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Capital Currents Jul 18, 2025

IF THE PKK IS CHANGING, WHY CAN’T THE DEM PARTY?

After 47 years, the PKK has decided to disband and lay down arms. According to the group’s founder, Abdullah Öcalan, this marks a paradigm shift: the struggle will now continue through strengthened political engagement. Following what both the government and opposition have called a “historic” decision, change is now expected within the DEM Party—the Kurdish political movement’s representative in Turkish Parliament. As one MP who recently visited Öcalan on İmralı Island put it: “Even the PKK is changing—why wouldn’t the DEM Party?”

Nergis Demirkaya

Capital Currents Jul 11, 2025

AFTER THE GUNS: CAN PARLIAMENT DELIVER PEACE?

The PKK’s disarmament is set to begin, two months after the group announced its dissolution on May 12—marking the symbolic end of nearly half a century of armed conflict. Attention is now turning to Turkey’s Parliament, which political parties across the spectrum have identified as the proper venue to address the Kurdish issue.

Nergis Demirkaya

Security and Defense Jul 11, 2025

12 SOLDIERS KILLED, QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

The Defense Ministry announced that 12 soldiers died on July 6 from methane gas during a search of a cave previously used as a hospital by the PKK in northern Iraq. Opposition parties called for a parliamentary commission to investigate whether the necessary precautions, including the use of gas masks and detectors, were taken when the soldiers entered the cave, but this proposal was rejected by AKP and MHP votes.

Editorial Team

Inside Turkey Jul 11, 2025

TRT COULD BROADCAST LIVE İMAMOĞLU’S TRIAL

The possibility the trial of imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu could be televised by state broadcaster TRT has sparked rare agreement among political rivals. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan endorsed MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli’s call for the hearings to be aired live. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç also weighed in, saying that Parliament can act on the matter if there is consensus.

Editorial Team

Inside Turkey Jun 27, 2025

OPPOSITION WANTS KURDISH COMMISSION DECOUPLED FROM CONSTITUTIONAL DEBATE

Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş has launched consultations with party group leaders on a proposed commission to address the Kurdish issue, aiming to establish the body before Parliament goes into recess.

Editorial Team

Portrait of the Week May 23, 2025

NACİ BOSTANCI: DEFENDING A JEWISH SINGER

Naci Bostancı is an academic—political scientist, sociologist, and communications scholar. He currently serves as the rector of Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University. But that’s not the whole story. For many years, he was a member of parliament, holding senior roles within the ruling AKP. At one point, he even occupied the position of second-in-command after President Erdoğan within the party hierarchy. In the 2023 elections, he chose not to run again and returned to academia.

Anonymous

Word of the Week Oct 25, 2024

İP

İp (noun, rope, as in noose) made a dramatic entrance into Turkey’s political lexicon this week when the İyi Party’s new-ish leader, Müsavat Dervişoğlu, hurled a noose at MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. This came in response to Bahçeli’s suggestion that PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan could be granted certain privileges—potentially even addressing Parliament—if he were to publicly call for the PKK’s dissolution. (For details, see last and this week’s Deep Dive.)

Nazlan Ertan