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Story: Turkey Presidential election 2023; 02-02-2023;
Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to run for the President office in 2023.
• Türkiye’s President Erdoğan is head of the government since 2003, he first served as prime minister until 2014 and since then he is serving Türkiye as president, and he is now running for the presidential post to remain in power till 2028.
• Türkiye to go for early general election in 2023, Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signalled that the election might be held early on 14 May 2023. Earlier, the general election was scheduled to take place on 18 June 2023, according to the reports.
• Erdoğan said there are no legal obstacles in way of his presidential candidacy for the upcoming elections, strongly rejecting the opposition bloc's recent statement that he cannot run.
• Earlier Türkiye's six-party opposition bloc challenged Erdoğan's eligibility to run in the elections, pointing to the two-term limit enshrined in the country's Constitution.
Experts say Erdoğan is eligible:
According to the experts, Erdoğan is eligible to run for the presidential post for the third time, as Türkiye constitution was amended in 2017 that changed the government system.
Türkiye switched to the presidential form of government in 2017, making the president eligible for another term.
Associate professor of law at Hacı Bayram Veli University in the capital Ankara, Şeref Iba, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday, that "In the second phase of the Constitutional Amendment Law that changed the government system, the candidacy of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was elected president for the first time in the presidential government system on June 24, 2018 after the two-term limit came into effect on April 30, 2018, will be the second in the election that is expected to be held on May 14, 2023."
What did Erdoğan and his Party and ally said?:
Erdoğan's Justice and Development (AK) Party and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) made it clear that the president is, according to the rules, is eligible for another term.
"There are no legal obstacles in way of my candidacy for the 2023 elections. It is in accordance with the law and the constitution and the opposition bloc's statements claiming I can't run for elections attempt to muddy the waters," Erdoğan told a joint broadcast on TRT on Wednesday.
In an earlier speech on Wednesday, the president accused the opposition of copying him, and criticized them for their lack of vision.
Can Erdogan win 2023 elections in Turkey?
According to political experts, Erdoğan may very well win the upcoming presidential elections, even though the country is facing huge inflation rate, and tension with Greece, PKK terror attacks and sorrow relations with US.
The deciding factor for the Erdoğan retaining the presidential post would be his pro Islamic policies in the country and his pro Islamic stands. Turkey is a Hanafi Sunni Muslim majority country, with 99.8% of the population being initially registered by the state as a Muslim. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam.
International media outlets trying to influence local public opinion with “sneaky” articles, says Erdoğan:
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently slammed international media outlets for trying to influence local public opinion with "sneaky" articles on the country's upcoming elections.
"International media organizations, which do not even properly deal with the elections in their own countries, follow the election process in Türkiye every day," Erdogan said at an event in the western Denizli province on Saturday.
"They even go beyond following them and try to guide the public with their despicable headlines and sneaky articles they publish."
Erdogan added: "Of course, we are aware of what bothers them, why they attack us, why they meddle in the elections in our country."
Erdogan recently said that May 14 is the "most suitable" date for holding the next parliamentary and presidential elections, and that the country will experience "one of the most critical" elections in its history on May 14.