He is not as charismatic as Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but mild-mannered Kemal Kilicdaroglu is optimistic about his chances of beating Erdogan in Sunday's election, promising a new spring after two decades of his rival's tumultuous governance. Long stuck in the shadow of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), opposition leader Kilicdaroglu has flourished on the campaign trail with polls showing he has a slight lead.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has nurtured an image of a robust and invincible leader over his two decades in power, yet he appears vulnerable as the political landscape may be shifting in favor of his opponent in Sunday's presidential vote. Erdogan emerged from humble roots to rule for 20 years and redraw Türkiye’s domestic, economic, security and foreign policy, rivalling historic leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who founded modern Türkiye a century ago.
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Bodies of drowned migrants wash up most days on Tunisian beaches, lie unclaimed in hospital corridors and fill morgues, evidence of a surge in people seeking to cross the Mediterranean that has been accelerated by a government crackdown. Coastguard patrols return to the port of Sfax crammed with migrants stopped at sea in flimsy, overcrowded boats from making the perilous voyage to what they hope will be a better life in Europe.
On 15 May every year, Palestinians across the globe remember the "Nakba" (Arabic for "catastrophe"), the term used to describe the flight and displacement of Palestinians around the time of the creation of the state Israel on 14 May 1948. Seventy-five years on, many still yearn to return to the land they left behind.