Erdogan announces early parliamentary and presidential elections

The date has yet to be approved by the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK), which is likely to do so after the presidential decree is published in the official gazette on Saturday.

“May this decision benefit our country and our people,” Erdogan said on television.

The elections were initially planned for June 18. Erdogan explains the decision to hold them earlier by the fact that in mid-June the annual Muslim pilgrimage Hajj will also take place, there will be school holidays and university entrance exams.

There was earlier speculation that the election could be postponed in the wake of the devastating earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey in February.

The natural disaster killed more than 46,000 people and left almost four million homeless.

The earthquake also killed thousands of people in Syria.

“We have no extra time to waste,” Erdogan said, adding that his government wanted to focus on rebuilding the earthquake-hit region and compensating for “the economic, social and psychological damage caused by the disaster.”

Erdogan dismissed criticism from the opposition that the government did not respond quickly enough after the earthquake.

Turkey’s six-party opposition bloc managed to agree on a common presidential candidate last week, nominating Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.