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CHP FACES INTENSIFYING CRACKDOWN DESPITE LEGAL REPRIEVE
Deep Dive May 29, 2026

CHP FACES INTENSIFYING CRACKDOWN DESPITE LEGAL REPRIEVE

The CHP has received a brief reprieve from ongoing legal turmoil as a lawsuit seeking to annul its 38th Ordinary Congress—held on November 4–5, 2023—was postponed to Oct. 24. The delay offers the party a short breathing space. Now it is preparing for a new extraordinary congress on Sept. 21 that might address some of the legal challenges it faces. But the crackdown against CHP municipalities is pressing on. In the latest development, Bayrampaşa Mayor Hasan Mutlu became the 12th CHP mayor arrested in Istanbul—and the 18th nationwide—since the crackdown began in October 2024.

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
FULL-FLEDGED CRACKDOWN ON CHP CONTINUES
Inside Turkey May 29, 2026

FULL-FLEDGED CRACKDOWN ON CHP CONTINUES

The financial crimes police raided Şile Municipality on July 10, detaining Mayor Özgür Kabadayı as part of the widening corruption investigations targeting CHP-run municipalities. It was yet another ordinary day for the main opposition, which has been facing near-daily legal turmoil since Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained on March 19. CHP Istanbul Chair Özgür Çelik said Kabadayı and several others were detained in house raids at 1:30 a.m. Arrest warrants were issued for at least six individuals, said the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Editorial Team
DEFECTIONS, CONFESSIONS AND NOW CLOSURE: THE CHP'S MOUNTING TROUBLES
Deep Dive May 29, 2026

DEFECTIONS, CONFESSIONS AND NOW CLOSURE: THE CHP'S MOUNTING TROUBLES

The CHP is facing an unprecedented convergence of crises one after the other. Afyonkarahisar Mayor Burcu Köksal has defected to the AKP. Jailed Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım and Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek have applied for the effective remorse law, alleging they paid CHP Chair Özgür Özel and his close ally MP Veli Ağbaba in exchange for nomination in the municipal elections. The allegations have raised the spectre of closure proceedings against the party — with Özel increasingly in the crosshairs.

Editorial Team
İMAMOĞLU BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS IN COURT
Inside Turkey May 8, 2026

İMAMOĞLU BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS IN COURT

The 34th day of the corruption trial targeting Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and dozens of officials linked to the CHP and Istanbul Municipality saw the mayor in tears as he questioned a defendant — soon after he declared that the allegations in the indictment were collapsing one by one.

Editorial Team
COMPLAINANT, WITNESS, AND DEFENDANT — ALL CHP
Inside Turkey Apr 23, 2026

COMPLAINANT, WITNESS, AND DEFENDANT — ALL CHP

A recent judicial operation that placed the CHP-run Ataşehir municipality under trustee administration has exposed something more damaging than any prosecutor's indictment: the party is being undone, in part, by its own.

Editorial Team
ERDOĞAN’S ELECTION PLAN
Capital Currents Apr 23, 2026

ERDOĞAN’S ELECTION PLAN

The CHP is seeking to win power but is trying to do politics while caught in a major judicial clampdown. Operations target municipalities on one front, and the threat of an “absolute nullity” ruling persists against the party center.

Nergis Demirkaya
DEFENDANTS CONTINUE CHALLENGING CORRUPTION INDICTMENT ON İMAMOĞLU CASE
Inside Turkey Apr 17, 2026

DEFENDANTS CONTINUE CHALLENGING CORRUPTION INDICTMENT ON İMAMOĞLU CASE

The sixth week of the mass corruption trial of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and more than 400 co-defendants produced some of its most dramatic courtroom exchanges. İmamoğlu and the presiding judge continued sharp exchanges while the municipality’s housing company, KİPTAŞ, chair Ali Kurt implicated senior government figures in a land scheme, and the European Court of Human Rights formally demanded answers from Ankara.

Editorial Team
EYES ON LIBYA AGAIN
Security and Defense Apr 16, 2026

EYES ON LIBYA AGAIN

The TAF is participating in a US-led military exercise in Libya, where Turkey backed the Government of National Accord (GNA) in the west during the civil war. Meanwhile, attention has again focused on the plane crash in which the GNA Chief of Staff Muhammed Ali Ahmed Al Haddad and his delegation died near Ankara on Dec. 23, 2025.

Editorial Team
EXERCISE BLUE HOMELAND: AT THREE SEAS WITH 15,000 TROOPS
Security and Defense Apr 9, 2026

EXERCISE BLUE HOMELAND: AT THREE SEAS WITH 15,000 TROOPS

Blue Homeland-26, one of the Turkish Armed Forces’ most extensive exercises this year, was conducted from April 3 to 9 in the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean, with the participation of 120 ships, 50 aircraft, and 15,000 personnel from the Naval, Land, and Air Force Commands, as well as the Coast Guard Command.

Editorial Team