Mr Kirchstarol's nomination was expected to be a formality. But all of a sudden, it became something out of a Turkish TV drama. Meral Akshaner said that the opposition or the table of six had lost its capacity to lead and called on Ekrem Imamolu and Mansur Yavash, the CHP mayors of Istanbul and Ankara,. She caved in, but only at the eleventh hour, agreeing to back him after he promised to appoint them as his vice presidents.
After internecine drama, the opposition-party alliance has picked their man. The bookish, mild-mannered Kemal Kilicdaroglu may be the best possible president, but also the worst possible candidate when Turkey’s democracy is flagging. We examine why a new UN high-seas treaty, decades in the making, is so significant. And Thailand’s “Boys’ Love” gay TV dramas are an ever-growing cultural export.
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