⚖️ Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
Schoolboy, 15, fatally stabbed in İzmir
A 15-year-old secondary school pupil has died following a knife fight in the Karşıyaka district of İzmir. Erdem Demir, a Year 8 student at Karşıyaka Fevzipaşa Secondary School, was wounded during an altercation on the Karşıyaka seafront with two young men, aged 18 and 19, that broke out for reasons that have yet to be established. Despite medical treatment in hospital, Demir later succumbed to his injuries. Police detained the two suspects, who were subsequently brought before a court and remanded in custody.
Trial opens in Atlas Çağlayan case amid calls for “justice for Atlas”
The first hearing in the case of Atlas Çağlayan, a 17-year-old fatally stabbed in İstanbul, is taking place today, with the defendant E.Ç. — now 15 but aged 14 at the time of the offence — appearing before a judge for the first time at Bakırköy’s 2nd Juvenile High Criminal Court. Owing to the crowds, the hearing is being held in the courthouse conference hall and, citing confidentiality, will be closed to the public; large numbers gathered outside Bakırköy Courthouse from early morning, chanting “We want justice for Atlas”. According to the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, E.Ç. stabbed Çağlayan during a quarrel between two groups at a café on Emek Sokak in the Mehmet Nesih Özmen neighbourhood on 14 January, and Çağlayan died in hospital from internal bleeding caused by organ injury. A Forensic Medicine Institute report concluded that E.Ç. was sufficiently developed to understand the legal meaning and consequences of his actions in relation to charges of intentional killing, armed threat and violating Law No. 6136. The indictment notes that no evidence was found of any prior acquaintance or grievance between the pair, though E.Ç.’s phone contained several photographs of him holding a firearm, along with images of weapons and a flick-knife. As Çağlayan was under 18 and therefore considered a child under the Turkish Penal Code, the prosecution argues the act constitutes “aggravated intentional killing”, citing three blows struck with a knife to the victim’s chest and the area below his heart.
🏛️ Politics
Venezuela’s acting head of state Rodríguez praises ties with Turkey
Following her meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Venezuela’s acting head of state Delcy Rodríguez has released a video highlighting Turkey’s importance to her country. In the footage, shared on the social media account of the Miraflores Palace, Rodríguez featured images of Dolmabahçe Palace and her talks with Erdoğan, stressing the value of further developing bilateral relations and stating that the two nations were steadily strengthening their commercial and economic links in areas including mining, energy, transport and air connections, and expressing gratitude for Erdoğan’s invitation. She underlined that Turkish Airlines’ Caracas–İstanbul flights had significantly bolstered relations between the two countries, and said both sides were working to create opportunities for international cooperation in technology, industry, science and energy to improve their peoples’ welfare. Noting Venezuela’s considerable potential in the energy sector, Rodríguez said her country wished to further diversify its wealth and to demonstrate that the Venezuelan people were honest and hard-working. Rodríguez, who visited Turkey at Erdoğan’s invitation, had been welcomed with an official ceremony.
Parliament Speaker Kurtulmuş: The summary-of-proceedings issue would open the door to an entirely different political game
Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Numan Kurtulmuş has addressed claims that parliamentary summaries of proceedings (fezleke) against CHP figures, chiefly party leader Özgür Özel, would be acted upon, saying the matter “would open the door to an entirely different political game” while urging that the Court of Cassation rule swiftly and that the party hold its congress. According to columnist Aytunç Erkin, writing in Nefes, Kurtulmuş said there would be great benefit in the Court of Cassation clarifying the issue surrounding the court ruling as soon as possible, removing a source of dispute, and added that, in terms of party law, it was important for the CHP to reassert the will of its delegates and hold a congress at an appropriate time. He said he viewed the process with regret, noting the CHP’s decisive role in Turkish democracy and expressing hope the party would resolve its internal conflict swiftly and then proceed — whether by congress or revision — within the framework of its own party law, without occupying Turkey’s agenda for long. On the images of police entering CHP headquarters, Kurtulmuş said the scenes harmed not only the CHP but the whole of Turkey, arguing that while politics grants a politician the right to reject a court ruling, it does not grant the right to physically resist its consequences; he recalled a similar experience of his own, when a caretaker committee was appointed to the party he led and he departed having only stated his views. On the summaries of proceedings awaiting action in Parliament, Kurtulmuş said there were currently many such files, none being brought forward, and that the issue would open the door to an entirely different political game, concluding that the process had not yet reached that stage.
