STRICT MEASURES TAKEN AT MILITARY ACADEMY GRADUATION CEREMONY
Following last year's oath-taking crisis at the Army War College graduation ceremony, this year's ceremonies were held under very strict security measures.
Analysis
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MOON MISSION POSTPONED TO 2027
Turkey has postponed its moon landing project, which it had aimed to carry out in 2023 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Republic but later delayed to 2026, this time to 2027. The government established the Turkish Space Agency in 2018 to coordinate space activities.
TURKISH ACTIVISTS JOIN GAZA FLOTILLA
Around 150 Turkish activists and four opposition deputies joined the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail from Tunisia on Sept. 4 to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Saadet Party MPs Necmettin Çalışkan and Mehmet Atmaca, Hüda-Par’s Faruk Dinç, and Gelecek Party’s Sema Silkin Ün took part, while no AKP deputies joined.
FIDAN AND PUTIN ENGAGE IN CORDIAL CONVERSATION
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Sept. 3, having what appeared to be a cordial conversation, with Putin doing most of the talking and gesturing.
MAN AT THE CENTER OF ISTANBUL PROBE BREAKS HIS SILENCE
Akın Gürlek, Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor known for ordering probes and detentions against the opposition CHP, spoke on camera for the first time at the opening of the new judicial year. He said indictments related to the Istanbul Municipality would be ready in September and October.
ERDOĞAN VOWS RESOLVE ON PEACE PROCESS
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned that whoever tries to sabotage the Terror-Free Turkey process will face the consequences. Erdoğan emphasized that recent events have shown that Turkey has been most affected by the unrest in Syria.
PROSECUTOR KILLED IN ISTANBUL
Public Prosecutor Ercan Kayhan, who worked at the Istanbul Courthouse, was killed. Kayhan was stabbed in the throat by Mustafa Can Gül at a restaurant in Ömerli, Çekmeköy, Istanbul, at around 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 3.
TEŞHİRCİ
In Turkish, teşhirci (exhibitionist) is a word with two lives. In everyday use, it is an insult, hurled at women whose clothes are judged too revealing or at men who flaunt their cars and watches. In the Criminal Code, however, teşhircilik has a very precise meaning: exhibitionism. Article 225 punishes those who “publicly exhibit their sexual organs” with up to six months in prison. A word meant to describe a trench-coat flasher in a public park has, over time, swollen into a moral cudgel: used less to prosecute streakers and more to police women’s bodies.
NUMAN KURTULMUŞ: WHEN YOU CAN’T BE NUMBER ONE
Numan Kurtulmuş is currently the speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and as such also chairs the “National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission” formed to seek a solution to the Kurdish question. But if we were to borrow the rhetorical style of MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, we might ask: “Who is Kurtulmuş, where did he come from, and where is he heading?”
ERDOĞAN AND BAHÇELİ MEET AS SECOND CLOSE ASSOCIATE OF BAHÇELİ ARRESTED
İsmet Sayhan, the former head of the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE) and a close associate of MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli, was arrested in Ankara. Amid speculation that the detention was a sign of cracks in the ruling alliance, Bahçeli and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met in Bitlis’s Ahlat and Malazgirt on Aug. 25–26, posing for cameras to signal the strength of their alliance in their first meeting since July 10. They even listened to folk songs together.
TRANSPORTATION MINISTER FINED FOR SPEEDING
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu was fined 9,267 lira for speeding.
SLEEVES ADDED TO DRESS FOR THE PRESIDENCY
Anna Kviloriya, the TV anchor wife of Belarusian Ambassador to Ankara Anatoliy Glaz, said that her husband warned her not to wear a low-cut dress for their credentials ceremony at the presidential complex.