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CHP SHADOW CABINET UNDER FIRE FOR MIRRORING AKP'S MODEL
Inside Turkey Dec 19, 2025

CHP SHADOW CABINET UNDER FIRE FOR MIRRORING AKP'S MODEL

The CHP has unveiled its new shadow cabinet, touting it as the team that would govern Turkey if elected. However, the lineup has sparked backlash from left-wing critics over the dominance of business figures and center-right politicians occupying key posts. Despite advocating a return to the parliamentary system — where the executive is known as the Council of Ministers and members are elected, not appointed — the CHP has mirrored the presidential model by labeling its team a “cabinet” and appointing shadow cabinet members who are business figures active in the very sectors they oversee.

Editorial Team
REVISING THE PRESIDENCY: AKP’S NEW CONSTITUTION GAMBLE
Capital Currents Dec 18, 2025

REVISING THE PRESIDENCY: AKP’S NEW CONSTITUTION GAMBLE

The new civil constitution that the AKP has been calling for since the 2023 elections is set to become one of the key issues in the new year. Revising the presidential system, addressing the needs of a new peace process, and — inevitably — paving the way for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s renewed candidacy are the main pillars of this process. But any such changes would first require consensus within the party, and then support from the opposition.

Nergis Demirkaya
SECRET WITNESS PARADOXES CLOUD ISTANBUL PROBE
Inside Turkey Dec 14, 2025

SECRET WITNESS PARADOXES CLOUD ISTANBUL PROBE

The withdrawal of a secret witness’ testimony — and the prosecution’s disregard for that fact — in the Istanbul probe is raising questions about the credibility of the indictment against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, CHP Chair Özgür Özel said. Newly released supplementary documents reveal serious contradictions in how secret witnesses were handled by prosecutors, although the government calls it “the largest corruption file of the century.”

Editorial Team
S-400 DECISION LOOMS IN U.S.-TURKEY DEFENSE RESET
Security and Defense Dec 12, 2025

S-400 DECISION LOOMS IN U.S.-TURKEY DEFENSE RESET

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said that the United States is close to lifting restrictions imposed on Turkey since 2017 after Turkey purchased S-400 systems from Russia. However, the conditions under which the sanctions will be lifted remain unclear.

Editorial Team
NO MOMENTUM IN SIGHT FOR CYPRUS TALKS AS LEADERS MEET
Foreign Affairs Dec 12, 2025

NO MOMENTUM IN SIGHT FOR CYPRUS TALKS AS LEADERS MEET

Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders met under the facilitation of United Nations Secretary-General’s personal envoy, María Angela Holguín Cuéllar, on Dec. 11. Tufan Erhürman and Nikos Christodoulides reportedly agreed to expedite a series of confidence-building measures. Talks to resolve the decadeslong Cyprus issue are unlikely to gain traction before mid-2026, as both the north and south prepare for critical elections.

Editorial Team
SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN PARLIAMENT
Inside Turkey Dec 12, 2025

SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN PARLIAMENT

Allegations that vocational high school students interning at the Parliament cafeteria were sexually abused by staff have sparked public outrage. The scandal surfaced after a 16-year-old intern reported the abuse and presented incriminating messages to law enforcement.

Editorial Team
TURKEY IN A POST-WESTERN WORLD: STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES AND SYSTEMIC RISKS
Guest Voices Dec 11, 2025

TURKEY IN A POST-WESTERN WORLD: STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES AND SYSTEMIC RISKS

The newly released U.S. Strategic Security paper signals the most significant shift in American grand strategy since the end of the Second World War. Its defining features are the explicit identification of China as a peer competitor, the reaffirmation of Russia as a principal adversary, and—perhaps most striking—the retreat from the ideological mission that once sustained “the West” as a political and civilizational project.

Guest Voices
MÜLKİYE AT 166: LONG MEMORY OF THE STATE
Guest Voices Dec 11, 2025

MÜLKİYE AT 166: LONG MEMORY OF THE STATE

The opening line of the anthem of Mülkiye, the prestigious Political Science Faculty of Ankara University, declares a single mission: we exist so that the state does not collapse, so that the country does not cry. The “we” here is not a party or a leader’s entourage. It is a cadre trained to answer to something longer than a parliamentary term.

Guest Voices
RÜZGAR/WIND
Word of the Week Dec 11, 2025

RÜZGAR/WIND

In Turkish, rüzgâr begins as a simple meteorological fact: the wind that sweeps across the Bosphorus, bends Aegean olive trees and makes wildfires spread uncontrollably. Etymologically, it probably blows in from Persian, once meaning “time, fate, weather,” before narrowing into “wind.” But its real life is in metaphor: the wind that shifts fortune, tests patience, topples governments. In a language where song lyricists routinely confide in the breeze, it was only a matter of time before politicians started doing the same.

Nazlan Ertan