Analysis

In-Depth Analysis

Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.

WOUNDS BANDAGED, SCARS REMAIN: WHERE IS THE PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE HEADED?
Capital Currents Nov 7, 2025

WOUNDS BANDAGED, SCARS REMAIN: WHERE IS THE PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE HEADED?

Excluding their early courtship phase, the AKP and MHP have now completed seven years of formal partnership. In their partnership, branded the “People’s Alliance,” the two parties have gone through five electoral contests — one referendum, two general elections, and two local elections. Like any relationship, this one has had its ups and downs. Many of the rifts that the public interpreted as “cracks” or “crises” within the alliance were quickly smoothed over through mutual statements. But, the crisis of the past two weeks has been among the deepest since the alliance was formed.

Nergis Demirkaya
TELE1 EMPLOYEES RESIGN
Media, Internet and Culture Nov 7, 2025

TELE1 EMPLOYEES RESIGN

With a trustee taking control and editor-in-chief Merdan Yanardağ under arrest, TELE1’s staff continued to resign en masse as the CHP promised to revive the station through a new platform.

Editorial Team
ANKARA LEADS IN CREDIT DEBT, KARAMAN TOPS IN UNPAID LOANS
Economy and Finance Nov 7, 2025

ANKARA LEADS IN CREDIT DEBT, KARAMAN TOPS IN UNPAID LOANS

Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) released new data covering the first nine months of 2025, revealing the country’s debt landscape by province. The capital, Ankara, recorded the highest total credit debt, while the central Anatolian province of Karaman had the largest share of citizens unable to repay their loans and facing collection proceedings.

Editorial Team
NUMBER OF COMPANIES FILING FOR CONCORDAT RISES BY 72%
Economy and Finance Nov 7, 2025

NUMBER OF COMPANIES FILING FOR CONCORDAT RISES BY 72%

The financial crisis facing companies in Turkey is deepening as the amount of non-performing loans from banks exceeded 519 billion lira as of the week of Oct. 24. In the January-October period of 2025, the number of companies granted a temporary moratorium on debt repayment rose to 2,326, a 72% increase year on year.

Editorial Team
A MOUNTAIN ERASED, A LAKE “RENAMED,” A PEACE IN PROGRESS IN THE CAUCASUS
Deciphering Turkish Diplomacy Nov 7, 2025

A MOUNTAIN ERASED, A LAKE “RENAMED,” A PEACE IN PROGRESS IN THE CAUCASUS

In political terms, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is over, but in the socio-psychological dimension, it continues, according to the Armenian prime minister. 'When I talk about peace, it seems strange and even alien to many. Peace is an unfamiliar concept for Armenia and Azerbaijan,' Nikol Pashinyan said Nov. 4 at the annual forum of the Orbeli Center, which operates under the Prime Ministry.

Barçın Yinanç
DEFENSE HUB, AIRFIELD RENOVATIONS SHAPE ANKARA’S NATO PREP
Security and Defense Nov 7, 2025

DEFENSE HUB, AIRFIELD RENOVATIONS SHAPE ANKARA’S NATO PREP

As the countdown continues for the NATO Summit to be hosted by Ankara on July 7-8, 2026, preparations are accelerating in the capital. Activity focuses on sites along the approximately 17.5-km route from the Presidential Palace, where the leaders' summit will take place, to the military airfield in Etimesgut.

Editorial Team
FORMER HDP MPS RELEASED
Inside Turkey Nov 7, 2025

FORMER HDP MPS RELEASED

As expectations grow for the release of former HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, former HDP MPs Semra Güzel and Hüda Kaya have been released, taking into account the length of their detention.

Editorial Team
CASUS
Word of the Week Oct 31, 2025

CASUS

In Turkish, casus is the spy who slips through keyholes and whispers down telephone lines. In Ottoman Turkish, the word appears as câsûs, borrowed from Arabic, and, under Sultan Abdülhamid II’s watchful reign, it had a cousin, hafiyye, the “secret investigator” who made surveillance an imperial art.

Nazlan Ertan
EKREM İMAMOĞLU: “NOT TOMORROW, NOW”
Portrait of the Week Oct 31, 2025

EKREM İMAMOĞLU: “NOT TOMORROW, NOW”

We’ve borrowed the headline from a famous Turkish pop song of the 1970s, “Çilli Bom Bom.” One verse goes: “Don’t leave today’s work for tomorrow / Seize the moment, don’t hesitate / The world turns fast, life is short / Tomorrow won’t do—it has to be now.” Ekrem İmamoğlu could be said to be “impatient.” Like in the song, he’s in a hurry. But to explain this as a mere character trait would be insufficient. Some attribute his impatience to being from Trabzon — in other words, a typical Black Sea temperament — but geography alone cannot explain it either.

Anonymous