Meral Aksener, leader and presidential candidate of the Turkish opposition Iyi party, greets people during a campaign rally in Ankara on May 30, 2018. Adem Altan / AFP
Meral Aksener, leader and presidential candidate of the Turkish opposition Iyi party, greets people during a campaign rally in Ankara on May 30, 2018. Adem Altan / AFP
Meral Aksener, leader and presidential candidate of the Turkish opposition Iyi party, greets people during a campaign rally in Ankara on May 30, 2018. Adem Altan / AFP
Meral Aksener, leader and presidential candidate of the Turkish opposition Iyi party, greets people during a campaign rally in Ankara on May 30, 2018. Adem Altan / AFP

The Turkish 'she-wolf' on Erdogan's trail


Kareem Shaheen
  • English
  • Arabic

Meral Aksener burst out laughing when asked why President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rarely mentions her in his speeches and routine attacks on candidates running against him in Turkey’s presidential election.

The former interior minister and leader of a new political party, who is bidding to become Turkey’s first female president, was hosting a dozen foreign journalists weeks into the election campaign to talk about her reform plans for a nation shaken by economic turmoil and polarisation, ailing democratic norms and freedom of expression, and a growing rift with its traditional western allies.

But the president’s seemingly deliberate effort to pretend she does not exist amused her no end.

“Mr Erdogan chooses his own competitors, and places them in a certain framework,” she said. “I don’t fit that profile - my gender, my experience, my age … He would be unable to bring himself to compete with a woman [because of] his ego.”

Less than a month from arguably the most important elections in modern Turkish history, credible challengers have emerged to President Erdogan’s rule. Though still the most popular and powerful politician in Turkey, he faces the possible loss of his party’s majority in the legislature and a run-off in the presidential race.

The largest opposition bloc, the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) has fielded the former physics teacher Muharrem Ince, who has performed vastly better than expected and has challenged long-standing secularist taboos, including pledges to resolve Turkey’s long-running Kurdish insurgency peacefully and hints of personal religiosity.

The other main presidential candidate is Ms Aksener, who founded her own Iyi (Good) Party after breaking away from former nationalist allies who embraced Mr Erdogan.

Selahattin Demirtas, the charismatic leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), once dubbed the Kurdish Obama, is running for president from his prison cell while he awaits trial on terrorism charges.

Ms Aksener announced her party’s manifesto on Wednesday, pledging to fight pay inequality, raise salaries of some public employees, fight corruption and to restructure the debts of citizens burdened by credit-card bills.

She also pledged to dismantle the new presidential system that was narrowly approved in a referendum last year, which grants extraordinary powers to the president, and restore parliamentary democracy in Turkey.

She will also seek to restore Ankara’s relations with key allies such as the European Union, pledging to revive a dormant EU accession process whose virtual death has pushed Turkey away from the western bloc and closer to traditional rivals like Moscow.

In meetings with foreign journalists, she has also repeatedly pledged to restore democracy and the rule of law in Turkey, and to halt the prosecutions of dissidents and journalists. Under the leadership of Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development party (AKP), Turkey has become the world’s leading jailer of journalists, and thousands of judges and civil servants have been dismissed or arrested over alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, an exiled preacher based in the US whose followers are accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in the summer of 2016.

The crackdown, under a state of emergency that has lasted nearly two years and will continue through the election campaign, has gone beyond Gulenists in the state apparatus to encompass other dissidents. Opposition candidates including Ms Aksener have pledged to lift the state of emergency and end undue influence over the judiciary.

“Turkey needs to end the doubts about free trials, and the law needs to be applied to everyone equally,” she said. “We want a just judiciary system that no one says 'oops sorry they were innocent ', this is the first thing we will work on when we are the government.”

In a nod to women’s rights campaigners who have long condemned high rates of violence against women in Turkey, Ms Aksener pledged to build therapy centres that would house husbands who commit domestic violence, rather than sending abused women to shelters.

Her Iyi party is running for parliament in a coalition with Mr Ince’s CHP. If they perform as expected, and the HDP earns sufficient votes nationwide to enter parliament, they are likely to end the ruling party’s majority.

Supporters of Turkish presidential candidate Meral Aksener attend an election rally in Ankara on May 30, 2018. Tumay Berkin / EPA
Supporters of Turkish presidential candidate Meral Aksener attend an election rally in Ankara on May 30, 2018. Tumay Berkin / EPA

The daughter of immigrants who arrived in Turkey in the 1920s after the population exchanges with Greece following the War of Independence, Ms Aksener presided over the interior ministry for eight months from November 1996, during some of the worst human rights abuses in Turkey's Kurdish regions. She is known among supporters as "asena", or she-wolf, a potent symbol of the nationalist right in the country.

