Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
⚖️ Strasbourg Rules for Gezi’s “Woman in Red”: Türkiye Violated Ban on Ill-Treatment
The European Court of Human Rights has found that Türkiye breached the prohibition on ill-treatment in the case of Ceyda Sungur, the academic who became an enduring symbol of the 2013 Gezi Park protests after being pepper-sprayed at close range while standing passively in a red dress. The ECHR ruled that the police intervention amounted to ill-treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and found that the sanctions imposed on the officer responsible — a ten-month prison sentence later commuted to planting and tending 300 trees — were neither adequate nor dissuasive. The ruling overturns an earlier majority decision by Türkiye’s own Constitutional Court, which had concluded that the ban on ill-treatment had not been violated.
🏦 Former Central Bank Deputy Governor Charged as “Crime Ring Leader” Over Procurement Fraud
Prosecutors have branded Emrah Şener — a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (TCMB) once described by Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek as one of the country’s brightest economists — the ringleader of a criminal organisation accused of rigging tenders at the Interbank Card Centre (BKM), in which the central bank is a major shareholder. The indictment, covering Şener’s tenure as deputy governor between 2016 and 2023, alleges that he and eight co-defendants carried out irregularities worth a total of 177.2 million lira across six separate procurement contracts, invoicing BKM for services never rendered and funnelling the proceeds abroad through a shell company Şener allegedly established in Singapore. Former BKM general manager Baran Aytaş is named as the organisation’s manager, while BKM itself is listed as the injured party and the TCMB as the complainant. The nine defendants face charges including founding a criminal organisation, bid-rigging, qualified fraud and forgery, with prosecutors seeking sentences ranging from 14 to 57 years in prison.
✍️ Commentary | “The Only Thing Missing in Prison Was a Trade Unionist”
By Deniz Zeyrek, columnist for Nefes — 18 March 2026
Writing in his regular column, Zeyrek argues that Türkiye has added yet another category to its growing roster of prisoners of conscience: trade unionists. He notes the arrest of BİRTEK-SEN chairman Mehmet Türkmen in Gaziantep, who was detained after speaking out in support of workers demanding unpaid wages and withheld pay rises. Zeyrek contends that Türkmen was doing no more than what any union leader is constitutionally entitled to do, and calls the detention a violation of the constitution, citing provisions that restrict trade-union rights only under states of emergency and allow the Constitutional Court to treat interference with those rights as a breach. He adds that Türkmen was formally charged with “spreading false information” following a complaint by the owner of Sırma Halı, the carpet firm at the centre of the wage dispute — a detail Zeyrek frames as proof that the AKP has become a party of bosses rather than of workers and the poor. The column also lists a number of other figures Zeyrek regards as political prisoners, including Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Merdan Yanardağ and Alican Uludağ.
📚 Teachers’ Union Files Criminal Complaint After Sect Leader’s Book Handed Out to Pupils
The Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim-İş) has lodged a criminal complaint over the distribution of a book by Nakşibendi sheikh Seyda Feyzullah Konyevi to pupils at an imam-hatip middle school in Bursa’s Yıldırım district. The book, titled “Journeys to the Age of Bliss,” was supplied by the Kevser Education Foundation, which has known ties to the religious order. The foundation initially publicised the handout on social media — posting photographs of children holding the books — but swiftly deleted the posts after the news outlet Kısa Dalga began making enquiries. The school’s headteacher, Mahmut Ordulu, denied any formal arrangement with the foundation, claiming representatives had simply dropped off a few copies in passing, and insisted the book contained “Islam, not sect propaganda.” Eğitim-İş described the episode as a brazen assault on secular education, with the union’s Bursa branch chair Özkan Rona arguing that religious orders have increasingly used schools — imam-hatip institutions in particular — as recruiting grounds, aided by sympathetic administrators. The foundation’s Bursa representative acknowledged that similar distributions had taken place at other schools and in prisons.
Politics
🌍 Foreign Minister Fidan Warns Iran War Risks Permanent Damage to Regional Order
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted Canadian counterpart Anita Anand in Ankara for talks spanning bilateral cooperation and a sweep of regional crises, warning that the war in Iran poses severe and potentially lasting risks to both regional security and the broader international order if left unchecked. Fidan said Türkiye had been engaged in intensive diplomacy since the outset to prevent the conflict from spreading and to build common ground between the parties, and stressed the need to keep dialogue channels open so that all sides’ concerns could be addressed within a negotiating framework.
Fidan also revealed he had spoken to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by telephone the same day, discussing the state of the Russia-Ukraine peace talks and Türkiye’s potential contribution, and reiterating Ankara’s readiness to host the next round of negotiations. He cautioned that the war in the Middle East must not be allowed to derail those efforts.
Turning to Gaza, Fidan said the tragedy there had not changed regardless of how much the wider agenda had shifted, and called on the international community to rally more forcefully around the two-state solution. He condemned Israeli ceasefire violations that he said were worsening conditions for Palestinians, described the blocking of worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque as an unacceptable provocation demanding a unified response, and warned that Israel’s newly launched ground operation in Lebanon must not be permitted to turn into an occupation.
On bilateral matters, Fidan said Türkiye and Canada had expressed a strong shared will to deepen cooperation in energy and the defence industry, and called for the removal of obstacles to joint defence projects. He added that EU defence initiatives should remain compatible with NATO and inclusive of all allies.
🏗️ Privatisation of 55 Health Ministry Properties Under Way — Before Parliament Has Even Passed the Enabling Law
The government has moved to privatise 55 properties belonging to the Health Ministry across 27 provinces, even though the omnibus bill authorising the sale of surplus public assets has yet to clear the full parliamentary chamber. The bill, which was approved by the Plan and Budget Committee and is on the general assembly’s agenda, envisages the disposal of some 230 public properties covering roughly 5.5 million square metres, with officials indicating the number is likely to grow. The 55 health-sector sites — spread from Istanbul and İzmir to Ağrı and Iğdır — are to be sold, leased or have their operating rights transferred by the end of 2028, with proceeds going to the Treasury earmarked for new health facilities and refurbishment.
Land-registry checks by the newspaper Cumhuriyet reveal that many of the properties sit on prime real estate. Among them is a beachfront family health centre in Datça, the sprawling former site of Milas State Hospital in Muğla, old hospital buildings and grounds in Tarsus, Mersin, and a large plot in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district. Critics have questioned why the privatisation process is being launched before parliament has voted on the legislation, raising concerns about the legal basis and transparency of disposals involving valuable publicly owned land.
🏛️ Over Half a Million Historic Artefacts Given Digital Identity Tags in Anti-Forgery Drive
Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has completed the chemical tagging and digital identification of 526,246 historic artefacts held in museum displays and storerooms, as part of a security project launched in 2023 in cooperation with the Defence Industry Agency. Each object is marked with a laboratory-developed inorganic substance containing invisible DNA-like traces generated by artificial intelligence, effectively giving every piece a unique and tamper-proof digital identity. The system is designed to combat forgery and theft by making artefacts verifiable at a level not previously possible. Alongside the tagging programme, the ministry’s new National Museum Inventory System (MUES) has completed testing of two digital modules: one to manage the valuation and acquisition of cultural assets, and another to bring the collections of private museums and individual collectors into the national digital register.
Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
🗳️ AKP Insiders Weigh Early Election — Autumn 2027 or Spring 2028 on the Table
Behind-the-scenes discussions within the AKP about bringing the next general election forward are intensifying, according to party sources cited by Nefes columnist Nuray Babacan. The driving factor, insiders say, is constitutional: if President Erdoğan is to stand again, an early vote is regarded as a necessity rather than a choice. Two possible windows are being discussed — autumn 2027 and spring 2028 — but both are complicated by an economy that has failed to hit its targets and the fallout from the regional war.
The original scenario envisaged the government’s stabilisation programme bearing fruit by 2027, with inflation falling to single digits and the resulting public relief creating a favourable backdrop for an early poll. That timeline is now under strain from the combined weight of the conflict’s economic impact, lingering post-pandemic pressures and the political consequences of the crackdown on the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Party sources describe the situation as being “squeezed between the calendar and the economy.” One AKP figure was quoted as saying early elections are simply unavoidable if the party wants Erdoğan on the ballot.
Some voices within the party are proposing a different route: rolling back authoritarian measures, restoring confidence in the rule of law and re-energising Türkiye’s relationship with the European Union — a policy reset they argue could give the government a political advantage ahead of any vote.
🇹🇷 Bahçeli Marks 111th Anniversary of Çanakkale Victory with Tribute to Atatürk and Fallen
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has issued a message commemorating the 111th anniversary of the naval victory at Çanakkale (Gallipoli) on 18 March, paying tribute to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, his comrades-in-arms and all who gave their lives for the nation. Bahçeli described Çanakkale as an unparalleled defence of national dignity, in which invading forces bent on trampling the homeland and bringing the nation to its knees were met by a people united under one flag — regardless of origin, sect or region — who had conquered fear and already donned their shrouds in readiness for sacrifice.
🏚️ Congolese Businessman Says AKP MP’s Firm Sold Him Overpriced Micro-Flats with a Fake Citizenship Promise
Serge Lusamba Kasanda, a Democratic Republic of Congo national who ran diamond mines and a construction company in his home country, alleges he was defrauded after coming to Istanbul in 2022 with plans to invest and settle in Türkiye. According to an investigation by journalist Timur Soykan, Kasanda was steered by a consultancy firm called Elasan towards Delta Gayrimenkul İnşaat, owned by Seyithan İzsiz — then an İYİ Party Istanbul MP who crossed to the AKP in June 2024. Kasanda says he was told that purchasing $400,000 worth of property would qualify him for Turkish citizenship, and paid $420,000 for two flats in an Esenyurt development plus a further $18,230 directly to İzsiz for valuation reports and fees. He was later sold a third flat in Büyükçekmece.
What Kasanda believed were spacious two-bedroom apartments turned out to be 30-square-metre studio flats worth a fraction of what he paid. Moreover, citizens of the DRC are legally barred from buying property in Türkiye — a fact the registration system should have flagged automatically — yet title deeds were processed at a land registry office in Kadıköy, far from where the properties are located, raising allegations of collusion by public officials. A subsequent valuation confirmed the Büyükçekmece flat was worth $132,000, not the $230,000 Kasanda had paid.
Kasanda’s lawyers filed a fraud complaint, but the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office dropped the case in October 2024 after taking statements from only a handful of company officials — a decision his legal team is contesting, noting it coincided with İzsiz’s move to the AKP. A civil court ruled the Esenyurt flats be re-registered to Delta Gayrimenkul but awarded Kasanda just 8.45 million lira — calculated at the exchange rate when the sale took place rather than at the current dollar value, leaving him with roughly half his original outlay. His lawyers are appealing, arguing the ruling is unprecedented and that a dollar-denominated transaction cannot lawfully be settled in depreciated lira.
⚔️ AKP’s Tayyar Dismisses Özel’s Claims Against Justice Minister as “Panic-Driven Slander”
AKP figure Şamil Tayyar has hit back at CHP leader Özgür Özel’s property allegations against Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, framing the claims as a politically motivated smear born of desperation. Writing on social media, Tayyar said the matter would now be settled in court — since Gürlek has filed a defamation suit — and expressed full confidence that land-registry records, which he noted cannot be hidden or destroyed, would vindicate the minister. He seized on what he called inconsistencies in Özel’s presentation, highlighting the CHP leader’s own caveat that certain claims remained “in need of proof,” and mocked Özel’s assertion about a luxury yacht allegedly registered in landlocked Luxembourg. Tayyar suggested Özel’s broadside was driven by alarm over intelligence — attributed to former CHP secretary-general Önder Sav — pointing to a possible “absolute nullity” challenge within the party, implying the opposition leader was lashing out indiscriminately like a person in a state of panic.
🕌 Kadıköy Waterfront Mosque Project Gathers Pace as Car Park Shut Despite Ongoing Legal Battle
The controversial plan to build a nearly 20,000-capacity mosque and a three-storey underground car park for 1,242 vehicles on Istanbul’s Kadıköy waterfront has taken a significant step forward with the closure of the existing open-air car park on the site, ordered by the local district governor’s office. İSPARK, the municipality’s parking operator, has filed a fresh lawsuit seeking to halt the eviction, but the project’s momentum appears to be growing after an Istanbul appellate court overturned an earlier ruling that had blocked the scheme. The case now sits before the Council of State (Danıştay), whose verdict could set a broader precedent for how expert reports and conservation principles are weighed in planning disputes.
The project, first proposed by the Directorate of Religious Affairs in 2015, was struck down by an administrative court in November 2023 on extensive technical grounds: the site is reclaimed land posing geotechnical risks, it lies within a designated urban conservation and historic landscape zone, the proposed structures would exceed the legally permitted built area by a factor of 24 and would stand taller than the nearby Haydarpaşa railway terminus, and there are already four mosques within 500 metres’ walking distance. Expert witnesses also warned the underground car park would damage registered trees in an active green space. The appellate court’s decision to set aside these findings has drawn sharp criticism from the Istanbul branch of the Chamber of Architects, whose chair described the sidelining of scientific analysis as “utterly wrong and anachronistic.”
Kadıköy’s mayor has insisted the objections are not about faith but about the appropriateness of the location and the loss of a heavily used public space, while a senior presidential adviser has framed the opposition as one of “intolerance” rather than urban planning — echoing the rhetoric that accompanied the construction of the Taksim mosque. The debate, at its core, pits those who view the waterfront as a layered civic space shaped by generations of collective use against a political vision that seeks to redefine it with new symbolic landmarks.
Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
⚖️ İBB Trial Day Seven: Defendants Set to Spend Eid Behind Bars as Hearings Press On
The İBB corruption trial resumes for its seventh session today at Silivri, with the court working through defence statements before breaking for the Ramadan holiday (Eid al-Fitr). Just eight of the 402 defendants have so far been heard after a first week repeatedly disrupted by procedural clashes. Today’s session is expected to begin with the defence of Murat Or, chief of staff to Ağaç AŞ general manager Ali Sukas, with Sukas himself next in line if time allows. The hearing — the last before the holiday recess — means the 106 defendants still in custody will mark Eid in prison. Security around the Silivri courthouse was again tightened by gendarmerie units, and as of mid-morning the start had already been delayed, with lawyers and press admitted to the courtroom but families and detained defendants yet to be brought in.
⚖️ CHP Leader Exposes Justice Minister’s Alleged 452 Million Lira Property Empire, and Accuses Him of Engineering a “Judicial Coup”
CHP leader Özgür Özel has used a marathon press conference to lay out what he described as a comprehensive case against Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, presenting title-deed records for 12 properties across Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Çanakkale currently registered in Gürlek’s name, plus four further properties he has sold, with a combined estimated value of 452 million lira. Özel noted that Gürlek’s total career earnings over 19 years of public service amount to roughly 45 million lira, meaning it would take 190 years on a top-grade judge’s salary to amass such wealth. The holdings span luxury developments including an 85-million-lira villa in Beykoz, four flats in Ankara’s Çankaya district, two in İzmir and a Bosphorus-view plot in Gallipoli, while a pre-contract for a 95.5-million-lira flat in the Senfoni Etiler project was reportedly abandoned only after the CHP flagged it. Özel also alleged that Gürlek enjoyed a Bosphorus-view luxury villa — renovated at a cost of 62 million lira — and the use of a chauffeured car from a businessman for 540 days during his tenure as Istanbul chief prosecutor. Beyond the property claims, Özel delivered a sweeping indictment of the judicial process surrounding the İBB case, alleging that Gürlek was hand-picked to neutralise İmamoğlu’s presidential bid, drawing a parallel with the FETÖ-era prosecutor Zekeriya Öz. He cited what he said were systematic transfers and demotions of at least eight judges and a police chief who had ruled against the government’s wishes or refused to carry out instructions, the manipulation of the court-assignment lottery to ensure the İBB case landed before a panel with just ten years and eight months’ combined experience rather than the customary 75, the use of a secret witness codenamed “Meşe” who reportedly suffered a mental breakdown before trial, and allegations that a lawyer named Mehmet Yıldırım offered a detainee’s family freedom in exchange for money and a signed confession — only to be caught fleeing towards Greece, briefly placed under house arrest, and then released. Gürlek responded by dismissing every claim as a baseless smear campaign, saying the properties cited have no basis in land-registry records, and announced he is filing a defamation suit.
👋 Akşener Resurfaces at Iftar: “I’ve Left Politics — Beyond That, I Couldn’t Say”
Former İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener has made a rare public appearance at an iftar gathering with young entrepreneurs, offering a characteristically dry response when asked whether Ankara ever truly lets a person leave politics behind. “That’s a very important question,” she said. “I’ve left politics — beyond that, I don’t know.” Akşener, who stepped down from the İYİ Party leadership, offered no further comment on current affairs, saying simply that she had enjoyed a pleasant evening and learned a great deal from the businesspeople at the table.