Ankara:

Four people died when a helicopter crashed into a hospital in southwestern Turkey on Sunday, the provincial governor said, blaming the accident on thick fog.

“The helicopter fell to the ground after having struck the fourth storey of a hospital during take-off,” killing two pilots, a doctor and an employee on board the vehicle, Mugla provincial governor Idris Akbiyik said.

“There was intense fog,” Akbiyik said, adding that the authorities were investigating the accident’s cause.

The helicopter took off in conditions with poor visibility from the roof of the city of Mugla’s hospital en route to the city of Antalya, as seen in images broadcast by the NTV television channel.

The chopper can then be seen drifting in the fog several minutes after take-off, before crashing into an empty field next to the hospital it hit, Turkish media reported.

The accident comes just under two weeks after six soldiers were killed when two helicopters collided during an army training exercise in Turkey’s southwestern Isparta province.

At the time the defence ministry did not specify what caused that crash.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit. File

Turkey was offered partner country status by the BRICS group of nations, Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, as Ankara continues what it calls its efforts to balance its Eastern and Western ties.

Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent months voiced interest in joining the BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan last month, after Ankara said it had taken formal steps to become a member of the group.

“As for Turkey’s status regarding (BRICS) membership, they offered Turkey the status of partner membership,” Bolat said in an interview with private broadcaster TVNet on Wednesday (November 13, 2024).

“This [status] is the transition process in the organisational structure of BRICS,” he said.

Ankara sees the BRICS group as an opportunity to further economic cooperation with member states, rather than an alternative to its Western ties and N.A.T.O. membership, Mr. Erdogan has said.

Turkish officials have repeatedly said potential membership of BRICS would not affect Turkey’s responsibilities to the Western military alliance.

Aside from full membership, BRICS members introduced a “partner country” category in Kazan, according to the declaration issued by BRICS on Oct. 23.

Mr. Bolat did not say whether Ankara had accepted the proposal.

An official in Erdogan’s ruling AK Party told Reuters this month that while the proposal had been discussed in Kazan, partner country status would fall short of Turkey’s demands for membership.

A man checks the list with the candidates at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, March 31, 2024. Turkey is holding local elections on Sunday that will decide who gets to control Istanbul and other key cities.
| Photo Credit: AP

Turks began voting on March 31 in municipal elections focused on President Tayyip Erdogan’s bid to reclaim control of Istanbul from rival Ekrem Imamoglu, who aims to reassert the opposition as a political force after bitter election defeats last year.

Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu dealt Mr. Erdogan and his AK Party the biggest electoral blow of two decades in power with his win in the 2019 vote. The president struck back in 2023 by securing re-election and a parliament majority with his nationalist allies.

Sunday’s results could now reinforce Mr. Erdogan’s control of NATO-member Turkey, or signal change in the major emerging economy’s divided political landscape. An Imamoglu win is seen fuelling expectations of him becoming a future national leader.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) in eastern Turkey and elsewhere at 8 a.m., with more than 61 million people registered to vote. Voting ends at 5 p.m. and initial results are expected by 10 p.m. (1900 GMT).

“The AK Party has completed very important projects for the development of this country,” said 28-year-old Faruk Baran after voting in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. “[It] needs to be strong at the local level in order to continue its services.”

In Istanbul, a city of 16 million people that drives Turkey’s economy, polls suggest a tight race as Imamoglu faces a challenge from AKP candidate Murat Kurum, a former minister.

The results are likely to be shaped in part by economic woes driven by rampant inflation near 70%, and by Kurdish and Islamist voters weighing up the government’s performance and their hopes for political change.

While the main prize for Mr. Erdogan is Istanbul, he also seeks to win back the capital Ankara. Both cities were won by the opposition in 2019 after being under the rule of his AKP and Islamist predecessors for the previous 25 years.

Mr. Erdogan’s prospects have been helped by the collapse of the opposition alliance that he defeated last year, though Imamoglu still appeals to voters beyond his main opposition Republican People’s Party.

Voters of the main pro-Kurdish party were crucial to Imamoglu’s 2019 success. Their DEM party this time is fielding its own candidate in Istanbul, but many Kurds are expected to put aside party loyalty and vote for him again.

In the mainly Kurdish southeast, DEM is looking to reaffirm its strength after the state replaced pro-Kurdish party mayors with state-appointed ‘trustees’ following previous elections over alleged ties to militants.

“I wish for an end to the trustee system. This election is important for Turkey’s future and for listening to us: Kurds are always decisive,” said civil servant Elif Durgun, 32.

One factor working against Mr. Erdogan is a rise in support for the Islamist New Welfare Party due to its hardline stance against Israel over the Gaza conflict and dissatisfaction with the Islamist-rooted AKP’s handling of the economy.