We are back in business. My hand is healed, somehow, and just in time, because in Türkiye you cannot look away for a single week. I took seven days off and returned to find the agenda had changed roughly forty times, three of them before breakfast.
⚖️ Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
Investigation launched into journalist Ertuğrul Özkök
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an ex officio investigation into journalist Ertuğrul Özkök on a charge of “insulting the President”, over remarks he made on a television programme. In its statement, the office said the investigation had been initiated of its own accord following the comments Özkök made during the broadcast. Özkök has previously faced legal proceedings on allegations of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: indictments prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2015 claimed he had insulted the president in columns published in the Hürriyet newspaper on 22 October and 3 September 2015, with prison sentences of between one year and four months and five years and four months sought across two separate files.
Some Istanbul roads to be closed to traffic for 14 days
Some roads in Istanbul are to be closed to traffic for 14 days in connection with events to be held at the Yenikapı venue. According to a statement from the Istanbul Police Department, the roads to be closed and the alternative routes have been set for the programmes at the Fatih Yenikapı Event Area, running from today until 16 August with the exception of 3–10 August. Under the arrangement, from midday until the end of each programme, the closures will affect the north and south side roads along the coast at the Kadir Topbaş Show Centre junction, the Vefa Karakurdu overpass, and the minor road in the inner section between the Yenikapı rally area and the Yenikapı İDO terminal. Motorists can use the coastal Kennedy Avenue as an alternative route.
🏛️ Politics
Foreign Ministry issues sharp rebuke to Israel
Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly criticised Israel’s attacks on Gaza, saying they show that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no will to make peace with the Palestinians and that his sole aim is to drive Palestinians from their homeland and obstruct the establishment of peace and stability in the region. In a statement, the ministry said that Israel’s killing of more than 30 civilians and targeting of health facilities in Gaza — coming immediately after agreement had been reached on a road map for implementing the Gaza Peace Plan — once again demonstrated the Netanyahu government’s lack of any intention to make peace, and that Israel had not shied away from steps that would upset the region’s fragile balances or from undermining the efforts of mediating countries, chief among them the United States. The ministry stressed that it had become imperative for the international community to adopt a more determined, consistent and forceful stance against what it called Netanyahu’s “expansionist and militarist mindset”, which it said sought to turn the whole of the Middle East into a zone of conflict, and called on all countries supporting peace and prosperity for the region and Palestine to act with a sense of shared responsibility and to uphold international law and humanitarian values.
Supreme Military Council to convene, with number of generals and admirals expected to rise
The Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) is to convene tomorrow at the Beştepe presidential complex under the chairmanship of President and AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to take decisions on promotions, appointments, retirements and extensions of service within the Turkish Armed Forces. According to a report in the Türkiye newspaper, the number of generals and admirals — which fell below 200 following dismissals after the 15 July coup attempt — is to be raised above 230 this year. Meeting after a visit to Anıtkabir, the council will for the first time include Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi and Land Forces Commander General Metin Tokel. It will consider the files of colonels being promoted to general or admiral rank and of generals and admirals rising a further rank, determine which personnel are to be retired owing to a lack of posts or age limits, and is expected to weigh possible changes of assignment within the force commands. The decisions will be made public after Erdoğan’s approval.
Unmanned aerial vehicle found in field in Kastamonu
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been found by local residents in a field in the Taşköprü district of Kastamonu. The owner of the field who discovered the drone reported it to the 112 emergency call centre, and teams dispatched to the area carried out an examination before removing the UAV from the site for further inspection. It is thought to have come down after losing its communications link.
Animal rights defenders protest ‘massacre law’ in Kadıköy: ‘We will push every limit to have it repealed’
Animal rights defenders took to the streets of Kadıköy to mark the second anniversary of the passing of Law No. 7527 — dubbed the “massacre law” by its opponents — which governs the treatment of stray animals, holding simultaneous demonstrations outside the Süreyya Opera House and the Eminönü ferry pier to demand its repeal. Protesters who gathered at Mehmet Ayvalıtaş Park marched to the opera house chanting slogans calling for the law to be withdrawn and for both dogs and children to be protected. In a statement on behalf of the “We Will Keep Them Alive Here” platform, campaigners drew attention to animal deaths over the two years since the law’s passage, alleging that cats and dogs across the country — in Erzincan, Konya, Gebze, Ümraniye, Düzce and Silivri among other places — had been poisoned, thrown into pits and killed while still alive, and said their anger was undimmed towards those who had proposed the law, those who voted for it, and the main opposition which, they claimed, had implemented it in practice despite opposing it. Arguing that the real danger on the streets was not animals but “unrestrained fascists” and misogynists, they vowed to push every limit to have the law annulled and to keep building public support for new legislation that would let animals live. In a separate press statement outside the Eminönü pier, the Law for Life Initiative and representatives of various associations also called for the law’s withdrawal, contending that a “vaccinate, neuter, let live in place” principle had given way, under the guise of euthanasia, to a “award the tender, extract the profit; round up, slaughter” method that turned the exploitation of animals into capitalist profit. Noting that species such as pigeons, crows and gulls were also being demonised alongside cats and dogs, the initiative said sterile cities ringed by secure luxury estates were being created that left no room for animals or for ordinary people, and pledged to struggle for an equal, free and ecological society free of cages and exploitation.
