Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The word of the week is vibratör (vibrator), because Turkey has reached that stage of public life where even a small vibrating object of adult pleasure may require a prosecutor’s attention. Here, a vibrator is not merely a device; it is a small object with the bad manners to expose the size of the state.
Erdal Beşikçioğlu, mayor of Etimesgut, a satellite town of the capital, has been arrested. The charge against him is much the same as those leveled at other CHP mayors: 'Forming a criminal organization for the purpose of corruption.'
There's a Turkish saying for describing one misfortune piling on another: 'What happened to us didn't even happen to the boiled chicken'. The last three years for opposition leaders Özgür Özel and Ekrem İmamoğlu, and the 'Change Movement' they lead, bring that saying to mind.
The long-awaited and kept-under-wraps framework bill that will start the return and release of PKK members was finally submitted to parliament, two years after the process was announced.
After the detention of Cem Küçük, a prominent commentator on TV screens known for leaking information from judicial files, Tahir Sarıkaya, an anchor from the Beyaz TV channel owned by former Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek and his son Osman Gökçek, was arrested for blackmailing and spreading false information.
The acquisition of French grocery chain Carrefour's Turkish subsidiary, CarrefourSA, by A101's parent company Yeni Mağazacılık, owned by a religious conservative family, has sparked intense online debate over potential restrictions on alcohol sales.
Aksa Energy has signed a 20-year agreement with the Electricity Company of Ghana to build and operate a natural gas plant in Takoradi.
The passenger car and light commercial vehicle market shrank by 10.72% in the first seven months of 2026.
Turkey's tourism industry, long considered an economic powerhouse, is struggling to achieve expected revenue growth this year as inflation drives up costs and diverts customers elsewhere.
Every summer, the apartment buildings of Istanbul, Ankara and other major cities begin to empty. Neighbors who have spent the winter sharing lifts, parking disputes, delivery couriers and the occasional suspicion that someone upstairs is moving furniture after midnight head off in different directions.
Turkey urged Russia and Ukraine to safeguard civilian navigation in the Black Sea after Turkish-owned cargo ships were hit by drones. Ankara refrained from blaming either side for the attack, instead calling on both warring parties to immediately ensure maritime security, on Aug. 4.
Coal miners from Doruk Mining, a subsidiary of Yıldızlar SSS Holding that made the headlines earlier this year, held a new sit-in protest in Ankara, demanding years of unpaid severance and termination benefits as promises were not kept.