Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
🌍 Magnitude 4.7 Earthquake Strikes Antalya’s Demre District
A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Demre district in Antalya at 08:48, at a depth of 16.17 kilometres, according to AFAD. The tremor caused brief panic but no damage or casualties were reported. A 2.4 magnitude aftershock followed.
⚖️ ‘A Crumb of Justice, But a Victory’ — Four Police Officers Jailed Six Years Each in Onur Yaser Can Case
Sixteen years after narcotics officers subjected 28-year-old Onur Yaser Can to a strip search, torture, and threats during a 2010 detention that drove him to suicide, an Istanbul court has sentenced four of those officers to six years in prison each for destroying and falsifying official documents — and declined to apply good conduct discounts on the grounds that none had shown remorse. The conviction covers only the document destruction charge; the officers have never been tried for torture, sexual harassment, or driving a person to suicide, and Ezgi Sevgi Can — the only surviving member of the family, her mother and father both having died in the years since Onur’s death — described the verdict as “a crumb of justice” and a precedent that cracks the culture of impunity, whilst vowing to see the officers prosecuted for torture as well. The path to today’s verdict was extraordinarily long: an initial conviction in 2019 was partially quashed and retried, a 2023 ruling was overturned by an appeals court on the procedural question of good conduct discounts, and today’s rehearing reinstated the six-year sentences without reduction. A separate torture investigation against the same four officers is ongoing at Istanbul’s public prosecutor’s office.
💊 19 Sent to Court in Celebrity Drugs Operation as Actor and Singer Named But Found Abroad
Nineteen people have been sent to Istanbul courthouse following a drugs investigation targeting prominent public figures, with two further suspects detained overnight to bring the total to 19. The investigation covers charges of purchasing, accepting, or possessing narcotics for personal use, facilitating drug use, and soliciting or procuring prostitution. Among those detained are Samet Demirok, Özlem Parlu, Oğuz Sarıpınar, Elif Karaarslan, and fifteen others named in the prosecutor’s file. Separately, arrest warrants have been issued for actor İlker İnanoğlu and singer Cem Adrian, both of whom are believed to be abroad. The operation involved searches at restaurants and entertainment venues in Istanbul’s Bebek, Kuruçeşme, and Etiler neighbourhoods.
⚖️ Lawyer Who Insulted Murdered Academic Ceren Damar During Trial Banned From Practice for One Year
Ankara Bar Association’s Disciplinary Board has found that Vahit Bıçak, the defence lawyer in the Ceren Damar Şenel murder case who caused widespread outrage with remarks directed at the victim during court proceedings, acted in breach of professional conduct rules and the sanctity of the legal profession. The board imposed a fine of 868 lira and noted that Bıçak had already been sentenced to one year, five months, and fifteen days in prison for insulting the memory of the deceased, with a one-year ban on exercising his right of attorney to follow upon completion of that sentence. Ceren Damar Şenel, an academic at Ankara University, was shot and stabbed to death in her office on 2 January 2019 by a student she had caught cheating. Bıçak’s courtroom remarks about her had prompted a formal complaint from the victim’s family and a criminal prosecution that resulted in his conviction before the disciplinary process was concluded.
🚔 Three More Sent to Court Over Israeli Consulate Attack as Two Assailants Remain Under Treatment
Three of the six people currently in detention in connection with the armed attack on a police checkpoint near the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district have been sent to Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse following the completion of police processing and health checks. The two attackers identified as Onur Çelik and Ahmet İmrak remain under medical treatment, whilst processing continues for a sixth detainee. Of the 12 people sent to court on 11 April in the same investigation, nine were remanded in custody on charges of armed terrorist organisation membership, two were released under judicial supervision, and one was freed entirely. Police said the nine remanded suspects were found to have knowingly and willingly participated in ISIS’s hierarchical structure and carried out armed activities in line with the organisation’s objectives.
