⚖️ Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
39 detained in ISIS operation in Istanbul
Thirty-nine people have been detained in simultaneous raids on 43 addresses in Istanbul as part of an investigation into ISIS, with the suspects accused of collecting money under the names of fitre, zakat and infak from people aiding the organisation through lessons and talks held in illegal associations and prayer rooms. The work to expose the group’s activities was carried out by counter-terrorism and intelligence units of the Istanbul Police Department, coordinated by the Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators determined that a man named Orhan Küçük, using the code name “taxi driver Muhammed”, acted as a so-called leader to pro-organisation individuals, organising lessons and talks at an illegal association and prayer room of their own and collecting money from sympathisers, while members were found to have made radical statements on religious matters and conducted outreach to build support for the illegal prayer room, claiming that the state was not governed according to Islamic rulings, that God’s commands were not applied and that those in power were in idolatry. After the prosecutor’s office issued detention orders for 42 suspects, the raids were carried out on 43 addresses, two of them the prayer rooms in question, and 39 suspects were detained, with searches turning up an unlicensed pistol, 50 rounds of ammunition, two cutting and piercing knives, a drone and a large quantity of digital material.
Investigation and “preliminary inquiry” authorised against three mayors over “stray animals”
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi has authorised an investigation into the mayors of AKP-run Narman and CHP-run Köyceğiz over the “stray dogs” file, while launching a “preliminary inquiry” into the DEM Party mayor of Hilvan on the grounds that no animal shelter had been built. The Interior Ministry announced that examinations were continuing into incidents threatening citizens’ safety and into claims about the application of the relevant legislation. According to the ministry, inspections found that the animal care home belonging to Köyceğiz Municipality was inadequate in terms of capacity and operating permits, that work to collect stray animals was not carried out effectively and that veterinary services were not provided in line with the rules, while Narman Municipality was judged to have failed to collect stray animals in its area for a long time, with a dog attack occurring as a result of that neglect. On this basis, investigation authorisation was granted for Köyceğiz Mayor Ali Erdoğan and Narman Mayor Aydemir Adem Kınalı, both deemed to have failed to carry out their duties in accordance with the legislation. In the Hilvan district of Şanlıurfa, a preliminary inquiry was authorised into Mayor Serhan Paydaş over claims that the municipality had not met its obligations to establish an animal care home under the Animal Protection Law No. 5199, had not set aside the necessary funds and had taken no action towards building one. The ministry said work was continuing to protect citizens’ safety and ensure that public officials fulfil their responsibilities.
Van Bar Association withdraws from Rojin Kabaiş case
The Van Bar Association has announced that it is withdrawing from the investigation into the death of university student Rojin Kabaiş, who died in suspicious circumstances, saying it had concluded that the difficulties of the case had made it harder to maintain sound communication and coordination with her father. Kabaiş, a first-year student in the Child Development department of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University’s Education Faculty, disappeared after leaving her dormitory on 27 September 2024, and her body was found on the shore of the Mollakasım neighbourhood on 15 October 2024. In a statement on social media, the bar association said that at the present stage it judged that the hardship of the justice struggle waged by the deceased’s father, Nizamettin Kabaiş, who is a complainant in the file, together with the deep psychological strain caused by the unexplained suspicious death, had made it difficult to sustain healthy communication and coordination with him over following the case. Saying it viewed the difficult process the father was going through with understanding, the association stated that its case-tracking team and the lawyers authorised by special power of attorney had decided to withdraw so that the file would not suffer any loss of rights and the process could be conducted more soundly, stressing this did not mean any step back from its sensitivity about uncovering the truth or its determination that those responsible be held to account, which it said it would continue to follow on the public’s behalf. The withdrawal follows recent remarks by the father, who had accused the bar association of being indifferent to the file, saying that nearly two years on he had been investigating by his own means, and that he had asked the bar to examine footage from a rotating camera in the area covering where his daughter’s phone was left and much of the village, but that they had shown no interest.
NATO measures spill beyond Ankara: protest ban in three more provinces
Security measures taken across Ankara for the 36th NATO Summit, which include a ban on demonstrations and protests, are spreading beyond the capital, with the provincial governorates of Karabük, Mersin and Eskişehir following Ankara in announcing bans. According to the report, the summit is to be held in Ankara on 7-8 July, and Karabük’s governorate, in a decision dated 26 June, banned all actions and events aimed at protesting the summit across the province, with the ban set to run from the morning of 1 July until midnight on 10 July. The governorates of Eskişehir and Mersin took similar decisions, prohibiting all demonstrations and events between 2 and 10 July in Mersin and between 1 and 10 July in Eskişehir. The measures are said not to be limited to these provinces, with some other governorates reported to be considering similar steps, and various security arrangements had previously been brought in across Ankara for the duration of the summit, with restrictions on movement increased citywide.
