Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Serdar Öktem, a lawyer and a key defendant in the murder case of former Grey Wolves leader Sinan Ateş, was shot by masked assailants armed with long-barreled weapons in Istanbul traffic. Öktem died in hospital Oct. 6 from his injuries. Initial findings suggest the attack was carried out by the criminal group known as the Daltons.
The money laundering investigation into Can Holding has now expanded to the Ciner Group. The probe, which includes charges of fraud, money laundering, smuggling, and forming a criminal organization, now focuses on the $350 million sale of media outlets — including Habertürk, Show TV, and Bloomberg HT — from the Ciner Group to Can Holding. According to Sabah daily, the funds were allegedly transported in suitcases and deposited in banks as cash. Turgay Ciner, once among Turkey’s top taxpayers and currently residing abroad, is now the subject of an arrest warrant.
As politics remains focused on CHP, the resignation of eight provincial chairs from the ruling AKP has prompted the question: What is happening on the government side? The resignations of the provincial chairs of Çanakkale, Niğde, Adıyaman, Elazığ, Muğla, Ordu, Bitlis, and Tunceli—submitted within just 48 hours—were followed by statements from the party headquarters stressing that this was merely a “change of duties to take the party forward” and that “no criminal situation is involved.”
Access to Turkish pop singer Mabel Matiz’s song Perperişan has been blocked following a court order issued by the Ankara Criminal Court of Peace. The move came at the request of the Family and Social Services Ministry, which claimed the song violated public order and general health regulations.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel vowed to continue resisting court rulings against his party, accusing the government of trying to criminalize peaceful protest.
Authorities seized Habertürk, Show TV and Bloomberg HT, along with 121 other companies tied to Can Holding, after the Küçükçekmece Chief Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for eight people, including owners Mehmet Şakir Can, Kemal Can, and Chairman of the Board Kenan Tekdağ. The suspects face charges of forming a criminal organization, smuggling, fraud, and money laundering.
In Turkish, teşhirci (exhibitionist) is a word with two lives. In everyday use, it is an insult, hurled at women whose clothes are judged too revealing or at men who flaunt their cars and watches. In the Criminal Code, however, teşhircilik has a very precise meaning: exhibitionism. Article 225 punishes those who “publicly exhibit their sexual organs” with up to six months in prison. A word meant to describe a trench-coat flasher in a public park has, over time, swollen into a moral cudgel: used less to prosecute streakers and more to police women’s bodies.
A non-governmental organization has filed a criminal complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office over three recent Islamic sermons issued by the Presidency of Religious Affairs and delivered in mosques nationwide.
With checks and balances eroded and power increasingly centralized, Turkey is facing what may be one of the biggest digital scandals in its history. The online signatures of high-level bureaucrats have been compromised, allowing a criminal network to appoint public servants via the e-State (e-Devlet) system, issue fake diplomas and licenses, forge English proficiency test results and sell properties— raising serious concerns about fraudulent graduates.
A week after the revelation of a scandal involving a criminal network that reaped profits by exploiting newborn babies, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed on Oct. 22 to take swift action. “As president of the republic, I will ensure that those monsters who destroyed the lives of babies never see the light of day again,” he pledged. The “Newborn Gang” scandal has cast a shadow over Erdoğan’s healthcare policies, a critical electoral stronghold for his Islamist-populist AKP.