Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
🍱 Citizens Queue an Hour for Free Ramadan Iftar Parcels Outside the Presidential Palace
Crowds of people have been queuing for up to an hour outside the Presidential Palace in Ankara to collect free iftar food parcels being distributed as part of Ramadan events held at the Beştepe complex, with gates open to the public daily between noon and 6pm. Social media footage of the queues has drawn considerable attention, with one Ankara resident posting a video with the caption “iftar at Ankara’s most luxurious venue.” The parcels, prepared by presidential kitchen staff, have included items such as meat kavurma in bread, soup, dates, ayran, fruit, and revani cake on one day, and chicken sauté, soup, fruit juice, güllaç, and apple on another. The president’s chief of staff Hasan Doğan also shared images of the queues and events on his own social media account.
🚔 Istanbul Police Arrest 13 in Dawn Raids Targeting ISIS Network
Istanbul police, operating under the coordination of the city’s public prosecutor’s office, have detained 13 suspects in simultaneous raids across multiple addresses in an operation targeting individuals alleged to have links to conflict zones and to have been spreading terrorist propaganda on behalf of ISIS through social media. Mobile phones, computers, USB drives, and other electronic devices were seized during searches of the addresses. The suspects remain in police custody as processing continues.
Politics
🛡️ Turkey to Deploy Patriot Missile System in Malatya After Iranian Missiles Twice Breached Its Airspace
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence has announced that a Patriot air defence system will be deployed in Malatya to bolster protection of Turkish airspace, following two separate incidents in which Iranian missiles entered Turkish airspace within a five-day period amid the ongoing conflict sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The system is to be sent from Germany, and the ministry said the deployment forms part of a broader package of measures being taken in coordination with NATO and allied countries, which have stepped up their own air and missile defence posture in the region. The ministry emphasised that Turkey’s defence and security capacity would be maintained at the highest level, and that Ankara would continue working with its allies whilst pursuing efforts towards regional peace and stability.
🇪🇺 EU Parliament’s Turkey Rapporteur: The More We Treat Turkey as a Partner, the Less We See It as a Candidate
The European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Nacho Sanchez Amor, has given a candid assessment of the state of EU-Turkey relations to a group of Turkish journalists in Brussels, warning that the growing emphasis on strategic partnership is effectively crowding out Turkey’s formal candidacy status — and that Turkey cannot expect its military weight to substitute for democratic reform as a path to membership. Amor said the EU is currently “rediscovering” Turkey as a gateway partner on trade, energy, and gas at a time when transatlantic relations are under strain, but stressed that partnership and candidacy are fundamentally different frameworks: one is based on shared interests, the other on shared values, and there are no shortcuts on the latter. He said he has consistently defended Turkey’s candidate status against those within the European Parliament pushing for a return to a mere association framework, but acknowledged that the accession process has effectively become an open-ended structure with no realistic prospect of full membership. On visa liberalisation, he said only six of the 72 required criteria remain unmet and the ball is entirely in Turkey’s court, whilst criticising Turkish business figures who told a recent EU-Turkey business summit that the EU needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU, describing such rhetoric as domestic political messaging that should not be repeated in Brussels.
🚔 New Interior Minister Scraps Daily Crime Scoreboards and Pledges to Address Root Causes of Violence
Turkey’s new Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi has signalled a clear break from the style of his predecessor Ali Yerlikaya, announcing that the ministry will no longer lead each day with operational press releases and will stop publishing “crime score” tallies on social media except in exceptional circumstances. In an interview with Hürriyet, Çiftçi outlined what he described as a new security architecture focused not merely on the outcomes of crime but on the conditions that produce it — examining the gaps, networks, actors, and tools through which criminal behaviour organises itself. He emphasised that citizens should leave police stations feeling their problems had been addressed, coining the phrase “the station door is the solution door.” On school violence, which has come under sharp scrutiny following the stabbing death of teacher Fatma Nur Çelik, Çiftçi said the issue could not be treated purely as a law enforcement matter, and called for a broader approach encompassing family environment, peer relationships, the digital sphere, and media content that glamorises violence — adding that security measures at and around schools would be increased, with some already having private security personnel. He said new legislation being prepared by the Justice Ministry would expand police powers once passed by parliament, and confirmed he had visited Çelik’s family in Konya at the weekend to offer his condolences in person.
🏫 Teachers Fear Istanbul’s Historic School Buildings Are Being Quietly Cleared for Other Uses
Educators in Istanbul have raised the alarm over what they describe as a deliberate effort to run down pupil numbers at three historic vocational secondary schools on the city’s historic peninsula — Suphipaşa, Sultanahmet, and Cağaloğlu Kız — which were evacuated for earthquake-proofing work that has since been completed, yet whose students and teachers remain housed in other buildings. Teachers warn that the schools’ prime locations, particularly Sultanahmet’s views of the Bosphorus, have attracted the interest of other parties, and that a concerted campaign is under way to persuade parents to transfer their children elsewhere, artificially deflating enrolment figures to justify closure or reassignment of the buildings. Educator Maksut Balmuk told Cumhuriyet that the low pupil numbers being cited as justification are themselves the product of this pressure campaign rather than genuine lack of demand, and that closing schools which form part of Istanbul’s educational heritage — rather than supporting them with incentives — amounts to a betrayal of both the city and its education system. He called on the Ministry of National Education to review its decisions and be transparent with the public about its intentions for the buildings.
Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
⚖️ Chairs Placed to Block İmamoğlu’s Podium as Day Two of Istanbul Trial Descends Into Confrontation
The second day of the mass corruption trial of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and 401 co-defendants at Silivri prison court descended into open confrontation, with gendarmerie surrounding İmamoğlu as he entered the courtroom to applause and chants of “President İmamoğlu,” and chairs placed in front of the defendants’ podium to prevent him from addressing the court. İmamoğlu refused to take his seat in protest, sparking a heated exchange with the presiding judge in which he accused the court of acting on outside orders and declared “what you are doing here is a disgrace to Turkish justice,” whilst the judge retorted that İmamoğlu’s conduct the previous day — when he had pointed at the prosecutor — had prompted the new seating arrangement, and that the trial had not yet been able to begin properly because of the disruption. Lawyers were also initially barred from entering without identity checks before the Bar Association president intervened to have the requirement dropped. The 3,700-page indictment charges İmamoğlu as the founder and leader of a criminal organisation across 142 separate counts, with prosecutors seeking between 828 and 2,352 years in prison; 76 individuals have received reduced charges under active remorse provisions, and 15 anonymous witnesses identified only by codenames such as Oak, Falcon, and Sequoia feature in the case. Hearings are scheduled four days a week until the end of April, when the court is expected to review the remand status of the 107 defendants currently in custody.
Economy
🏦 Halkbank Reaches Deferred Prosecution Agreement With US Justice Department, Ending Nine-Year Criminal Case
Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank has announced that its board has agreed to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, bringing to a close a criminal case that has been running since October 2019 and has cast a long shadow over the bank’s international operations for nearly a decade. Under the terms of the agreement, Halkbank admits no criminal wrongdoing and will pay no financial penalty; instead, the bank will appoint an independent compliance expert to review its sanctions compliance and anti-money laundering policies, and has committed to conducting no transactions involving the Iranian government or Iran-linked entities through the US financial system for the duration of the agreement. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has separately confirmed it is closing its administrative proceedings against the bank without further action. The US Justice Department filing, signed by prosecutor Jay Clayton, states that resolving the case in this manner serves US national security and foreign policy interests, and specifically cites Turkey’s role in efforts to secure the release of hostages and achieve a ceasefire following the October 2023 attacks as a factor in reaching the settlement. Once an independent compliance report is submitted and a court jointly petitioned by both parties, the case is expected to be permanently dismissed in full, with Halkbank anticipating that the resolution will expand its access to international funding, correspondent banking networks, and global markets.
🏭 Turkish Industrial Output Falls 1.8% Year-on-Year in January as Manufacturing Weakens
Turkey’s industrial production fell 1.8 per cent in January 2026 compared to the same month a year earlier, according to TÜİK data, with the decline driven primarily by a 2.5 per cent contraction in manufacturing — the largest component of industrial output — and a 2.8 per cent drop in mining and quarrying. On a monthly basis, output fell by 2.8 per cent compared to December, with manufacturing down 3.4 per cent. The sole bright spot was the energy sector, where electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning production and distribution rose 5.6 per cent year-on-year and 1.8 per cent month-on-month.
🏗️ Turkish Construction Costs Jump Nearly 10% in a Single Month as Labour Costs Surge
Turkey’s construction cost index rose by 9.87 per cent in January 2026 compared to the previous month, and by 25.38 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier, according to data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK). The monthly jump was driven overwhelmingly by labour costs, which surged 21.84 per cent in a single month, whilst material costs rose by a more modest 3.52 per cent. On an annual basis, labour costs were up 28.83 per cent and materials 23.32 per cent. The picture was broadly similar across sub-categories, with building construction costs rising 10.29 per cent month-on-month and 25.57 per cent year-on-year, whilst civil engineering and non-building construction costs rose 8.48 per cent monthly and 24.78 per cent annually, with labour costs in that category climbing 30.08 per cent over the year.
✈️ Middle East Conflict Reshuffles Turkish Holiday Plans — Spain Surges as Gulf Destinations Collapse
Turkish holidaymakers have been rapidly redirecting their travel plans away from the Gulf and Middle East following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, with tour operators reporting a sharp rise in demand for European destinations — particularly Spain, buoyed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s widely praised anti-war statements on social media — alongside the Balkans and South-East Asia. Dubai packages have been cancelled outright, Egypt-bound travellers have pivoted to Phuket, and operators say April group bookings have been lost entirely, with even July and August reservations now uncertain. Oxford Economics estimates that if the conflict lasts three weeks, the Middle East could lose 23 million international tourists and $34 billion in revenue, rising to 38 million visitors and $56 billion if fighting continues for one to two months or longer. Meanwhile, Iranian nationals living in Turkey have been flooding bus services heading to the Iranian border, with operators in Ağrı reporting packed coaches departing daily from Istanbul, Bingöl, Hatay, and Kahramanmaraş — including earthquake-zone workers returning home — whilst return journeys to Turkey are running empty.
⛽ Petrol Prices Rise Again at Turkish Pumps as Exchange Rate and Oil Market Pressures Mount
Fuel prices in Turkey have risen again from midnight on 10 March, with petrol up approximately 43 kuruş per litre and diesel up around 58 kuruş, reflecting continued pressure from global oil markets and currency movements. However, the increases represent only around a quarter of the full price adjustment calculated under the automatic escalator system, with the remainder absorbed through special consumption tax rather than passed directly to consumers at the pump. In Istanbul’s European districts, petrol now stands at 60.32 lira per litre, diesel at 65.28 lira, and LPG at 30.49 lira.