Politics
📰🏗️ Three Years On from the 6 February Earthquakes: Bricks Are Rising, Recovery Remains Fragile
Three years after the devastating 6 February earthquakes, the region has made visible progress in physical reconstruction, yet long-term economic recovery remains delicate and uneven. While housing and infrastructure projects have accelerated, business leaders warn that lasting recovery is being held back by job losses, difficulties accessing finance, rising costs and the growing pressure of loan repayments. Across the quake-hit provinces, chambers of commerce and industry agree that short-term support was essential but insufficient: what is now needed are long-term, resilience-focused economic policies that protect employment, extend incentives, ease financing and embed disaster risk into industrial planning. Despite the determination shown by manufacturers, traders and workers, the consensus is clear — without sustained, structural support, economic and social recovery will continue to lag behind the pace of construction.
🗳️⏳ Early Election Talk Rekindled: AKP’s Elitaş Floats November Timeline
Turkey’s early election debate resurfaced after AKP Deputy Chair Mustafa Elitaş suggested that, if elections were to be brought forward, November would be the most suitable period, citing seasonal and practical considerations. Speaking to journalists, Elitaş said a general election could plausibly take place in November 2027, with local elections following in November 2028 — or even 2029 — stressing this was a personal assessment shaped by decades of electoral experience. His remarks came despite recent firm statements from MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli ruling out any early vote, underlining growing tension and mixed signals within the ruling alliance over the election calendar.
🕵️♂️🪨 From Marble Trading to Espionage: Turkish Intelligence Nabs Alleged Mossad Operatives
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) has detained two individuals accused of working for Israel’s Mossad following a long-running counter-intelligence operation known as the “MONITUM Activity”. According to investigators, mining engineer Mehmet Budak Derya built an international marble trading business after opening a quarry in Mersin’s Silifke district, a commercial profile that allegedly drew the attention of Israeli intelligence. Prosecutors say this business relationship evolved into covert cooperation, with Derya and his associate Veysel Kerimoğlu accused of gathering and passing sensitive information, expanding trade links to gain access to contacts in the Middle East, and later attempting to set up front companies abroad to infiltrate international supply chains on Mossad’s behalf. After years of surveillance and coordination with prosecutors and counter-terror police, Turkish authorities moved in and placed both suspects under arrest.
🏛️🔄 Shake-up at SGK and Banking Regulator: Pensions Chief Raci Kaya Dismissed
A raft of senior appointments and dismissals has been published in Turkey’s Official Gazette with President Erdoğan’s signature, bringing a significant reshuffle at the Social Security Institution (SGK) and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). SGK President Raci Kaya, who drew public backlash last year after remarks seen as critical of pensioners, has been removed from his post and replaced by Yunus Elitaş. Kaya has instead been appointed as a member of the BDDK, while several senior officials at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the SGK have also been dismissed or reassigned, marking one of the most wide-ranging bureaucratic changes in recent months.
⚖️🩺 Top Court Backs Non-Payment for Family Doctors Who Stopped Work Over Union Action
Turkey’s Presidency of the Council of State (Danıştay) has ruled that family doctors who stopped work in line with union decisions are not entitled to payment for the days they did not attend work, overturning earlier rulings by lower administrative courts in favour of physicians. The court held that while participation in trade union activity itself cannot be sanctioned, existing regulations do not permit payment for days not worked unless they fall within clearly defined exceptions, and that withholding pay in such circumstances does not amount to a breach of trade union rights. The majority decision draws a clear line between the right to industrial action and entitlement to wages, and is expected to have wide implications for unions and healthcare workers alike.
Opposition Parties (RPP and others)
🕯️🚶 Özgür Özel Joins Silent March in Adıyaman on Third Anniversary of the 6 February Earthquakes
On the third anniversary of the 6 February earthquakes, thousands gathered in Adıyaman for a silent overnight march to commemorate those who lost their lives, with CHP leader Özgür Özel taking part alongside families of the victims. Beginning before dawn, the procession moved from the governor’s office to the city’s iconic clock tower, frozen at 04:17 — the moment the earthquake struck — where carnations were laid in remembrance. Mourners carried flowers, observed a moment of silence and chanted calls for justice, as rescue workers and miners who had joined the original search efforts led the march. Speaking afterwards, Özel described the recent release of Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar as the end of a grave injustice, reiterating that the principle should always be trial without detention and underlining that accountability and remembrance must go hand in hand.
🗳️📣 Fatih Erbakan Enters Presidential Race: “It’s Very Hard for the AK Party to Reach 50+1”
The leader of the New Welfare Party, Fatih Erbakan, has announced that he will run for president, saying it would no longer be politically or logically viable to step aside in favour of another candidate. Speaking on Sözcü TV, Erbakan sharply criticised the government’s economic and justice policies, arguing that public discontent is driving a serious erosion of support for the ruling bloc and making a first-round victory increasingly unlikely. He rejected any move to grant Abdullah Öcalan a “right to hope”, calling instead for a referendum if such a step were contemplated, and voiced support for banning social media use for under-16s.
⚖️🕊️ Interim Ruling in Aktaş Case: Court Orders Release of Nine, Including Mayor Zeydan Karalar
An Istanbul court has ordered the release of nine defendants — among them Adana Metropolitan Mayor Zeydan Karalar — in the high-profile “Aziz İhsan Aktaş Criminal Organisation” trial, issuing an interim ruling after weeks of testimony. While prosecutors sought the continued detention of 30 defendants, the court cited the length of custody and imposed travel bans as a judicial control measure for those released. Twenty-four defendants, including several CHP-linked municipal figures, will remain in custody. The trial will continue next week with hearings from defendants currently being tried without detention.
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