A first for Turkish transport: Turkish-made locomotive exported to Africa
Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, has announced that the country’s first domestically designed and produced diesel-electric shunting locomotive, the DE 10000, built by the state rail systems manufacturer TÜRASAŞ, has set off for Tanzania. Describing it as another milestone for Turkey’s home-grown railway industry, the minister said the locomotive — manufactured with a 90 per cent local content rate at TÜRASAŞ’s Eskişehir regional directorate — had been sent off to join Tanzania’s railway fleet, marking the first time such a vehicle has been offered to international markets rather than serving domestic needs alone. Brought from Eskişehir to the Derince Port in Kocaeli, the locomotive was dispatched by ship on Wednesday 29 July and will reach the port of Dar es Salaam after a sea voyage of some 3,946 nautical miles (7,308 kilometres). Uraloğlu added that the DE 10000 uses the “Özgün Motor”, the first domestic diesel engine of more than 1,000 horsepower, developed by TÜRASAŞ and TÜBİTAK under the TÜBİTAK KAMAG project, whose intellectual property rights belong entirely to Turkey and which has now been exported on a domestic locomotive platform for the first time.
🤝Ruling Government (AKP, MHP, CHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
Minister Göktaş announces expansion of rights for families of the fallen and veterans
Turkey’s Minister of Family and Social Services, Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, has announced that the government aims to bring in wide-ranging new legislation on the rights of the relatives of fallen soldiers (”şehit”) and of veterans, with the AK Party and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) set to submit a joint bill to the parliamentary speaker’s office this week in the hope that it will be debated in the coming days. Speaking at a human rights training camp organised by the AK Party’s human rights directorate in the Başiskele district of Kocaeli, Göktaş said the relatives of the fallen and veterans were a trust bequeathed by the nation and owed a great debt of loyalty, noting that many measures protecting and supporting their rights had been introduced over the past 24 years under President Erdoğan’s leadership, including a comprehensive regulation in 2013. She said the new bill, far more extensive than a mere twelve articles, had emerged from some two years of consultations coordinated by her ministry and chaired by parliament’s National Defence Committee chair Hulusi Akar, and was intended to address long-standing demands ranging from the parents of the fallen to conscript veterans, including matters of personal entitlements, and to those affected she offered her good wishes.
Arınç to Davutoğlu: you should have stayed in the AK Party, loyal to our leader
Former parliamentary speaker Bülent Arınç has published a message of thanks to Ahmet Davutoğlu, who announced that he is withdrawing from politics and closing his Future Party, while telling him he should have remained within the AK Party rather than founding a rival to it. Arınç said he personally found Davutoğlu’s decision — to continue working in fields such as thought, education, science, culture and diplomacy — sound and wished him well, adding that he considered the matters raised in Davutoğlu’s comprehensive statement to be very important. Recalling nearly six years of working alongside him — from a 2005 Islamic summit in Mecca through cabinet posts from 2009, and a year and a half serving as deputy prime minister and government spokesman under Davutoğlu when the latter became AK Party leader and prime minister after Erdoğan’s 2014 election as president — Arınç described him as a learned, analytical, patriotic and principled thinker respected abroad, and thanked both him and his wife Sare for their service. Arınç said he had ethically opposed Davutoğlu’s founding of a party in opposition to the AK Party, which he called “our home”, built together, arguing that Davutoğlu should have stayed loyal to their leader and exercised his rights of criticism and suggestion to the full under that roof. He suggested the experience had been an important one for Turkey’s political history and for Davutoğlu personally, and — placing him second only to the late Necmettin Erbakan among the “two hocas” of their political tradition — again thanked him and wished him and his family health and happiness.
