Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The U.S. and Israel have started a war against Iran, although Trump does not want to call it as such. I saw no way out of the impasse between the two parties, although the Iranian side was optimistic after the third round of nuclear talks.
The main opposition, the CHP, has had a tough year of operations targeting its municipalities and lawsuits against its party congress. According to party officials, the appointment of Akın Gürlek — who oversaw the municipal investigations — as justice minister signals that the road to elections may become even more challenging.
As the first hearing in the main “corruption and bribery” case against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his colleagues approaches — along with the anniversary of his detention — CHP Chair Özgür Özel said there are preparations to delay the proceedings by another three months.
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.
The EU’s draft “Made in Europe” proposal to support European producers of green technology excludes Turkey from “Europe” but allows the European Commission to determine which non-EU countries can be included in the scheme on a sectoral basis. The Turkish business community is alarmed at the new rules aimed at strengthening European manufacturing against rising competition from China and the U.S., Turkey in Depth learned. Fearing this would create a new hurdle in Turkey’s trade with the EU, business leaders have been lobbying in Brussels, urging officials to consider Turkey as part of Europe. Turkey in Depth has learned that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a letter to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen regarding the decision.
The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States has reignited a fierce debate in Turkey over the concept of the “internal front,” a term increasingly used by the government to call for national unity amid shifting global dynamics. The notion of “fortifying the internal front” — defined by the government as acting in unison on national issues — gained prominence alongside changes in the international order. It was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who first introduced the phrase in August 2024, and has repeatedly emphasized it over the past year as a shield against foreign policy challenges and a necessity for “national survival.”
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.
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.”
As the CHP prepares for its 39th Ordinary Congress, the party dissidents escalated their challenge to the leadership of Özgür Özel. Former CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu,76, lit the fire by calling on Özel to take disciplinary action against people named in the corruption indictment involving Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
A new case has been opened against former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş on charges of insulting the president, days after the European Court of Human Rights upheld its ruling that he should be released.
A wedding portrayed the complexity and the changing dynamics of political relations in Turkish politics. Veteran politician Mehmet Sevigen, who was expelled from the CHP in 2021 and appears on TV screens as a sharp commentator against the CHP under Özgür Özel, managed to unite a range of opponents at his son’s wedding.
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.