Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Pervin Buldan, head of the DEM’s İmralı delegation, faced strong backlash after relaying PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s criticism of media rhetoric and voicing a proposed delegation visit to İmralı Island, Oct. 10.
The photos taken at the start of the new legislative year, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan posed with chairs of opposition parties, including AKP breakaways, in the absence of the CHP, revealed the contest between the AKP and the CHP to win their support. After the images went viral, Erdoğan renewed his call for a new constitution more forcefully, while his ally, MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli, insisted that the parliamentary commission visit PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı and urged Öcalan to call on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to lay down arms. The same day, slogans in Kurdish for Öcalan’s freedom — “Biji Serok Apo” — were chanted at the DEM Party’s group meeting. The party, which holds the third-largest number of seats in parliament, could significantly alter the political dynamics if it supports a constitutional change. While the photos of opposition figures with Erdoğan drew sharp criticism in the opposition media, concerned about alienating them, CHP Chair Özgür Özel personally called all opposition party chairs to ease the row.
The new legislative year of the Turkish Parliament opened without the CHP, which boycotted the session in protest at President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ongoing crackdown—starting debate over parliamentary legitimacy. Erdoğan swiftly countered the criticism, declaring that “legitimacy comes from the people.” He followed his remarks with a symbolic gesture: shaking hands with all parliamentary group leaders, including first-time photo-ops after many years with the heads of AKP offshoots DEVA and the Gelecek Party. Notably, Erdoğan coolly used his address to tell the pro-Kurdish DEM Party that the next phase on the Kurdish issue will be implementation. Praising the work of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission for holding 12 meetings so far with broad participation from political parties, Erdoğan said, “Once the commission completes its work, we will undoubtedly have very important findings in hand. The next phase will be the implementation of the proposals raised within the commission, as a result of consultation and consensus.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan without addressing its specifics, even as pro-government media criticized the proposal and the main opposition party expressed conditional backing.
Trustees have been appointed to 23 companies owned by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, a key figure in operations targeting CHP-run municipalities, and the companies have been transferred to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).
The CHP’s efforts to thwart the judicial crackdown through holding congresses once again faced obstacles.Nevertheless, CHP Istanbul provincial head Özgür Çelik, who has been ousted by court decision, was re-elected, after the Supreme Election Council rejected the court’s efforts to stop the congress.
The CHP has received a brief reprieve from ongoing legal turmoil as a lawsuit seeking to annul its 38th Ordinary Congress—held on November 4–5, 2023—was postponed to Oct. 24. The delay offers the party a short breathing space. Now it is preparing for a new extraordinary congress on Sept. 21 that might address some of the legal challenges it faces. But the crackdown against CHP municipalities is pressing on. In the latest development, Bayrampaşa Mayor Hasan Mutlu became the 12th CHP mayor arrested in Istanbul—and the 18th nationwide—since the crackdown began in October 2024.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel sharply attacked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek during a protest over the arrest of Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney.
The German government has dropped its veto on the sale of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey, thanks to the requests of the Turkish opposition, claimed Özgür Özel, the head of the CHP. While Berlin has been dragging its feet on talks for the warplanes, which are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy, and Spain, a news report suggested in April that the German government had decided to keep blocking the sale due to the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19. While such a decision was never officially confirmed, İmamoğlu tweeted from his prison cell, objecting to the veto and Özel kept the issue on the agenda during talks with his German counterparts.
As the crackdown on CHP municipalities deepened with the detention of even private drivers, the party has remained defiant—pressing forward with rallies, contesting disinformation, visiting imprisoned members, and calling for early elections, which it frames as a fight against a “civilian coup.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid a one-day official visit to Italy on April 29. He was received in Rome with pomp by his counterpart Sergio Matarella as well as Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. This was a visit of niceties on each side. To Erdoğan’s satisfaction, the Italians did not raise any political issues, especially those pertaining to his iron fist authoritarian rule and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoglu’s arrest.
When Keriman Halis, a 19-year-old of Circassian descent, won the title of Miss Turkey in 1932, she became the punching bag of some of the media. Surely, wrote several columnists, this girl with the round face and jutting eyebrows had only been chosen because her father, a musician, was on friendly terms with the members of the jury, the writers, composers, and the intellectuals handpicked by the daily Cumhuriyet, which used to organize the pageant back then.