Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Turkish authorities have closed a brief investigation into British economist Timothy Ash over comments likening President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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 Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into comments made on the YouTube channel Soğuk Savaş (Cold War) regarding the Islamic teaching that “alcohol is the mother of all evil.”
No decision was reached at the second hearing of the case against two leaders of the top business group TÜSİAD for comments they made in speeches. In court, Orhan Turan, chair of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD), and Ömer Arif Aras, Chair of the High Advisory Council (YİK), denied the charges against them and requested acquittal.
Merve Göntem, screenwriter of the popular TV series Kızılcık Şerbeti (Cranberry Sorbet), was detained at her home in Istanbul’s Cihangir district over comments made during a YouTube interview four years ago.
MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli called for a probe into whether a new “parallel” structure has infiltrated the bureaucracy, ahead of criticisms of the judiciary. In comments about juvenile offenders, he recalled how the Gülen Terrorist Organization had established parallel networks within the government to cause chaos.
The 11th session of Turkey’s parliamentary commission on the Kurdish peace process saw its first major confrontation, as comments from an Islamist group sparked a dramatic walkout by members of the DEM Party.
The 11th session of Turkey’s parliamentary commission on the Kurdish peace process saw its first major confrontation, as comments made by a representative of the İslami Tebliğ Tedris İlim Hareketi Adamları Association (İTTİHAD) prompted a dramatic walkout by members of the DEM Party. The controversy began when Mehmet Beşir Şimşek, a senior figure in İTTİHAD, addressed the commission on Sept. 18. The group is widely known for its ideological ties to Turkish Hizbullah, which was linked to a series of extrajudicial killings in the 1990s, many involving victims bound and executed using the notorious “pig-tie” method.