Investigation launched into Deniz Göktaş
An investigation has been launched into stand-up comedian Deniz Göktaş over claims that the videos he posted on social media contain elements of a criminal offence. Following his latest show, “Ölü Deniz”, which has been viewed close to six million times on his own YouTube account, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened the investigation on the grounds that the video contained criminal elements. Confirming the inquiry, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the suspect Deniz Göktaş, in whose content published on certain social media platforms expressions deemed to constitute elements of a criminal offence had been identified.
Fire in İzmir’s Dikili brought under control
A fire that broke out in an agricultural area in the Dikili district of İzmir and spread to woodland has been brought under control. The blaze, which started for an as-yet-undetermined reason in farmland near the Çandarlı neighbourhood and spread to the forest under the effect of the wind, was tackled by fire crews along with seven aircraft, eight helicopters, 35 water tankers and four bulldozers belonging to the İzmir Regional Directorate of Forestry. It was brought under control following intensive efforts carried out by the teams from the air and on the ground.
Meteorology warns: scorching heat to grip the whole country
The Turkish State Meteorological Service has announced that no rain is expected across the country, with temperatures forecast to remain above seasonal norms, while a strong-wind warning has been issued for the south-west of Marmara and the northern Aegean coasts. According to the service’s latest forecasts, the weather will be partly cloudy to clear nationwide and temperatures will stay above seasonal averages, with the heat felt in many regions. Temperatures are expected to reach up to 40 degrees in south-eastern Anatolia, 36-38 degrees in the Aegean and Mediterranean, and between 32 and 36 degrees in Marmara, with 33 degrees forecast for the capital Ankara, 32 for Istanbul and 36 for İzmir. Winds are generally expected to blow lightly, at times moderately, from northerly and north-easterly directions, though strong winds of 30 to 50 kilometres per hour are forecast for the south-west of Marmara and the northern Aegean coasts, where the service urged people to be careful and take precautions. Given the absence of rain and the above-average temperatures, the elderly, those with chronic illnesses and children are advised not to remain in the sun for long periods, especially during the hottest hours of the day, to drink plenty of fluids and to take the necessary precautions.
🏛️ Politics
Erdoğan: barriers to defence trade must be lifted
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said NATO must preserve its deterrence at a time of growing global uncertainty, calling for barriers to defence trade to be removed and for solidarity among allies to be strengthened. Speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Summit held at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace, Erdoğan said the meeting was an important preparatory stage ahead of the NATO Summit to be held in Ankara on 7-8 July, and noted that Türkiye, with its strong army, advanced defence industry and geostrategic position, had contributed significantly to NATO’s security for more than 70 years, adding that the Ankara summit would yield important results for sharing experience and developing defence-industry cooperation. Emphasising that burden-sharing among allies should be carried out in a balanced and fair manner, he called for restrictions on defence-industry trade to be lifted, and, recalling that Türkiye was among the top five allies contributing most to NATO missions and operations, said its contribution to European security was nonetheless sometimes overlooked; Türkiye should be included in the EU’s defence and security initiatives, he argued, saying that excluding the country’s defence capacity for narrow political interests benefited no one. Turning to the Middle East, Erdoğan said Türkiye supported turning the ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran into a lasting solution and was closely following attacks aimed at breaking the agreement, and, drawing attention to attacks on Lebanon, stressed that the Palestinian question lay at the root of the region’s tensions, with lasting peace possible only through the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders. On the Russia-Ukraine war, he said it should be ended through diplomacy, noting that Türkiye, as a trusted country able to engage in dialogue with both sides, would continue to contribute actively to peace efforts.
Erdoğan speaks with Turkmenistan’s National Leader Berdimuhamedov
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has held a telephone call with Turkmenistan’s National Leader and Chairman of the People’s Council, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. According to a statement from the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, the leaders discussed bilateral relations between Türkiye and Turkmenistan as well as regional and global issues. In the call, Erdoğan said Türkiye and Turkmenistan would continue to develop their cooperation and keep taking steps to that end. He also invited Berdimuhamedov to the 13th Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States and the COP31 Climate Summit, and wished him a happy birthday.
Cabinet meets today: what’s on the agenda?
The Presidential Cabinet is to convene today at 4pm at Beştepe under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with the NATO Leaders’ Summit to be held in Ankara on 6-7 July forming the main item on its agenda. The meeting is expected to include a comprehensive assessment of preparations for the summit, security measures and the topics to be addressed, with cabinet members reviewing the programme of bilateral contacts to be held during the summit and finalising preparations. Foreign policy matters will also be on the table, including an assessment of the ongoing negotiation process between the United States and Iran and of regional developments. The cabinet is further expected to take up work on the “Terror-Free Türkiye” process, as well as regulations concerning the lowest pension.