Justice Minister Gürlek announces two unsolved murders cracked
Turkey’s Justice Minister Akın Gürlek has announced that two long-unsolved killings have been solved: that of Aynur Kanbur, a member of the Mezdeke group, shot dead in İstanbul’s Şişli district on 24 March 2016, and that of Şeref Kocabıyık, killed in Antalya’s Kepez district on 25 November 2014 and whose body was subsequently burned. Gürlek said that, with prosecutors’ offices reviewing case files meticulously under the coordination of the Department for the Investigation of Unsolved Crimes, the perpetrators of the two brutal murders — unsolved for 10 and 12 years respectively — had been identified and brought to justice through technical work carried out jointly by the relevant chief public prosecutor’s offices and the police and gendarmerie. In the Kanbur case, who was killed in an armed attack outside her home, he said investigators had examined communications records (HTS), transit-card movements and known grievances, identifying relatives of the victim along with a gunman named B.G. before staging operations at addresses determined for the suspects’ capture. In the Kocabıyık case, the killers were identified through telephone analysis after the file was reopened and the victim’s missing mobile phone was found to have been used after the crime, with base-station and HTS records analysed in detail; four suspects determined to have taken part were detained in simultaneous operations. Thanking all those involved, Gürlek said the two investigations had once again shown that no matter how much time passes, offenders would not go unpunished, and pledged that the pursuit of justice would continue uninterrupted until not a single unsolved file remained.
Cost of “nation’s gardens” revealed: 445.6 million lira spent
While millions struggle with poverty, public funds have once again flowed into the so-called “nation’s gardens”, with a total of 445.6 million Turkish lira spent on the projects between January and May 2026, according to a report by Mustafa Bildircin for BirGün. A savings circular sent to public institutions by Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek — stating that expenditure should be reviewed and savings pursued without concession — failed to halt the spending, which approached half a billion lira over the period. Between 1 January and 1 June 2026, 21 separate expenditures were made under 21 signed contracts, with numerous AKP-run municipalities, alongside provincial governorates and the housing authority TOKİ, among the bodies holding tenders. The costliest outlay came from Akyazı Municipality, which spent 188.45 million lira on the second-stage construction of the Kızılelma Nation’s Garden, followed by Sancaktepe Municipality’s 44.1 million lira on repairs and renovations at the Aydos Nation’s Garden and various recreation areas. Other expenditures included the Uzunkum Living Space garden at 37.95 million lira, the Çiçekdağı garden at 31.47 million, the Devrekani garden at 19 million, the Demirözü garden at 18.67 million and the Avni Aker garden at 13.25 million. TOKİ has also pursued the projects — a campaign pledge President Erdoğan once heralded with the remark “you can lie down and roll about” — completing a total of 190 nation’s gardens, most built during the 2020–2024 period.
120,000 applications for ministry’s 783 cleaning posts
Around 196,000 people have applied for a recruitment drive by Turkey’s Ministry of Youth and Sport to fill 2,610 posts, with by far the heaviest demand for the cleaning staff positions. According to a report by Karar, roughly 120,000 applications were made for the 783 cleaning posts, while the protection and security category drew around 60,000 applications and the maintenance and repair category some 15,000. Owing to the volume of applications, the evaluation process is expected to take longer and the results may not be announced until next week. Candidates are advised to follow announcements regarding the outcome through the ministry’s official channels.
