Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Paying an official visit to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of the NATO Summit and signaling movement on the F-35 and the Kaan's F110 engines, US President Donald Trump also touched on two subjects that sent a chill through Ankara: the release of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, and Turkey's stance in the US-Israeli war against Iran. Meant as praise, both stories cut deeper than they flattered.
Foreign investors' confidence in Turkish equities is under mounting pressure as two of the world's leading index providers signaled Istanbul's stock market could face a downgrade. Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) issued another warning regarding investment accessibility and shareholder transparency, announcing it may re-evaluate free-float structures on a company-by-company basis and reclassify certain shareholders as 'non-free float' to address distorted calculations driven by coordinated fund actions.
Turkey's language learning landscape is undergoing a sharp transformation, with German and Korean emerging as the two most sought-after languages in the country, Sözcü reported.
The rift between court-appointed CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and ousted Chair Özgür Özel deepened this week, even as the two crossed paths at a funeral — while notably failing to appear together at an Ashura gathering the same day.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made a high-profile, two-day visit to Russia, sitting directly across from President Vladimir Putin to signal stable bilateral ties amid speculation that Turkey was distancing itself from Moscow.
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.
'Neutralize your biggest rival; weaken the CHP by splitting it.' These two phrases sum up the purpose behind all the operations targeting the CHP over the past year, as seen from within the party.
Turkey's oldest and main opposition party, the CHP, is now effectively divided in two after a court annulled the party's November 2023 congress and reinstated former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in place of Özgür Özel. The split became more visible when both camps held rallies simultaneously at 2 p.m. on May 30. Kılıçdaroğlu returned to party headquarters to chants of 'Kılıçdaroğlu, the people's hope' — a stark reversal from just days earlier, when another crowd had branded him a 'traitor' and 'the AKP's hope' on May 24, reacting to the court-ordered change in the party leadership carried out with police support. The first head-to-head show of strength between the two camps laid bare a simple reality: Özel commands greater grassroots support, but Kılıçdaroğlu holds the formal authority to run the party.
One of the most concrete steps yet in the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia—launched in 2021—has been taken with a move toward direct trade between the two countries. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is heading into a June 7 election widely seen as a vote of confidence on his parallel agendas of steering the country toward the West while pursuing peace with Azerbaijan and normalization with Turkey. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli announced on X on May 13 that bureaucratic preparations for the launch of direct trade between Turkey and Armenia had been completed as of May 11.
While mass school shootings remain rare in Turkey, the back-to-back attacks in Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş have intensified calls for the resignation of Education Minister Yusuf Tekin, as discussions on the increasing violence in education system have come under scrutiny.
Parliament approved the first six articles of a landmark bill that includes a ban on children under the age of 15 from using social media platforms. Under the new rules expected to pass as a whole on April 14, social network providers will be prohibited from offering services to children who have not reached the age of 15.