Turkish president, Erdoğan, triumphs in historic run-off election

RECEP Tayyip Erdoğan has won Turkey’s run-off presidential election to seal another five-year term, according to official preliminary results that marked an end to a determined opposition effort to unseat the longtime leader.

Erdoğan received 53.41% of the votes, electoral chief Ahmet Yener said on Sunday evening, after 99.43% of the ballots had been counted.

His rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 46.59% according to the preliminary figures, Yener said.

Erdoğan – who claimed victory hours before the official announcement – can now remain in his seat for another five years and for a third time. The 69-year-old became prime minister in 2003. The parliament voted him as president in 2014.

“You gave us this mission. We will continue to build a Turkish century all together,” he told a massive crowd from the balcony of the presidential palace in Ankara. “All of Turkey has won. Democracy has won,” he said, urging the country to unite.

The crowd cheered and taunted his rival, chanting: “Bye bye, Kemal.”

During the evening, Erdoğan supporters lined the streets of cities in Turkey and beyond, waving flags and celebrating.

Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, he has more power than ever before, prompting fears his rule could become even more authoritarian.

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Kılıçdaroğlu, who stood against him at the head of a broad coalition of opposition parties, thanked his supporters before the results were announced, but did not formally concede.

“I am sad much bigger problems await our country,” he said.

He decried the problems in an election campaign that was criticized by observers as being unfair, given the government’s dominance of the media landscape.

Erdoğan controls almost the entire conventional media in Turkey. State broadcaster TRT did not broadcast a single interview with any opposition leader, for example.

Erdoğan refused to appear in any televised debate with Kılıçdaroğlu.

“The people’s will to replace an authoritarian regime has emerged despite all repressions in this election,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.

“Stand tall,” he added. “We will work for more democratic Turkey.”

His comments were echoed by Meral Akşener, the main opposition partner, who did concede.

Those who had hoped for change should not despair, she said. “We are here,” she said, adding she hoped Erdoğan would remember he is president of all of Turkey.

Sunday’s voting was marred by reports of attacks on election observers in Istanbul and the south-east of the country.

Istanbul lawmaker Ali Şeker, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told broadcaster Halk TV that he and two others were attacked by a large group of locals after they complained about irregularities.

Earlier, CHP parliamentary group leader Özgür Özel tweeted that election observers were beaten and their phones were broken.

Özel complained that there were not enough security forces present at the time.

There were several incidents in Istanbul, according to media reports. Halk TV reported that opposition election workers were attacked in the Gaziosmanpaşa and Ümraniye districts.

Not all incidents could be independently verified.

Even before the preliminary results were announced, congratulations flowed in from abroad.

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The leaders of Russia, France, Pakistan, Libya, and Afghanistan all sent messages of support to Erdoğan.

Later, European and U.S. leaders added their congratulations.

“I look forward to working with you again to deepen EU-Türkiye relations in the years to come,” the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, wrote to Erdoğan in a tweet.

“It is of strategic importance for both the EU and Türkiye to work on advancing this relationship, for the benefit of our people,” echoed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“Germany and Turkey are close partners and allies,” wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “Congratulations to President Erdoğan on his re-election. Now we want to push forward our common issues with fresh vigour.”

French President Emmanuel Macron listed the return of peace to Europe, the future of the Euro-Atlantic alliance and the Mediterranean as some of the “immense challenges” ahead.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky shared his congratulations to the Turkish president in both Ukrainian and Turkish on Twitter.

“I congratulate the President of Turkey @RTErdogan on the occasion of the victory in the presidential elections,” wrote Zelensky in a tweet.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also offered congratulations to Erdoğan. In a tweet, Stoltenberg wrote, “Congratulations President @RTErdogan on your re-election. I look forward to continuing our work together & preparing for the #NATOSummit in July.”

U.S. President Joe Biden offered congratulations and said, “I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO Allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges” in a tweet.

Many in Turkey had hoped for change, but were in the end outnumbered, with Erdoğan particularly popular among rural and more religious voters.

Ergün Sabancılar, a 67-year-old artisan, said just after casting his ballot: “I have hope. If not with this election, democracy will definitely come with future elections.”

The run-off, the first in modern Turkish history, was a test of strength for Erdoğan after he failed to get the absolute majority needed in the first round of the vote two weeks ago.

During the campaign, Erdoğan had promised to increase religious conservative policies such as restricting LGBT rights.

