Welcome back to the bulletin,
We will start our daily bulletin with the news from bilgi university. Bilgi University, having recently survived being shut down and reopened overnight, has decided the only thing missing from its comeback tour was a mass circumcision festival complete with an Ottoman military band, proving that here, when an institution promises to make a fresh cut, it really commits.
⚖️ Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
And Now This: Bilgi University Hosts a Mass Circumcision Festival
Bilgi University — one of Turkey’s long-established institutions, and lately famous for being shut down overnight before being hastily reopened — has found a fresh way into the headlines by playing host to the Directorate General of Foundations’ annual “Traditional Circumcision Festival.” The day followed an itinerary of impressive thematic range: families and children first gathered in Taksim Square for a city tour by convoy of nostalgic cars, minibuses and motorcycle clubs, escorted by police outriders, before proceeding to Hagia Sophia Mosque for prayers — attended by the Istanbul Governor no less — and finally rolling on to Bilgi’s Santral Istanbul campus, where the children were greeted with an Ottoman military band. Students were rather less delighted: the Bilgi Student Solidarity group put out a statement insisting the event had nothing to do with university culture, arguing that campuses are not ordinary rentable venues for institutions to stage their shows whenever the mood takes them, and that they would not stay quiet while their campus was stripped of its identity and put to such use.
🏛️ Politics
Trump heaps praise on Erdoğan before NATO summit: “I’m going just for him”
Speaking ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, US President Donald Trump has lavished praise on President Erdoğan, calling him a very good leader who has built a wonderful army and saying he would attend the summit out of his respect for him. According to Gazete Pencere, Trump made the remarks in connection with the summit, to be held in Ankara on 7-8 July, stating that he would not be attending were it being held in any country other than Türkiye and that he was going because of the respect he felt for Erdoğan. Describing Erdoğan as a strong leader and a good friend, Trump said people did not realise what a large and powerful country Türkiye was in military terms. On the subject of F-35s and jet engines, Trump said he would do something to please Türkiye and that the sales process would proceed as Türkiye wished. Reuters had reported that the Trump administration was preparing to move forward with the sale of a jet engine to Türkiye despite objections in Congress.
Bill including changes to police force law passed into law
A bill amending several laws, including the Police Organisation Law, has been passed by the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Under the amendment, the total number of posts required at each officer rank is to be set as a proportion of the total number of posts in the police services class. The law provides that those who were dismissed from Police General Directorate training institutions on the grounds that they did not meet the health conditions required for admission, but who — by virtue of a judicial ruling — continued their training, graduated and were appointed to the police services class as police officers or officers, only to later be dismissed from the civil service under a court ruling based on health grounds, will be appointed to a suitable post in the General Administrative Services class if they apply to the directorate within six months of the law’s entry into force; such appointments will require compliance with the conditions of Article 48 of Law No. 657 and with the health conditions set for appointments to service classes other than the police services class. The law also allows those engaged in passenger transport by taxi who record and document all their takings through a mandatory taxi fiscal device, rather than via electronic fare-collection systems, to be taxed on their assessed earnings on request, benefiting from the revenue-based earnings assessment method for up to three years; and it exempts from income tax the gains of certain income-tax payers from disposing of commercial number plates for taxis, shared taxis, minibuses and public service vehicles owned before the law took effect. In addition, the qualities and duties of internet news sites carrying official announcements and advertisements are to be determined by the General Assembly of the Press Advertising Authority on criteria including the number of reports, content, staff, readership and minimum period of operation; publishing principles for newspapers, magazines and internet news sites are being set, with sanctions of content removal and the withdrawal of official announcements and/or advertisements for between one and ten days. The law further sets disciplinary penalties for Central Bank staff, and makes the use of an electronic notification system established by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance compulsory for corporate-tax payers, income-tax payers assessed on a real basis for commercial, agricultural and professional earnings, general and limited partnerships, and the persons and entities in whose name certain goods subject to registration in the special consumption tax list are first registered.
