Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
⚖️ Court Bars Abuse-Accused Father From Funeral of Wife and Daughter Found Dead in Istanbul
A Istanbul family court has issued an injunction barring Ayhan Şengüler — a foundation official on trial for the sexual abuse of his young daughter — from attending or approaching the funeral of the child and her mother, Fatmanur Çelik, both of whom were found dead in circumstances described as suspicious. The order was obtained by the Avukatın Sesi (Lawyer’s Voice) Initiative following an urgent legal application, and the bodies, which had been held at the Forensic Medicine Institute pending autopsy, were released into the custody of the maternal grandmother rather than the father, following a separate petition by the Önce Çocuklar ve Kadınlar (Children and Women First) Association. Advocates noted that the mother had previously stated she was receiving death threats and had explicitly said that if she were to die, it should not be treated as suicide. The initiative warned that Istanbul police would be held responsible for any failure to enforce the court order, and announced that association lawyers would be present at the funeral, which is to be held at a mosque in Ümraniye before burial at a local cemetery.
💔 Mother Who Said “If I Die, Don’t Call It Suicide” Found Dead Alongside Daughter She Fought to Protect
Fatmanur Çelik, a mother who had spent weeks staging a one-woman vigil outside an Istanbul courthouse demanding justice for her eight-year-old daughter Hifa İkra — who she alleged had been sexually abused from the age of three by her father, Quranic foundation official Ayhan Şengüler — has been found dead alongside her daughter on the shores of the Bosphorus in Zeytinburnu, in what prosecutors are treating as a suspicious death. Çelik had repeatedly and publicly stated that if anything happened to her it should not be called suicide, and said she had been threatened with having her daughter taken away from her by those connected to the accused. The Ministry of Family and Social Services issued a statement claiming it had issued an emergency protection order for the child on the very day of the deaths after she failed to attend a psychiatric appointment — a claim the family’s legal advocates at the Önce Kadınlar ve Çocuklar Association described as a transparent attempt to cover up months of institutional failure, noting that no inspector’s report had been shared with them and that the mother had been subjected to constant psychological pressure and threats throughout the legal process. Şengüler, who the article states had previously abused Çelik herself before she was married off to him, had remained free throughout his trial, and a witness told reporters they had seen the mother jump into the water first, followed by the child.
Politics
🏗️ Erdoğan Vows Peace Diplomacy Amid Regional Turmoil at Ankara Housing Lottery Ceremony
President Erdoğan used a ceremony in Ankara for the lottery allocation of 31,073 social housing units — part of the government’s 500,000 Social Housing Project — to address both domestic and regional concerns. He opened with condolences for teacher Fatma Nur Çelik, killed by a pupil in Çekmeköy the previous day, stating that violence against teachers was utterly inexcusable and that the perpetrator would face the full weight of the law. Turning to the region, Erdoğan painted a sombre picture of a Middle East in crisis, citing continued Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire, the recent outbreak of conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Israeli and US air strikes against Iran, and missile and drone attacks on Gulf states, describing the situation as a spreading wave of instability during the holy month of Ramadan. Against this backdrop, he pledged that Turkey would continue to pursue peace-oriented diplomacy, working to bring all parties to the negotiating table before further bloodshed occurred, and called on citizens to remember and support suffering populations across the region through prayer and charitable giving. He also confirmed that the social housing units would be delivered to earthquake-zone residents within the year, and to other cities including Ankara by March of next year.
📞 Erdoğan Calls Pakistani PM to Condemn Terror Attacks and Push for Regional Diplomacy
President Erdoğan spoke by telephone with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, covering bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments. Erdoğan condemned recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan and pledged Turkey’s continued support for Islamabad’s counter-terrorism efforts, and said Turkey would contribute to restoring the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan that had previously been brokered in part through Turkish mediation. He also reiterated Turkey’s call for a return to diplomacy in the broader regional conflict triggered by the strikes on Iran, stating that Ankara stood ready to lend whatever support it could to that end.