He said he would quickly reconstruct the quake-hit provinces while boosting investments in defence and infrastructure.

He repeated some of these promises on Sunday, saying that he would bring inflation down to 10% in a new “economic leap forward.”

The vote came amid Turkey’s worst economic crisis in two decades and after February’s devastating earthquakes in the country’s east.

Analysts pointed to election gifts in the run-up to the vote, saying these too had an impact on Sunday’s result.

“The government spent money like there was no tomorrow.

“People are much better off as a result than they were last year,” analyst Salim Cevik told dpa.

Cevik also criticised the opposition, saying the broad coalition had not nominated its lead candidate soon enough in the process. (dpa/NAN)

US approves $285m sale of air defense system to Ukraine

The United States on Wednesday announced the approval of a $285 million sale of a NASAMS air defense system and related equipment to Ukraine as Kyiv seeks to boost protection against Russian strikes.

“Ukraine has an urgent need to increase its capabilities to defend against Russian missile strikes and aircraft,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. “Acquiring and effectively deploying this capability will enhance Ukraine’s ability to defend its people and protect critical national infrastructure.”

The agency also said the sale will support US foreign policy national security goals by “improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe.”

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The sale would not require any additional US government employees or contractors to be assigned to Ukraine, the statement added.

The State Department approved the sale, and the DSCA on Wednesday provided the required notification to Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transaction.

Countries including the United States that are supporting Ukraine in its battle against invading Russian forces have donated tens of billions of dollars of military equipment to Kyiv, but this transfer would be a sale and it is expected to be a game changer in Ukraine ability to intercept sophisticated missiles being fired by Russia.

Ukraine’s air defenses have played a key role in protecting the country from strikes and preventing Moscow’s forces from gaining control of the skies.

When Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraine’s air defenses largely consisted of Soviet-era planes and batteries.

They have since been significantly augmented by Kyiv’s international supporters, who have donated a series of systems including NASAMS.

US approves $285m sale of air defense system to Ukraine

AFP

Updated: UK law stopping Nigerian students, others from bringing family begins Jan

The United Kingdom says it has put in place a law that will prevent Nigerian students and others studying in the UK from bringing family as dependents except under specific circumstances.

The UK government aims to bring down its immigration number, which stands at about one million.

Under the new rule, the UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system.

Sky News reported that “there will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on “unscrupulous” education agents “who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education”.

This change takes effect from January 2024 to allow students starting courses in the UK time to plan to adapt to the new rules.

This new law comes after indications had emerged that the UK plans to put stricter laws in place to bring down the climbing number of immigrants into the country via studies.

In a written ministerial statement on Tuesday, Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said recent immigration figures had shown an “unexpected rise” in the number of dependants coming to the UK alongside international students.

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According to Braverman, the increase was made after the government made its commitment to lower net migration, the UK media house reported.

Braverman said while the government’s strategy around international education “plays an important part in supporting the economy”, it should “not be at the expense of our commitment to the public to lower overall migration”.

According to Sky News, Braverman said the package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK.

A statement on the UK’s Home Office official site adds that the “New government restrictions to student visa routes will substantially cut net migration by restricting the ability for international students to bring family members on all but post-graduate research routes and banning people from using a student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK.

“The ONS estimated that net migration was over 500,000 from June 2021 to June 2022. Although partly attributed to the rise in temporary factors, such as the UK’s Ukraine and Hong Kong schemes, last year almost half a million student visas were issued while the number of dependants of overseas students has increased by 750% since 2019, to 136,000 people.”

The Home Office also noted that this new rule is not at the expense of the government’s commitment to the public to lower overall migration and ensure that migration to the UK is highly skilled and provides the most benefit.

According to them, the proposal is aimed at allowing “the government to continue to meet its International Education Strategy commitments while making a tangible contribution to reducing net migration to sustainable levels. The government has also made clear that the terms of the graduate route remain unchanged.”

The Home Office also made it clear that “the proposals announced today do not detract from the success of the government’s International Education Strategy, including meeting the target to host 600,000 international higher education students studying in the UK each year by 2030, for two years running.”

Official statistics, which are due to be published this week, are expected to show that net migration has increased from 504,000 in the 12 months to June 2022 to more than 700,000 in the year to December, Sky News said.

According to data, foreign students brought 135,788 family members to Britain last year – nine times more than in 2019 while in 2022, 59,053 Nigerian students brought over 60,923 relatives.

Updated: UK law stopping Nigerian students, others from bringing family begins Jan

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