AK Party spokesman Çelik reacts sharply to Israel’s 1915 decision
AK Party spokesman Ömer Çelik has reacted sharply to a decision by the Israeli parliament concerning the events of 1915, saying the Netanyahu government’s move was far removed from historical and legal reality and describing it as an attempt to mask oppression of the Palestinians. In a post on his social media account, Çelik used harsh language against the Netanyahu government, pointing to Israel’s actions in Gaza and arguing the decision carried a political purpose. He said political networks that try to cover their own oppression with political lies had often been seen in history, calling Netanyahu and his team a “genocidal network” that he said was continuing to commit crimes in order to spread its crimes in Gaza to the West Bank as well, and contending that the so-called decision was far from legal and historical reality and that nothing such a network said carried any weight before history and the conscience of humanity. The reaction follows an announcement by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that a bill on Israel formally recognising the 1915 events as the “Armenian genocide” had been passed unanimously by the Israeli parliament; in a social media post afterwards, Sa’ar thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and government members who had supported the process, saying it was never too late to do the right thing and that Israel had thereby joined the countries fulfilling a moral duty, having earlier described the bill as a moral and historical responsibility.
Tamar Tanrıyar’s statement emerges after release under judicial control
The prosecutorial statement that Tamar Tanrıyar gave via the SEGBİS video-link system has come to light after she was released under judicial control, having been placed under investigation on suspicion of “insulting the President” and “publicly disseminating misleading information”. In her statement, given from the Kuşadası Courthouse to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Tanrıyar said she had made the post in question about two days earlier while on a cruise holiday, that it had touched on more than one subject although the press had treated it as if there were only one, and that she had named no individual or media outlet. According to halktv.com.tr, she said that in speaking of newspaper distribution she had given no name as to who distributed it, arguing that no one was obliged to distribute a newspaper belonging to media owned by a person being tried in connection with the FETÖ/PDY armed terrorist organisation, and that the “crypto brotherhood” she had referred to — which she said involved financial partnership between outlets appearing close to and distant from the government — was separate from and unconnected to Turkuvaz Media, her only criticism of which was that it distributed the Sözcü newspaper. Insisting she had in no way insulted the President — saying she could even end a friendship over matters concerning him and was ready to give her life — Tanrıyar said her remark likening events to a “15 July déjà vu” was a description rather than something based on inside information, and that her husband Can Tanrıyar, who is not a journalist, had no connection to the matter. The report recalls that the prosecutor’s office had launched the investigation on its own initiative, that Tanrıyar was found to have left the country via the Marmaris Sea Border Gate on 23 June, prompting an arrest warrant, and that after her detention she was released under judicial control, telling reporters on leaving the courthouse that she had turned herself in of her own accord and that everything was fine.
TPAO’s oil exploration licence in Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa extended
The oil exploration licence held by Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) for its field in Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa has been extended. The decision by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry’s General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs concerning the petroleum right was published in the Official Gazette, extending the licence for the field numbered “AR/TPO/K/M41-b”, within the boundaries of Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa, until 8 June 2028. The field covers an area of 44,474 hectares. The extension was said to have been granted in order to determine the region’s hydrocarbon potential and bring those resources into the country’s economy.
🤝Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
AKP corridors: cabinet reshuffle postponed, comprehensive overhaul of party organisations on the way
Alongside economic and security topics, the performance of the party organisations came onto the agenda at the AKP’s Sapanca camp, and according to party corridor talk President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is preparing a comprehensive overhaul of those organisations while no cabinet reshuffle is planned in the short term. Reporting by Cumhuriyet’s Merve Kılıç notes that, beyond the official agenda of the 33rd Consultation and Evaluation Meeting held in the Sapanca district of Sakarya, preparations for change within the party came to the fore, with the economy, security, social expectations and new-era policies all discussed, but the most talked-about matter in the corridors being Erdoğan’s assessments of the organisations. Party officials say Erdoğan has been troubled by what he sees as a recent air of complacency in the organisations, and that comprehensive changes could therefore be on the cards both in the provincial and district branches and in the AKP Central Executive Board (MYK), with the aim of continuing with high-performing cadres in direct contact with citizens even though the election calendar has not begun. Claims of an early election were also weighed at the camp, with AKP sources saying they do not share expectations of a snap poll in autumn 2026 and that the government’s priority is the economy. On recent suggestions that a cabinet reshuffle would follow the NATO Summit, party sources say no such revision is planned before autumn, indicating that short-term change will be felt more in the party management and organisations, while any cabinet rearrangement could be reassessed later according to political and economic developments.