Bahçeli on the framework law: it must be given full support
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has said that the “Terror-Free Turkey” process has reached an important threshold in its law-making stage, arguing that the matter should be seen as above party politics and that the framework law must be given full support. In an interview with the Türkgün newspaper, Bahçeli described the policy as a historic and irreversible step to break what he called the chains of an exploitative order imposed by “Western thought”, framing it as a state policy that prioritised common sense and social consensus, was closed to external impositions, and would strengthen a thousand-year brotherhood for generations to come. He contended that critics of the policy — while claiming to speak for the nation — were serving as instruments in a proxy struggle waged by global and hegemonic powers, and that some raised objections not out of genuine sensitivity but out of a desire to obstruct progress, fearing the loss of political capital once terrorism was resolved at its roots; no such “political game”, he insisted, would turn the movement back. Defending the MHP against what he called baseless labelling, Bahçeli said the party had never been involved in any activity harmful to the country and cast the initiative as a historic responsibility for which it had put itself on the line. He argued that the moment to seek a solution comes not at the peak of violence but during a period of ideological and existential crisis for the organisation, and that Turkey had now reached the stage of eradicating terrorism at its roots — a development he presented as one of the most important foundations of the government’s “Turkish Century” vision.
Öcalan says ‘not everything is resolved yet’, pointing to the framework law
The DEM Party’s İmralı delegation — Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar and Özgür Faik Erol — has shared a message from PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan following a meeting of around three hours on 2 August, in which he cautioned that “not everything is resolved yet” but said there was nothing to warrant a negative approach, pointing to the framework law. Describing the legislation that parliament is to produce as the key that will open the way for the process, Öcalan said in his message that a thousand-kilometre road begins with a single step, and that Turkey was at the start of a democratisation process he cast as no less important than the founding of the Republic, requiring the same seriousness and sacrifice. He argued that this was a need not only of Kurds or of one section of society but of everyone living in the country, that the step to be taken would affect the fate of the country and the region and open the way for the development of democratic law and the growth of economic opportunity — a great service, he said, for the country’s 86 million. What mattered, Öcalan added, was that this step be correctly understood and that everyone take on responsibility for the success of the process, with the door to a democratic republic being opened to the fullest extent.
Crisis in the CHP goes on: six potential candidates line up against Kılıçdaroğlu
The turmoil within the CHP is continuing, with reports that some MPs are preparing to issue a joint declaration against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was installed as party leader by the “absolute nullity” ruling. According to the report, the text is expected to call for an extraordinary congress to be convened without delay and for Kılıçdaroğlu not to stand for the leadership again. Following the departure of 91 MPs to join the new party, the CHP has been left with 45 deputies in parliament. Citing pro-government Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, the report says the number of MPs close to Kılıçdaroğlu stands at around 23–24, and that a group led by Gürsel Erol, Ali Öztunç, Engin Altay and Nermin Yıldırım Kara is preparing the declaration, though it is not yet clear whether only these four or other deputies too will sign it. Selvi also reported that the number of names being floated as possible leadership candidates ahead of a potential congress has risen to six: Oğuz Kaan Salıcı, Muharrem İnce, Ali Öztunç, Müslim Sarı, Gürsel Tekin and Gürsel Erol.
🗳️ Opposition Parties (Özgür Özel’s New Party and others)
CHP’s ‘absolute nullity’ leadership seeks to keep parliamentary rooms from YENİ Party
The “absolute nullity” leadership of the CHP has applied to the parliamentary speaker’s office in a bid to retain the rooms and corridors in parliament that would otherwise pass to the newly formed YENİ Party, arguing that the group floor, deputy group chair offices, and meeting and support units currently in the CHP’s use should be preserved as part of the party’s institutional continuity. In its application, the CHP contended that a change in the number of MPs affects seating in the General Assembly and the scale of service needs but does not create a rule of succession under which group premises allocated to political parties automatically pass to a new party, and that historical custom is for a new group to be separately accommodated by the speaker’s office — numerical size may determine service capacity, it said, but not the legal successor to an existing allocation. The application argued that spaces set aside for political parties under parliament’s roof are not party property and do not constitute a right that “migrates” with the deputies, that protecting the CHP’s existing use is a request for continuity of service and stable administrative practice rather than a claim of ownership, and that the formation of a new group generates no automatic right of succession over the former party’s rooms. It cited precedents including the Saadet Party in 2023, for which a new corridor was designated and rooms vacated, and ANAVATAN in 2005, when former FP rooms were reallocated, while acknowledging that there is no absolute written rule guaranteeing that a source party keeps its existing rooms in every case.
