ISTANBUL
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Most Turkish dailies dedicated their front pages to the country’s upcoming presidential election. Comments from current president, Abdullah Gul, about his possible nomination plus the ruling AK Party’s meeting on who should be its nominee took center stage in many dailies.
Daily SABAH reported that AK Party deputies supported Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s possible nomination for the presidency: “Vast majority of deputies put support behind Erdogan,” the daily reported. According to HURRIYET daily, during the party meeting 24 deputies voiced their ideas and 20 of them supported PM’s nomination. Prime Minister Erdogan reportedly talked about his approach to presidency but without officially declaring his nomination. The VATAN daily reported that PM Erdogan said he will exercise full power of the presidential post if he is elected.
Turkish dailies also covered President Gul’s comment on the election during a joint press conference with the visiting Latvian President Andris Berzins. In reply to a question on presidential election, Gul said: “No one should take the presidential post for granted” – a remark which made its way on to several front pages.
The first round of the election will be held on August 10 and the second on August 24. The candidate getting 51 percent of the votes in the first round will be directly elected but if all candidates fail to reach that threshold, voting will go to a second round.
High-level talks between a delegation from Twitter and the Turkish government were also covered by Turkish dailies. “We closed down those accounts for Turkey,” STAR daily headlined. According to the paper, Twitter's global public policy chief, Colin Crowell told their reporter that: “We have a good start with Ankara. Even if Turkish court rulings are not in line with our guidelines, the company can block access to those accounts within Turkey.” According to MILLIYET daily, Crowell ruled out establishing a Turkey office.
Turkish dailies also covered ferry tragedy in South Korea. HURRIYET daily titled, “Tragedy on live broadcast,” adding that relatives of victims watched the tragedy on television channels as it was unfolding. BUGUN daily said: “It sank like Titanic,” while YENI SAFAK ran with “Ship of death.” Nearly 300 people are missing after a ferry carrying more than 470 passengers sank off the coast of South Korea. Almost 180 people have been rescued. Officials said most of the passengers were students from the same high school.
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