LATEST: Türkiye: “Erdogan continues his authoritarian drift” – In the press
World News Update:
The following report highlights an important international development currently attracting worldwide attention.
On the front page of the press, this Monday, May 25, (new) speculations on a possible agreement between the United States and Iran. The headquarters of the CHP, the main opposition party, stormed yesterday by Turkish police to dislodge its leaders. The questions, in France, around the RN program, always given at the top of the voting intentions in the next presidential election, according to the polls. And a study on the low representation of women over 60 in successful films. The +: Receive the France 24 Press Review every morning on your iPhone or any other mobile. And also always on your PC by becoming a fan on Facebook… On the front page of the press, speculation on a possible agreement between the United States and Iran, which would be ready to authorize ships to cross the Strait of Hormuz, in exchange for a relaxation of sanctions. This is what several American media are announcing, including The Washington Post, which reports a “memorandum of understanding” extending the ceasefire by 60 days, “while the two parties reach a final agreement to definitively end the war”. The New York Times, which cites “a senior American official”, speaks of a “peace agreement (which) is getting closer” and of additional negotiations “to conclude it”, in particular on “the modalities” committing Iran to “get rid of its highly enriched uranium”. The Wall Street Journal is already concerned that the Trump Administration is allowing Iran to “bail itself out” and is asking “not to grant (it) immediate relief from sanctions”, because “saving such a regime would constitute, according to it, a real betrayal not only of American interests, but also of those of the Iranians”. The pan-Arab site Middle East Eye, however, mentions “signs of friction” between Tehran and Washington on “key elements” of the “memorandum of understanding”, in particular on a cease-fire in Lebanon, due to pressure from Israel, which requests authorization to be able to “continue to carry out military operations there, in response to what it considers to be threats”. L’Orient Le Jour speaks of an “agreement full of dangers”, the question of Lebanon being able, according to it, to cause everything to “turn upside down”, because Tehran wants the ceasefire to really be applied everywhere, while Israel wants to retain its “right to defend itself”. The Lebanese daily believes that “the declaration of intent is, for the moment, largely in favor of Iran”, but wonders if Tehran “will sacrifice this advantage to defend the interests of Hezbollah at all costs”. Concern in Lebanon, and concern in Israel, where Jerusalem Post quotes “Israeli officials” warning of “a bad agreement” that does not allow the Israelis “to respond to the main threats posed by Tehran beyond its nuclear program”. In Türkiye, police stormed the headquarters of the CHP, the main opposition party, in Ankara yesterday to dislodge its leaders. Daily Sabah, the official Turkish English-speaking daily, claims that it was Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, the former leader of the CHP, who requested the expulsion of his successor Ozgur Ozel, after he was dismissed by a court last Thursday. A decision followed, the next day, by the closure, in the middle of the academic year, of the private Bilgi University in Istanbul, presented by Libération as “the emblem of a free Turkey turned towards Europe”. President Erdogan finally reversed this closure last night, but Libé sees these decisions as a continuation of the “authoritarian turn” of the Turkish president. “Erdogan will stop at nothing to stay in power,” warns the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which wonders if it is “judicious” for Germany to continue to “court” Ankara, a NATO member, to make it “a security partner,” while “Turkey is increasingly transforming into an autocracy.” “The next Turkish presidential election is scheduled for 2028. Many believe it will take place earlier. But at the time of the counting, the result will perhaps already be decided, especially after these last few days,” estimates The Guardian. In France, the presidential election will take place next year and the National Rally is still at the top of voting intentions according to the polls. The ex-FN even assures that its program is already ready, despite the uncertainty over the legal fate of its leader, Marine Le Pen, which should be set for July 7, the date of the decision of the court of appeal. In the meantime, Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France takes an overview of the subjects on which Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella express different “sensitivities”, as they modestly say at the RN. There are quite a few: pensions, purchasing power, the budget or even social policy, on which Marine Le Pen says that the word “assistance” “is not part of (her) vocabulary”, while Jordan Bardella uses it frequently. What would a possible RN presidency look like? In the eastern Pyrenees, the victories in the municipal elections of an RN candidate in Rivesaltes and another with Petainist convictions in Elne provide an overview of the way in which the far-right approaches History. Read with an investigation from Le Monde on the attacks by these far-right municipalities against several memorial sites, in a region marked in particular by the arrival of returnees from Algeria – a page of History on which the party of the late Jean-Marie Le Pen has always built its local establishment and sought to recover it, by cultivating “nostalgia for French Algeria, cement of memory”. A word to end on an edifying study relayed by the British press. If you dream of a career in Hollywood, know that statistics show that it’s better for you to be a man named Chris – or even a talking animal – than a woman over 60. That’s the conclusion of a campaign called “Age Without Limits,” which found that of the 100 top-grossing films at the box office over the past three years, only five starred a woman over 60, according to The Times. 5 films, that’s one less than those starring an actor named Chris (Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy or Chris Pine in Dungeons and Dragons: Thieves’ Honor). It’s also four times fewer films than feature films starring a talking animal: Dogman, Kung Fu Panda 4 or even Paddington in Peru. Quoted by The Guardian, British actress Emma Thompson, 67, commented on this survey: “Women represent half the population and we are getting older. So where are the stories that concern us? The older we get, the more interesting we are: we are captivating, endearing and it is high time that we come to the forefront. Older women already exist in the world, cinema simply has to adapt. And not just cinema. 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Source: This article was originally published by France 24 – Infos, news & actualités – L'information internationale en direct and adapted for our international English-speaking audience.
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