ERDOĞAN’S ADVISER SIGNALS MARCH OR APRIL 2028 FOR ELECTIONS
Presidential Chief Legal Advisor Mehmet Uçum once again said that the next presidential election is set for March or April 2028, coinciding with renewed efforts to draft a new constitution.
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BAHÇELİ CALLS FOR PARLIAMENTARY DECISION TO RE-ELECT ERDOĞAN IN 2028
MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli called on parliament to officially take action to renew presidential elections for 2028, a move to pave the way for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to run again.
BİNALİ YILDIRIM AND NEW YORK TEARS
Binali Yıldırım. The last prime minister before the country shifted to the Turkish-model presidential system. Last seen in New York, at the UN General Assembly as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the chamber.
INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES ROUT TOP APPEAL COURT’S CHIEF LIST
Turkey’s top appeal court, the Court of Cassation, has elected a new Presidential Council, and the results deal a sharp blow to the court's top leadership.
COURT ENDS FIRST İMAMOĞLU TRIAL SESSION WITHOUT HIS DEFENSE
The four-month-long first session of the Istanbul Municipality trial ended on July 8 without the testimony of its main defendant: Ekrem İmamoğlu, the jailed Istanbul mayor and ousted CHP administration's presidential candidate, who is accused of being the leader of an alleged criminal organization.
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.
THE ANKARA TEST: NATO’S MOST CONSEQUENTIAL SUMMIT IN A GENERATION
The upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara, scheduled for July 7-8 at the Beştepe Presidential Complex, arrives at a moment of growing tension within the alliance driven largely by the Trump administration’s transactional approach to collective defense.
ELECTION FOR FENERBAHÇE’S PRESIDENCY IS LOOMING
An upcoming presidential election for the Istanbul soccer club Fenerbahçe on June 6-7, has again highlighted the ties between football and politics. The leadership of Fenerbahçe is widely seen as a position of significant influence, not just a sporting role.
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."
IMAMOĞLU VOWS FOR COLLAPSE OF THE CORRUPTION PROBE
"This political case will collapse," Istanbul Mayor and the CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu declared repeatedly while delivering the last remarks on the 15th session of the corruption hearing. The courtroom was again full like the first days of the hearing as many were expecting a court ruling on release of several defendants. Only 18 of those under pre-trial detention were released, according to the midnight interim ruling. As expected, İmamoğlu’s executive assistant Kadriye Kasapoğlu and low profile figures like the drivers or workers were released but former CHP MP Aykut Erdoğdu was not on the list.
WORLD IS BIGGER THAN FIVE—EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN’T
From Donald Trump’s perspective, he has just one interlocutor in Turkey: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. No criticism of the United States — no matter how harsh — coming from presidential advisors, the AKP spokesperson, the Foreign Ministry, or the MHP chair matters in the slightest to Trump.
OPPOSITION NATIONALISTS: PROSPECT OF A COMMON FRONT
Is cooperation among nationalist parties possible? What are the prospects and obstacles? Turkish politics has been polarized into two main blocs since the transition to the presidential system: the AKP on one side and the CHP on the other. While the AKP kept parties like the MHP, BBP, and HÜDA-Par in its orbit, the CHP advanced by forging open or tacit alliances with the DEM Party and İYİ Party. But this opposition front collapsed after the defeat in the 2023 elections.