​​​​​​​Panorama of the week... Turkey is between democracy or dictatorship

The Arab newspapers issued during the past week covered the Turkish elections, the Israeli attacks on Syria, the KDP's control of the parliamentary elections.

Tureky after the elections: either democracy and reform or the continuation of the current crises

Regarding the Turkish elections that start today, the London-based Al-Arab newspaper said: “The second round of the Turkish presidential elections will start on Sunday, not only to choose one of the competing candidates, but also to define a complete path in Turkey’s foreign relations and fateful internal files. Either you renew the covenant with the outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to establish continuity of a rule that tends to tyranny and clash, or to open up to a new phase with opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who promised change and a break with the policies of the ruling Islamic Justice and Development Party, which has dominated power since 2002.

The latest opinion polls - whose expectations were not confirmed in the first round - show that Erdogan is ahead of his rival by five points this time as well. However, despite this difference, which tends to favor the president who has ruled the country for twenty years, there remains an unknown element: 8.3. Millions of voters did not cast their ballots in the first round, although the turnout was 87 percent.

Russia closes the "red line" around Syria in the face of Israel

Regarding the Syrian issue, the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Jarida, learned from a senior Western diplomatic source, “that Russia has suspended work on the so-called “red line” with Israel, which is a security line of communication for military coordination between them on Syria, and links the Russian military base Hmeimim in northwestern Syria, With the Israeli Staff Command.

The source revealed that the Israeli army command had finally failed to communicate with the red line, which Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to open several years ago in order to avoid any accidents between the two parties and avoid hitting any Russian forces or equipment during the Israeli bombing in Syria.

The source confirmed that the Israeli authorities began to take into account the possibility that there would be a Russian response to its attacks in Syria, or even that the Israeli fighter planes would be targeted by a Russian in the air, and indeed the Israeli army changed the attack protocol.

Elections flare up differences again: Kurdistan reconciliation is not durable

As for the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, it wrote, “A few days after the reconciliation between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which allowed the latter to return to participate in the meetings of the regional government, and included an agreement on how to spend its oil revenues, a major dispute broke out between them on the background of Parliamentary elections scheduled for this year, and it reached a fistfight between deputies during a session of Parliament whose term was extended.

Kurdish parties, including the “Union”, “Change” and “The New Generation”, are calling for an update of the voter registers, especially in the governorates of Dohuk and Erbil, which are under the authority of the “Democratic”, as the opposition parties suspect an increase of nearly 700,000 voters in the registers, including deaths. And IDPs from other provinces.

Rabiha Hamad, the former leader and deputy in the “Union”, believes that “the elections in the Kurdistan region have become a big complex … especially after the Democrats’ dominance of all votes, including its acquisition of the seats of the other components, which are approximately eleven seats. And the Democrat, since he has forty-five seats, passes laws as he likes, and there is no consultation or agreement with his partners in the region.

T/ Satt.

ANHA