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Trade, military, economic and cultural relations, were on the agenda of the two leaders during a meeting held in Ankara.

President Erdogan hailed the "helping hand" Hungary extended Trkiye after twin earthquakes devastated the south of the country and President Novak hailed Trkiye's role in the Black Sea grain initiative. ( AA )

Trkiye has said it was ready to assist Hungary on natural gas delivery via the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP).

"We, (Trkiye) together with Azerbaijan, are ready to provide all means of support in the delivery of natural gas to Hungary via TANAP," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint press conference on Wednesday with his visiting Hungarian counterpart Katalin Novak at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

Hailing the longstanding ties between the two countries, Erdogan said the "helping hand" Hungary extended Trkiye after twin devastating earthquakes in February was the "solid example" of these strong relations.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes struck 11 Turkish provinces Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, claiming more than 50,000 lives.

Over 13.5 million people in Trkiye have been affected by the quakes, as well as many others in northern Syria.

"We discussed various aspects of Trkiye-Hungary relations at the meetings we held today," he added.

Trade, military, economic and cultural relations, were also on the agenda in the meeting between the two leaders, during which they watched footage from the earthquake, Erdogan noted.

They also affirmed their common will to further strengthen ties based on an enhanced strategic partnership, Erdogan said, adding that the two countries agreed to hold a sixth meeting of their High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in the Hungarian capital Budapest in December.

READ MORE:'Race against time': How Hungarian team saved 17 people from Trkiye quakes

Expanding defence co-operation

Erdogan said that he and Novak emphasised the importance of developing co-operation between the two NATO allies in the defence industry.

Asked about Russia's war on Ukraine, President Erdogan said Ankara wanted to bring Moscow and Kiev to start negotiations and "end the war with peace at the table."

For her part, President Novak hailed Trkiye's role in the Black Sea grain initiative and urged an immediate cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.

She further noted that Trkiye was "indispensable for Hungary's energy security" and noted that her country needed the Turkish Stream.

On NATO, Novak said her country favored enlargement of the alliance and called for steps to be taken in this direction.

Pointing to the Hungarian parliament's recent approval of Finland's bid to join NATO, Novak said: "A positive decision has been made in Hungary regarding Finland joining (the alliance), and the issue of Swedish accession is on the agenda and discussions are ongoing in the Hungarian parliament."

Abandoning decades of military non-alignment, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO last May.

But Trkiye, a longstanding NATO member, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terrorist groups like the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Trkiye to address Ankaras security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have held various meetings since then to discuss the implementation of the trilateral agreement.

Sweden passed an anti-terror law last November, hoping that Ankara would approve Stockholms bid to join NATO. The new law, which will go into force on June 1, will allow Swedish authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist organisations. Trkiye says the adopted laws were not sufficient enough, and nothing much had been done to stop the activities of the terror groups.

Trkiye said earlier this month that it would approve the process of Finland's NATO membership protocol in parliament.

READ MORE:Only Trkiye has successfully mediated between Russia, Ukraine: Hungary

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Erdogan meets Hungarian counterpart to discuss strategic co-operation - TRT World

ANKARA Turkey's main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu is on a mission to unify ranks among several candidates in his bid to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Wednesday, he met candidateMuharrem Inceas negotiations started between the two to broaden support for the opposition.

Kilicdaroglu is looking to boost the electoral chances of the country's six-party opposition bloc, also known as the table of six, against Erdogan.

Flanked by Ince, Kilicdaroglu struck an auspicious tone after the one-hour meeting, saying they were working to enlarge the table.

We are trying to be together. Mr. Ince is, certainly, as sensitive as Im when it comes to Turkeys problems Kilicdaroglu said.

Ince refused to announce his withdrawal from the race, but did not completely rule out a potential alliance. Erdogan has to go, he said. We can get this country back on its feet.

With less than two months until the tightly contested May 14 elections, the countrys main rival electoral blocs, led by Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu, are scrambling to expand their alliances.