Demirtaş backs Deniz Göktaş with a letter: this people loves the Denizes whatever happens
Former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, held in Edirne Prison, has written a humorous letter of support to comedian Deniz Göktaş, who is under investigation, reacting to political humour being targeted and stressing that young people being able to think and speak freely is essential for social progress, writing that “this people loves the Denizes whatever happens”. In the letter shared on his social media account, Demirtaş jokes that his lawyers had warned him a young man named Deniz Göktaş was quietly eyeing his seat through political comedy and looked set to be arrested any day, to which he replied that this was welcome — since the prisons cannot hold two such inmates at once, Göktaş’s imprisonment would surely mean his own release. Encouraging and teasing the comedian, he says he cannot shorten his name because “Deniz always stays Deniz”, and that for ten years he had waited for someone to take his place, only to be let down by the likes of “Yılmaz and Cem”, whereas Göktaş has “the light” and will surely succeed. He advises Göktaş not to wait at home for the dawn raid but to go to Taksim and shout two solid slogans his lawyers will pass on, and offers brotherly criticism of Göktaş’s defence that one does not flee abroad with two pairs of shorts and two T-shirts, suggesting he instead invent something more convincing about gold prices. Demirtaş adds that the public loves the Denizes all the more when they do not return, and closes by appealing to the authorities to let young people think, speak and laugh without fear, since freedoms are indispensable for social progress, with the wry caveat that if Göktaş mocked him in his show, they should of course arrest him.
🗳️ Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
Claim: extraordinary congress demand and expulsion rulings in CHP set to go to court
New legal steps over a demand for an extraordinary congress and disciplinary processes within the CHP may come onto the agenda, with it being said that the camp around Özgür Özel could go to court if a congress decision is not taken by 11 July, and that some figures could turn to the courts if expulsion rulings are finalised. It is reported that fresh legal processes may arise in the CHP following investigations into municipalities and the “absolute nullity” case, and it has been claimed that if petitions submitted by 833 delegates demanding an extraordinary congress are not processed by the party headquarters, figures close to Özel could apply to the Civil Court of Peace. According to the Türkiye newspaper, Özel’s camp is said to be waiting until 11 July before applying, citing the party statute, under which the congress must be held on the last Sunday within at most 45 days of the signatures being submitted — a date said to fall on 26 July — with 11 July described as the critical date since a congress decision must be announced 15 days in advance. Another heading expected to be taken to court is the expulsion rulings: if rulings against the MPs, mayors and provincial chairs referred to discipline by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu are finalised, those concerned could, it is said, turn to the courts on the grounds that the decisions are contrary to the statute.
CHP’s Murat Emir: if no extraordinary congress is held, we will go to court
At a press conference at the Grand National Assembly, CHP Group Deputy Chair Murat Emir warned that the party would go to court if no extraordinary congress were held, while criticising the targeting of comedian Deniz Göktaş and the security measures surrounding the NATO summit. Emir said Göktaş had been subjected to a three-day campaign for the offence of making political comedy and effective jokes, with claims that he had disrupted public order, posed a threat to national security and insulted the President, yet millions who watched would see there was nothing of the sort — only humour, criticism and satire. Turning to the extraordinary security measures in Ankara for the NATO Leaders’ Summit, he accused the authorities of turning the capital into a “ghost city” and of trying to hide Türkiye’s poverty — the waste-pickers, the pensioners rummaging through market leftovers — from visiting leaders behind NATO tarpaulins, arguing their only concern was that Trump not be protested and that Macron be able to jog freely, while citizens could not even reach a doctor. He said arrests had reached unimaginable levels, citing the detention of 42 TEMA Foundation volunteers, some close to 80, and put the current number of detainees at 178, accusing the authorities of “clearing the ground” by rounding people up pre-emptively without any offence or protest having occurred. Responding to President Erdoğan’s jibe that the CHP had created its own “Frankenstein”, Emir said there was no Frankenstein, no two-headedness and no infighting in the party, only a handful of people the President had found within it in line with his planned nullity ruling, set against the whole CHP family and the millions supporting it, telling him: you wished, dreamed and planned, but you could not divide the CHP. On a new party, he said there was extraordinary disinformation and urged journalists to disregard anything not said by the leader or authorised spokespeople, insisting the party was determined not to be handed over to “dirty palace operations” or made the “palace’s CHP”, while noting other options existed that would be shared in due course. Recalling that 833 congress delegates — over 90 per cent, excluding Istanbul — had demanded an extraordinary congress, Emir called on the headquarters to heed the law and the statute, which he said states the leader “convenes” the congress within 45 days rather than “may convene”, and said that if the necessary steps were not taken within that period they would of course go to court, though that time had not yet come. He added that the group meeting would go ahead as planned, with the leader’s address at 1.30pm the following day.