Government of Turkey

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has neutralized the PKK/KCK's communication chief during an operation in northern Iraq.

Emre Şahin, code-named Rodi, was found to write the programs used by the organization's communication system, including him in the list of "critical targets to be neutralized."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with former presidential candidate of the ATA Alliance, Sinan Ogan (L) in Istanbul. 19 May 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/PRESIDENT PRESS OFFICE HANDOUT

"I will support President Erdogan in the second round and I call on our supporters to vote for People's Alliance's candidate Erdogan," Ogan said on Monday.

Sinan Oğan, the presidential candidate of the ATA Alliance who received around 5.2 percent of the votes in the first round, has announced that he will support President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the runoff elections slated for May 28.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has stated that it is irrational to make a promise to send all Syrian refugees back to their homeland as they are needed for the workforce in the relevant sectors of Türkiye.

"If we say that we will send all of them 100 percent, it would not be appropriate. There is a need for employment in some jobs," he said in a televised interview on May 21.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the nation has displayed its will with the votes reflected at the parliament in the May 14 elections, which is in favor of the People's Alliance.

"On May 14, our nation actually declared its will by giving the majority of the parliament seats with 323 deputies to the People's Alliance," Erdoğan tweeted on May 22.

Sinan Oğan from Ata Alliance, who received 5 percent of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections, is expected to announce his decision of who he will extend his support to in the upcoming presidential runoff on May 22.

The opposition Nation Alliance has said that it sees the upcoming presidential election runoff as a "referendum," making calls on people to vote for democracy.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that the government will hand over the first batch of new homes to earthquake victims by October or November, underlining that their priority will be the reconstruction of the quake-hit provinces if they win the presidential elections on May 28.

"Our priority is to erase the traces of the earthquake as soon as possible and revive our cities," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on May 20 during a visit to earthquake-hit province of Adıyaman.

"With the strength I have derived from affection, I have spent my whole political life to serve our nation. I became Mayor of Istanbul, Prime Minister and President of Türkiye, but I have never given up this quest, this determination,"President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on May 19.