ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Saturday he backs a re-run of mayoral elections in Istanbul which resulted in a narrow victory for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for the first time in 25 years.
Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP), which also lost control of the capital Ankara in the March 31 local elections, has already filed an appeal to Turkey’s High Election Board (YSK) to annul and re-run the election in Istanbul due to what it says were irregularities.
The YSK is expected to rule on the AKP challenge on Monday, but it has ordered district electoral officials in Istanbul to investigate their respective ballot box officials in its interim rulings.
Prosecutors on Thursday launched probes into allegations of irregularities in Istanbul and summoned more than 100 polling station officials for questioning as suspects, in a move the opposition CHP said would not alter the results of the vote.
Speaking to Turkish businesspeople in Istanbul, Erdogan said the Istanbul elections were marred by irregularities and called on the YSK to make a decision that would eliminate controversies and “clear its name.”
“My people tell me the elections should be renewed. I have not spoken until now, I’ve been silent. But everyone else has spoken. Enough already,” Erdogan said.
“There is a controversy here, it’s clear. There is an irregularity here, that’s clear too. Let’s go to the people and see what they say and whatever the outcome, we will accept it.”
Erdogan had accused the opposition of supporting “terrorism” and labeled the local election a “matter of survival” for Turkey during his campaign, which was held amid growing disenchantment among voters over economic woes.
CHP spokesman Faik Oztrak told reporters later on Saturday that it was time for Erdogan and his AKP to accept defeat.
“The real matter of survival here is those who put aside the people’s concerns about food prices, wages and focus instead on their own benefits,” Oztrak told a news conference in Ankara.
“There is only one thing that can clear the YSK. That is for it to act in line with its regulations and previous rulings.”
“WE CAN ONLY LAUGH“
The uncertainty over the results in Istanbul, which accounts for around a third of the country’s economy, has kept financial markets on edge, as Turkey tries to recover from a currency crisis that saw the lira lose more than 30 percent of its value last year.
On Friday, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said the Istanbul elections had become a test of democracy. He accused the AKP of exerting political pressure on the YSK to order a re-run of the vote.
Erdogan said his party was only exercising its legal rights.
“Claiming that Tayyip Erdogan is trying to steal an election he has no right to is the biggest insult,” Erdogan said. “We are not hurling threats, we’re just waiting.”
While the CHP’s Ekrem Imamoglu took office as Istanbul’s new mayor last month, the AKP won 25 of the city’s 39 districts and the majority of seats in the municipal council. It has said that this proved irregularities had taken place.
Speaking to his supporters on Saturday, Imamoglu said the AKP appeals were unreasonable.
“So the 25 districts are all clean, the municipal council votes are perfect, but when it comes to the mayorship, there is an irregularity. We can only laugh at this,” Imamoglu said.
Turkey's Erdogan calls for Istanbul vote to be re-run
Turkey's Erdogan calls for Istanbul vote to be re-run
- Erdogan signalled he favors a re-run of a mayoral election in Istanbul which resulted in a narrow victory for the main opposition
- The AK Party has already filed an appeal to Turkey’s High Election Board to annul and re-run the election in Istanbul due to ‘irregularities’
Syria war monitor says 21 pro-Turkiye fighters killed near flashpoint northern town
- SDF said that ‘after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area’
- SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a ‘demilitarised zone’ in Kobani
BEIRUT, Lebanon: A Syria war monitor said 21 pro-Turkiye fighters were killed Wednesday after they attacked a Kurdish-held position near a flashpoint northern town despite a US-brokered ceasefire extension in the area.
The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and US-backed Kurdish-led forces comes more than a week after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
“At least 21 members of pro-Turkiye factions were killed and others wounded by fire from the Manbij Military Council after pro-Turkiye factions attacked” a position at the Tishreen Dam, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the town of Manbij, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The United States said on Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkiye.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said Wednesday’s attack included “support from Turkish reconnaissance aircraft” and was followed by “heavy clashes with heavy and medium weapons.”
The monitor also reported unspecified casualties among the Manbij Military Council, which is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as among SDF fighters.
The SDF said in a statement that its forces “successfully repelled” the pro-Turkiye fighters and that “after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area.”
Swathes of north and northeast Syria are controlled by a Kurdish administration whose de facto army, the SDF, spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group extremists in Syria in 2019.
