Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
In the latest hearing of the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial on July 7, jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was not brought to the courtroom, and detentions of dissident journalists continued in Istanbul while the capital Ankara began hosting the NATO Summit.
In a July 2 joint statement with the European Union following the High-Level Economic Dialogue, Turkey agreed that EU-Turkey relations “should continue to be guided by values, such as respect for the rule of law, fundamental rights, democracy and media freedom.”
US President Donald Trump will arrive in Ankara at around 2 p.m. on July 7. Although more than a thousand people will accompany him, his wife Melania will be absent, Turkey in Depth has learned.
The presiding judge insisted on concluding the first hearing of the Istanbul corruption trial on July 9, thereby restricting the right to defense in the Istanbul corruption trial for the first time in the four months since it began.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signaled that the long-awaited framework bill aimed at ending the PKK's decades-long armed struggle will be submitted to parliament soon.
The upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara, scheduled for July 7-8 at the Beştepe Presidential Complex, arrives at a moment of growing tension within the alliance driven largely by the Trump administration’s transactional approach to collective defense.
More than 200 people were detained in police raids ahead of the upcoming NATO summit scheduled for July 7-8 in Ankara. Following the sweeping operations launched by the Ankara police on June 23, courts have already ordered the formal arrest of 103 individuals out of 129 referred to the judiciary.
Millions of retirees in Turkey are waiting for official inflation data due on July 3 to learn how much their pensions could increase in the second half of the year. TurkStat will announce June inflation figures on July 3, revealing the inflation rate for the first six months of 2026. The data will determine the basis for pension adjustments. The parliament previously set the minimum pension for workers and self-employed retirees at 20,000 Turkish lira ($434) as of Jan. 1, 2026. Any increase to that minimum pension level will require a new legal regulation.
According to some, NATO has to become more European in order to remain more Transatlantic. The “Europeanization” of NATO will certainly be the key focus of the Ankara summit in July.
Hopeful for the disarmament of the PKK after the ceremonial burning of arms, the Turkish government is observing developments on the ground while efforts to establish a commission in the parliament look set to drag into next week. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş visited MHP and CHP chairs, but the commission’s structure and name were not finalized. Now, he is expected to meet once again with the parliamentary group deputy chairs. The meeting, initially planned for July 25 is expected to be postponed to July 28 at the earliest. After the framework is set, commission members will be appointed. While the head of Turkish intelligence, İbrahim Kalın, toured all the party groups in the parliament, the media tracked a tempest in a teapot after MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli confirmed reports that he proposed appointing two vice presidents—one Kurdish and one Alevi.
In a symbolic act seen by many as the first step toward a “terror-free Turkey,” a 30-member group affiliated with the PKK ceremonially burned their weapons and gear in front of a fire sacred to Kurds, initiating a process expected to proceed through mutual steps. In response, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş invited political party representatives to a July 18 meeting to discuss forming a parliamentary commission tasked with drafting the legal framework for this new peace initiative.
All eyes are on Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, where the first group of PKK members is set to disarm on July 11 — the organization’s first act of disarmament since its founding nearly 50 years ago. This symbolic ceremony follows the PKK’s May 12 announcement of its decision to disband. Depending on when subscribers opt to read this issue, the footage may have already surfaced.