Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Despite expectations that early election scenarios would dissolve following the absolute nullity ruling that split the CHP into two, the debate has not ended.
The standoff between court-appointed CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and ousted Chair Özgür Özel's teams continued outside parliament.
Nine defendants were released at the 53rd hearing of the Istanbul Municipality’s corruption trial, bringing the total number of releases in the case to 51.
NATO has further reinforced the air defense it provides for Turkey, despite the agreement between the US and Iran to end the war.
The DEM Party is once again pushing the government to take legislative steps advancing the Kurdish peace process, while the government instead asks for concrete steps from the PKK first.
Halkbank, the state lender and fourth-largest bank in Turkey by assets, announced that a nine-year-old US criminal case against the bank is getting closer to a complete end. The bank and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York submitted a joint plea to the court on June 10, 2026, requesting the dismissal of all charges.
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.
Engineers at Turkey's first nuclear power plant have finished a critical test as part of preparations for the launch planned by the end of 2026, the Energy Ministry said. Technicians successfully loaded 163 simulated fuel assemblies into the reactor pressure vessel of the first unit at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. The operation is a major milestone in the launch of the country’s first nuclear power facility.
No sooner had Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu settled into the party leadership — declaring 'first purification, then a congress' in the immediate wake of the absolute nullity ruling — than he did exactly what everyone expected: signed off on expulsions.
Nikol Pashinyan’s election victory on June 7, his third in a row since 2018, confirmed the strong desire of the Armenian people to live in peace and prosperity in a functioning democracy as part of the Western World.
A few weeks before NATO leaders gather in Ankara, Istanbul hosted a more strange kind of summit. It unfolded not in conference halls, but across ferry terminals, concert queues and crowded streets.
Cyprus is preparing for a summer of diplomatic activity unseen for a long time, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres makes a last push to solve the decades-old problem before the end of his tenure in December.