Daily Cartoon
“Well, would you look at that — even our market stallholder has finally taken up art.”
Ruling Government (JDP)
🗳️⚠️🗣️ Former AK Party MP Warns: “AK Party Must Rein in Its Neo-Unionist Drift”
Former AK Party MP and writer Orhan Miroğlu has delivered a pointed warning to his old party, arguing that the success of Turkey’s regional and domestic peace efforts depends on correcting what he describes as a rising “Neo-Unionist” current within the AK Party. Speaking on the Kurdish question, Syria and Turkish politics, Miroğlu said the party once stood out as the first centre-right movement to attract broad Kurdish support, but has since lost ground through weakened political representation, growing nationalism and strategic missteps. He stressed that developments in Syria make renewed dialogue between the AK Party and Kurdish voters not just desirable but necessary, adding that ideological flirtations with hardline nationalism risk undermining both domestic cohesion and Turkey’s regional influence unless firmly brought back into line.
Politics
📡⚖️🕯️ Sent on Duty with a Faulty Radio: Court Orders Compensation After Soldier’s Death
Turkey’s Council of State has ruled that the family of a conscript who died while on sentry duty must be paid moral damages, finding that soldiers were sent on watch with a defective radio that prevented them from calling for help. The case dates back to February 2016, when a private serving at a border post in Gaziantep suffered cardiac arrest during duty and died. Although lower courts had dismissed the family’s claim on the grounds of “constitutional weakness”, the top administrative court concluded that the broken communications equipment caused a critical delay in assistance, as confirmed by technical reports and witness statements. The ruling overturns earlier decisions and acknowledges that the failure to ensure proper communication amounted to a service fault, warranting compensation.
🕊️🏛️ Critical Stage in the Peace Process: Transitional Law Moves onto the Agenda
Turkey’s parliamentary commission established under the peace process is nearing completion of its joint report, paving the way for a proposed transitional law to come before parliament. The report stresses that the process must rest on a clear legal and institutional framework, with full, permanent and verifiable disarmament as a core condition, covering all structures of the organisation, including those in Syria. Once submitted to the Speaker of Parliament, the report is expected to be followed by a draft bill defining the stages of disarmament, monitoring and verification mechanisms, and the legal boundaries of the transition. Lawmakers anticipate that, subject to confirmation on the ground, the legislation could mark a decisive step towards the government’s stated goal of a “Terror-Free Turkey”, while opposition voices have urged that the process be accelerated to avoid delays undermining momentum.
🏛️🔄🗳️ Parliamentary Musical Chairs: Who Moved On, and Why Some Stayed Independent
Since the 2023 general election, Turkey’s parliament has seen a brisk season of party switching, with many MPs treating independence as a temporary layover rather than a final destination. As transfers reshaped the balance of seats, most MPs eventually found new political homes—often far removed from the platforms on which they were elected—leaving just eight independents in the chamber. Their reasons for remaining unaffiliated vary widely: from principled political rifts and leadership disputes, to waiting for the right moment to return to former parties, and, in several cases, ongoing legal controversies involving allegations of gold smuggling, drug offences or contraband linked to relatives or staff. The result is an unusually colourful roll call of independents, reflecting not only shifting alliances but also how scandal, strategy and personal calculation now sit side by side in parliamentary life.
🎰📸💼 Union Chiefs Caught on Camera: Casino Footage Sparks Fresh Row
Footage has emerged showing senior figures from the Tez Koop İş trade union at a casino in Northern Cyprus, reigniting controversy around the union that has recently been in the spotlight over the Migros warehouse workers’ protests and claims of lavish salaries. The images were reportedly filmed during a Presidents’ Council meeting held in December 2024 at a five-star hotel in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. While the union has denied allegations that its executives earn as much as 500,000 lira a month, its own statements confirm that senior officials take home at least around 170,000 lira on average. Union leaders have declined to comment on the casino footage, further fuelling criticism at a time when workers linked to the union are demanding better pay and conditions.
🏃♀️🥊🔥 Hair-Pulling Brawl Shocks Turkey’s Indoor Athletics Championships
A heated argument between national athletes Tuğba Danışmaz and Sedef Çevik erupted into a full-blown fight at the Turkey Indoor Athletics Championships, leaving spectators stunned. What began as a dispute during the women’s triple jump quickly escalated, with the two athletes reportedly pulling each other’s hair, while chaos spread beyond the track as coach Cüneyt Yüksel and Danışmaz’s partner, former athlete Arda Eriş, also came to blows. Order was eventually restored after senior federation officials stepped in, but the damage was done: both athletes were disqualified from the competition. No formal complaints were filed, though the incident cast an awkward shadow over what was meant to be a showcase of sporting excellence.
