Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Last News

A suspected methanol poisoning incident has claimed the lives of 33 individuals in a popular Turkish holiday destination, leading to the arrest of four people on charges of "intentional homicide."

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Turkey’s communications authority blocked the country’s access to Instagram on Friday, one day after the government slammed the social media platform for removing posts by Turkish users expressing condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. The country’s BTK communications authority said in a post Friday on its website that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date of 02/08/2024,” without adding further details. Turkey’s government-affiliated newspaper Daily Sabah said on its website that access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users mourning the Hamas political leader’s killing.

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Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Turkey’s Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, the country’s top international film event, has been canceled due political pressure following a storm of controversy prompted by the presence of an explosive documentary in the lineup. The doc, titled “Decree” and directed by Nejla Demirci, is about the plight of a doctor and a teacher who were fired from their government jobs under a state of emergency declared after a failed attempted coup on July 15, 2016, in Turkey.

Turkish police detained over 100 people on Sunday following Pride marches in the cities of Istanbul and Izmir.Despite attempts by the Turkish government to suppress expressions of LGBTQ identity, including Pride celebrations, in the Muslim-majority country, hundreds took to the streets of both cities to celebrate their LGBTQ identities in defiance of those actions. Turkey’s ruling pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) has previously passed bans on Pride marches and LGBTQ-themed events, but courts have found those bans to be unlawful. Nonetheless, the government frequently seeks to shut down such celebrations, either by making it logistically impossible to march or by directing police to disperse crowds or arrest those believed to have participated in demonstrations. In the run-up to Sunday, authorities in Istanbul sought to shut down all public transportation and set up roadblocks in the Taksim Square district to prevent Pride activists from marching in the area.

UEFA insist the Champions League final will take place in Istanbul as planned, despite the country heading into a politically-charged election period from this weekend.

proposed a constitutional amendment to deny legal recognition of LGBTQ rights to counter a popular constitutional amendment brought by the left-wing secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), which sought to enshrine a woman’s right to wear a religious headscarf into the constitution. By introducing an amendment that attacks the LGBTQ community, Erdoğan hoped to not only cement support among social conservatives, especially radical Islamists who have long backed his party but to force CHP and other opposition parties to either come out in favor of his proposed amendment or reveal their pro-LGBTQ sympathies and risk losing the votes of devout Muslims.As public polls indicate that AKP has lost the level of support it once enjoyed before the global COVID-19 pandemic, especially with respect to inflation, rising prices, higher costs of living, and other economic issues, Erdoğan has increasingly found his party on the defensive, lashing out at rivals and desperately trying to paint them as opponents of “family values.”Speaking at Sunday’s rally in Istanbul, Erdoğan, who has held a lock on power for nearly two decades — serving as prime minister from 2003 to 2014 and as president since 2014 — vowed never to advance pro-LGBT policies, according to Reuters.“AK Party and other parties in our alliance would never be pro-LGBT, because family is sacred to us.

Turkish Minute.“Let us see what position he will take here,” Erdoğan told reporters, referring to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of the country’s largest left-wing opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP).Erdoğan proposed the amendment in an attempt to counter the CHP’s decision to introduce an amendment to the constitution to enshrine into law a woman’s right to wear a headscarf. By introducing a larger amendment that attacks the LGBTQ community, the Turkish president is hoping not only to rally social conservatives to his side, but to force the left-wing CHP to either come out in favor of his proposed amendment or reveal their pro-LGBTQ sympathies and risk losing the votes of devout Muslims.Erdoğan’s political machinations come at a time when his Islamist-backed ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is trailing narrowly behind the opposition bloc in polls ahead of next year’s elections, according to a recent survey from the Piar polling company.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTurkish producer Cigdem Mater, known on the festival circuit for backing arthouse titles such as the 2013 Venice competition drama “Sivas,” has been arrested and sentenced to 18 years in prison on trumped-up charges, along with other activists, in connection with the 2013 Gezi Park anti-government protests.Mater, who is also a journalist, was incarcerated on Monday in Istanbul at the conclusion of a trial during which Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was already in custody, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by allegedly financing the protests.Mater and six other activists are accused by the Turkish court of supporting Kavala and being behind the protests that were prompted by construction of a mall in an Istanbul park. The protests snowballed and grew into nationwide anti-government unrest.

Former President Donald Trump’s website was the victim of a hacking incident, as a portion of the site was replaced by a message in Turkish.