Last week's tacit support from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has been a major boost to the CHP-led opposition bloc, as the Kurds stand to be the top kingmaker. The move, however, also risks alienating nationalist supporters of the table of six. Known for his nationalist tendencies, Inces involvement in the alliance could fend off such risks as well.

Inces support would increase Kilicdaroglu's chances to win the race in the first round.

The majority of his votes come from the opposition's voter base, Ulas Tol, director of research at Istanbul-based Social Impact Research Center, told Al-Monitor.

As a former veteran of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), Ince ran against Erdogan in the 2018 presidential race, winning more than 25% of the vote. On the night of that election, he conceded his defeat to a journalist via text message, frustrating many of his supporters and party activists who were still counting ballots at the time. Ince, who repeatedly apologized, later resigned from the CHP and set up his own Memleket or Homeland Party.

According to Tol and many other pundits, particularly young voters who will cast their first ballots in May revere Ince.

The division of votes in the four-candidate presidential race which also includes Sinan Ogan, a former member of Erdogan-allied Nationalist Movement Party increases the possibility of a runoff poll, which the six-party alliance has been seeking to avoid.

The second round will be held after the parliamentary race is concluded. Thus, the side that has secured the parliamentary majority will have a psychological advantage in the second round, Tol opined.

Some 15 percent of disgruntled voters are indignant with both main electoral blocs, he added, and some can support the bloc that won the parliamentary majority for the sake of stability.

Turkey is grappling with breakneck inflation, and the twin earthquakes on Feb. 6 that killed more than 50,000 across 11 Turkish provinces have further exacerbated the countrys woes.

The government critics deem the upcoming polls as a last chance to reverse the country's democratic backsliding and institutional degeneration under Erdogans executive presidency. However, polls show Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party still maintain a plenty of heft.

Berk Esen, associate professor of political science at Istanbul's Sabanci University, warns against the demonizing rhetoric between the rival opposition camps.

There is a large anti-Erdogan front. Yet it is still a struggle to rally this front around a joint candidate, Esen told Al-Monitor, adding that mutual vilifications between rival opposition camps can further obstruct these efforts.

According to Esen, the negotiations between Ince and Kilicdaroglu over a potential election alliance will go on.

A source familiar with Ince seconds that, arguing that the former CHP veteran was close to rescinding his candidacy in return for some political gains from the six-party alliance.

Excerpt from:
Can Turkey's Kemal Kilicdaroglu win over key rival to defeat Erdogan? - Al-Monitor

Turkish President says construction of 56,323 houses in the quake-hit region has already started, adding that Trkiye is planning to build 319,000 houses in one year.

Trkiye is planning to build 319,000 houses in one year in the quake-hit region, he said. ( Emin Sansar / AA )

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to heal the wounds caused by powerful earthquakes that hit the country's southern region last month and claimed more than 50,000 lives.

"We are working day and night to heal the wounds caused by the earthquake in the hearts of millions of our people," Erdogan said on Monday at a ground-breaking ceremony in the Adiyaman province.

Trkiye is planning to build 319,000 houses in one year in the quake-hit region, he said.

"On the one hand, we are establishing temporary accommodation areas, while on the other hand, we are starting the construction of permanent residences," he said, adding the construction of 56,323 houses has started so far.

On Feb. 6, the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 provinces Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

More than 13.5 million people in Trkiye have been affected by the devastating quakes, as well as many others in northern Syria.

READ MORE:"Erdogan vows to rebuild Trkiye's quake-hit southern region"

'Risk shield'

Earlier this month, Trkiye launched its "risk shield" model for building new residential homes consolidated against future disasters after last month's devastating earthquakes in the country's south, President Erdogan announced.

"We have quickly launched the construction of new houses and living spaces, starting with projects whose ground and feasibility studies have already been completed," Erdogan said on Friday at a meeting in Istanbul with high-level officials, including Vice President Fuat Oktay, parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, and government ministers.