Opposition Parties
📍🗣️🕯️ Özel Takes CHP Group Meeting to Kahramanmaraş on Earthquake Anniversary
CHP leader Özgür Özel will hold his party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting today not in Ankara, but in Kahramanmaraş, at the heart of the devastation caused by the 6 February earthquakes. As part of a week-long visit to the disaster zone, Özel will travel on to Hatay, Adıyaman and Malatya, meeting families who lost loved ones, visiting container settlements and speaking with local tradespeople. While some CHP MPs remain in parliament to raise the region’s unresolved problems from the chamber, others will accompany Özel in the field—an effort the party describes as both a remembrance and a pointed reminder that, three years on, reconstruction, infrastructure and basic services remain painfully incomplete.
✉️⚖️🗣️ Detained IBB Adviser Writes from Prison: “The Indictment Judges the Person, Not the Act”
Necati Özkan, the campaign director and adviser to Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu who is currently detained in the IBB investigation, has sent a letter from Kandıra F-Type Prison arguing that the case against him is built on conjecture rather than evidence. Writing under the title Letters of Truth, Özkan says the indictment constructs guilt by focusing on who he is, not what he did, citing the “Istanbul Senin” application as a prime example. He insists he had no role in the app’s development, operation or data handling, was never questioned about it during the investigation, and is accused alongside people he says he has never even met—despite the absence of witness statements, reports or concrete proof. The document, he argues, ignores clear financial and administrative records and replaces causality and evidence with assumption, concluding that such an approach undermines the very foundations of justice in a state governed by the rule of law.
📞🏛️🤝 From Complaint to Call: Bahçeli Rings Özgür Özel After Earthquake Visit
A remark by an earthquake survivor has unexpectedly opened a line of communication at the top of Turkish politics. During CHP leader Özgür Özel’s visit to Osmaniye marking the anniversary of the 6 February earthquakes, a local resident voiced frustration at MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, saying he had not stood by his hometown in its darkest days. After the comments circulated publicly, Bahçeli made a surprise phone call to Özel, thanking him for the visit and expressing appreciation for his presence in the region, while also extending his good wishes for Berat Kandili. A brief conversation, perhaps—but one that caught more than a few ears in Ankara.
International Politics
⚠️📰☠️ ISIS Magazine Targets Turkey, Branding Its Secular State ‘Infidel’
ISIS has once again singled out Turkey in its international English-language publication Voice of Khurasan, issuing a stark ideological attack on the country’s secular and nation-state foundations. In an edition titled “Jihad and Nationalism–Patriotism”, the group denounces democracy, secularism and national identity as heresy and ignorance, using explicitly takfiri language to declare states like Turkey “infidel”. The publication frames Turkey alongside Syria within what it calls a “Western crusader alliance”, escalating its rhetoric against Ankara’s political system and national identity. The latest issue underlines ISIS’s continued effort to delegitimise modern state structures and revive its ideological campaign against countries it sees as incompatible with its extremist worldview.
Economy
🏦📜👥 Two Senior Appointments Made at Turkey’s Central Bank
Two new senior appointments have been made at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey following a presidential decision published in the Official Gazette. By decree of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Monetary Policy Committee member Fatma Özkul and Gazi İshak Kara have been appointed as deputy governors of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, marking a notable change at the top of the country’s monetary authority.
📉💳📊 Bad Loans Double in a Year as Financial Strain Spreads Across Turkey
Turkey’s volume of non-performing loans more than doubled in 2025, rising by 103 per cent to ₺588.7 billion as households and businesses struggled through a turbulent economic year. Banking data show that overdue loans surged at triple-digit rates in the vast majority of provinces, with Karaman standing out for a near sixfold increase, while five provinces saw rises of 200–300 per cent and 57 others between 100–200 per cent. Istanbul still accounts for nearly a third of all troubled loans by value, though its growth rate was relatively modest, underscoring how the problem has spread far beyond major economic centres. On a per-capita basis, Istanbul, Karaman and Gaziantep top the list, while the share of non-performing loans in total credit has climbed sharply in several southeastern provinces—an unmistakable sign that financial stress is no longer an exception, but a nationwide condition.