YRP AND SAADET PARTY TALKS GAIN MOMENTUM
Two parties that once stood as rivals, both claiming the legacy of Necmettin Erbakan — the founding leader of political Islam in Turkey under the name of National View— are continuing merger talks.
Analysis
In-Depth Analysis
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İMAMOĞLU FINALLY RESIGNS FROM CHP
Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul’s jailed mayor, announced his resignation from the CHP and his decision to support the Yeni Party three weeks after its founding.
YENİ PARTY BECOMES MAIN OPPOSITION AS DETENTIONS CONTINUE UNABATED
The Yeni Party became Turkey's main opposition party soon after its founding, with 91 lawmakers among its founders. Mayors and municipal council members continued to join the party, while the crackdown against its supporters continued at full speed across the country.
SEARCH FOR A THIRD WAY WIDENS AMONG CONSERVATIVE AND RIGHT-WING PARTIES
Efforts by conservative and right-wing parties to build a “third way” outside the ruling and main opposition blocs are gaining momentum, as Saadet Party and YRP — both rooted in Turkey’s first political Islamist tradition, the National View (Milli Görüş) shaped by Necmettin Erbakan — step up talks on election cooperation. The renewed contacts signal a shift in relations between the two parties, which had previously been at odds over the movement’s legacy following the founding of YRP in 2018. This time, the talks focus on bringing together Saadet Party, YRP, Gelecek Party and DEVA Party under a common framework, with a broader alliance that could also include the İYİ Party.
A HISTORIC FIRST: ÖCALAN’S MESSAGES IN PARLIAMENTARY RECORDS
Turkey’s Parliament witnessed a rare moment on Dec. 4 as a summary of notes from the recent meeting of three lawmakers with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was read aloud and recorded in the parliamentary minutes. In the summary, he was not referred to as “terrorist” despite the decades-long reputation shaped by the state, nor as a founding leader of the PKK, as MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli — the initiator of the recent process — had defined him.
UNIVERSITY RENAMES CAMPUS, SPARKS BACKLASH FROM AKP VETERANS
The name of Beşir Atalay, a founding member of the ruling AKP and a former interior minister, has been removed from a university campus in Kırıkkale, causing controversy within the party.
JULY 11 CEREMONY MARKS FIRST STEP IN PKK’S DISSOLUTION
All eyes are on Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, where the first group of PKK members is set to disarm on July 11 — the organization’s first act of disarmament since its founding nearly 50 years ago. This symbolic ceremony follows the PKK’s May 12 announcement of its decision to disband. Depending on when subscribers opt to read this issue, the footage may have already surfaced.
KURDISH PEACE PROCESS DOMINATES PARLIAMENT'S FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY
The steps expected to be taken on the Kurdish peace process dominated discussions at the 106th anniversary of parliament's founding. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insisted that the process was proceeding 'honorably' in reply to the pro-Kurdish DEM Party’s demand for bolder legislative action, while the parliament speaker blamed delays on missed disarmament deadlines.
İYİ PARTY CONDEMNS ÖCALAN TALKS
İYİ Party Chair Müsavat Dervişoğlu condemned the parliamentary visit to İmralı, calling it a “national disgrace” and asserting that there is no statute of limitations for what he described as betrayal. İYİ Party deputy Alpaslan Yüce resigned from his party, saying it had abandoned its founding centrist ideals.
DEVA PARTY LOSES MP OVER İMRALI DELEGATION DECISION
Abdurrahim Aksoy, a founding member of the DEVA Party, resigned over the party’s decision not to participate in the proposed İmralı delegation.
FIVE ALEVI INSTITUTIONS BREAK AWAY FROM MAIN FEDERATION
Five Alevi cultural and religious institutions have announced their departure from the Federation of Alevi Foundations (AVF), citing a departure from founding principles under the leadership of Professor İzzettin Doğan.
ANKARA VS ISTANBUL: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?
“When good bureaucrats retire, they go to Istanbul,” quipped a Turkish diplomat at his farewell dinner several years ago. He was about to join the steady flow of ex-ambassadors and senior officials who settle comfortably into Istanbul’s glamorous private sector. While these bureaucrats enjoy Istanbul’s cosmopolitan delights and lucrative board positions, politicians with unsatisfied ambitions would do well to think twice. The graceful transition from bureaucracy-laden Ankara to Istanbul’s cultural and economic limelight might be liberating—but for politicians, it often signals the end of the line. Take Abdullah Gül, who leads the parade of high-profile politicians who found themselves in Istanbul once their grip on Ankara slipped. Gül, the soft-spoken Number Two to Erdoğan at the founding of AKP, left the presidency in 2014 with considerable bitterness, feeling sidelined by Erdoğan and his team. Settling first in Tarabya’s Presidential Palace and then in a private villa in Beykoz, he became a figure whom former allies and even foes sought out for advice on new parties, and periodically as a possible challenger to Erdoğan. Yet, Gül never took the plunge, proving that the view from Istanbul is often one of wistful distance from real political clout.