The aim of the meeting was to form the intellectual basis of the Turkish National Risk Shield Model, he said, adding while creating this approach, all the dangers and threats can be taken into consideration under the title of the disaster that the country is facing.

Once damage assessments are complete, the number of new houses to be built in the quakes-hit region will become clear, Erdogan added as he addressed the Trkiye National Risk Shield Meeting at the Dolmabahce Presidential Office.

"While planning new houses, we are turning the direction of our cities from plains towards hills," he said, underlining that under the new model, areas with strong bedrocks would be preferred as much as possible.

"We aim to revive our ancient cities with an understanding that will keep our historical and cultural assets alive and also reinforce them against disaster," he said.

READ MORE:UNDP seeks $550M for sustainable recovery projects in quake-hit Trkiye

Read more:
Trkiye working tirelessly to heal wounds caused by quakes: Erdogan - TRT World

Currently, 18 politicians stated their intention to run for the highest state office. Chairman of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu is considered Erdogans main competitor.

In a context marked by recovery efforts after earthquakes that affected the country last month, Erdogan will seek to be re-elected for a third five-year term.

Representatives of the Justice and Development Party were accompanied by representatives of the Nationalist Movement Party, which acts in alliance with the ruling party. They stated that the two parties decided to nominate Erdogan as the single candidate and filed all necessary papers to the Supreme Election Council, as required by law.

Presidential elections in Turkey will take place on May 14, simultaneously with parliamentary elections. In order to win in the first round, a presidential candidate must secure over 50% of votes. Otherwise, a second round will take place, in which the two candidates with the highest support will run against each other. The previously presidential elections took place on June 24, 2018 with Erdogan winning with 52.6% of votes.

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Erdogan officially files candidate application for May 14 elections - Prensa Latina

ANKARA, March 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and its allies will not field a presidential candidate in May, the party said on Wednesday, raising the prospect of the opposition uniting against President Tayyip Erdogan's re-election bid.

The HDP also said it will run for parliament under the Green Left Party to circumvent its potential closure, a plan that its co-leader said had been brewing since the case was launched at the Constitutional Court in mid-2021.

Erdogan is facing the biggest challenge to his rule in his more than two decades of leading Turkey, with recent polls showing him trailing Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of the Nation Alliance, made up of six parties.

But the HDP votes will be crucial for the opposition to exceed the 50% required to elect the president on May 14 and also secure a majority in parliament in the polls on the same day.

"In the presidential elections, we will carry out our responsibility against the one-man rule... We will not field a candidate in presidential elections," HDP co-leader Pervin Buldan said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Buldan did not openly say whether her alliance would support Kilicdaroglu, after they had met on Monday. The HDP's cooperation with the opposition in 2019 local elections helped defeat AKP's mayoral candidates in major cities.

The HDP is the third-biggest party in parliament with more than 10% support nationwide and is seen playing a decisive role in the presidential election on May 14.

Former HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, who has been in jail since 2016 over what the party says are political reasons, has previously voiced support for Kilicdaroglu, who is the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

The HDP has faced a crackdown since the collapse in 2015 of Ankara's peace process with the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Thousands of HDP members, lawmakers and mayors have been jailed or stripped of their positions in recent years over alleged links to terrorism, which the party denies.

The HDP faces a case at the Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest, for its closure over charges it has links to Kurdish militants and could be banned from the May vote. HDP says the case is political.

On Wednesday, the court rejected the party's request to postpone its oral defence until after elections from its current date of April 11.

Co-leader Mithat Sancar said the HDP's candidates for parliament will run under the Green Left Party to circumvent the potential closure ahead of elections. "We couldn't have left this process up to the mercy of the government, to the initiative of the court," he said.

The HDP has experience from previous party closures and had been making alternative plans since the closure case was launched at the Constitutional Court, Sancar said in a televised interview with broadcaster Halk TV.

The Green Left Party has recently adopted an emblem similar to that of the HDP.

Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Alison Williams and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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In vote setback for Erdogan, Turkey's HDP will not field candidate - Reuters