Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
A DEM Party delegation traveled to İmralı Island on Aug. 28 to meet with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, the first visit since Parliament formed the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission.
The parliamentary National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission held two tense meetings this week, first hearing from Turkey’s bar associations and then from former parliamentary speakers.The MPs on the commission, who had so far avoided direct confrontation, engaged in their first open war of words after bar leaders gave long speeches stressing constitutional rights and the rule of law.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Turkey does not act with hostility unless it faces hostility, stressing that Ankara will not step back if targeted. Commenting on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent statement that “if the sword leaves the sheath, there is no need for words,” Fidan said Turkey will not wait for a threat to materialize across its borders. “We do not threaten unless threatened. If we are faced with hostility, we will not retreat,” he said.
Turkey Bar Association (TBB) President Erinç Sağkan told parliament’s National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission that no political or legal issue in Turkey can be resolved without respect for the constitution.
İsmet Sayhan, former president of the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE) and a close associate of MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli, has been arrested.
The DEM Party delegation will visit Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed PKK founder, on İmralı Island on Aug. 28, following weeks of criticism over limited access.
Nusret Yılmaz, one of the attorneys representing jailed Istanbul Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu and his wife, Dilek İmamoğlu, has been released under judicial control measures.
Altın varak, the Turkish expression for gold leaf, is what happens when human vanity finds its most delicate expression. The Ottomans used it with flair: laid onto Qur’an illuminations, painted into miniatures, burnished across mosque panels and palace ceilings. It was a craft in which theology, politics, and decoration were rolled into one, performed with fine brushes.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has joined Next Sosyal, the social media platform founded by his son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar, chair of the board of directors at Baykar.
Pro-government journalist Cem Küçük, known for his close ties with Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek and for publicizing details of probes into the CHP-run municipalities, admitted to carrying out his “duty” in the ongoing investigations.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TurkStat) Household Labor Force Survey, unemployment increased in the second quarter of 2025 while overall employment declined.
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has released for the first time socio-economic status data at the provincial and district levels, based on 2023. Covering more than 26 million households, the study highlights sharp inequalities across Turkey, measuring income, education, and occupation.