Öztekin Apartments case: Council of State overturns Yerlikaya’s ruling
The Council of State’s 1st Chamber has overturned, on grounds of incomplete examination, former Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya’s decision not to grant permission to investigate municipal officials over the collapse of the Öztekin Apartments in Adıyaman during the 6 February earthquakes, ruling that a fresh preliminary examination be carried out and a new, reasoned decision issued. The building, in the Asfalt neighbourhood of Adıyaman’s Gölbaşı district, collapsed in the Kahramanmaraş-centred quakes, killing two people. The Adıyaman Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office brought charges of “causing the death of more than one person through conscious negligence” against the building’s owner, Osman Öztekin, and the architectural and structural project author and technical supervisor, Memduh Abacı, while also seeking permission to investigate municipal officials. Yerlikaya had reported that the building’s structural, electrical and mechanical plans, along with geological and geotechnical survey reports, could not be accessed because the municipal archive had been submerged during the earthquake; as no ground survey report could be found, he said no assessment could be made of whether the necessary precautions had been taken according to the soil type and behaviour, and concluded that no view could be reached on whether the structure had been built in breach of construction technique or zoning regulations. On that basis he had declined to authorise an investigation into former Gölbaşı Mayor Yusuf Özdemir, acting public works director Memet Özbay and former technical officer Osman Uludağ. Celal Gezer, who lost his elder brother in the collapse, challenged the refusal before the Council of State through his lawyer. The 1st Chamber overturned the decision for incomplete examination, ruling that, once the deficiencies are remedied, a new preliminary examination be conducted and a reasoned decision issued by the competent authority, taking into account a report that separates the individuals from the alleged acts.
Anadolu Agency picks a side in group meeting crisis: airs Kılıçdaroğlu
The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) has appeared to take sides in the crisis over the CHP’s parliamentary group meeting, notably featuring on its agenda the group meeting of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was installed as CHP leader by a court ruling. With both the administration of elected CHP leader Özgür Özel and that of the court-appointed Kılıçdaroğlu having announced that their own figure would speak from the rostrum at the group meeting, AA was seen to include Kılıçdaroğlu’s group meeting on its agenda while making no mention of Özel.
🤝Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
MHP leader Bahçeli urges restraint over CHP turmoil
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has commented on the disputes within the CHP, describing the emergence of two rival claims to legitimacy in the party as worrying for the future of the opposition and calling on the CHP’s leadership to exercise common sense. Speaking after the absolute-nullity ruling, Bahçeli said the CHP now faced two separate directions, two separate centres and two separate claims to legitimacy, presenting a troubling picture for the course of the opposition. He argued that one side wished to return to a legal footing and seek consolidation, while the other was staging shows of strength through defiance and enlarging the internal crisis with the language of the street — settling over the agenda, he said, like a heavy fog. Addressing party leader Özgür Özel, Bahçeli said it fell to the CHP and to Özel to act with good sense rather than make matters worse, adding that “sharp vinegar damages its own barrel” and that the party should not abandon its tangled internal dispute to the heat of public squares.
🗳️ Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
Kılıçdaroğlu will not attend
Amid continuing disputes over who will conduct the CHP’s parliamentary group meeting, activity began at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in the early hours, with reports indicating that former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will not attend today’s meeting. In a post on social media, Kılıçdaroğlu declared that, as he had said in the courtrooms, he was announcing once more that those seeking to set the party’s own children against one another by agitating for a wholesale popular uprising should know that such dirty designs would never be allowed to succeed. Warning that attempts to stir tension within the party would pave the way for outside interference, he said the time was not for fighting but for standing shoulder to shoulder, calling on his fellow travellers and the children of this deep-rooted tree to embrace calm and reason. Declaring it a day to protect the family home, Kılıçdaroğlu invited all party members and every citizen whose heart beats for the country to gather at CHP headquarters at 2 p.m. to hold a group meeting shoulder to shoulder, adding that they were one and together.
Kılıçdaroğlu to skip Parliament group meeting: I am calling all party members to headquarters at 2 p.m.
