The Erdogan government’s response to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey has been widely criticised. But how it might affect the forthcoming presidential election remains to be seen.
Erdoğan is facing criticism over his handling of the disaster.
Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)
Disaster-hit Turkey is due to stage a presidential vote in June. Erdoğan’s handling of the earthquake response – and his role in the country’s perceived lack of preparedness – may be his undoing.
Turks have called their country Türkiye since 1923.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
The Turkish government was well aware of earthquake-resilient construction techniques.
Opposition deputies protest as the first stage of controversial judicial reform is approved by the Knesset Law Committee on Feb. 13, 2023.
Photo by Israeli Parliament (Knesset) / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Huge pro-democracy demonstrations in Israel have taken place for almost two months in protest of new rules for the Supreme Court that Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government is rushing into law.
Worst-hit areas in Turkey were reduced to rubble.
Erhan Sevenler/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A cholera outbreak, a harsh winter, ten years of civil war and obstruction from the Syrian government are some of the difficulties faced by aid agencies.
Many people in Turkey believe in a conspiracy theory about the 1923 Lausanne treaty.
Michael Harris/Alamy
Conviction means popular opposition figure Ekrem Imamoglu is barred from running for office. It comes as incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces dwindling support.
Russian president Vladimir Putin honours ‘Russian heroes’ at a function in Moscow.
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Renewed military activity in Syria is also stoking a round of alliance building for the Ukraine war.
The pilot of a Greek fighter jet F-16 Viper checks the aircraft before the takeoff at Tanagra north of Athens, Greece in September 2022. Greece has bolstered its air force amid increasing tensions with neighbouring Turkey.
(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Tensions between Greece and Turkey are nothing new, but the future cannot be built on the grievances of the past. For greater regional stability, both countries must de-escalate.
People attend an exhibition of Russian equipment destroyed by the armed forces of Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine, Aug. 11, 2022.
Olena Znak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Democratic nation-states were supposed to be the legitimate successors of empires. It hasn’t quite worked out that way in the past century, and Russia’s war on Ukraine is a reflection of that.
Another big table, but this time Vladimir Putin isn’t sitting at the head.
EPA-EFE/Irinian presidential office handout
A digest of the week’s coverage of the war against Ukraine.
All smiles: Russian president Vladimir Putin, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting in Tehran, July 2022.
EPA-EFE/Sergei Savostyanov/Kremlin pool
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is against allowing two Nordic countries to join NATO over what he deems their support of ‘terrorists.’ His opposition will test the alliance’s unity.
Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University