PEACE PROCESS STALLS AGAIN
The parliament has not established a commission to monitor progress on the surrender of weapons and personnel by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, and Kurdish groups are complaining the process is stalled.
Analysis
In-Depth Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
LGBTQ+ OPERATION: ELECTION CAMPAIGN LOADING
Before me is the “LGBTQ+ Rights Monitoring Report” on the 2023 elections, prepared by University Queer Research and LGBT+ Solidarity Association (ÜniKuir) whose website was blocked as part of the “My Family Is Safe” operation.
US SLAPS 12.5% TARIFF ON TURKISH GOODS WHILE EXEMPTING ASIAN COMPETITORS
Turkish industrialists criticized a new United States’ decision to impose a 12.5% tariff on Turkish products under Section 301, warning that the move places key export sectors, especially textiles and apparel, at a severe disadvantage.
ÖZEL HAS THE CROWD, KILIÇDAROĞLU HOLDS THE SEAL, THE EXIT IS ANYONE'S GUESS FOR THE CHP
Turkey's oldest and main opposition party, the CHP, is now effectively divided in two after a court annulled the party's November 2023 congress and reinstated former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in place of Özgür Özel. The split became more visible when both camps held rallies simultaneously at 2 p.m. on May 30. Kılıçdaroğlu returned to party headquarters to chants of 'Kılıçdaroğlu, the people's hope' — a stark reversal from just days earlier, when another crowd had branded him a 'traitor' and 'the AKP's hope' on May 24, reacting to the court-ordered change in the party leadership carried out with police support. The first head-to-head show of strength between the two camps laid bare a simple reality: Özel commands greater grassroots support, but Kılıçdaroğlu holds the formal authority to run the party.
MEŞRUİYET/LEGITIMACY
My wicked editor and I have been on the phone constantly the last three days to exchange ideas on just what the word of the year should be. We toyed with “secret witness,” “active repentance” (read ratting out), “strategic autonomy,” “voice of the streets,” “angst,” and “normalization.” Finally, I used a columnist’s initiative and settled for meşruiyet, or legitimacy, over normalleşme/normalization.
AFTER CORRUPTION CASES, ESPIONAGE CHARGES KEEP PRESSURE ON CHP
The brief respite after a court rejected a bid to unseat main opposition CHP Chair Özgür Özel and annul the party’s 2023 congress has now given way to a widening espionage probe. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his campaign director Necati Özkan were rearrested on espionage charges, while a trustee was appointed to TELE1 television channel and its editor-in-chief, Merdan Yanardağ, was also taken into custody on Oct. 24.
HALK TV IN TURMOIL AS ANCHORS AND EDITORS RESIGN EN MASSE
A wave of resignations has swept through Halk TV, a broadcaster with close ties to the main opposition CHP, as prominent on-air personalities and editors publicly cited internal grievances as their reason for leaving.
WHAT ANKARA DOES NOT PUT ON THE BROCHURE
Ankara is often described by those who do not know it well as a grey city. This is unfair, though not entirely mysterious. A city that must constantly perform seriousness is rarely forgiven for having charm. Yet Ankara’s charm is real. It is private, reveals itself slowly, and almost always just outside the official frame. It is a city of dry light, hard hills, old stones, republican geometry, Ottoman shadows, Roman fragments, Seljuk craft and streets that remember more than they are prepared to explain. This is why Ankara deserves a cultural diplomacy route, a way of showing visitors not only what the city proudly displays, but also what it half-remembers, neglects, misnames, hides or leaves to survive behind other buildings.
FIDAN BRIEFS LOYALIST MEDIA OFF THE RECORD — BUT TO WHAT END?
Journalist Deniz Zeyrek writes about a closed-door briefing organized by AKP's media and communications chief Faruk Acar, at which Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke to senior editors and Ankara bureau chiefs from pro-government outlets about Turkey's foreign policy. Zeyrek identifies three problems with the meeting.
CALL FOR POLICIES TO CURB TURKS’ OVERSEAS SPENDING
President of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Şekip Avdagiç has triggered a wave of criticism after suggesting the government should introduce policies to limit Turkish citizens’ spending on vacations abroad.
BAHÇELI MOVES TO STEADY TURKEY’S PEACE PROCESS AMID SYRIA SHOCKS
As the Turkish peace process with Kurds enters a period of turbulence following shifting dynamics and territorial changes in Syria, MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli, who initiated the process, has stepped up efforts to prevent it from unraveling even as rhetoric hardens between the ruling bloc and the DEM Party.
ANKARA WARNS RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: KEEP YOUR WAR OFF TURKISH SOIL
Russian and Ukrainian envoys in Ankara were warned not to wage their war in Turkish territory. The warning came as tensions in the Black Sea in the first half of December escalated to fresh peaks in the four-year-old war.