Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The word of the week is şatafat, and Ankara supplied the visual aid. At the NATO summit, Turkey received its guests with the full vocabulary of Erdoğan-era grandeur: mehter music, ceremonial guards, a turquoise carpet that seemed designed less for walking than for being recorded, and the Erdoğan couple standing before the vast Presidential Complex, its doors polished to a shine usually reserved for furniture showrooms. There was also the choreography.
Companies showcased $70 billion in products to state leaders at the defense industry forum that took place alongside the NATO Summit in Ankara.
ANKA News Agency, widely regarded as the voice of the CHP-aligned opposition, and its owner Ali Fırat Atabaş have come under renewed scrutiny over the funding they receive from the CHP following the split in the party due to the absolute nullity ruling.
In the latest hearing of the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial on July 7, jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was not brought to the courtroom, and detentions of dissident journalists continued in Istanbul while the capital Ankara began hosting the NATO Summit.
In a July 2 joint statement with the European Union following the High-Level Economic Dialogue, Turkey agreed that EU-Turkey relations “should continue to be guided by values, such as respect for the rule of law, fundamental rights, democracy and media freedom.”
US President Donald Trump will arrive in Ankara at around 2 p.m. on July 7. Although more than a thousand people will accompany him, his wife Melania will be absent, Turkey in Depth has learned.
A rift within the ruling AKP divulged to public view after Tamar Tanrıyar — a social media phenomenon, a Turkish-Armenian known mainly as the wife of a former celebrity journalist and the owner of a small television channel — released a video targeting pro-government Turkuvaz Media Group that owns Sabah newspaper and ATV television channel.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signaled that the long-awaited framework bill aimed at ending the PKK's decades-long armed struggle will be submitted to parliament soon.
The upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara, scheduled for July 7-8 at the Beştepe Presidential Complex, arrives at a moment of growing tension within the alliance driven largely by the Trump administration’s transactional approach to collective defense.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made a high-profile, two-day visit to Russia, sitting directly across from President Vladimir Putin to signal stable bilateral ties amid speculation that Turkey was distancing itself from Moscow.
Teachers have begun hunger strikes in a central Ankara park after encountering violent treatment from the police during protests outside the Education Ministry.
The standoff between court-appointed CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and ousted Chair Özgür Özel's teams continued outside parliament.