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.
The peace process, dubbed the Terror-Free Turkey, now awaits the 'framework law,' expected to be submitted before parliament goes into its summer recess. There appears to be no consensus, however, on the bill's exact timing, scope and the conditions on the ground. While the process remains in the waiting room, the Interior Ministry took a concrete step, lifting thousands of search points and checkpoints in the terror-affected region. The pro-Kurdish DEM Party, through all its spokespeople, is asking 'what the law is waiting for.' But reading between the lines of AKP and DEM Party statements reveals disagreements at the draft stage.
Turkey's Capital Markets Board (SPK) is tightening its grip on investment funds and the stock market under new chair Mahmut Sütcü in response to domestic and international calls for a clampdown on manipulation.
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.
The first of the Hisar-class ships designed to meet the navy's patrol requirements, was sold and delivered without ever entering the inventory.
Following the NATO Summit in Ankara, significant changes are expected within the top command echelons of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Despite expectations that early election scenarios would dissolve following the absolute nullity ruling that split the CHP into two, the debate has not ended.
Millions of retirees in Turkey are waiting for official inflation data due on July 3 to learn how much their pensions could increase in the second half of the year. TurkStat will announce June inflation figures on July 3, revealing the inflation rate for the first six months of 2026. The data will determine the basis for pension adjustments. The parliament previously set the minimum pension for workers and self-employed retirees at 20,000 Turkish lira ($434) as of Jan. 1, 2026. Any increase to that minimum pension level will require a new legal regulation.
No sooner had Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu settled into the party leadership — declaring 'first purification, then a congress' in the immediate wake of the absolute nullity ruling — than he did exactly what everyone expected: signed off on expulsions.
Nikol Pashinyan’s election victory on June 7, his third in a row since 2018, confirmed the strong desire of the Armenian people to live in peace and prosperity in a functioning democracy as part of the Western World.
Questions about the future of Turkey-Armenia normalization have grown after Turkish Foreign Ministry removed key wording from its statement on Armenian elections, putting pressure on Armenia rather than also pushing Azerbaijan and it took President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan four days to congratulate the Armenian prime minister on his election win.
The Turkish economy grew by 2.5% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, lower than the 2.7% growth expected by economists. TurkStat data showed that quarter-on-quarter GDP growth remained at 0.1%. Household consumption made the largest contribution to growth with 3.4 percentage points. However, industrial production contracted. Also, the negative contribution of net foreign trade expanded.