Academics and civil society groups condemn Ankara detentions, saying the opposition is being criminalised under the pretext of the NATO summit
A group of labour and civil society organisations has condemned the wave of detentions in Ankara — including that of Ankara University academic Assoc. Prof. Emel Memiş — describing them as a clear attack on constitutional rights and freedoms. In a joint statement, the Mülkiyeliler Birliği, the METU Graduates Association, the Gender Equality Monitoring Association (CEİD), the Middle East Academic Staff Association and the Ankara No. 5 Universities Branch of Eğitim Sen said the early-morning house raids and what they called unjust detentions amounted to an open attack on constitutional rights, and that the NATO summit was being used as a pretext to criminalise components of the social opposition. They said that, among many citizens detained in the operations, were Assoc. Prof. Emel Memiş of Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Sciences, along with students, journalists, lawyers, labour-organisation officials, party leaders and rights defenders, and that holding detainees under a restriction order depriving them of access to a lawyer for 24 hours, while leaving relatives without information about where they had been taken, violated the most fundamental principles of universal law. The signatories argued that the right to a defence was an inseparable part of the right to a fair trial and could not be rendered ineffective under any circumstances, and that investigations should be conducted transparently and with respect for fundamental rights. Noting that Memiş had for many years carried out academic work on gender equality, women’s access to employment and social policy, they said the freedom of thought and expression of academics working on women’s rights and democratic rights was a basic guarantee of a democratic society. The organisations called for an immediate end to the detentions and the release of the students, Memiş and all rights defenders, for an end to practices stripping away the right to a defence, and for the lifting of all arbitrary bans restricting the constitutionally protected freedoms of assembly, demonstration and expression, declaring that they would expand their solidarity against the pressure and detentions.
Ankara on Macron Alert: Parks Sealed Off for the Presidential Jog, Shanties Discreetly Tucked Away
Ahead of the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Ankara on 7–8 July, the Turkish capital is reportedly being given a thorough tidy-up, and not everyone is charmed. Among the measures said to be on the cards: temporarily closing beloved green spaces such as the Botanical Park, Dikmen Valley and Lake Eymir to ordinary residents so that French President Emmanuel Macron can enjoy an unbothered morning run. The cosmetic touches don’t stop there — along the routes the visiting delegations will travel, crews have been hurriedly laying asphalt and landscaping, while certain roadside shanty homes have been screened off behind panels and boards, apparently deemed a spot of unwelcome “visual clutter.” With some 32 heads of state and government expected, hotels have been block-booked for delegations and special arrangements reportedly made for Donald Trump’s US contingent. Critics and a fair few locals are unimpressed, though officials insist it’s all simply a matter of “security and state protocol.”
🤝Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
Erdoğan Picks Up the Phone to Mauritania
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has held a telephone call with his Mauritanian counterpart, President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, in which the two reportedly worked through the usual diplomatic checklist: bilateral relations and assorted regional matters. Erdoğan suggested the two nations could put a spring in the step of their relationship by taking concrete steps across a generous spread of fields — trade, agriculture, fishing, security and the ever-popular defence industry among them — and added that both countries would keep beavering away at boosting their solidarity on international platforms.
Metin Yener Keeps His Auditor’s Chair, Opposition-Free
Parliament’s secret ballot for the head of the Court of Accounts pitted incumbent Metin Yener against Bahtiyar Sazlık, budget director-general at the Presidency’s Strategy and Budget Office — though “contest” is generous given the CHP had already decided to sit the whole thing out. Of the 289 votes cast, Yener scooped up 272 to comfortably secure another term. Ankara-born in 1972 and a Gazi University economics graduate with master’s degrees from Gazi and Indiana University, he climbed the ranks through the Prime Ministry before landing at the Presidency in 2018, and first took the Court of Accounts top job back in 2021. He is married with two children and, the article helpfully notes, speaks English.
Ministry authorises investigation into Saray mayor over fatal stray-dog attack
The Interior Ministry has announced that it has authorised an investigation into Saray mayor Davut Acar, who was found to have been negligent in connection with a stray-dog attack in Van province that killed five-year-old Hamza Özsoy and injured nine-year-old Ayaz Özsoy. The ministry said an inspection by a civil-service inspector into the incident, which took place in the Saray district on 29 April, had been completed and had determined that Saray municipality had failed to fulfil its legal obligations regarding the collection, care and rehabilitation of stray animals. According to the statement, the municipality had carried out no collection activity despite numerous written and verbal applications from citizens, village heads and official bodies, and — contrary to the municipality’s claim that it had no vehicle for collecting strays — official records proved that the relevant service vehicle had been returned to the municipality. The ministry said that, following an assessment based on the statements of all parties and concrete documents, authorisation had been granted to investigate Acar, who was found to bear responsibility and negligence in the tragic incident, adding that it would meticulously maintain its determination to protect citizens’ safety and to ensure that public officials fully carried out their responsibilities.
Nevşehir mayor Rasim Arı to rejoin the AK Party
Nevşehir mayor Rasim Arı is to join the AK Party at the party’s Expanded Provincial Chairs Meeting in Ankara tomorrow, where he is expected to have his badge pinned on by President and AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Arı began his political career under the AK Party banner, winning the mayoralty of Nevşehir as the party’s candidate in the local elections of 31 March 2019, a post he held for around 21 months. He resigned as mayor on 29 January 2021, citing health problems, stepped back from active politics for a time, and left his AK Party membership on 18 January 2022. About a year later, on 24 March 2023, he joined the İYİ Party, with his badge pinned on by the then İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener, and stood again as the İYİ Party’s candidate for Nevşehir mayor in the local elections of 31 March 2024, winning re-election with more than 52 per cent of the vote and returning to the mayoralty for a second time after a gap of around three years. By taking up the AK Party badge once more at the meeting to be held at the party’s headquarters, Arı will be returning to his former party after roughly four and a half years.
