WITH INFLATION AT 5-YEAR LOW, MARKETS EYE MODEST RATE CUT
For the first time in nearly five years, Turkey’s annual inflation rate slipped below 30%, giving the central bank room to consider easing monetary policy at its meeting on Oct. 22.
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EUROPE, RUSSIA AND CHINA: TURKEY’S NARROWING ROOM FOR MANEUVER
“The European Union will open its vast economy to countries waiting to join its ranks, provided they agree to stand with the bloc against hostile states and industrial rivals, according to a draft European Commission proposal obtained by POLITICO.”
INSIDE THE COURTROOM: A CONFESSOR MISDATES THE EARTHQUAKE
The main Istanbul Municipality corruption trial completed its 87th day on Sept. 24. The court heard nine more defendants, leaving 63 of 325 still to testify, as the presiding judge aims to complete the second session by the end of September.
PEACE COMES WITH A CATALOGUE
In Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove, the American president interrupts a scuffle between General Buck Turgidson and the Soviet ambassador with an appeal to institutional dignity. “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”
ONLY TWO FREED AS FAMILIES WEEP IN SİLİVRİ COURTHOUSE
Only two of the 53 formally arrested defendants in the Istanbul Municipality trial were released on the case's 75th hearing day, as relatives of those still held broke down in tears in the courtroom.
ŞATAFAT / POMP
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.
AS NATO SUMMIT KICKS OFF IN ANKARA, İMAMOĞLU BARRED FROM HIS TRIAL AND DETENTION OF JOURNALISTS CONTINUE
In the latest hearing of the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial on July 7, jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was not brought to the courtroom, and detentions of dissident journalists continued in Istanbul while the capital Ankara began hosting the NATO Summit.
PEACE PROCESS AWAITS THE LAW, THE LAW AWAITS ANSWERS
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.
İMAMOĞLU EJECTED FROM COURTROOM AS JUDGE MOVES TO CUT DEFENSE TIME SHORT
The presiding judge insisted on concluding the first hearing of the Istanbul corruption trial on July 9, thereby restricting the right to defense in the Istanbul corruption trial for the first time in the four months since it began.
A BIRTHDAY IN THE DOCK
The Istanbul corruption trial completed its 12th week as plaintiffs continued to withdraw their previous statements and jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu celebrated his 55th birthday at the courtroom.
İMAMOĞLU'S DETAINED LAWYER PEHLİVAN CHALLENGES COURT
Mehmet Pehlivan, the detained lawyer for jailed Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, drew parallels between their cases and political trials in Brazil in testimony that electrified a courtroom packed with lawyers in Silivri.
İMAMOĞLU TO THE COURT: "THE ONLY CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION HERE IS THE PROSECUTION"
The Istanbul Municipality corruption trial reached its 19th hearing session this week, bringing some of the most dramatic courtroom scenes since proceedings began. Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP's presidential candidate and Istanbul's jailed mayor, set the tone for the week. Describing the indictment as "not just garbage but rotten garbage rotting inside garbage," he told the court the case had already collapsed at its foundations: "If the alleged leader of the organization does not even know the alleged members, the whole thing collapses from the start."