Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Turkey once again requested the extradition of hundreds of people from the Netherlands, as the Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel expressed hope that Turkey could play a mediating role in the war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran.
Gendarmes arrested CHP’s Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan March 2, just as the party was bracing for the trial on corruption allegations concerning the Istanbul Municipality.
The television drama industry is facing an unprecedented crisis as soaring inflation and domestic regulatory pressures threaten its global standing, alongside suppressive measures, including the detention of manager Ayşe Barım and the ongoing detentions in a drug and prostitution case that has labeled many figures from the sector.
January inflation came in higher than expected, raising concerns that price pressures remain stubbornly high and that progress toward the government’s disinflation targets is faltering.
Legal pressure on the main opposition CHP continued as allegations of drug use were expanded to include relatives of Ekrem İmamoğlu’s wife, while prosecutors finalized a separate “political espionage” indictment against the imprisoned presidential candidate. At the same time, an Istanbul court ordered the release of a high-profile mayor held on corruption charges, marking a notable shift in the broader judicial process. As a significant development in the ongoing corruption trials, the court ordered the release of Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, who had been in detention since July. Karalar became the first CHP mayor to be freed since the start of the Aziz İhsan Aktaş case on Jan. 27. Eight other employees of several municipalities were also released.
Turkey joined Damascus, welcoming the victory of Syrian government forces and the defeat of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which further strained the ongoing peace process. Tensions in the political arena rose after a Turkish flag was brought down during the DEM Party’s group meeting in the border town of Nusaybin, neighboring Qamishli. The name of the person who brought down the Turkish flag was not shared by the government, but an investigation was launched, while the DEM Party described the incident as a provocation, recalling similar instances from the past.
A new political dispute has erupted after AKP’s Istanbul branch began running ads on billboards criticizing the Istanbul Municipality, giving the impression that an election campaign is already underway.
After Damascus launched a military operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the ruling AKP-MHP alliance linked the trajectory of Turkey’s peace process to developments in Syria.
There are mornings when you wake up and discover someone has quietly replaced your streaming subscriptions with a box of VHS tapes. The picture is grainy, the dialogue familiar, the plot depressingly simple: detention, indictment, polarisation, and non-functioning courts. Welcome back to the future, 1990s Turkey in the 21st century.
When Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in Ankara on Nov. 19, press reports had already started to make the headlines, revealing details of a peace plan drafted by the U.S. and Russia.
Jailed former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş rejected remarks by former Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç suggesting Demirtaş wished to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and tell him he held no resentment. After a visit to Edirne Prison, Arınç said Demirtaş wanted to tell Erdoğan, “I hold no grudge against you.” Demirtaş responded with a handwritten note, saying he never expressed such a thought. “What troubles me most is being associated with words and ideas I never hinted at,” he wrote.
So our word of the week is soygun, robbery - as in art heist. On a quiet Sunday morning in Paris, the world’s most visited museum turned into a crime scene. In under eight minutes, thieves hit the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon (the home of France’s Crown Jewels) and fled with royal pieces tied to Empresses Marie-Louise and Eugénie, and Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. Investigators say the crew used a lift to breach an upper window. Ministers Rachida Dati and Laurent Nuñez confirmed that the alarm tripped and police arrived within minutes. The symbolism stings more than the price tag. (Think eight figures.)