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ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan is due to be sworn in as head of state on Saturday after winning a historic run-off election to extend his two-decade rule for another five years. Türkiye’s economic problems getting worse.
The inauguration in parliament will be followed by a lavish ceremony in his palace in the capital, Ankara, attended by dozens of world leaders.
Turkey’s transformative but divisive leader won a May 28 runoff against a powerful opposition coalition, despite the economic crisis and heavy criticism following the devastating earthquake in February that killed more than 50,000 people.
Official results showed that Erdogan won 52.18 percent of the vote, while his secular rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.82 percent.
Turkey’s longest-serving leader faces immediate and major challenges in his third term, driven by a slowing economy and foreign policy tensions with the West.
“From a geopolitical point of view, the elections will advance Turkey’s recent pursuit of an independent foreign policy,” said Matt Gertkin, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research.
“This policy aims to extract maximum economic and strategic benefits from eastern states and autocracies while still preventing a permanent rupture in relations with western democracies,” he said.
Within this framework, tensions with the West are likely to increase again, now that Erdogan has received a new mandate.
Addressing the country’s economic problems will be Erdogan’s first priority as inflation hits 43.70 percent, in part due to his unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to stimulate growth.
The president is due to unveil his new cabinet late on Saturday, with media speculating that former Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, an unsuspecting figure with international stature, could play a role.
Simsek, a former economist at Merrill Lynch, is known to oppose Erdogan’s unorthodox policies.
He held the position of Minister of Finance between 2009 and 2015 and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the economy until 2018, before stepping down before a series of collapses of the lira that year.
“It seems that the Erdogan government will continue to implement an orthodox stabilization program,” said Alp Erenc Yıldan, professor of economics at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.
“What we see now is that the markets are enthusiastically receiving news about Mehmet Simsek and his team,” he told AFP.
Turkey’s new members of Parliament began taking their oaths on Friday in the first session after the May 14 elections, which Erdogan also attended.
His coalition has a majority in the 600-seat parliament.
Erdogan’s victory came over a united opposition coalition led by Kilicdaroglu, whose future as CHP leader remains in doubt after the defeat.
NATO allies are eagerly awaiting Ankara to greenlight Sweden’s bid to join the US-led defense alliance, ahead of a summit in July.
Erdogan has been slow to agree to the request, accusing Stockholm of harboring “terrorists” from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara and its Western allies classify as a terrorist group.
The alliance announced on Friday that NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg will attend Erdogan’s inauguration at the end of the week and hold talks with him.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said on Twitter that a “clear message” had emerged from the NATO meeting in Oslo for Turkey and Hungary to start the ratification process.
His Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu responded, “A crystal clear message to our Swedish friends! You must fulfill your obligations arising from the trilateral memorandum and take concrete steps in the fight against terrorism.”
“The rest will follow.”
The inauguration in parliament will be followed by a lavish ceremony in his palace in the capital, Ankara, attended by dozens of world leaders.
Turkey’s transformative but divisive leader won a May 28 runoff against a powerful opposition coalition, despite the economic crisis and heavy criticism following the devastating earthquake in February that killed more than 50,000 people.
Official results showed that Erdogan won 52.18 percent of the vote, while his secular rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.82 percent.
Turkey’s longest-serving leader faces immediate and major challenges in his third term, driven by a slowing economy and foreign policy tensions with the West.
“From a geopolitical point of view, the elections will advance Turkey’s recent pursuit of an independent foreign policy,” said Matt Gertkin, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research.
“This policy aims to extract maximum economic and strategic benefits from eastern states and autocracies while still preventing a permanent rupture in relations with western democracies,” he said.
Within this framework, tensions with the West are likely to increase again, now that Erdogan has received a new mandate.
Addressing the country’s economic problems will be Erdogan’s first priority as inflation hits 43.70 percent, in part due to his unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to stimulate growth.
The president is due to unveil his new cabinet late on Saturday, with media speculating that former Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, an unsuspecting figure with international stature, could play a role.
Simsek, a former economist at Merrill Lynch, is known to oppose Erdogan’s unorthodox policies.
He held the position of Minister of Finance between 2009 and 2015 and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the economy until 2018, before stepping down before a series of collapses of the lira that year.
“It seems that the Erdogan government will continue to implement an orthodox stabilization program,” said Alp Erenc Yıldan, professor of economics at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.
“What we see now is that the markets are enthusiastically receiving news about Mehmet Simsek and his team,” he told AFP.
Turkey’s new members of Parliament began taking their oaths on Friday in the first session after the May 14 elections, which Erdogan also attended.
His coalition has a majority in the 600-seat parliament.
Erdogan’s victory came over a united opposition coalition led by Kilicdaroglu, whose future as CHP leader remains in doubt after the defeat.
NATO allies are eagerly awaiting Ankara to greenlight Sweden’s bid to join the US-led defense alliance, ahead of a summit in July.
Erdogan has been slow to agree to the request, accusing Stockholm of harboring “terrorists” from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara and its Western allies classify as a terrorist group.
The alliance announced on Friday that NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg will attend Erdogan’s inauguration at the end of the week and hold talks with him.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said on Twitter that a “clear message” had emerged from the NATO meeting in Oslo for Turkey and Hungary to start the ratification process.
His Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu responded, “A crystal clear message to our Swedish friends! You must fulfill your obligations arising from the trilateral memorandum and take concrete steps in the fight against terrorism.”
“The rest will follow.”
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