First and foremost, apologies for the missing bulletin — a few complications came up last Friday (17th April), so I wasn't able to put one together. But now we have a fresh start and a week ahead of us.
Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
🔍 Investigation Launched After 26-Year-Old Naval Officer Found Shot Dead at Home in Muğla
A 26-year-old naval officer, Second Lieutenant Ümit Mete Erez, who served at the Marmaris Aksaz Naval Base, has been found dead from a gunshot wound at his home in Muğla’s Menteşe district. Friends discovered him covered in blood and called emergency services, but paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Police have launched an investigation and the precise circumstances of his death are yet to be established.
⚖️ Expert Report Finds Strong Visual Evidence of Physical Contact in Parliament Canteen Harassment Case
A court-appointed expert who examined security camera footage from the kitchen area of the Grand National Assembly’s canteen has found strong visual evidence that one of the defendants in the parliamentary intern harassment case made physical contact with a female trainee student. The six-page report, prepared following a request by Ankara 57th Civil Court of First Instance, covers footage from 24 September 2025 and concludes that the defendant — identified as D. — extended his right arm towards the trainee’s left side and waist area in a manner consistent with physical contact. The expert described the interaction as going beyond verbal communication and containing elements of physical proximity and contact, though noted that definitive technical conclusions on certain specifics were limited by the single fixed camera angle, absence of audio, and resolution quality. The report states that a strong visual impression was formed that the defendant’s right hand made contact with, or came close enough to make contact with, the left side of the victim’s waist during a close-range interaction.
🚨 Students Protest in Ankara and Istanbul Over Death of KTÜ Student İlayda Zorlu — Police Intervene, Arrests Made
Students took to the streets in Ankara and Istanbul following the death of Karadeniz Technical University student İlayda Zorlu, whose passing on 17 April was initially reported locally as a suicide but which student groups say resulted from family threats triggered by police contacting her family about her participation in protests and a Women’s Day march. In Ankara, students gathered on Yüksel Caddesi, with police intervening and more than ten people detained; one person affected by pepper spray was taken to hospital. In Istanbul, students who assembled outside Kadıköy’s Süreyya Opera House were surrounded by a heavy police cordon with multiple detention vehicles deployed, and three people including Halkevleri general chair Evrim Çakır were detained. Local residents who came out to support the students were also pushed back by security forces, and street access in the area was being sealed off. Student groups say Zorlu was threatened by her family after police informed them she had been attending demonstrations, and describe her death not as suicide but as a killing facilitated by state pressure.
Politics
🌍 Erdoğan at Antalya Diplomacy Forum: ‘We Are at a Serious and Dangerous Threshold’
President Erdoğan opened the Antalya Diplomacy Forum with a wide-ranging address warning that the world faces not only a crisis of power but a crisis of direction, describing the current moment as a serious and dangerous threshold at which the rules-based international order has proven incapable of protecting civilians or stopping aggressors. Citing Gaza, where he said 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, 172,000 wounded, and 21,000 children lost their lives since October 2023, Erdoğan declared that what is unfolding there is not merely a humanitarian tragedy but a genocide that reveals who the current order protects and what it chooses to ignore. He welcomed the 15-day Iran-US ceasefire, crediting Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif’s mediation, but warned that Israel must not be allowed to sabotage the process and that the opportunity must be used for lasting peace. On the Hormuz Strait, he said commercial passage must remain open and that Turkey is ready to cooperate with neighbours on energy connectivity and alternative routes. On Ukraine, he said Turkey remains ready to facilitate direct negotiations including a leaders’ summit if both sides are willing. On Syria, he praised President Sharaa’s leadership and reaffirmed Turkey’s support. Erdoğan also announced that Turkey will host the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Ankara on 7-8 July, and will host COP31 in Antalya in November. He closed by invoking Ibn Khaldun’s concept of social solidarity, saying the real task facing the international community is not building new institutions but building a new foundation of solidarity against the forces of war and genocide.
📖 Erdoğan’s Antalya Forum Speech Published as Book in Three Languages as Forum Draws 460 Senior Participants From 150+ Countries
The Presidential Communications Directorate has published President Erdoğan’s opening address at the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkish, English, and Arabic as a standalone volume. The forum, held under the theme “Shaping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties,” attracted more than 20 heads of state and government, around 15 vice presidents and deputy heads of government, over 50 ministers including more than 40 foreign ministers, and 75 international organisation representatives among a total of 460-plus senior participants from more than 150 countries. In the speech, Erdoğan argued that the international system faces a moral and existential crisis, citing Gaza as the clearest evidence of structural decay and a legitimacy crisis, and called for the representation gap encapsulated in Turkey’s “the world is greater than five” slogan to be addressed as a prerequisite for any meaningful reform of the global order.
