Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed his press secretary Ibrahim Kalin as head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). This was reported on June 5 in the office of the Turkish leader.
Kalin has served as Erdogan’s press secretary since December 2014 and has been actively involved in negotiations with foreign dignitaries on key international issues, including Ukraine, Syria and Libya. In addition, since 2018, he is also Vice Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Security and Foreign Policy and Vice Chairman of the Senior Advisor to the Head of State.
After his re-election, Erdogan replaced most of the ministers. In particular, the former head of MIT, Hakan Fidan, was appointed head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the former governor of Istanbul province, Ali Yerlik, became interior minister, and Yasar Güler, who previously held the position of chief of the general staff of the country’s armed forces, became defense minister. Only two of the 17 ministers retained their posts in Erdogan’s new government.
The first round of presidential elections took place in Turkey on May 14. According to his results, not a single candidate won the necessary 50% of the votes for victory (Erdogan had 49.51% of the votes, the united opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu – 44.88%). Sinan Ogan, a former contestant in the Ata alliance presidential race, which garnered just over 5% of the vote in the first round, called on supporters to support Erdogan in the second round.
Erdogan won 52.18% of the vote in the second round of the presidential election on May 28, ahead of Kılıçdaroğlu, who called the elections the most opaque in recent years and promised to continue the fight.
International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Erdoğan had an “unfair advantage” due to media bias and restrictions on free speech. According to an OSCE statement, the second round of the presidential election gave voters the opportunity to choose “between real political alternatives” but was marked by “increasingly incendiary and discriminatory speeches” during the period. the country.
On June 3, Erdogan was sworn in to the country’s Grand National Assembly (parliament) and officially became Turkey’s president until 2028.
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