Turkiye accuses the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a “terrorist” group.
Ankara has staged multiple operations against the SDF since 2016, and Turkish-backed groups have captured several Kurdish-held towns in the north in recent weeks.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the Manbij truce, which had recently expired, had been “extended through the end of the week, and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future.”
The extension comes amid fears of an assault by Turkiye on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a “demilitarised zone” in Kobani.
The military chief of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Islamist militant group that led the offensive that ousted Assad, said Tuesday that Kurdish-held areas of Syria would be integrated under the country’s new leadership.
While the Kurdish administration has extended a hand to the new authorities, the long-oppressed community fears it could lose hard-won gains it made during the war, including limited self-rule.
How Damascus residents reclaimed their city after Bashar Assad’s chaotic downfall
- Civil society groups and ordinary Syrians closed ranks to clean up the capital after municipal services collapsed
- Following the overthrow of the regime, Damascus experienced at least two days of unrest and destruction
LONDON: The Syrian capital plunged into chaos after opposition forces swiftly toppled Bashar Assad’s regime earlier this month. Within days, as calm returned to Damascus, residents, driven by renewed pride in their city, joined forces to clean up neighborhoods and restore a semblance of normalcy despite the collapse of municipal services.
On Dec. 8, a coalition of armed opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham seized control of Damascus. The city, already battered by 14 years of war, economic collapse and neglect under the ousted regime, went through a long spell of lawlessness and violence.
Witnesses described “teenagers with guns” and “unidentified armed thugs” shooting indiscriminately and looting in the city and its suburbs.
Private businesses, homes and vehicles were vandalized, while universities and public buildings bore the brunt of the unrest. Among the targeted sites were the Opera House, the Central Bank, and the Immigration and Passports building, which was set on fire.
Residents of Damascus turned to social media, urging the Military Operations Administration, the unified central command of the armed coalition, to restore order as hospitals were inundated with hundreds of surgical cases caused by stray gunfire.
The chaos prevented many medical staff from reaching hospitals, placing immense strain on those already on duty, who worked long hours without breaks or food, according to former Health Minister Ahmed Damirieh.
In a statement, Damirieh said that indiscriminate gunfire resulted in at least 450 cases at Al-Mujtahid Hospital alone and highlighted a fuel shortage affecting both public and private medical facilities.
The Military Operations Administration responded by imposing a citywide curfew from dusk to dawn on Dec. 9.
All this was happening as jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad’s downfall tore down Baathist icons and posters and toppled statues of the late Hafez Assad. Their actions contributed to mounting piles of trash in the streets, worsened by the collapse of municipal services.
Meanwhile, Israel launched dozens of airstrikes across Damascus, targeting sites such as the military airport in Mezzeh and the “security square” in Kafar Souseh, home to the General Intelligence and customs buildings, according to Syrian news media. Thick plumes of smoke rose from multiple locations across the city.
Although thrilled by the fall of Assad and hopeful for a new chapter in Syria’s history, Damascenes were disheartened by the widespread destruction after two days of chaos. Many volunteered in large numbers to reclaim and clean their neighborhoods, including the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
On Tuesday, civil society groups such as Mart Team, Ammerha Foundation, and Sanad Team for Development, along with community leaders like mosque imams and university professors, organized cleaning campaigns as calm returned to the capital. Volunteers said the efforts were largely funded through their own contributions.
“It’s our duty,” said Marwan Alrez, head of Mart Team. “We owe this to our city.”
“We launched our cleaning initiative on the third day after the fall of the (Assad) regime,” he told Arab News.
“We posted announcements on social media, and a large number of people eagerly volunteered to join.
“On the day we announced the initiative, 200 people reached out to us.”
Mart’s campaign, which continued for several days, focused on areas including the Mezzeh district, the Old City — particularly Al-Miskiyeh Square at the western gate of the iconic Umayyad Mosque — and the Muhajreen neighborhood, home to Assad’s Tishreen presidential palace, which was ransacked in the early hours after his overthrow.
“Our regular team oversaw the new volunteers and the work in general,” Alrez said, emphasizing that the campaign was “self-funded, with each of us contributing what we could.”
Volunteers with the Ammerha Foundation, eager to help restore their city, brought their own cleaning equipment to the effort.