🏛️ IPU 152nd General Assembly Closes With Unanimous ‘Istanbul Declaration’ as Next Meeting Heads to Tanzania
The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 152nd General Assembly has concluded in Istanbul with the unanimous adoption of the Istanbul Declaration, a document centred on the theme of fostering hope, securing peace, and ensuring justice for future generations. The declaration expresses concern over rising armed conflicts, geopolitical tensions, serious violations of international law, the threat of terrorism and extremism, the weakening of democratic institutions, the spread of disinformation, and the erosion of the idea that peace can only be achieved through dialogue rather than force. It calls on parliaments to strengthen their oversight of governments’ adherence to international humanitarian law, protect civilians in armed conflict, develop responsible governance frameworks for new technologies including artificial intelligence, and work towards democratic and inclusive governance. The assembly also adopted resolutions on post-conflict governance mechanisms, combating trade protectionism, tax avoidance, and disability rights. An emergency resolution supporting ceasefire processes in crisis regions including the Middle East was also passed. The meeting drew 115 parliamentary delegations and was chaired by TBMM Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş. Outgoing IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong received a farewell ceremony, and Tanzania was announced as the host of the 153rd General Assembly in October 2026.
🕊️ ‘This World Cannot Continue as It Is’ — Kurtulmuş Closes IPU Assembly With Call for New Global Architecture
Parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş closed the 152nd IPU General Assembly with a blunt assessment of the state of the world, declaring that humanity is living through an extraordinarily turbulent period in which conflicts, proxy wars, trade wars, poverty, famine, and an unprecedented environmental crisis have spread to virtually every corner of the globe — and that almost all of these catastrophes are human-made rather than natural. Kurtulmuş said the world needs a new path, a new understanding, and a new direction built on foundations of equity, justice, and respect for human dignity, and that without such a foundation no international institution can function effectively. He called for a new global architecture in both political and economic spheres, to be built through inter-parliamentary dialogue and international cooperation, and said the goal must be to forge a path determined not by the loudest or most powerful voices but by the common understanding, common benefit, and common future of eight billion people. He described the unanimous adoption of both the Istanbul Declaration and the emergency resolution on ceasefire processes as a consensus that the IPU had not achieved for a long time, and praised all delegations for their contribution. The next IPU General Assembly will be hosted by Tanzania in October 2026.
🏫 Parliament to Form Commission Investigating School Attacks as Social Media Bill and Maternity Leave Also on This Week’s Agenda
Turkey’s Grand National Assembly will hold a general debate on Tuesday on the recent school shootings in Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş, after which all parties are expected to agree by consensus to establish a three-month investigative commission that will hear all relevant parties and experts and determine what preventive measures are needed. The legislative agenda for the week also includes the bill banning social media for children under 15 and extending maternity leave to 24 weeks. The Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs Commission will separately assess the practical impact of the August 2024 legislation on stray dogs.
🌍 Fidan: Turkey-Saudi Arabia-Pakistan-Egypt Mechanism Taking Concrete Steps as Region Faces Serious Political Crises
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has given a wide-ranging assessment of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which he said drew 6,400 participants from 150 countries and 66 international organisations including 23 heads of state and government, 13 vice presidents, and 50 ministers across 52 sessions over three days. On the regional crisis, Fidan said a quadrilateral meeting of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt had produced a shared agenda for supporting peace and stability and establishing permanent freedom of navigation, describing the four countries as a core grouping representing the wider region. He said the region has consistently failed to realise its own potential because it has not used the cooperation tools available to it, and warned that if it continues waiting for outside saviours it will remain stuck with the same problems indefinitely. Contrasting Turkey’s approach with what he described as Israel and Greek Cyprus working together to build a military alliance against Muslim countries in the region, Fidan said Turkey’s orientation is towards extinguishing conflicts, achieving economic progress, and establishing stability. On the global economy, he said sessions covered how to balance national and global priorities amid rising protectionism and how to preserve multilateralism. He also noted that the Gaza Peace Plan implementation process is continuing, and that the eight-country group behind its launch had met at leader level in New York in 2025.
🚫 Seven-Day Blanket Ban on All Demonstrations Imposed in District Where İmralı Prison Island Is Located
Gemlik district governorate in Bursa has imposed a sweeping seven-day ban on all public gatherings, marches, press statements, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and banner or poster displays in the district from midnight on 19 April through to midnight on 25 April, citing intelligence that groups linked to PKK were planning a march and press statement in support of Abdullah Öcalan on 19 April. Gemlik is the district where İmralı Island — where Öcalan is imprisoned — is located. The ban also covers road access to the district, with security forces authorised to block vehicles and individuals travelling to Gemlik from surrounding provinces and districts for protest purposes. The governorate said the measures are based on the Law on Meetings and Demonstration Marches and the Provincial Administration Law.
🏥 ‘Democratic Participation’ Group Wins Istanbul Medical Chamber Election Amid Clashes
The Istanbul Medical Chamber (İTO) concluded its new-term Board elections today across 106 ballot boxes, with the Democratic Participation Group securing victory by roughly 1,000 votes — nearly 60 per cent of the total — and Dr Talat Kırış elected as the new chair. The vote, held between 9am and 5pm at Zeytinburnu 100th Year Technical and Anatolian High School, drew notable participants including Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu and DİSK President Arzu Çerkezoğlu. Tensions had already been brewing before polling day, after the rival Change Group and the Turkish Doctors’ Union submitted near-identical candidate lists overnight — a move that raised eyebrows among members — while the Change Group’s “Participating doctors want change” banner added to the unease. As Democratic Participation pulled ahead during counting, the atmosphere soured: members of the Change Group began chanting the takbir while Democratic Participation supporters responded with anti-Erdoğan slogans, prompting a scuffle between the two camps that was only broken up by police intervention. Dr Nedim Uzun stood for the Change Group and Dr Salih Aydın for the Turkish Doctors’ Union, but neither came close to Kırış’s decisive margin.
🏫 Kahramanmaraş Education Director Dismissed After School Shooting
The Ministry of National Education has announced the removal of Erhan Baydur from his post as Kahramanmaraş Provincial Director of National Education, following an armed attack at a secondary school in the province. In a statement issued on 19 April 2026, the Ministry said the decision was taken as part of ongoing assessments into the incident at Ayser Çalık Secondary School, located in the Haydarbey neighbourhood of the Onikişubat district.
Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
⚖️ Gülistan Doku Investigation: Former Governor’s Son Denies Allegations in Newly Surfaced Testimony
The testimony of Mustafa Türkay Sonel — son of the former Tunceli Governor and a suspect arrested in the investigation into the disappearance of university student Gülistan Doku — has come to light, in which he denies knowing Doku and rejects all allegations against him. Doku vanished on 5 January 2020, and prosecutors now allege she was killed, with her belongings later planted near a dam to create the appearance of suicide. In his statement, Sonel insisted he had never met Doku, had no contact with her, and first heard her name through media coverage of her disappearance; he also denied deleting any of her social media data or owning a firearm, claiming his interest lay only in paintball-style guns used recreationally in his garden. Pressed on mobile phone base station records placing him in the relevant area — including a trip from Elazığ to Tunceli on 5 May 2020 with no corresponding outbound journey recorded — Sonel declined to comment, and argued that shared base signals did not prove individuals were in the same location. A gendarmerie report cited in the file states that ground-penetrating radar conducted on 12 January 2025 near a cemetery in the Koçpınar village of Pertek district detected signs that a body had been buried and then exhumed within the previous one to two years, possibly alongside a rucksack-like object and a weapon. A secret witness has alleged that Sonel and fellow suspect Umut Altaş killed Doku, after which the former governor’s bodyguard, Şükrü Eroğlu, buried the body at the site. Sonel dismissed the allegations as a “character assassination” against him and his family, describing himself as an ordinary final-year university student who should be preparing for exams. Those currently remanded in custody include Sonel on charges of “aggravated sexual assault” and “intentional homicide”; Erdoğan Elaldı, an employee of the Tunceli Special Provincial Administration, on homicide charges; Ferhat Güven for robbery; Doku’s former boyfriend Zeinal Abakarov, his former-police stepfather Engin Yücer and mother Cemile Yücer, along with Celal Altaş, Nurşen Arıkan and bodyguard Şükrü Eroğlu, on charges of concealing, altering or destroying evidence; and Gökhan Ertok on charges of illegally obtaining personal data and tampering with evidence.
💼 Former Governor’s Bodyguard Testifies in Gülistan Doku Case: ‘I Sent Money From My Own Account and Was Reimbursed in Cash’
The testimony of Şükrü Eroğlu, bodyguard to former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel, has emerged as part of the investigation into the disappearance of university student Gülistan Doku, who went missing on 5 January 2020. The probe — which has seen raids across seven provinces and ten people remanded in custody out of thirteen detained — has placed the former governor at the centre of serious allegations. Rejecting claims that he served as Sonel’s “black box”, Eroğlu insisted, “I am no one’s black box. I merely served as Governor Tuncay Sonel’s bodyguard.” In his statement to the Tunceli Provincial Gendarmerie Command, Eroğlu said Sonel had personally handed him a half-sized A4 envelope to be sent to Ankara with instructions to forward it to Gökhan — understood to be police officer Gökhan Ertok, who is seeking to benefit from “effective remorse” provisions in the investigation — adding that the governor later told him the envelope had contained Gülistan Doku’s SIM card. Eroğlu maintained that he had been unaware of the contents at the time, having collected the envelope from a bus and delivered it to the governor as “the file sent by Gökhan”. On the matter of money transfers to Ertok, Eroğlu stated that Sonel would occasionally ask him to “send pocket money”, prompting him to transfer funds from his own bank account to Ertok, after which the governor would reimburse him in cash — all, he said, carried out on the governor’s instructions.
🏫 New School Security Plan Unveiled in Turkey: ‘Risk Analysis’ and Social Media Monitoring on the Agenda
Following the school attack in Kahramanmaraş that claimed ten lives, Turkish authorities have drawn up a new security plan aimed at tightening measures in educational institutions. According to an exclusive report by T24, the new arrangements — to be coordinated jointly by the Ministries of the Interior and National Education — will include “risk analysis” assessments of pupils, alongside the monitoring of their behaviour and social media activity. The plan envisages stationing police or gendarmerie officers at school entrances, reinforcing security in the surrounding areas during arrival and dismissal times, and establishing regular coordination between security forces and school administrations. One of the most striking elements of the scheme is the profiling of pupils deemed “problematic” or to be displaying “suspicious behaviour” by school management, with cybercrime units of the police and gendarmerie set to monitor their social media accounts and intelligence agencies also providing support. A separate monitoring mechanism will be established for pupils whose families own firearms, with authorities planning to contact parents directly to advise them on preventing access to weapons.
AKP MP Süleyman Soylu’s Uncle Laid to Rest in Istanbul
Hakkı Soylu, uncle of AKP Istanbul MP Süleyman Soylu, has passed away and was laid to rest at Eyüpsultan Cemetery following funeral prayers at Haznedar Merkez Mosque. The ceremony was attended by Soylu, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, Ümraniye Mayor İsmet Yıldırım, fellow MPs, and the family.
Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
🇺🇸 CHP Blasts Erdoğan’s Silence Over US Ambassador Barrack’s Controversial Remarks
Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP, has sharply criticised President Erdoğan and the ruling party for their silence following provocative remarks by the US Ambassador to Ankara, Tom Barrack, at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. CHP Deputy Chair and İzmir MP Gökçe Gökçen argued that while the government routinely lashes out at its own citizens and the opposition, it has offered no response whatsoever to Barrack’s comments. In a post on social media, Gökçen said: “There is no reply from Erdoğan, his ministers or party leaders to Tom Barrack’s brazen words. Complete silence reigns. When Barrack says, ‘You are lacking — what use is democracy or the Republic to you? What is needed here is a monarchy’ — silence. When he says, ‘We are the ones providing Erdoğan with the legitimacy he needs’ — silence. When he says, ‘The dispute between Israel and Turkey is just a row — nothing more’ — silence. When foreign ministers claim, ‘Erdoğan is begging for a five-minute meeting with Trump’ — silence. They cannot bring themselves to speak a single word in protest, because nothing has changed on that front since the 1st of March motion.” At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Ambassador Barrack had remarked that “the only thing that works in the Middle East is strong leadership regimes — either benevolent monarchies or constitutional-monarchy-style structures”, adding that “countries which don the cloak of democracy and which we have pressured in the name of human rights have failed”.
⛏️ CHP Joins Mining Workers’ March: ‘Government Wants to Silence the Opposition Rather Than Listen to Workers’
Delegations from the CHP’s Ankara Provincial and Etimesgut District branches, together with Party Assembly member Tuğçe Hilal Özkan, have joined miners from Yıldızlar Holding as they entered the seventh day of their march to demand unpaid wages, arriving in Etimesgut. Speaking in support of the workers, CHP Ankara Provincial Secretary Yüksel Işık said Turkey’s fundamental problem was that the government had become incapable of governing, and placed the blame for labourers being denied their rights squarely at its door. Stressing that the Republic is “the refuge of those with no one to turn to, and belongs to the righteous rather than the powerful”, Işık declared: “The Republican People’s Party stands alongside workers and labourers fighting for their rights. As the 1st of May — a day of unity, solidarity and struggle — draws near, it is unacceptable that the government should remain silent while our workers march hungry, thirsty and barefoot. Rather than listening to you workers demanding your rightful earnings, the government is busy trying to silence the opposition by targeting our provincial chair Ümit Erkol and our mayors with operations against them. A country cannot be governed through such oppressive methods. We shall struggle together, and we shall demonstrate to this government — which turns a blind eye to your glorious march — the rightness of this cause. Together, we will put an end to this system of exploitation and build an order in which everyone’s rights are protected and labour is given its due.” Gökay Çakır, President of the Independent Mining Workers’ Union, underscored that the march was being held to protect workers’ rights against exploitation and issued a call for solidarity, urging the public to hear the voices of those on the march. “We shall resist to the very end for our bread,” Çakır declared, “and we shall win.”
🗣️ Tanju Özcan Speaks Out From Prison: ‘I Am Being Subjected to Disgraceful Slander — The Truth Will One Day Emerge’
Tanju Özcan, the suspended elected Mayor of Bolu currently held in Sincan Prison, has issued a forceful response to the investigations being pursued against him, declaring that his words and actions have deeply unsettled those in power. “My words and deeds have greatly, greatly disturbed those in power,” Özcan said. “That is precisely why I am being subjected to these disgraceful slanders. The truth will one day emerge — and God willing, we shall live to see it.” In a statement posted on his social media account, Özcan said he had had enough, recalling that he was arrested on 28 February 2026 for seeking funds to support student bursaries and other charitable services. He added that while behind bars he had been turned from complainant into defendant in a blackmail case he himself had initiated; that Bolu Municipality had been raided and three of his colleagues arrested on the back of allegations made by a contractor affiliated with the DEM Party; that he had been arrested again alongside three colleagues on charges of stealing sacrificial animal donations that had never in fact taken place; and that he had been exposed to deeply humiliating slanders in a blackmail trial heard in his absence. He further noted that a formal investigation had been authorised against him for using, as an official vehicle, the car he had inherited following the election, and that three separate cases had been opened against him simply for reassigning departmental directors. Despite all this, Özcan stressed, “no one has been able to claim that I gained so much as a single kuruş of personal benefit for myself or my relatives”. He acknowledged that he had not been a good husband or father, having devoted himself day and night to his work, but insisted that his record as an MP and mayor spoke for itself at the ballot box, adding that his genuine devotion to his state and his nation was precisely what had made him such a thorn in the side of those in power.