Three mayors, including Keçiören’s Mesut Özarslan, set to join the AKP
Three mayors, among them Keçiören mayor Mesut Özarslan, are to join the AKP, according to TGRT’s Ankara representative Fatih Atik. In a post on social media, the journalist said that Nevşehir mayor Rasim Arı, Keçiören mayor Mesut Özarslan and Keşan mayor Mehmet Özcan — who resigned from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) — would continue their political careers under the AKP. Atik said the party badges of these figures, who had resigned from their parties to cross to the AKP, would be pinned on in person by President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. According to his post, the mayors joining the AKP tomorrow are Rasim Arı of Nevşehir, Mesut Özarslan of Keçiören and Mehmet Özcan of Keşan, who resigned from the CHP that day, with the admission ceremony to take place at the AKP’s Expanded Provincial Chairs Meeting and the badges to be pinned on by President Erdoğan.
Nimet Özdemir, who left the CHP, joins the AK Party
Istanbul MP Nimet Özdemir — who crossed to the CHP after being elected as an İYİ Party MP, and resigned from the CHP last week — has joined the AK Party, with her badge pinned on by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the AK Party group meeting. Her party badge was pinned on at the AK Party’s parliamentary group meeting by the President and AK Party leader. Özdemir, who was elected as an İYİ Party MP in the 2023 general election, had joined the CHP in October 2024, with her badge pinned on at that time by CHP leader Özgür Özel. She resigned from CHP membership on 17 June, stating in her petition to the Speaker’s Office of the Turkish Grand National Assembly that she was resigning from her CHP membership as she saw fit, and respectfully submitting the matter for the necessary action.
Author's note: Nimet Özdemir is not, as a person, a good one. How do I know? Because I worked alongside her for two years. She is the sort who bullies her own advisers — a small domestic tyrant. So it came as no surprise to me that someone who treats people badly, and who seems a stranger to ethics and decency, should manage to switch parties three times in three years. It is precisely this kind of politician, and precisely these sorts of untrustworthy manoeuvres, that leave the Turkish public cold on politics and politicians alike.But not to worry, I will, and we will, see to it that people of this sort are cleared from the Turkish political scene as soon as can be managed. And by "we" I mean all of us: the public, every one of us together. And much like in The Dark Crystal, evil will cease to exist and the good ones will win.
🗳️ Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
Keşan mayor Mehmet Özcan resigns from the CHP
The mayor of Keşan, in Edirne province, Mehmet Özcan, has resigned from the CHP, according to breaking-news reports. Özcan, who was elected mayor for a fourth time as a Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate in the 2024 local elections, has left the party. The CHP’s Edirne provincial chair, Yücel Balkanlı, said in a statement on the matter that Özcan had carried out his resignation via the e-Devlet online government portal and that his membership no longer appeared in the party’s system. Özcan himself has so far made no public statement regarding his decision to leave the CHP.
A first in parliamentary history: two MPs marry
CHP deputy parliamentary group chair Murat Emir and CHP Istanbul MP Evrim Rızvanoğlu have married, in what has been recorded as a first in the history of the Turkish Grand National Assembly for two serving MPs to wed. The marriage of the two politicians marked a first for parliament, the first time two actively serving MPs had decided to marry, a development that drew attention in political circles and was recorded as the first such example in the assembly’s recent history. Emir, born in 1969 in the Hekimhan district of Malatya, is a graduate of Hacettepe University’s medical faculty; an ophthalmology specialist, he completed a master’s degree on laser physics at Heidelberg University in Germany, and after his medical training also completed Ankara University’s law faculty, earning a doctorate in the field of health law. Having begun his political life in the CHP in his youth, Emir has served as an Ankara MP for four terms since 2015 and was appointed CHP deputy parliamentary group chair in April 2024. Rızvanoğlu, born in 1980 in Van, completed her higher education in the United States, graduating from California State University and taking an MBA at Florida International University; she held management roles in the family business before beginning her political career among the founding cadre of the DEVA Party, where she served as deputy chair responsible for nature rights and environmental policies. Elected an Istanbul MP on the CHP list in the 2023 general election, she left the DEVA Party to join the CHP on 27 June 2025 and currently serves as a member of the CHP’s Central Executive Committee, holding the post of deputy chair responsible for nature rights and environmental policies.