Turkish Domestic Politics: Analysis and forecast on all relevant developments and insight about Turkish politics with its repercussions in its neighboring countries
On July 10, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State declared that “it’s the government that decides.” Minutes later, President Tayyip Erdoğan issued the decree to reopen the Hagia Sophia to worship as a mosque. The date was set: July 24. This was a historically-charged decision. It meant annulling Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s 1935 decision
The Council of Europe (COE) Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention was opened for signature by Turkey on May 11, 2011. The convention eliminates the shortcomings of the Law No. 6284 on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women, which was
President Erdoğan had stated that Turkey would indeed let go of the Istanbul Convention “if our people want to.” However, not many people, aside from a few fanatics here and there, responded to this statement that was testing the waters. Then stepped in the İsmailağa Congregation with a clear demand from the government: they wanted
“The Amendment to the Lawyers Act and Some Other Laws” recently added to the already busy agenda of Turkey. Although the amendment is getting quite a lot of media coverage, most of the discussions I was able to follow were on a political level and did not get into the actual amendments and their consequences
President Tayyip Erdoğan’s efforts to control social media, after having taken care of conventional media, are not a new phenomenon. However, last week he voiced the desire to ban social media, and this is worrying from the freedom of press and expression standpoint. Taking a step back, we realize that by replacing the ownership of
A head-on collision – as the Westerners say – is underway between the bar associations and the members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The reason is the discussions on changes to the bars ordered by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan following Ankara Bar’s harsh criticism of Ali Erbaş, chair of Religious Affairs. These so-called
There is currently inflation of problems and crises in Turkey. The latest issue is that President Tayyip Erdoğan is calling for a total ban on social media, using a rude series of attacks on his daughter Esra Albayrak as a pretext. In this climate, alarming steps are being taken behind closed doors, from attempting to
Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılılçdaroğlu said that President Tayyip Erdoğan is under the tutelage of his election ally Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) because he cannot make any decisions without Bahçeli’s approval. Answering the questions of YetkinReport on current political matters, Kılıçdaroğlu said that Erdoğan carries
What US Senator Lindsey Graham said during a video conference on June 24 was perhaps not what Turkish business representatives wanted to hear. But they were clear enough not to create any empty hopes about the future of Turkish-American relations, especially in the field of economy and trade. Nail Olpak, head of Turkey’s Foreign Economic
President Tayyip Erdoğan had complained of a lack of freedom of expression when he first came to power, referring to his imprisonment upon reading a poem. After 18 years in power, he cannot even tolerate the peaceful protest march of lawyers walking for their rights. Lawyers believe the new Attorney’s Law draft that Erdoğan’s presidential