Mohammad Abdullah Aljaddou, a civil activist and founder of Ammerha Foundation, said that after witnessing the extent of the damage and the piles of garbage in the streets, he and his team “devised a response on the spot.”
“Locals took the initiative and volunteered,” he told Arab News. “They even brought brooms, trash bags, and cleaning supplies.”
“We divided into groups,” he added, emphasizing that “most of the people were locals — not just our regular volunteers.”
The teams focused their cleaning efforts on the Al-Hejaz district, home to the historic Hejaz Railway Station; Yusuf Al-Azma Square, commonly known as Al-Mohafaza; the Al-Mujtahid neighborhood; Baramkeh near the SANA news agency; Jisr Al-Rais; Mouwasat in Mezzeh; and Abbasid Square.
Ammerha’s multi-day initiative also extended to Umayyad Square in the heart of the capital, particularly after large celebrations held there on Friday, Syria’s weekend day.
On Dec. 13, thousands of jubilant Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus, gathering in public areas such as Umayyad Square. They waved the Syrian opposition flag and chanted revolutionary slogans as loudspeakers blared celebratory music marking Assad’s fall.
Aljaddou noted that Ammerha’s efforts extended to hospitals across Damascus, including the Children’s University Hospital, Harasta, Douma, Al-Mujtahid, Al-Mouwasat and the Maternity and Gynecology Hospital.
“We distributed meals to the medical staff, each containing two sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, dates, and juice,” he said. “Local food companies also joined in, providing additional food and beverages.”
After Syrian rebel fighters freed thousands from the infamous Sednaya prison, dubbed the “human slaughterhouse,” in the Damascus countryside, many detainees — weak and suffering from diseases caused by harsh conditions — were brought to the city’s hospitals.
The influx further strained the healthcare system, already weakened by 14 years of crisis, economic sanctions, and security challenges, as families crowded hospitals and morgues in search of missing loved ones.
Ammerha’s volunteers also focused on universities, including Damascus University’s schools of humanities, law, medicine, economics and agriculture, which suffered significant damage during the first 48 hours after Assad’s fall.
“For now, the city is calm,” Aljaddou said.
Hadeel Alkadi, an agricultural engineering student at Damascus University, shared her excitement at volunteering with Ammerha to help reclaim the city.
Describing the cleaning campaigns as “more than wonderful,” she told Arab News: “The young men and women contributing to these campaigns reflect a genuine desire to rebuild their country — even if it’s by cleaning its universities, squares, and streets.”
Noting that some volunteers focused on preparing and distributing meals for medical staff, Alkadi said: “They clearly wanted to give generously to their country, from the bottom of their hearts.
“All of this fills us with hope for a better future for Syria.”
Another volunteer, Rayan Kifo, an architecture student at Damascus University, also joined efforts to restore the city.
She told Arab News that the Sanad Team, where she volunteered, organized much of the work through WhatsApp. “The supervisors would send us the location and time to gather,” she said.
“The campaign was driven by young people eager to create change and improve the country’s situation with the resources available,” Kifo said. “For the first time, we felt that this country is ours, and we are responsible for it.”
She added: “The work was tough, but it was worth it for our beloved country.
“With our determination and capabilities, we will make it better — a country free from favoritism, corruption and nepotism.
“Our country belongs to all of us Syrians, despite our differences.”
Bayan Alnakshapandy, a microbiology student at Damascus University, reflected on the deepening sense of connection she and her peers experienced while working tirelessly to clean their neighborhoods.
“Our parents always encouraged us to excel in school and university to make our country proud, but it wasn’t until that moment that we truly felt connected to our country and realized we were serving it,” she said.
Alnakshapandy volunteered with both the Sanad Team and the Syrian Community Support Team.
She told Arab News that the volunteers included “people of all ages, all backgrounds and all sects.”
According to her, many were students and highly educated individuals, including civil society leaders and university professors, “who were cleaning with their own hands.”
“One professor even brought his five-year-old son, who helped splash water on the floors and carried a broom twice his size,” Alnakshapandy said with a laugh.
Recalling her involvement, she shared a personal anecdote: “I felt jealous when I heard the teams were going to clean my old street, Pakistan Street, where I had lived for over 15 years before moving to Ain Tarma in the countryside two years ago. I had to be there with them.”
