SIDES PRESSURE EACH OTHER AS PROGRESS STALLS IN KURDISH PROCESS
There is no clear timeline for progress in the Kurdish process despite the post-Ramadan Bayram and April expectations on both sides.
Analysis
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There is no clear timeline for progress in the Kurdish process despite the post-Ramadan Bayram and April expectations on both sides.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel spent the Bayram holiday and the following days pressing his attack against new Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, accusing him of illicit enrichment and corruption.
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.
Naci Bostancı is an academic—political scientist, sociologist, and communications scholar. He currently serves as the rector of Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University. But that’s not the whole story. For many years, he was a member of parliament, holding senior roles within the ruling AKP. At one point, he even occupied the position of second-in-command after President Erdoğan within the party hierarchy. In the 2023 elections, he chose not to run again and returned to academia.