📊 Turkey’s Money Laundering Caseload Reaches Nearly 13,000 Files With 18,000 Defendants
Turkey’s criminal courts held 12,629 active money laundering files at the end of 2025, with a total of 17,969 defendants and 28,477 recorded offences, according to Justice Ministry data reported by BirGün. The vast majority of files — 10,145 — were opened in 2024, with 2,396 carrying over from the previous year. Despite the scale of the caseload, only 2,304 of the nearly 18,000 defendants appeared before a judge during 2025, and just 424 received convictions. The figures come as Turkey’s history with the Financial Action Task Force draws renewed attention: the country was placed on FATF’s grey list in 2010, removed in 2014, placed back on it in October 2021 for insufficient progress on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and finally removed again in 2024.
Politics
👶 Opposition Raises Parental Equality Concerns Over 24-Week Maternity Leave Bill
As parliament continues debating the bill extending paid maternity leave from 16 to 24 weeks, opposition MPs and women’s rights groups have welcomed the change whilst arguing it fails to address the root cause of unequal childcare burdens. CHP MP Gamze Taşcıer said the bill’s ideological flaw lies in treating childcare as a female role rather than a shared parental responsibility, arguing that without non-transferable paternity leave the workload cannot be genuinely shared and the result is social policy built on gender roles rather than rights. Yeni Yol MP Elif Esen raised the practical question of who will look after the child once the extended leave ends, calling for free childcare provision, flexible and remote working models, and rational policy to reverse declining birth rates. Women’s platform EŞİK called for free quality public nurseries in every neighbourhood, equal and non-transferable parental leave for both mothers and fathers, and public financing of care work rather than leaving it to the market or women’s sacrifice.
🚫 Turkey Denies Erdoğan Said Attacks on Iran or Lebanon Would Be Treated as Attacks on Turkey
Turkey’s Disinformation Combat Centre has flatly denied social media claims attributing to President Erdoğan the statement that any attack on Iran or Lebanon would be considered an attack on Turkey, describing the quote as entirely fabricated. The centre said the false attribution is designed to drag Turkey into conflict and crisis, undermine its role as a constructive voice for regional peace, and create misleading perceptions in international public opinion through political manipulation. It urged the public to disregard such content and rely only on official sources.
📞 Fidan Calls Pakistani Counterpart After Islamabad Nuclear Talks End Without Deal
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has spoken by telephone with Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar to discuss the direct negotiations between Iranian and US delegations held in Islamabad, which US Vice President JD Vance confirmed ended without an agreement after 21 hours of talks. Vance said the outcome was worse news for Iran than for the United States, whilst Iranian media attributed the failure to reach a framework agreement to excessive American demands.
Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
🌍 Bahçeli Calls for ‘World Peace Council’ of Major Powers After Iran-US Talks Collapse
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has proposed the creation of a World Peace Council following the failure of Iran-US negotiations in Islamabad, warning that the breakdown has brought Third World War scenarios into more serious discussion. Bahçeli called on the UN Secretary-General António Guterres to convene the United States, Russia, China, Turkey, and the European Union within a new World Peace Council mechanism to develop fresh measures, and suggested Turkey could host such an initiative.
🕊️ Öcalan ‘Disturbed’ by Operations Against CHP and Wants Legal Status as Lead Negotiator, Says DEM Delegation Member Buldan
DEM Party İmralı delegation member Pervin Buldan has given a wide-ranging assessment of the peace process, revealing that Abdullah Öcalan has expressed personal discomfort with the ongoing operations and detentions targeting CHP, viewing them as incompatible with the democratisation the process requires. Buldan said Öcalan believes CHP needs to take bolder steps in support of the process, whilst acknowledging that the party is under intense pressure from its own base and internal organs. She said the DEM delegation has raised the issue of pressure on CHP with President Erdoğan directly, though without receiving a substantive response. On the process itself, Buldan said it is at a point of no return and moving forward, but that both sides are waiting for concrete steps — the state wants to see more tangible action from PKK beyond the weapons-burning ceremony, whilst the Kurdish side sees no progress on democratisation, with kayyum appointments continuing, politicians including Demirtaş still jailed, and opposition under pressure. On the legislative timeline, Buldan said the necessary laws must pass before parliament recesses in July, noting that April now looks difficult and May or June more realistic. She stressed that any legislation must be negotiated with Öcalan himself before reaching the floor, because only he can get his organisation to accept it. On Öcalan’s status, she said he needs a formal legal position — whether as chief negotiator or another defined role — to allow the process to accelerate, adding that he does not want the process conducted on a purely de facto basis without a recognised title. Öcalan’s own words on the armed struggle, as relayed by Buldan, remain unambiguous: “The era of armed struggle is over and closed. PKK is finished. A new period has begun.”
