Happy Mid-Sha‘ban to everyone. May this blessed night bring Allah’s forgiveness, mercy, and peace into our lives. Please keep me in your prayers.
“Looks like they’ve squeezed the last chapter of our lives in somewhere between inflation and inflammation.”
Politics
🏛️🌍📊 Cabinet Meets in Ankara with US–Iran Tensions and Economy on the Table
Turkey’s cabinet is meeting today at the Presidential Complex in Ankara under the chairmanship of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with regional diplomacy and economic pressures topping the agenda. Discussions are set to focus on rising tensions between the United States and Iran, as Ankara weighs options to help avert direct confrontation, including a proposed trilateral summit raised in recent calls between Erdoğan, US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The meeting will also review developments in Syria and Gaza, the progress of Turkey’s “Terror-Free Turkey” initiative, and the state of the economy, with inflation and market stability very much in mind—making for a full agenda and, as ever, a watchful wait for what emerges once the doors reopen.
🚨🏛️⚖️ Operation at Bayrampaşa Municipality Leads to Multiple Detentions
A fresh operation targeting Bayrampaşa Municipality has resulted in the detention of 12 people, with arrest warrants issued for a total of 13 suspects as part of an ongoing corruption probe in Istanbul. The investigation, led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, centres on allegations including embezzlement, extortion, bribery and rigging public tenders, involving the mayor, municipal officials and private individuals. Police carried out simultaneous raids, searches and seizures across homes and workplaces, while efforts to locate the remaining suspects continue.
🎓⚖️🇫🇷 Sorbonne Rejects Bid to Void Saybaşılı’s Doctorate
Sorbonne University has refused a request to annul the doctoral degree of Prof. Dr. Naciye Aylin Ataay Saybaşılı, one of 28 academics whose diplomas were cancelled by Istanbul University alongside that of Ekrem İmamoğlu. Saybaşılı, a former faculty member at Galatasaray University, had completed her doctorate in Paris after earlier studies in Turkey that were later deemed irregular by local authorities. According to reports, Sorbonne found no violation whatsoever during her doctoral studies and unanimously rejected the application to revoke her degree, delivering a clear decision that stands in contrast to the annulments issued at home.
🟢🗳️🚦 New Welfare Party Signals Alliances with Three, Rules Out Two
Turkey’s New Welfare Party has indicated it could enter an electoral partnership with the DEVA Party, the Future Party and the Felicity Party, while firmly shutting the door on any alliance with either the AK Party or the CHP. Speaking to journalists, deputy leader Suat Kılıç said the party was preparing for the possibility of an early election but stressed that the more pressing issue for voters was the cost of living, not the ballot box. Positioning his party as a “third way”, Kılıç argued that neither the government nor the main opposition currently offers a convincing solution to Turkey’s chronic problems, adding that New Welfare is open to broader cooperation with like-minded parties to build a strong parliamentary bloc—and potentially a second-round contender in a future presidential race.
Ankara
🌾🏭🚧 Industry on the Doorstep: 441-Hectare Estate Planned for Ankara’s Farmland
A vast new industrial estate is set to be built on some of Ankara’s most fertile land, with a 441-hectare recycling-focused zone approved just 875 metres from residential areas in Ayaş’s Gökler village. Despite the presence of existing industrial sites nearby, the project has received a positive environmental impact decision, prompting strong objections from environmental groups and local residents who fear irreversible damage to agriculture, livestock farming and groundwater. Planned to host 220 facilities, the site would sit alarmingly close to villages and the Ankara River, raising concerns over waste processing, pollution and long-term ecological harm. For now, campaigners are seeking clarification from the ministry, but legal action—and a rather firmer response—appears to be waiting in the wings.
🚨🎥🏙️ “Take Whoever You Like to the Hotel”: Tele-Bar Probe Uncovers Camera Evidence in Ankara
An investigation into Ankara’s so-called tele-bars has revealed striking undercover footage, with a head waiter heard telling a customer he could take women from the venue to a hotel for sex, according to body-camera recordings by plain-clothes police. Prosecutors say nine venues are facing separate cases, alleging a system in which women were steered to tables, hourly or overnight deals were struck, and customers were sent to nearby hotels, with revenues boosted through inflated bills, cloakroom payments and commissions. The indictments also cite claims of commissions routed through different accounts, harassment of staff, and practices designed to intoxicate customers more quickly, with defendants charged with encouraging, facilitating and providing premises for prostitution.
📧🗂️😶 İhlas Holding CEO Responds to Epstein Files: “Anyone Who Knows English Can See What That Email Was About”
İhlas Holding CEO Ahmet Mücahit Ören has rejected allegations arising from the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, saying he read the commentary “with laughter and disbelief” and insisting the emails in question were being wilfully misinterpreted. The correspondence, dating back to 2004, shows an exchange between Ören and Ghislaine Maxwell concerning an introduction to Richard Branson for business purposes—something Ören says is perfectly clear to anyone with a working knowledge of English. Addressing speculation linking him to Epstein, Ören stressed he had no connection whatsoever to the disgraced financier, calling such claims baseless and defamatory, and framing the episode as an overzealous reading of routine professional communication rather than anything more sinister.