Turkish Domestic Politics: Analysis and forecast on all relevant developments and insight about Turkish politics with its repercussions in its neighboring countries
As President Tayyip Erdoğan began his day on June 4, there was a problem on his agenda that could potentially evolve into a crisis. The day before, on June 3, Interior Ministry had first detained and then dismissed Mehmet Sıddık Akış, the DEM Party mayor of Hakkari, who had won the election on March 31,
The Turkish Women’s National Volleyball Team’s travel to the United States for the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League matches on a commercial flight in economy class sparked a controversy in the country, highlighting gender discrimination in Turkish sports. Prominent team players including Ebrar Karakurt, Zehra Güneş and captain Eda Erdem voiced their dissatisfaction with
Yesterday, on May 26, Azerbaijani flags were hoisted on 4 border villages from which Armenia had withdrawn as a result of the agreements. This condition was Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev’s red line for reaching a deal with Armenia; he even declared that it could be an act of war. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, on
Following the March 31 local election defeat, President Tayyip Erdoğan made two strategic political decisions. The first was to continue with the Medium-Term Program under the responsibility of Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, hoping to overcome the economic crisis. The second was to spread out the internal review process of the election defeat within
The latest “Turkey’s Pulse” survey by MetroPoll research company has raised alarm bells for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and issued serious warnings to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). MetroPoll Director Özer Sencar noted a decline in votes for both parties compared to April, with the AKP hitting its lowest vote
I have no intention of targeting Mehmet Şimşek, the Minister of Treasury and Finance. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members are already doing that enough. Despite the defeat in the March 31 elections, they act as if President Tayyip Erdoğan wasn’t the sole decision-maker and they had done everything right, still claiming, “If we
The Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court handed down heavy sentences in the Kobani Trial on May 16. The most notable were the 42-year sentence for Selahattin Demirtaş and the 30-year sentence for Figen Yüksekdağ, both of whom were co-chairs of the HDP at the time. Their sentences were the natural headline in media. Like the
I generally view with skepticism the memorandums of understanding signed between countries. Often, they possess a seriousness just slightly beyond mere intent declarations: they do not bind the parties, are laden with political messages, and frequently signify little more than “we had a written outcome from our discussions.” Especially during presidential-level visits, if you look
An Ankara court has sentenced former Democratic People’s Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ to decades in prison in total in the Kobani Case, where 108 people are being tried for terror charges, including “disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state.” Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court sentenced Selahattin Demirtaş to 20
A few hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Hamas is “defending Anatolia’s frontline” in Gaza in Turkish parliament on May 15, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan appeared on a live NTV broadcast. Erdoğan grounded his assertion of “frontline defense” on the assumption that the radical government in power in Israil would eventually cast its