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CHP MAYORS FACE COURT AS WIDE-RANGING CORRUPTION TRIAL STARTS
Deep Dive May 29, 2026

CHP MAYORS FACE COURT AS WIDE-RANGING CORRUPTION TRIAL STARTS

Hearings have begun in a corruption probe involving municipalities run by the main opposition CHP, following investigations launched in March 2025. The case marks the first major trial stemming from the allegations, ahead of a separate prosecution involving Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu that is set to begin on March 9. The CHP’s legal strategy and the court’s approach to the defendants are expected to shape Turkey’s political agenda over the many years the trials are expected to take.

Editorial Team
ANKARA SIGNALS NEW OUTREACH TO YAZIDIS
Inside Turkey May 29, 2026

ANKARA SIGNALS NEW OUTREACH TO YAZIDIS

Turkey took a new step in its engagement with minority communities when a Yazidi delegation was received in Ankara by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz and Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş.

Editorial Team
CASH FLOW BECOMES PRIORITY IN SHIPBUILDING
Security and Defense May 29, 2026

CASH FLOW BECOMES PRIORITY IN SHIPBUILDING

Turkey is considering generating cash flow by exporting newly built naval platforms originally designed to meet domestic requirements. The first of 10 light corvette-class vessels planned for the Turkish Navy, the TCG Akhisar (P-1220), was sold straight to Romania without entering the Turkish inventory after its completion in December 2025. Ankara is now in talks to sell two newly built I-class (Istanbul/İstif-class) frigates to Indonesia.

Editorial Team
PARLIAMENT SETS MINIMUM PENSION AT 20,000 LIRA
Inside Turkey May 29, 2026

PARLIAMENT SETS MINIMUM PENSION AT 20,000 LIRA

Parliament approved legislation raising the minimum monthly pension to 20,000 lira ($460), an 18.4% increase, with effect from January. The bill, benefiting about 4.9 million retirees, was adopted by the Parliament with the support of the MHP lawmakers amid barbed debate.

Editorial Team
ALEPPO CLASHES DEEPEN FAULT LINES IN ANKARA
Inside Turkey May 29, 2026

ALEPPO CLASHES DEEPEN FAULT LINES IN ANKARA

An operation by the Syrian army targeting Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo has fueled tensions in Ankara between the two main actors of Turkey’s peace process, even as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says he remains optimistic for a resolution in the southern neighbor.

Editorial Team
WORLD IS BIGGER THAN FIVE—EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN’T
Deciphering Turkish Diplomacy May 29, 2026

WORLD IS BIGGER THAN FIVE—EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN’T

From Donald Trump’s perspective, he has just one interlocutor in Turkey: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. No criticism of the United States — no matter how harsh — coming from presidential advisors, the AKP spokesperson, the Foreign Ministry, or the MHP chair matters in the slightest to Trump.

Editorial Team
SECURITY TALKS BETWEEN ISRAEL, GREECE, AND CYPRUS STOKE EAST MED TENSIONS
Foreign Affairs May 29, 2026

SECURITY TALKS BETWEEN ISRAEL, GREECE, AND CYPRUS STOKE EAST MED TENSIONS

The two consecutive meetings between the leaders of Cyprus’s Turkish and Greek communities, held after a five-year hiatus, generated cautious optimism about the prospects for renewed engagement. Yet this momentum is overshadowed by parallel efforts to consolidate trilateral cooperation among Israel, Greece, and Greek Cyprus.

Editorial Team
MEŞRUİYET/LEGITIMACY
Word of the Week May 29, 2026

MEŞRUİYET/LEGITIMACY

My wicked editor and I have been on the phone constantly the last three days to exchange ideas on just what the word of the year should be. We toyed with “secret witness,” “active repentance” (read ratting out), “strategic autonomy,” “voice of the streets,” “angst,” and “normalization.” Finally, I used a columnist’s initiative and settled for meşruiyet, or legitimacy, over normalleşme/normalization.

Editorial Team