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HOW İMAMOĞLU SR’S COMMUNISM NIGHTMARE CAME TO PASS
Portrait of the Week May 29, 2026

HOW İMAMOĞLU SR’S COMMUNISM NIGHTMARE CAME TO PASS

Hasan İmamoğlu is the father of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been jailed for nearly nine months. Ekrem İmamoğlu faces a staggering threat of up to 2,500 years in prison. Naturally, the İmamoğlu family had never, at any point in their lives, imagined facing such severe threats of imprisonment and punishment. For this reason, the family is, quite naturally, experiencing deep shock and bewilderment. As part of the case, Hasan İmamoğlu’s companies were also seized. So where does this “fear of communism,” this urge to “fight communism,” actually come from?

Anonymous
DEADLOCK OVER COMMISSION’S VISIT TO ÖCALAN CONTINUES
Deep Dive May 29, 2026

DEADLOCK OVER COMMISSION’S VISIT TO ÖCALAN CONTINUES

The parliamentary commission formed to pave the way for a new Kurdish peace process remains stuck over whether its members should visit jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. A planned session of the commission has been postponed once again, even as hopes rise for the release of imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş following a third ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Editorial Team
ÖZEL FIRES BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS ON AKP ANNIVERSARY
Deep Dive May 29, 2026

ÖZEL FIRES BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS ON AKP ANNIVERSARY

CHP Chair Özgür Özel sparked a political storm by accusing a senior AKP figure of bribing a businessperson to testify against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The CHP leader also suggested that the AKP had used dirty tricks to push CHP Aydın Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu to transfer to the AKP on the 24th anniversary of the ruling party. Just two hours before the AKP’s celebrations, Özel said that former AKP Central Decision and Executive Board member and lawyer Mücahit Birinci asked imprisoned businessperson Murat Kapki to pay $2 million and promised his release in return for signing a false statement.

Editorial Team
EUROFIGHTERS: A STOPGAP WITH STRINGS
Deciphering Turkish Diplomacy May 29, 2026

EUROFIGHTERS: A STOPGAP WITH STRINGS

The German government has dropped its veto on the sale of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey, thanks to the requests of the Turkish opposition, claimed Özgür Özel, the head of the CHP. While Berlin has been dragging its feet on talks for the warplanes, which are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy, and Spain, a news report suggested in April that the German government had decided to keep blocking the sale due to the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19. While such a decision was never officially confirmed, İmamoğlu tweeted from his prison cell, objecting to the veto and Özel kept the issue on the agenda during talks with his German counterparts.

Editorial Team
CHP BATTLES ON ALL FRONTS
Inside Turkey May 29, 2026

CHP BATTLES ON ALL FRONTS

As the crackdown on CHP municipalities deepened with the detention of even private drivers, the party has remained defiant—pressing forward with rallies, contesting disinformation, visiting imprisoned members, and calling for early elections, which it frames as a fight against a “civilian coup.”

Editorial Team
REASONED VERDICT RELEASED 13 MONTHS AFTER SENTENCING
Inside Turkey May 29, 2026

REASONED VERDICT RELEASED 13 MONTHS AFTER SENTENCING

Thirteen months after sentencing, the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court has released its reasoned verdict in the high-profile Kobani trial, in which former HDP Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were sentenced to 42 and 30 years in prison, respectively.

Editorial Team
COURT KEEPS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST BEHIND BARS
Inside Turkey May 1, 2026

COURT KEEPS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST BEHIND BARS

Esra Işık, an activist from the village of İkizköy in Muğla’s Milas district who has spent years fighting to save her community's olive groves and farmland from coal mining expansion, was brought to her first court hearing on April 27 in handcuffs, escorted by gendarmerie officers from Şakran Prison in İzmir — more than 100 miles from her hometown where her case is being tried.

Editorial Team
ÖZEL CHALLENGES ERDOĞAN OVER BADGE AS AKP HOLDS BACK
Inside Turkey Feb 13, 2026

ÖZEL CHALLENGES ERDOĞAN OVER BADGE AS AKP HOLDS BACK

The CHP was shaken by the resignation of Ankara’s Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan, but the political momentum shifted after the AKP did not move forward with his expected transfer, leaving him politically isolated. CHP Chair Özgür Özel challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to publicly pin an AKP badge on Özarslan amid speculation he would join the ruling party.

Editorial Team
ADANA MAYOR FREED AS LEGAL CASES AGAINST CHP CONTINUE
Inside Turkey Feb 6, 2026

ADANA MAYOR FREED AS LEGAL CASES AGAINST CHP CONTINUE

Legal pressure on the main opposition CHP continued as allegations of drug use were expanded to include relatives of Ekrem İmamoğlu’s wife, while prosecutors finalized a separate “political espionage” indictment against the imprisoned presidential candidate. At the same time, an Istanbul court ordered the release of a high-profile mayor held on corruption charges, marking a notable shift in the broader judicial process. As a significant development in the ongoing corruption trials, the court ordered the release of Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, who had been in detention since July. Karalar became the first CHP mayor to be freed since the start of the Aziz İhsan Aktaş case on Jan. 27. Eight other employees of several municipalities were also released.

Editorial Team