🩺 Nationalist Chants After Defeat at Ankara Medical Association Elections
The progressive Ankara Çağdaş Hekimler (Contemporary Physicians) group has won the Ankara Medical Association elections, prompting members of the defeated Beyaz Önlük Dayanışması (White Coat Solidarity) group to respond to the result by chanting “We are the soldiers of Alparslan Türkeş” — a reference to the founder of the MHP and the Grey Wolves movement.
Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
🗳️ Özel Hails Hungary Election as Proof That ‘People’s Will Is Stronger Than One-Man Rule’
CHP leader Özgür Özel has congratulated Peter Magyar and the Tisza party on their victory in Hungary’s elections, framing Viktor Orbán’s defeat after 16 years in power as a victory for democracy and a warning to authoritarians everywhere. Özel said those who use democracy’s tools to become authoritarian will ultimately be defeated, and that those who place themselves above the rule of law have been beaten — pointedly adding that Orbán, his “full supporter” Trump, and their associates have lost. He saluted the Hungarian people for their resolve in changing an authoritarian government through the ballot box, calling it part of a global democratic wave.
🏚️ IBB Trial Detainees Describe Overcrowding, Medication Through Cell Grates, and Tuberculosis Quarantine
Defendants and their lawyers in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality trial have presented the court with a series of disturbing accounts of conditions in pre-trial detention. IBB Digital Publications Coordinator Ulaş Yılmaz said detainees in his ward had been sleeping on the floor for over two months and that two people from the same unit had died. Urban planner Nuri Cem Ceylan described a tick infestation in a 60-person ward, inability to access medication, and sores developing on their bodies. The lawyer for detainee Güldem Şık alleged her client had been placed in solitary confinement on suspicion of suicidal intent, and that when Şık fell ill she was offered medication passed through the cell grate rather than receiving proper medical attention — which the lawyer described as incompatible with human dignity. IBB Smart Cities directorate employee İsmet Korkmaz said he had been sleeping on the floor for six months and was being held alongside people detained on drug charges. Advertiser Yusuf Utku Şahin said accessing the prison infirmary was extremely difficult and that he waited a long time despite serious illness. The lawyer for Mustafa Keleş — son of IBB Sports Club president Fatih Keleş — said his client had been placed in tuberculosis quarantine twice and was unable to see a doctor. The lawyer for Kahraman Yeşilyurt said 75 people were being held in a ward designed for 21, and that his client had fainted three times.
🚔 CHP Ankara Provincial Chair Erkol Remanded in Custody Over İzmir Cooperative Fraud Investigation
A duty magistrate has remanded CHP Ankara provincial chair Ümit Erkol and eight others in custody on charges of embezzlement and forgery of official documents in connection with an investigation into alleged financial irregularities at İZBETON AŞ, a subsidiary of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, carried out through the Gaziemir Construction Cooperative. Erkol, detained in Ankara on 9 April and transferred to İzmir, is alleged to have held management responsibilities in the cooperative between 2022 and 2024 covering virtually all periods under financial suspicion, with the investigation file also said to include an allegation that his son’s company was among the firms that submitted bids to the cooperative. The broader investigation covers charges of embezzlement, aggravated fraud, document forgery, and negligence of supervisory duties, with one suspect said to be abroad.
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