Alnakshapandy added: “I felt a strong sense of belonging because I was cleaning my own street. My heart is full.”
At least 20 die, five rescued as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
- Boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants
- Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for Europe
TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of 20 migrants after the boat they were in sank, on Wednesday, in the second migrant drowning tragedy within one week off the Tunisian coast.
Last Thursday, the Tunisian coast guard also recovered the bodies of nine migrants, while six others are still missing, after their boat sank while they were sailing toward Europe.
The coast guard, on Wednesday, rescued five others, from the latest tragedy, and search operations were underway for anyone still missing.
The boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants.
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere in Africa, who are seeking a better life in Europe.
Harness momentum from Assad’s fall and Lebanon ceasefire to end war in Gaza, says UK envoy
- Ambassador James Kariuki also calls on Israel to halt illegal expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands
- Report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Israel’s actions in besieged northern Gaza is making life untenable for Palestinians there
NEW YORK CITY: The UK’s deputy permanent representative to the UN on Wednesday told members of the Security Council that the fall of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and November’s ceasefire agreement in Lebanon offer a moment of hope to the people of the region.
He called for the momentum generated by these developments to be harnessed and used to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release all Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups, and end the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of civilians in the battered enclave.
Ambassador James Kariuki was speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the latest report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the implementation of the council’s Resolution 2234. Adopted in 2016, it demands that Israel cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and calls for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, including acts of terror.
Kariuki called on Israeli authorities to halt the illegal expansion of settlements on Palestinian land and to hold violent settlers to account.
“Continued instability and settler violence in the West Bank should not be tolerated by Israel, and the culture of impunity must end,” he said. “This does nothing to bring about peace and security for Palestinians or Israelis.”
The secretary-general’s quarterly report, covering the period from September to December, states that the “relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the large number of civilian casualties, the blanket destruction of Palestinian neighborhoods, and the worsening humanitarian situation by the day are appalling.”
The Israel’s military operations in Northern Gaza, which has been under siege since early October, “are making the conditions of life untenable for the Palestinian population,” it adds.
Kariuki said northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south.
“The UK is clear: There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from, or within, Gaza. There must be no reduction of the territory of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“Israel’s expansion of military infrastructure and the destruction of civilian buildings and agricultural land across the Strip is unacceptable.”
In his report, Guterres condemned Israel’s use of “explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas, that has caused massive casualties and damage to residential buildings, schools, hospitals, mosques and UN premises.”
He again denounced the terror attacks by Hamas that targeted Israeli towns on Oct. 7, 2023, and the taking of more than 250 hostages.
Kariuki echoed this condemnation and reiterated his country’s demand for “the immediate and unconditional release” of all hostages.
The envoy also described the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza as appalling. More than 45,000 Palestinians have died since the Oct. 7 attacks, and the past two months have been the worst for aid efforts since the conflict began, he said.
“The UN has reported a shocking increase in cases of acute malnutrition in children, and that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees, per capita, in the world,” Kariuki added.
“The UK continues to urge Israel to do much more to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and to abide by their international obligations. This includes facilitating rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian aid and basic services to the Palestinian people.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees plays a crucial role in delivering this life-saving aid, he said, and the UK has committed an additional $16.5 million of funding for the agency, raising its total contributions since April to $52 million.
Paramilitary shelling of besieged Darfur city kills 10
PORT SUDAN: Ten civilians were killed and 20 wounded in paramilitary shelling of North Darfur’s besieged capital El-Fasher which hit the city’s main hospital and other areas, activists said.
The attack left “10 civilians killed and 20 others injured ... as a result of recent shelling inside the city of El-Fasher and the Saudi Hospital,” said the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups that have been coordinating aid across Sudan during 20 months of fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Sudanese doctor Mohamed Moussa has grown so accustomed to the constant sound of gunfire and shelling near his hospital that it no longer startles him. He continues attending to his patients.
“The bombing has numbed us,” the 30-year-old general practitioner said by phone from Al-Nao Hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.
Gunfire rattles in the distance, warplanes roar overhead and nearby shelling makes the ground tremble, more than a year and a half into a grinding war between rival Sudanese generals.
Embattled health workers “have no choice but to continue,” said Moussa.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a war between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces.
