Correction to yesterday’s Mersin item: I said Seçer’s arrest was unclear. T24 now reports that the Interior Ministry confirmed he was arrested and suspended (see below).
⚖️ Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
Police officer Ahmet Türkoğlu shot dead at Ankara checkpoint
Police officer Ahmet Türkoğlu was killed at a checkpoint in Ankara’s Pursaklar district. It happened at about 23:20 on the Karacelenören TOKİ road. According to Ankara Governor Yakup Canbolat, three people were in the stopped vehicle. A rear-seat passenger got out and fired twice at the officer while he and a night watchman checked identities. Türkoğlu died in hospital. The car fled, and the other two occupants were later caught. The governor said the gunman shot himself afterwards and was in a serious condition. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi issued a message of condolence.
🏛️ Politics
Parliamentary committee approves rules for Booking, Expedia and Airbnb
The Grand National Assembly of Türkiye’s (TBMM) Public Works, Zoning, Transport and Tourism Committee approved a bill regulating foreign digital accommodation platforms. It would require them to hold a permit, keep a representative in Türkiye, pay a tourism levy and pay digital tax. Domestic-to-domestic bookings would carry a commission cap of 17 per cent of the pre-tax price. Responsibility for declaring and paying VAT and withholding tax on platform bookings would rest with the hotel. If passed by the General Assembly, the law would take effect on 1 January 2027. Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Nadir Alpaslan said the aim was a framework protecting consumers and registered businesses.
🤝 Ruling Government (AKP, MHP, CHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
AKP drafts temporary law to repay fund investors
According to T24, the AKP is preparing a temporary bill of 10 or 11 articles to set up repayments to investors in funds being liquidated. The move follows a decision by the Capital Markets Board (SPK) to pay in full those with a net investment under TL 1 million. AKP sources put the number of such investors at about 350,000 of 455,578. The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) would convert fund assets to cash. İş Bankası and Ziraat Bankası would pay out principal plus an inflation adjustment. The bill is expected in parliament by next Monday at the latest, with payments starting in October. Larger investors would be paid in stages. The funds named are those of Tera, Pusula, Atlas and Hedef Portföy.
MHP’s Feti Yıldız on Gezi convict Tayfun Kahraman: “nothing to debate”
MHP deputy chair Feti Yıldız said there was “nothing to debate” about the Constitutional Court’s (AYM) ruling that Gezi Park convict Tayfun Kahraman must be retried. Kahraman received an 18-year sentence. The court’s unanimous 2 April 2026 ruling, its second violation finding in his case, had its reasoning published in the Official Gazette on 6 October. The reasoning says public authorities may not resist or question its rulings. It also says the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court is obliged to start the retrial. That court had refused and accused the AYM of “usurpation of authority”. The AYM said this would inevitably push the legal system into chaos.
🗳️ Opposition Parties (New Party and İYİ Party)
Esenyurt municipality raided: 17 detained including deputy mayor
Istanbul prosecutors issued detention warrants for 19 people over alleged bid-rigging and bribes taken from contractors at Esenyurt Municipality. Seventeen were detained in a morning operation and two were being sought. Those held include Deputy Mayor Yusuf Ulutaş, municipal staff and company owners. T24 notes that the CHP’s elected mayor, Ahmet Özer, was arrested in October 2024 in a PKK/KCK terrorism investigation and removed by the Interior Ministry. Government-appointed trustee Can Aksoy has run the municipality since.
Interior Ministry suspends Mersin’s Seçer, Eyüpsultan’s Özmen and three others after arrests
The Interior Ministry suspended five arrested local officials as a temporary measure. They are Mersin Metropolitan Mayor Vahap Seçer, Eyüpsultan Mayor Mithat Bülent Özmen, Yenişehir Mayor Abdullah Özyiğit, Mezitli Mayor Ahmet Serkan Tuncer and Ataşehir acting mayor Murat Güneş. The charges named are forming an organisation to commit crimes, bribery, bid-rigging and fraud against a public institution, with courts ordering arrests on 5 and 6 October. Seçer was also removed as president of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB), and Tuncer as president of the Eastern Mediterranean Municipalities Union. T24’s headline speaks of “5 mayors and an acting mayor”, but the body names only these five people.
AKP posts “7 October” İzmir video as mayor Cemil Tugay’s expected move nears
The AKP’s official social media account posted a video set to the İzmir March, showing flowers blooming from a pile of rubbish and ending with “07.10.2026” and the party logo. T24 says it was read as a message to İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Cemil Tugay, who has left the CHP and is expected to join the AKP. If he does, T24 says the AKP would hold local power in İzmir for the first time. The article carries no confirmation from Tugay.