But she has distanced herself from the abuses that took place under her leadership, and sought to position her Iyi party as distinct from the right-wing nationalist movements sweeping Europe and the US. She has held several rallies in Kurdish-majority areas and called for Mr Demirtas’s release so he can campaign freely, and deliberately avoided vilifying Syrian refugees, 3 million of whom are hosted by Turkey.

“We do not adopt the discourse of hostility towards refugees,” she said. “We do not have an attitude of pushing the refugees out, but we cannot ignore the fact that the West sees Turkey as a country of refuge.”

She added: “We believe that a strong and independent Syria and Iraq without meddling in their internal affairs leads to a powerful Turkey as well. What we expect after we come to power is, after restoring security and the system there, to open a path so they can happily live in their homeland.”

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Polls in Turkey are notoriously unreliable, but most show that Mr Erdogan is likely to win the first and second-round contests. In the first round, Mr Ince comes second and Ms Aksener third, meaning the former is likely to make it to the run-off. But Ms Aksener says internal polls show that she can defeat Mr Erdogan in a second-round contest and is currently within striking distance of him in opinion polls if they were running only against each other.

The outcome will largely depend on which candidate can rally the opposition behind them while drawing in dissatisfied Erdogan voters. Mr Ince has aggressively courted Kurdish voters, even espousing that schools in majority-Kurdish areas be allowed to teach in their native language.

Despite her energetic campaign, visiting more than 60 cities in six months, observers still question whether Ms Aksener’s nationalist credentials and past role in government will allow her to draw Kurdish voters.

But she may be well-positioned to siphon away some conservatives and nationalists. In her rallies she has railed against corruption and the marginalisation of Turkish workers by the ruling elite, and while espousing the secular ideals of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, has deliberately portrayed herself as personally a devout Muslim who prays regularly and performed the Hajj. Such an image could help sway disaffected AKP voters who nevertheless distrust the country’s "white Turks" — secular elites who for decades ostracised their more religious countrymen.

Still, she and other opposition parties face an uphill battle in an environment where Mr Erdogan and his party control all the levers of power.

“Yes the conditions are not fair, one side has the power of the presidential title, defines himself as the state and pushes all the economic power of it to the field,” said Ms Aksener. “The other side goes to elections with only the belief and trust to win of its supporters.”

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Honeymoonish
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Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETwig%20Solutions%20(with%20trade%20name%20Twig)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EChafic%20Idriss%2C%20Karam%20El%20Dik%20and%20Rayan%20Antonios%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ebootstrapped%20(undisclosed)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E13%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-seed%20%E2%80%94%20closing%20the%20round%20as%20we%20speak%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20senior%20executives%20from%20the%20GCC%20financial%20services%20industry%20and%20global%20family%20offices%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

The biog

Job: Fitness entrepreneur, body-builder and trainer

Favourite superhero: Batman

Favourite quote: We must become the change we want to see, by Mahatma Gandhi.

Favourite car: Lamborghini

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)

Engine 5.2-litre V10

Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch

Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm

Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est) 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Poacher
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Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
WHAT%20START-UPS%20IS%20VISA%20SEEKING%3F
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEnablers%20of%20digital%20services%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Blockchain%20and%20cryptocurrency%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Crowdfunding%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Banking-as-a-service%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Banking%20identification%20number%20sponsors%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Issuers%2Fprocessors%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Programme%20managers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDigital%20issuance%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Blockchain%20and%20cryptocurrency%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Alternative%20lending%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Personal%20financial%20management%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Money%20transfer%20and%20remittance%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Digital%20banking%20(neo%20banks)%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Digital%20wallets%2C%20peer-to-peer%20and%20transfers%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Employee%20benefits%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Payables%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Corporate%20cards%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EValue-add%20for%20merchants%2Fconsumers%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Data%20and%20analytics%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20ID%2C%20authentication%20and%20security%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Insurance%20technology%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Loyalty%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Merchant%20services%20and%20tools%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Process%20and%20payment%20infrastructure%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Retail%20technology%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESME%20recovery%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Money%20movement%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Acceptance%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Risk%20management%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Brand%20management%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ENew%20categories%20for%202023%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Sustainable%20FinTechs%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Risk%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%A2%20Urban%20mobility%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo

Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 6-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km

Price: Dh133,900

On sale: now 

How to donate

Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Tips to stay safe during hot weather
  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
  • Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
  • Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
  • Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
  • Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
  • Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
  • Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets