⚖️ Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
Maltepe building collapse: search for people under the rubble continues
The first three floors of a seven-storey building on Doğu Sokak in Istanbul’s Maltepe district collapsed at about 05:40. Governor Davut Gül said the building dates from 1987 and has 33 registered residents. Four flats were damaged, with 14 people registered in them. Twelve people were trapped, and rescuers had pulled out six by the latest update. One of those under the rubble is reportedly a child. Maltepe Mayor Esin Köymen said municipal archives show the top two floors were added illegally after the occupancy permit. Istanbul prosecutors assigned a deputy chief prosecutor and two prosecutors.
Başakşehir school stabbing: 15-year-old suspect and both parents remanded in custody
A court ordered the arrest of the 15-year-old suspect and his parents. The attack happened at about 08:40 on 6 October at a middle school in Kayaşehir. The suspect entered in school uniform with a knife from home. Eight pupils aged 10 to 13 were wounded, and one, a 10-year-old girl, later died in hospital.
Actor Berna Laçin detained over social media post about İzmir
Ankara prosecutors opened an investigation under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code (”inciting hatred or denigrating the public”) over her post saying İzmir “was occupied before”. Istanbul police detained her, and her home in Üsküdar was searched under a court order.
Two men given life sentences for killing journalist Hakan Tosun
A court in Bakırköy sentenced Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin to life imprisonment for intentional killing. Tosun died after being beaten in Esenyurt on the night of 10 October 2025. Defence lawyers had asked for reductions for provocation, and the court granted none. His family and lawyers are demanding that a third man seen on a motorbike in camera footage, Yusuf Özakdağ, be tried as a defendant.
🏛️ Politics
Cevdet Yılmaz briefs parliament: fund liquidation to be based on principal, no public money
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz told the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM) that refunds will come from the funds’ own assets, recovered unlawful gains and seized assets, not public money. He said inflated, manipulated valuations do not reflect real losses, and the principal paid in is what counts. He said he invited AKP group leaders to the Fund Coordination Board because any bill must be prepared with the party group. He also said it is worth discussing a framework for senior officials’ board memberships.
Erdoğan and Putin speak by phone
According to the Communications Directorate, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Vladimir Putin that safe navigation in the Black Sea matters and that Türkiye is ready to help start direct Russia–Ukraine contacts. He also congratulated Putin on his birthday and his party’s Duma election result.
🤝 Ruling Government (AKP, MHP, CHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
Former AKP minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya and husband give statements as suspects in fund probe
Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya and her husband İlyas Kaya testified separately to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. T24 relays this from Yeni Şafak’s reporter. They said they received no direction or insider information on their Özata Denizcilik share trades and denied wrongdoing. İlyas Kaya said he bought about 150,000 lots in April 2026 and she about 250,000 lots, both sold in August and September. Both said they sent their gains to the account named by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). The Capital Markets Board (SPK) is expected to file a criminal complaint, to be added to the file.
Erdoğan at AKP group meeting: thanks Bahçeli, addresses fund scandal and inflation
In his speech at the AKP’s legislative-year opening, Erdoğan thanked MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli for asking him to run again for president. He criticised the opposition, without naming YENİ Parti (New Party), for lacking courtesy at the parliament opening. On the fund scandal, he said those who took people’s money would answer to Turkish courts. He added that investors’ savings would be repaid without a burden on the public. He said September consumer prices rose 1.84 per cent month on month, and annual inflation fell to 29.73 per cent, the first time below 30 per cent in five years. He said he was not satisfied with the level.
Yusuf Beyazıt named AKP group deputy chair after Bekir Bozdağ’s resignation
Erdoğan announced that Tokat MP Yusuf Beyazıt takes the parliamentary group deputy chair post left vacant by Bekir Bozdağ. Cumhuriyet says Bozdağ resigned for health reasons.
AKP’s Güler: no parliamentary inquiry into fund probe “for now”
AKP group chair Abdullah Güler said there is no need at present for a TBMM inquiry commission because “the judiciary is working”. The article notes that Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said on 6 October that 85 suspects had been arrested and 220 people processed.
🗳️ Opposition Parties (New Party and İYİ Party)
İzmir mayor Cemil Tugay joins AKP; resignations follow in İzmir
Erdoğan pinned the AKP badge on İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Cemil Tugay at the AKP’s legislative-year opening meeting. Tugay had quit the CHP on 18 June and served as an independent for about four months. He said he and the AKP family would work to “rebuild” İzmir and met Erdoğan on 30 September. Afterwards, deputy mayor Levent Yıldır and council second deputy chair Elvin Sönmez resigned from their posts. Yıldır will stay on as an independent councillor. YENİ Parti leader Özgür Özel had earlier told the AKP it would never win İzmir at the ballot box.
Separate İBB case: five of six detainees released at first hearing
Istanbul’s 7th High Criminal Court released five of six defendants held since May 2025 in a case split off from the main İBB indictment. They are Arzu Can, Çağatay Takaoğlu, Onur Gülin, Engin Gönül and Faruk Ceyhan. Fikri Murat Demir stays in detention. The 21 July 2026 indictment concerns tenders at the İBB press and public relations department, with charges of bid-rigging, bribery and fraud against public bodies.
Mersin Metropolitan Mayor Vahap Seçer arrested; acting-mayor vote set for 13 October
Mersin Metropolitan Municipality and the Yenişehir and Mezitli district municipalities, all CHP-run, were targeted in a corruption operation on 1 October. Fifty-nine people were detained, and on 6 October 34 were arrested, including Metropolitan Mayor Vahap Seçer, Yenişehir Mayor Abdullah Özyiğit and Mezitli Mayor Ahmet Serkan Tuncer. The Interior Ministry then suspended all three on a temporary basis. It also removed Seçer as president of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye and Tuncer as president of the Eastern Mediterranean Municipalities Union. The charges named were forming a criminal organisation, bribery, bid-rigging and fraud against a public institution. Mersin Metropolitan Municipality will elect an acting mayor on Tuesday 13 October.
Alaplı mayor and nine councillors quit CHP
Nuri Tekin, mayor of Alaplı in Zonguldak and in office for three terms, announced his resignation from the CHP along with nine CHP councillors. He said they would continue as independents and cited “recent developments” in the party without detailing them.
Çeşme Municipality raided over alleged tender irregularities
An İzmir operation over alleged irregularities in tenders and purchases led to the detention of deputy mayor Emre Can Durmaz, zoning and urban planning director Buğçe Sağlamer and acting public works director Furkan Yiğit. bianet says Mayor Lal Denizli was not detained.
YENİ Parti protests outside Constitutional Court against internet blocking powers
YENİ Parti members and others gathered outside the Constitutional Court (AYM) to demand it suspend and annul a July law. The law lets the Cybersecurity Presidency order blocks on content on its own authority. Parliamentary group deputy chair Gökhan Günaydın said blocks must be carried out within four hours and that court review within 24 to 48 hours is not a real safeguard. He called it an operation to make the media pro-government.