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Was there anyone else? Zarrab was one of a number of suspects, including the sons of ministers, detained in a corruption probe in December that struck at the heart of Erdogan's government. For many supporters Erdogan has rock-star charisma, and the year-old prime minister regularly fills stadiums during campaign rallies. He is expected to head later to Ankara where he is believed to be preparing a victory speech from the balcony of his AKP party headquarters there.
We have repeatedly said in rallies: our people will first hand elect its own president for the first time. Therefore, it is very very important: not indirectly but directly," he said after voting in Istanbul. With a youthful and dynamic candidate, Turkey's main Kurdish political force is seeking to broaden its appeal in presidential polls where the votes of the Kurdish minority are set to play a crucial role.
Selahattin Demirtas, a year-old lawyer put forward by the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party HDP , is hoping to win support not just from the 1 5million strong Kurdish minority but also ethnic Turks. The selection of overtly pious Muslim, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, may seem a surprising move for the secular opposition, but it reflects the way in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who continues to dominate Turkish politics after 11 years in power -- has made it impossible to ignore the religiously conservative majority.
The opposition hopes Ihsanoglu's calm and professorial demeanour will offer a welcome contrast to Erdogan's volatile outbursts and polarising style, that have become increasingly evident over the past year as he responds to mass anti-government protests and a torrent of corruption allegations against his inner circle. Egypt-born Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, 70, is a former head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the global grouping of Muslim nations, and a scholar who makes no secret of his devotion to Islam. Emine is wearing a long dark blue coat and white headscarf.
Their two sons and two daughters were also present to vote, in a show of family unity.
Selahattin Demirtas, a year-old Kurdish lawyer, has been expected to struggle to break into double figures in the country's first democratic presidential elections, which are shaping up as a two-horse race between Erdogan and the opposition candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. But presenting a manifesto based on ending discrimination and transforming Turkey's democracy, Demirtas insists he was a serious contender and not an also-ran.
Analysts expect a low turnout among those opposed to Erdogan, many of whom consider the election an endorsement of an unfair vote to rubber-stamp an increasingly autocratic leader. Erdogan's opponents accuse him of undermining the secular legacy of Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who based the state that emerged after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire on a strict separation between religion and politics.
Erdogan, a devout Muslim who has served as premier since , has overseen a rapid modernisation of Turkey with strong growth and ambitious infrastructure projects but also faces growing accusations of eroding civil rights and seeking to Islamise the secular state. The polls are the first time Turkey is directly electing its president, who has previously been chosen by parliament and in recent decades has fulfilled a largely ceremonial role.

Despite the protests of and a torrent of criticism against his rule by secular Turks, Erdogan is expected to easily win the elections. The foundation of his support derives from his success as premier in giving greater prosperity to middle-income, religiously conservative Turks.
This is done to avoid the frequent discrimination and harassment in the mixed venues. So far they have had no success. Privately funding an office space is problematic because most openly gay, bi and trans people are forced into limited employment options such as sex work, although some have managed to run their own small businesses. We attended a screening of the much-celebrated film Zenne Dancer. The cinema was packed full with people standing on the aisles for lack of space.
Now that they have resolved their dispute and are friends again, they have stolen my ideas. Around 40 percent of the HDP's newly elected members of parliament are women -- a remarkably large share in comparison to the parliament as a whole , where women hold only 17 percent of the seats. Reports by human rights organizations suggested that some doctors would not sign their names to medical reports alleging torture due to fear of reprisal. After that happened I decided not to remain in Diyarbakir…every time I saw her house I lived trauma trauma trauma. The autonomy-seeking PKK took up arms in , and more than 40, people have died in the conflict since. Andrews, Walter G.
The film touched the audience in Diyarbakir deeply. We currently have around 30 active members, and we are looking to raise the awareness, both locally and nationally of LGBT. We had some media coverage about our work and have taken part in the Istanbul Pride march last summer. Your identity is rejected twice, and you have to fight for both your ethnic and sexual identity. Neither want to fully support us, although we support both ourselves.
Yes, most of us have homes raided by police, thinking we are sex workers. The police are often abusive to us and we have no legal support from any organisation. There is also the risk that our families will find out about us and our work.