Erdogan officially announces election date, inflation slows down in Turkey

Top events in Turkey from 3 to 10 March.

The opposition alliance was on the verge of a split, but united again, the damage to Turkey from the earthquake will be from 35 to 100 billion dollars, inflation in the country has slowed to 55%, Assad believes that a clear agenda is needed to normalize relations with Ankara. Telegram channel author “Bridge over the Bosphorus” talks about the main events of the week in Turkey.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan On March 10, he signed a decree on holding presidential and parliamentary elections – they will be held on May 14.

The latest polls show support for the ruling alliance reaching almost 50%. The popularity of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is 39%, while that of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is 10.1%. The opposition “Table of Six” is ready to support about 35% of voters. Thus, the gap between the alliances is 15% in favor of Erdogan and his partners.

Turkish media reportthat the Kurdish Islamist party Huda Par, as well as the once popular Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Fatherland Party (Anavatan) can join the ruling People’s Alliance.

The Turkish opposition, which united to win the elections, as a result of the demarche of the leader of the “Good Party” Meral Akshener at the end of last week was on the verge of a split.

Aksener left the ranks of the opposition, but on March 6, the chairmen of the other parties of the “Table of Six” again managed to agree on joint actions in the presidential elections in Turkey. After months of waiting, the bloc was able to decide on a presidential candidate – the leader of the Republican People’s Party (RPP) was chosen for this role Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the deputy foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Syria would meet in Moscow next week for technical talks. Issues of organizing a meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries will be discussed at the meeting.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey Vahit Kirishchi said that the provinces affected by the earthquake began to produce 40% less products for export. According to him, the share of provinces in the total volume of Turkish exports is about 15.5%.

According to the minister, the damage from earthquakes at the moment is about 80 billion dollars. Meanwhile, according to the official representative of the United Nations Development Program in Turkey Louise Vintondamage from earthquakes in the south of the republic may exceed $100 billion.

“According to our calculations from the figures provided by the Turkish authorities and other partners, the damage will exceed $100 billion,” she said during a visit to Gaziantep.

The World Bank estimated the damage to the Turkish economy at $34.2 billion.

More than 47,000 people died as a result of the February 6 earthquake in the south of the country, according to the Turkish president. Erdogan also noted that 115,000 citizens were saved during the search.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), consumer price growth in the country increased by 3.15% in February, but in annual terms inflation slowed down to 55.18%.

In November last year, this figure at its peak exceeded 85%. The country’s authorities expect prices to fall by 25% by the end of the year.

Tinkoff Bank, after another package of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the EU at the end of February, stopped making money transfers to Turkey.

“Transfers to Turkey are not possible due to the fact that SWIFT transfers can be frozen by the counterparty bank. Therefore, we temporarily do not make transfers, ”the bank told TASS.

Riyadh and Ankara have signed an agreement under which the Saudi Development Fund will place a $5 billion deposit with the Central Bank of Turkey.

The document was signed by the Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fund Ahmed Al Khatib and head of the Turkish Central Bank Shahap Kavjioglu.

“This agreement expresses confidence in the future of the Turkish economy,” the Saudi fund said in a statement.

As the SANA news agency reported on March 9, the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Damascus, he said he welcomed Iran’s joining efforts to establish a dialogue between the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey.

However, according to him, the upcoming talks with Ankara should have a clear agenda in order to lead to concrete results.