The meltdown of the Turkish opposition
There are events where you don't know if they are the beginning of something terrible - or something great.
Sometimes both seem possible.
This is how it is in the country with probably the craziest domestic politics in the world.
The current events in Ankara can only be described as outrageous.
What happened?
In short: Last year, six opposition parties formed a so-called “table of six” to contest this year's parliamentary and presidential elections against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In all probability there will be an election on May 14th.
After each meeting of the table of six there were harmonious pictures.
There has never been an alliance like this,
and for all its weaknesses, it must have raised hopes among many voters who want change in Turkey.
The group also wanted to agree on a common challenger for Erdoğan.
However, this agreement was a long time coming.
Already Erdoğan etched that the table did not even produce a candidate.
Then the country experienced one of the worst earthquake disasters in its history.
Now, almost four weeks after the catastrophe, the party leaders of this table of six met for a crucial meeting.
They documented with a communiqué including signatures that they had agreed on a candidate and wanted to present him next week.
As long suspected (or feared by some), it turned out to be
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
, head of the secular »Republican People's Party«, CHP, the strongest opposition party.
But just a day later, the front woman of the nationalist IYI party, Meral Akşener, stepped in front of the press and simply upset everything.
Your party is the second strongest force at the table.
The agreement under which she had put her name the day before was no longer valid.
That is not the will of the people!
You will not bow to it!
All because of a man's personal ambition!
Don't be a Abnick club!
Not only the decision, but also the language was tough.
Akşener named two other names who, according to polls, could have a chance against Erdoğan: Istanbul mayors
Ekrem Imamoğlu
and Ankara
Mansur Yavaş
.
She invited both of them to run for office.
Both mayors are CHP members - so they should run past their boss - that meant Akşener's request.
It is questionable whether this strategy could ever work, in any case, the two gentlemen have already backed their boss.
In fact, Meral Akşener has often let it be known that she is against the CHP chief's candidacy
, including in a conversation I was able to have with her recently.
The polite formula was always: We want to compete with a candidate who can also win - and that's certainly not Kılıçdaroğlu.
Politeness seems to be over now.
Akşener, who pursues a nationalist, laicist, thoroughly feminist policy with her party and would like to see it right of center in the long term, declared early on that she did not want to run for office herself, but rather to become her country's prime minister.
As soon as the country has found its way back onto the path of parliamentary democracy after a victory for the opposition, i.e. the six-member table.
After this political stunt, it is questionable whether voters still believe the opposition is capable of change.
Whether the opposition will manage to pull itself together again - possibly in a different constellation, Kılıçdaroğlu hinted at something like that.
What exactly is the bill of the veteran politician Akşener.
And whether all of this ultimately only benefits the strong man in the presidential palace.
Consequences of the earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria:
cracks in the state of Erdoğan
People's Congress without a people
China has just declared "victory" over the corona pandemic, but as a precaution, observers of the National People's Congress
, which begins this Sunday, should
stay in quarantine the night before.
You never know.
Once a year, usually in March, what is formally the largest legislative body, with its almost 3,000 delegates, approves the decisions of the central government.
It doesn't really happen that laws are rejected.
What kind of China is shown here this year?
A China that has brought back under control the brief upsurge of its citizens at the end of 2022 against the strict zero-Covid policy, and then somehow against bondage.
One that Head of State Xi Jinping may now rule for life
- suggesting that he was confirmed for a third term last October.
It is a China that will present a new premier: Li Keqiang is succeeded by Li Qiang, who has been described as Xi-nah, moderate and pro-business.
And we will see the "people's representatives" of a China whose rifts with the western world have deepened since the Russian attack on Ukraine
, as my colleagues aptly describe in our current issue.
Alone, despite all geopolitical and ideological differences - "Chimerica", the marriage of the American and Chinese economies, is therefore not on the verge of divorce.
The US and China have never traded as much as they do now.
A trade that also brings about change, albeit in a different way than originally thought.
Horrifying vision of geopolitics:
Russia's attack plunges the superpowers USA and China into a new Cold War
Finally a quiet chat
The German Chancellor had an appointment with the American President - and nobody was there.
No business delegation had traveled from Berlin, no press, no cabinet members were present.
No joint press conference was planned either.
The two heads of state wanted to speak alone in the Oval Office, without interference, without anything leaking out.
A pure »work visit«.
The main topic: the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine - and possibly also what its end could look like.
Both publics await an answer to this one million dollar question.
Germany with its militarily rather inexperienced society - but also the USA with a very war-tested society.
Support for the president's course is obviously melting.
Joe Biden, who is apparently considering a second candidacy, may not want to take the war against Ukraine into next year's presidential campaign.
Especially if there is no noticeable progress by the Ukrainians in Ukraine - despite all the arms deliveries, despite all the billions.
Recently there was a certain cacophony between Berlin and Washington because of the tank deliveries.
To put it simply: the Americans wanted the Germans to supply the Leopard, but the Germans didn't want that, at least not without Washington's commitment to also supply Abrams tanks (which, from the US military's point of view, are unsuitable for the war in Ukraine) .
They said they gave in to the pressure from Germany.
Which in turn the Germans denied.
The German Chancellor is probably one of the few heads of government in the world who does not want to be said to have successfully exerted pressure.
How small this back and forth suddenly seems before the big question of the end of the war.
Scholz visit to Biden:
war summit in the White House
You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
Lavrov portrays Russia as a victim – the audience laughs at him:
At an Indian conference, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov spread his usual propaganda on the Ukraine war.
When he claimed that Russia was actually attacked, the audience laughed at him.
Defense company Rheinmetall makes a leap into the Dax:
The Rheinmetall share price has almost doubled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a good year ago.
Now the armaments company is rising to the Dax.
Controversy over "Hard but fair" - what the UN reports say:
At "Hard but fair", moderator Klamroth and left-wing politician Wagenknecht argued about who committed which war crimes in Ukraine.
The editors of the show later qualified their statements.
What was happening?
Here is the current quiz of the day
The starting question today: Since when can you also cast your vote in the federal election by letter?
The latest news from the night
Belgium's constitutional court approves prisoner exchange with Iran:
The former Iranian diplomat has been in prison in Belgium since 2021 - because of a planned attack.
Now he is to be extradited in return for a man imprisoned in Tehran.
Rock band Lord Of The Lost wins German ESC preliminary round:
Striking outfits, gloomy sound: A rock band is representing Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest this year.
The group Lord Of The Lost prevailed in the preliminary round.
Tom Sizemore is dead
: He starred opposite Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan and has been in a coma since mid-February from a stroke.
Now the US actor has died.
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
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For him, one thing is certain: artificial intelligence costs jobs – but creates even more.
The small-small coalition:
Time and again, the traffic light alliance wears itself out, especially on transport policy issues.
That overshadows the cabinet meeting - and damages Germany's reputation in Europe.
Is a home savings contract worth it now?
Building savings was considered old-fashioned and unprofitable.
But with the sharp rise in interest rates, the traditional product is celebrating a comeback.
The overview of advantages and disadvantages.
Is 140,000 euros worth this stress?
If you start in a large law firm, you get a high salary, but you have to work up to 75 hours a week.
Who is doing this?
Three young lawyers share why they kept going - or gave up.
I wish you a good start into the day.
Yours sincerely, Özlem Topçu, Deputy Head of Department Abroad