Recep Erdogan begins his new mandate today. He will take the oath in Parliament, go to Ataturk’s mausoleum and watch a grandiose military parade in the courtyard of the presidential palace. 21 heads of state will be present, plus 13 prime ministers and the head of NATO.
In a few hours, Recep Erdogan begins his new term as president of Turkey, the third in a row. He will take the oath in a ceremony that will take place in the plan hall of the Turkish Parliament in Ankara. This solemn moment will happen at 14.00 local time.
From then on, Recep Erdogan’s new mandate will officially begin.
At the ceremony there will be 21 heads of state and 13 prime ministers, plus the head of NATO. Among those who will be present at Erdogan’s inauguration are the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia, the president of Kazakhstan and the president of Venezuela.
Viktor Orban will come from Hungary, while Russia will be represented by the head of the Parliament. Vladimir Putin is planning a subsequent visit to Turkey, to his friend.
After taking the oath, Recep Erdogan will go to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
At 17.00 there will be a grand celebration at the presidential palace in Ankara. The car in which Recep Erdogan will be will be escorted by the Mounted Honor Guard of the Turkish Army. When the president enters the palace gates, 101 cannon volleys will begin. Some of the soldiers will wear Ottoman Empire-era uniforms, a symbol of Recep Erdogan’s political ambitions.
After the election victory, the Turkish president said that this is the beginning of a new century for Turkey. Some analysts believe that he wants to put himself on the same level as Ataturk, maybe even follow his example and found a new Turkish state.
The sensitive topics of the day: Sweden and the list of ministers
In addition to the approximately twenty heads of state, according to the pro-government press, the presence of the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed by the Alliance, will put a special emphasis on the festivities.
Turkey has maintained its veto on Sweden’s entry into NATO for thirteen months, and now the messages are to lift it until the NATO summit in Vilnius in July. “A clear message to our Swedish friends! Respect your commitments (…) and take concrete measures in the fight against terrorism. The rest will follow”, wrote the current foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Twitter on Thursday evening.
Ankara continues to criticize Sweden for harboring Kurdish refugees, whom it describes as “terrorists”.
Another sensitive topic is the list of ministers that will be announced during the evening, after the festivities, and which should give an idea of the direction the head of state will take to recover the economy in crisis.
For this difficult task, the name of a renowned expert, Mehmet Simsek, has been intensively circulated in recent days. Former finance minister (2009-2015) and then deputy prime minister in charge of the economy (until 2018), Simsek, 56 years old, former economist at Merrill Lynch, would have the task of restoring investors’ confidence, News writes. ro.
In addition to inflation of over 40%, fueled by steadily falling interest rates, the national currency was in free fall to more than 20.88 Turkish lira to the dollar on Friday (22.5 to the euro), despite billions of dollars invested during the campaign to delay its collapse.
Editor : G.M.