As the crisis within the CHP following the absolute-nullity ruling continues, attention has turned to the party’s parliamentary group meeting, with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu — provisionally appointed CHP leader by a court ruling — announcing he will not attend and instead summoning the entire party organisation to the headquarters, which he called the “family home”, at 2 p.m. Although it had been announced that Kılıçdaroğlu would speak at Parliament, Özgür Özel — removed from the leadership by the same ruling but remaining group chair — said he would address the meeting himself and commemorate Manisa Metropolitan Mayor Ferdi Zeyrek, who died a year ago, from the rostrum, insisting it was impossible to surrender it to an appointee rather than someone elected. Ahead of the meeting, set for 1.30 p.m. in the CHP’s parliamentary group hall, deputies backing Özel took their places early and some were reported to have spent the night at Parliament; a photograph of Zeyrek and carnations were placed in the hall. Party members gathering to attend began waiting outside the Assembly’s Dikmen Gate in the early hours, where security forces took extensive measures and riot police stood by; brief tension broke out between supporters of Özel and of Kılıçdaroğlu, defused by CHP Osmaniye deputy Asu Kaya. Özel arrived at Parliament and was greeted by deputy group chairs Gökhan Günaydın, Ali Mahir Başarır and Murat Emir, along with İstanbul provincial chair Özgür Çelik. Assembly Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said no visitors would be admitted to the meeting, citing a serious security risk at the entrance gates; Çelik said talks with the Speaker’s Office to lift the ban were ongoing, while Başarır later said they had ended unfavourably and that Özel would come to the Dikmen Gate to thank those waiting outside. Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş appealed to Kılıçdaroğlu via social media, calling the CHP a shared home and urging him to show good sense and statesmanship given his experience, warning against undesirable scenes under Parliament’s roof and before the public. Quoting Yavaş’s message, Kılıçdaroğlu repeated that those agitating for a wholesale popular uprising to set the party’s own children against one another would not be allowed to succeed, that attempts to create internal turmoil only served those keen on outside interference, and that the time was for standing shoulder to shoulder rather than fighting — before issuing his call for members and citizens to gather at the headquarters at 2 p.m. Party members backing Kılıçdaroğlu also began assembling at the CHP headquarters, where a rally bus was brought in.
Discontent over Tekin and Çelik in Kılıçdaroğlu’s team, claims suggest
It has been alleged that divisions have emerged within the new administration formed by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu following the “absolute nullity” ruling in the CHP, with some figures close to him said to be uneasy about the influence of Gürsel Tekin and Celal Çelik in decision-making. The disputes that began after the Ankara Regional Court of Justice’s 36th Civil Chamber issued its absolute-nullity ruling on the CHP’s 38th Ordinary Congress are continuing; the ruling brought down Özgür Özel’s leadership and removed the elected administration, after which Kılıçdaroğlu, appointed leader, placed a group of deputies aligned with him in various positions within the party. According to a report by Cumhuriyet, some figures close to Kılıçdaroğlu have begun to keep their distance from the new management approach and its decision-making. At the centre of the discontent, according to backroom talk, is Gürsel Tekin — previously appointed as trustee to the İstanbul provincial chairmanship — whose decisive role in the new period is said to have provoked a reaction among some of those close to Kılıçdaroğlu. The influence of Kılıçdaroğlu’s lawyer Celal Çelik in decision-making is also said to have deepened the divide within the party. It was further suggested that some who had supported Kılıçdaroğlu’s calls before the court ruling were now keeping their distance over unease about the sharing of authority, with Oğuz Kaan Salıcı, known for his closeness to Kılıçdaroğlu, said to be among them. According to backroom accounts, statements Tekin made on television channels close to the government regarding Kılıçdaroğlu’s road map have further heightened the unease within the team.
Mansur Yavaş appeals to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
As tensions rose sharply ahead of the CHP’s group meeting, Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş appealed to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who took the leadership seat through the “absolute nullity” ruling. Yavaş described Kılıçdaroğlu as a valued figure who had led the CHP for many years and shouldered responsibility in the party’s most difficult periods, saying that millions of CHP supporters now expected him to show a sensible approach drawing on his experience and statesmanship. He argued that protecting the party’s institutional identity, sparing its organisations and voters further distress, and preventing undesirable scenes under Parliament’s roof and before the public were a shared responsibility, and said he believed any constructive step Kılıçdaroğlu took for the party’s unity, the bonds of brotherhood and its future would resonate with society and strengthen the party. Calling the CHP a shared home for all, Yavaş said the care Kılıçdaroğlu showed in protecting it would be appreciated not only by party members but by all citizens who believe in democracy.