İYİ Party’s framework law move: to take the fight to the streets after parliament
The İYİ Party is preparing to use every parliamentary right available to it when the framework law drawn up as part of the peace initiative comes before the Grand National Assembly this week, before taking its campaign to the streets with a major rally in Balıkesir. According to backroom accounts reported by Cumhuriyet’s Merve Kılıç, the bill — part of the “Terror-Free Turkey” process launched at MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli’s call, despite objections from the relatives of the fallen and veterans — is expected to be taken up on Thursday 6 August once other items are completed, with debate aimed to conclude on Friday 7 August and the assembly possibly sitting on Saturday 8 August if needed. The AK Party is said to be seeking to pass the bill as quickly as possible without giving the opposition a chance to prolong the process, asking its MPs to arrange their weekly schedules around the assembly calendar and to work through the weekend if necessary. The İYİ Party, for its part, is reported to be readying all the tools the parliamentary rules allow — procedural debates, speaking time and motions — while opposition figures warn that any acceleration of proceedings could leave insufficient time to voice objections in detail. After the parliamentary stage, the party will hold the second of its “Raising the Flag” rallies on 16 August at Balıkesir’s Kuvayı Milliye Square, where leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu is expected to give a comprehensive assessment of the bill and set out the party’s political road map, with emphasis on the Turkish flag, national unity and the unitary state; Balıkesir was reportedly chosen for its symbolic association with the Kuvayı Milliye national resistance movement.
Investigation opened into TİP Istanbul MP Sera Kadıgil
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into Saliha Sera Kadıgil, an Istanbul MP for the Turkish Workers’ Party (TİP), over remarks she made about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a speech at a rally in İzmir. According to the prosecutor’s office, the investigation was opened on charges of “insulting the President” and “making threats” in connection with her comments during the speech at the TİP rally held in İzmir on 31 July 2026.
İmamoğlu hits out at mayoral defections: ‘How can you sell what isn’t yours?’
Ekrem İmamoğlu, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality mayor held in Silivri Prison, has issued a written statement condemning the recent defection of several mayors to the AK Party, alleging that elected mayors are being forced to switch parties under pressure, imprisonment and the threat of prosecution. In the message, shared via the presidential candidate office account, İmamoğlu argued that municipalities that could not be won at the ballot box were being pursued through state power and the judicial mechanism, calling this damaging to democracy and the national will and a sign of the government’s final period. Referring to President Erdoğan’s phrase “new-generation organisation”, he claimed that the will of elected figures was being disregarded in what he described as an unprecedented episode in Turkey’s democratic history. Insisting that the national will is expressed at the ballot box, İmamoğlu said attempts to alter election results using the judiciary and state power were unacceptable, that those supporting the process would one day answer to the public conscience, and — declaring that “both the word and the offices belong to the nation” — asked how anyone could sell what was not theirs.
İBB acting head Nuri Aslan: one plot ‘sold’ 185 times
Nuri Aslan, acting head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), has said inspections found that the same development right had been used repeatedly and that around 520,000 square metres of additional building rights had been created through contentious transactions. Saying he had stayed silent until now in the expectation that the relevant officials at Tuzla Municipality would comply with the law, Aslan stated that in one instance a development right that could normally be used only once had been transferred to different plots 185 times, and that of 1,025 plots examined, 884 were found to have improper, incomplete documentation. He announced that the inspection report had been sent simultaneously to the relevant ministries, the chief public prosecutor’s office and Tuzla Municipality on 12 June 2026 to initiate judicial and administrative processes, stressing that the matter had no political dimension and was one of law and the public interest rather than investment or politics. Aslan argued that it was not legally possible for the İBB Assembly to bring in a zoning amnesty to erase the irregularities — such a measure could only be enacted by parliament — and said the problem would be resolved if those who had gained unfairly donated to Tuzla Municipality the amenity area or expropriation value corresponding to the 520,000 square metres of excess development transfer, adding that the matter had been referred to the İBB Inspection Board.
Operation targets Etimesgut Municipality: mayor Erdal Beşikçioğlu arrested
Forty people, among them Mayor Erdal Beşikçioğlu, have been arrested as part of a corruption investigation into Etimesgut Municipality conducted by the Ankara West Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Following statements at the Ankara West Courthouse, 44 people were referred to the on-duty magistrate’s court with a request for their arrest; 40 were remanded in custody, while judicial control measures were imposed on four others. The prosecutor’s office had launched the investigation over allegations of irregularities in certain tenders, the drawing up of false documents, and the obtaining of improper benefits in matters such as car park leasing and zoning and permit procedures for construction projects. Drawing on Court of Accounts reports, statements made under effective remorse provisions, complainants’ accounts, CİMER applications, audio and video recordings, and financial and telephone-record analysis, 55 suspects — 42 of them municipal staff and 13 company officials — had been detained on charges including establishing and running an organisation for the purpose of committing crime, membership of such an organisation, embezzlement, bribery, extortion, rigging tenders and rigging the performance of contracts. Ten of the suspects referred to the courthouse had been released under judicial control, while one suspect remains in hospital receiving treatment.