi’nden yapılan açıklamada, iddianın doğru olmadığı belirtildi.

Açıklamada, “Sayın Cumhurbaşkanımız Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın sağlık durumuyla ilgili ortaya atılan iddialar kesinlikle doğru değildir. Kamuoyunu manipüle etmeye yönelik asılsız iddialara itibar etmeyiniz” denildi. (HABER MERKEZİ)

DUVAR – Türkiye Okul Sporları Federasyonu, Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın yayımladığı kararnameyle kapatıldı.

Resmi Gazete’de yayımlanan kararnamede “Görevleri Gençlik ve Spor Bakanlığı Spor Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğünce yürütülmek üzere, Türkiye Okul Sporları Federasyonu başkaca bir işleme gerek kalmaksızın kapatılmıştır” ifadeleri yer aldı. (HABER MERKEZİ) 

Gaziantep, Turkey — Hatim al-Abdullah, a dual Syrian-Turkish citizen, voted for the first time in Turkey’s elections in May, which returned longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a five-year presidential term and into a third decade in power.

“I voted for Erdogan also to protect my family,” al-Abdullah, 25, told Al Jazeera in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, in the hope that his parents and three siblings will have a future in their adoptive home.

Al-Abdullah, originally from Palmyra, was the only one in his family eligible to vote, as he was naturalised three years ago, because of his achievements in sports and education. As a martial arts champion and a student of engineering at the University of Gaziantep, he was selected for the citizenship process.

His family is with him in Gaziantep, living under “temporary protection status”, which means they are legally protected from refoulement even though they entered illegally. They have legal residency and access to basic services such as healthcare and education, but have travel limitations and can only move within the province they are assigned to.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, the vast majority of refugees in Turkey – 3.6 million – are Syrians living under temporary protection. About 200,000 have been granted Turkish citizenship since the Syrian war broke out in 2011, according to government figures.

Although al-Abdullah was barely a teenager when he came to Turkey in 2015, he said the family felt that they were well received at first, as Syrians and Turks in the southeast share a similar culture and traditions. The situation gradually deteriorated because of a widening economic crisis that saw soaring inflation and a collapse of Turkey’s currency, which in turn contributed to an increasing anti-migrant sentiment among the Turkish public.

“Some Turkish people I know told me that Erdogan won because of our votes. But Syrians’ votes are only 0.2 percent and Erdogan won with a 4-percent difference,” he said, adding that some of his friends who also gained citizenship were too afraid to leave home during the election period because of increasing harassment and racist attacks, so they didn’t vote.

“At least [under Erdogan] I feel like I can be involved in Turkish politics like a Turk, not just as a Syrian. Many of us feel we are an integral part of this country because we grew up mainly here and don’t remember much about Syria,” said al-Abdullah.

“We are like our Turkish counterparts: We are useful to the economy and are here to stay, not to create problems.”

Widespread relief

The day after the run-off there was a palpable sense of relief on the streets of Inonu Caddesi, Gaziantep’s Syrian-majority neighbourhood that is full of shops with Turkish and Arabic signs.

“I’m relieved, but just in theory,” said Mustafa Kara Ali, a photographer from Aleppo who moved to Turkey in 2018 with his wife and two young daughters, in front of the shop where he usually buys Syrian desserts.

Many of the half a million Syrians in Gaziantep – located in the heart of the southeastern region heavily impacted by the February 6 earthquakes – were relieved when Erdogan won here by 62.7 percent of votes despite initial concerns that he would lose because of the mismanaged and slow response to the disaster. Most of the Syrian population in Turkey live along its southern border, closer to their homeland.

“For me and my family, [his victory] is more ‘comfortable’ because his opponent based his election campaign on racism towards us refugees, which is certainly unsettling,” Kara Ali, 37, said.

Kara Ali is under temporary protection. Syrians like him closely followed the elections, whose outcome will have a critical impact on their future. Their presence in the country was at the core of the campaigns, especially ahead of the second round, with both candidates speaking about the status of refugees.

Ahead of the run-off, Erdogan’s challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu appeared on posters in many cities that read, ‘Syrians Will Go’, and accused them of threatening national security. The xenophobic rhetoric heard first in the aftermath of the earthquakes, then during the election campaigns, made Syrians feel like their time in Turkey would soon come to a close, and left them more afraid, according to Khaled al-Dimashqi, a 32-year-old humanitarian worker with temporary protection in Gaziantep.