✊ CHP Stages Mass March in Ataşehir for Detained Mayor Adıgüzel: Rally Called for Tomorrow Evening
Thousands took to the streets of Ataşehir as the CHP staged a major protest march against the operation targeting Ataşehir Municipality, which saw Mayor Onursal Adıgüzel taken into custody. Following the march, a statement was read out in front of the town hall, and a rally has been called for 8pm tomorrow evening, to be led by CHP leader Özgür Özel. Addressing the crowd, CHP İstanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik said this was “one of the largest marches in Ataşehir’s history”, noting that the party’s Central Executive Committee would also convene in İstanbul the following day. Çelik stressed that the march had been organised to defend the national will, democracy and the will of the people of Ataşehir, pointing out that Adıgüzel — a veteran party figure who had served in the Youth Branch, as deputy leader, as an MP, and who was subsequently elected mayor with a record vote — was now being held “in a midnight operation, without knowing what he is charged with, in poor conditions in the basement of Vatan Police Headquarters”. In a message read out at the protest, Adıgüzel said he had been detained in the middle of the night at his home, alongside his wife, together with numerous colleagues and municipal bureaucrats, adding: “This operation has been tried many times before — they have convinced no one. Nor will they convince the people of Ataşehir, who know how tirelessly I work day and night. Everyone knows it is aimed at our principle of equal service, at our values, and above all at the will you expressed at the ballot box.” Çelik went on to denounce a country in which “elected mayors are rounded up while criminal gangs roam the streets, the murderers of young people walk free, and children are killed in schools”, arguing that Turkey was gripped by a multi-layered crisis — economic, judicial, political, security and public order — and that dawn raids were being used across the country to mask “the institutional collapse of the state” and the incompetence of those in charge. A message was also read from the CHP’s jailed presidential candidate and suspended İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who argued that the government had “stripped justice and democracy from its life” and was “prepared to do anything, to try every evil, to cling to its seat”, treating the theft of the national will as its sole political strategy. The issue, İmamoğlu said, was not merely one of İstanbul, Bursa or Ataşehir, but concerned the future of the Republic of Turkey itself. “Our struggle is a struggle for the Republic and for democracy,” he concluded. “We shall be one and united. For our children and our future, we shall fight with determination — and together, we shall prevail.”
⚖️ Bank Account Freezes Lifted on Aziz İhsan Aktaş and Four Others Ahead of Second Hearing
A significant development has emerged ahead of the second hearing in the “Aziz İhsan Aktaş Criminal Organisation” case, with the court lifting freezes on the personal bank accounts of five defendants, including Aktaş himself, while former İSFALT General Manager Burak Sıralı has been released from custody between hearings. The İstanbul 1st Heavy Penal Court, which will resume the trial tomorrow, issued the rulings during the interval between sessions. Aktaş — named in the indictment as the “leader of the criminal organisation” and facing up to 704 years in prison — saw his account restrictions lifted alongside those of Baki Nugay, Doğan Aktaş, Özkan Aktaş and Ümit Gözütok. According to reporting by Batuhan Serim for Cumhuriyet, the ruling relates to an earlier precautionary measure imposed by the İstanbul 9th Penal Court of Peace, and a formal notification has been sent to the Banks Association of Turkey. In a further notable development in the same file, Burak Sıralı — whose detention had been extended by an interim ruling on 27 February — has now been released. Under an interim decision announced in February, the foreign travel bans of defendants already subject to judicial control measures were extended, while compulsory attendance orders were issued for four defendants whose testimony could not be taken during the first hearing. Last week, owing to the intensive trial schedule and usage demands at Silivri, it was decided that hearings previously held in Courtroom No. 2 would now be moved to Courtroom No. 6. The court has further ruled that two secret witnesses on the case file, identified by the codenames “Yaprak” and “XYZ49QP”, will be heard on 20 and 22 April respectively — in line with an earlier interim ruling that the testimony of secret witnesses taken during the investigation phase would be heard at the second hearing.
Economy
🕊️ Turkish Industrialist Mahmut Çalık Dies Aged 94
Mahmut Çalık, a leading figure in the Turkish textile industry and the father of Çalık Holding Chairman Ahmet Çalık, has passed away at the age of 94. In a statement released by the holding company, Çalık was remembered as an industrialist who had devoted his life to serving his country, his nation and the land of his birth. His funeral prayers will be held tomorrow at Levent Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Mosque following the midday prayer, after which he will be laid to rest in the family plot at Topkapı Cemetery. Condolences will be received over three days at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski İstanbul, between 4pm and 8pm. Born in the Yeşilyurt district of Malatya in 1932, Çalık was one of Turkey’s foremost industrialists. He founded the İpaş Yarn Factory in 1972 and, in the years that followed, established the Anateks, Malatya İplik, Anateks Anadolu, Malatya Boya and Emprime plants, bringing the first industrial facilities to the region and taking his place among the pioneers of Turkish industry. In recognition of his contributions, Çalık was awarded the “Doyen Textile Industrialist” prize at the International Textile Symposium organised by Ege University in 2010. A noted philanthropist, he opened the Malatya Hasan Çalık Hospital in 1993 in memory of his late father, and in 2012 the Mahmut Çalık Education Complex was inaugurated in the city. Çalık was awarded the State Medal of Distinguished Service in 1999, and received an honorary doctorate from Malatya İnönü University in 2012.
Thanks for reading this far, I will see you tomorrow. ☕