Turkey Today

Summer arrived with wildfires, Marmaris is under fire; Journalists continue to protest against draft law that would incriminate reporting and social media activities; İstanbul to host delegations from Russia, Ukraine, the UN for the grain export; Turkey ratified to extend troop deployment to Libya… Here is what you need to know what is going on “Turkey Today”

1- Turkey’s west coast resort Marmaris once again under fire. 

After last year’s apocalyptic wildfires, Utku Perktaş wrote about the effect of global warming on wildfires in Turkey in YetkinReport 

2- Journalists continue their efforts to stop the draft media law from being enacted. The main opposition CHP supported the bid stating that they will appeal to the Constitutional Court if parliament votes for the law. All major media and journalism associations will hold a demonstration in Ankara, first time united for the same cause in the country where the political polarization also divided journalist associations. 

The draft stipulates a new crime of disinformation and regulates online news outlets which journalists argue that aims to further scrutinize freedom of speech especially through social media. 

Parliament is expected to vote on the bill on Thursday. 

3- Istanbul will host delegations from Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations in the coming days to negotiate the resumption of grain shipments across the Black Sea Turkish TV stations cited Turkish Presidential sources. 

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Parliament she would be traveling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odessa, saying that there was only a matter of weeks to find a solution. 

President Erdoğan spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres on June 21 in separate phone calls on the export of Ukrainian grains over the Blakc Sea, the presidency announced in statements. 

4- Turkey ratified to extend its troop deployment in Libya for another 18 months. The motion was submitted by the Turkish Presidency in light of a request for military assistance by Libya’s U.N.-recognized government on June 13. 

5- Economic Coordination Committee discussed further “steps to be taken against food inflation”

6- The supplementary budget that was proposed in the parliament included an additional allocation for President Erdoğan to raise his salary by 40 percent, main opposition Deputy Leader Özgür Özel said. Erdoğan will receive 141.453 TL per month, while the minimum wage is 5.000 TL per month. 

7- The footage of Turkish soldiers detaining a person in the village of Esenyavaş of East border city Van, Başkale district stirred a debate. In the footage a dozen soldiers fire automatic weapons to the air while forcibly detaining a person after a family dispute. HDP lawmaker Gergerlioğlu said the footage “reminded him of the 1990s”.