“I was living under great psychological pressure due to the increase in hate speech and the rise of racism against Syrians,” al-Dimashqi said in Sakulta, a popular coffee shop in Gaziantep where Syrians often meet.

“All our conversations and meetings as Syrians centred around the elections. We talked about our unknown future after the elections and our fear of how society would treat us in the aftermath,” he added. Al-Dimashqi, originally from Damascus, moved to Gaziantep in 2016 by illegally crossing the border.

Although he couldn’t vote, he followed closely the campaign, hoping fellow Syrians who hold Turkish citizenship would back Erdogan.

Despite the temporary sigh of relief, most Syrians remain cautious.

On the campaign trail, Erdogan promised that one million Syrians would be “voluntarily returned” to their country, as he plans on normalising relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. While it isn’t clear if or when this would happen, Syrians with temporary protection such as al-Dimashqi worry that they’ll have to face other kinds of pressure, such as new paperwork to remain legal, or increases in rents and bills.

“On a personal level, my biggest concern is whether I will be able to move to live in another country,” al-Dimashqi said. “I feel insecure and fear the unknown.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s return to power in Turkey means a crucial player in European and Middle East geopolitics remains in place for another five years.

A flexible approach and pragmatism sometimes place him in a unique position: Turkey has NATO’s second-largest military, but is the only member enjoying cordial relations with Russia.

So what to expect from Erdogan’s third term?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom

Guests:

Dmitry Babich – political analyst, Rossiya Segodnya news agency

Seda Demiralp – associate professor, Isik University, Istanbul

Steven Erlanger – New York Times chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been sworn in as head of state after winning an historic run-off election to extend his two-decade rule for another five years.

The 69-year-old leader, who announced his new cabinet later on Saturday, will be tasked with handling an economic crisis that has witnessed runaway inflation and the collapse of the lira. He named former economy chief and internationally respected ex-banker Mehmet Simsek as treasury and finance minister.

“I, as president, swear upon my honour and integrity before the great Turkish nation and history to safeguard the existence and independence of the state,” Erdogan said in a ceremony at the parliament in Ankara, broadcast live on television.

“We will embrace all 85 million people [in the country] regardless of their political views, origins, or sect.”

Saturday’s inauguration was followed by a lavish ceremony at the presidential palace in the capital attended by dozens of world leaders. Turkey’s longest-serving leader faces considerable diplomatic challenges amid tensions with the West.

Turkey’s transformative but divisive leader won the May 28 run-off against a powerful opposition coalition, and despite an economic crisis and criticism following a devastating February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.

Erdogan won 52.2 percent of the vote while his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu 47.8 percent, official results show.

Emre Erdogan from Bilgi University noted the president’s speech “addressed unity and solidarity several times, and he underlined the importance of forgetting resentment and anger which voters felt during his election campaign”.

“He talked about a liberal and inclusive constitution and that’s important because he never talked in this way [before]… He also talked about the role of Turkey in the region as a peacemaker. He tried to show the key role of Turkey in world politics.”

Economic crisis

Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Ankara, said the inauguration ceremony was attended by at least 78 members of the international community.

Some of the guests included Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Addressing the country’s economic troubles will be Erdogan’s priority with inflation running at 43.7 percent, partly because of his unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to stimulate growth.

Analysts have warned if current policies continue, the economy is heading for greater turmoil given depleted foreign reserves, an expanding state-backed protected deposits scheme, and unchecked inflation expectations.

The lira has undergone a series of crashes in recent years and hit new all-time lows in the days after the vote.

Turkey’s new members of parliament started being sworn in on Friday in their first session after the May 14 election, also attended by Erdogan. His alliance holds a majority in the 600-seat parliament.

Erdogan’s victory came against a unified opposition coalition led by Kilicdaroglu, whose future as leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) remains in doubt following the defeat.

Sweden’s NATO bid

Meanwhile, NATO allies are anxiously waiting for Ankara to greenlight Sweden’s attempt to join the United States-led defence alliance before a summit in July.

Erdogan has been dragging his feet on approving the application, accusing Stockholm of sheltering “terrorists” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg attended Erdogan’s inauguration.

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Twitter “a clear message” emerged at a NATO meeting in Oslo for Turkey and Hungary to start the ratification process.

Erdogan became prime minister in 2003 after his AK Party won an election in late 2002 following Turkey’s worst economic crisis since the 1970s.

In 2014, he became the country’s first popularly elected president and was elected again in 2018 after securing new executive powers for the presidency in a 2017 referendum.