⚛️ Turkey and Canada Sign Nuclear Energy Pact to Explore CANDU Reactor Technology
Turkey’s state nuclear energy company TÜNAŞ and Canadian engineering firm AtkinsRealis have signed a memorandum of understanding in Toronto aimed at developing nuclear power plants in Turkey, with a particular focus on assessing the feasibility of deploying Canada’s CANDU reactor technology on Turkish soil. The agreement, signed on the sidelines of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) congress in the presence of both countries’ energy ministers — Turkey’s Alparslan Bayraktar and Canada’s Tim Hodgson — provides for the sharing of technical data and the establishment of bilateral cooperation frameworks. Bayraktar described the deal as a significant step towards diversifying Turkey’s energy mix and expanding its nuclear capacity.
🚫 Ankara Denies Claims Turkey Has Been Ordered to Join Military Action Against Iran
Turkey’s Centre for Combating Disinformation (DMM) has issued a formal rebuttal of claims circulating on social media alleging that President Trump ordered Turkey to attack Iran, that Turkey is part of a secret military plan targeting Iran, and that Ankara has sought the lifting of CAATSA sanctions in exchange for joining the war effort. The centre stated that all three claims are false and without foundation, emphasising that Turkey determines and implements its own foreign and security policy independently as a sovereign state, and urging the public not to give credence to content designed to manipulate opinion.
👶 Turkish Women Want More Children Than They’re Having — and Insecurity Is Why, Report Finds
A report by the Institute for Social Studies has concluded that Turkey’s falling birth rate is driven not by cultural preference but by a structural lack of job security and childcare infrastructure, warning that the total fertility rate — currently around 1.40 — could fall below 1.30 within five years if current trends continue. Drawing on data from Turkey’s Population and Health Survey, the report notes that women without children say they ideally want an average of 2.6, a figure that rises to 3.8 among those who already have children, suggesting the population’s desired family size comfortably exceeds the replacement threshold of 2.1. The gap between aspiration and reality is sharpest among employed women, whose actual fertility rate stands at 1.38 despite an expressed ideal of between 2.5 and 3.0 children; women in public sector jobs, who enjoy greater employment security, are significantly more likely to have a second child than those in the private sector. The report also highlights that 42.9 per cent of women are excluded from the workforce due to domestic and caring responsibilities, and that broad-definition unemployment among women reaches 30.6 per cent. Rather than financial incentives to encourage childbearing, the institute recommends a two-stage “employment buffer and security architecture” model designed to protect women from the professional risks of having children, with targeted support for first births between the ages of 23 and 27 and second births between 28 and 30, alongside guaranteed job retention and affordable childcare.
🎥 Two Turkish Journalists Held for Nine Hours in Israel Describe Cross-Examination and Phone Searches
CNN Türk correspondent Emrah Çakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained by Israeli police in Tel Aviv whilst broadcasting live, and have now given a detailed account of their nine-hour ordeal after being released. The pair said they were filming street scenes in a civilian area — a location they had previously used for broadcasts — when they were approached and taken into custody without explanation, placed in a police vehicle without being told their destination, and forbidden from speaking to one another en route. At a police station, two unidentified individuals subjected them to cross-examination, asking when they had entered the country, which border crossing they had used, whether they had previously visited Israel, who they had met there, where they lived in Istanbul, and — notably — whether they had ever travelled to Iran. Both journalists had their mobile phones confiscated and were ordered to unlock them; Çakmak said he objected on privacy grounds but was given no choice, and that officers examined his photo gallery and asked about individual images dating back years, as well as requesting the contact details of people he had met in Israel. Israeli police stated that the detention followed a tip-off to the emergency services and claimed the journalists’ press credentials had expired, a characterisation the journalists did not directly address. After nine hours, the pair were released and left in an unfamiliar location rather than being returned to their vehicle.
Parliament
📱 82% of Young People Hide Social Media Accounts From Their Parents, Turkish Parliamentary Inquiry Hears
A sweeping survey of 7,500 young people aged 15 to 21 across 26 Turkish provinces, presented to a parliamentary commission investigating children drawn into crime, has revealed that whilst 90 per cent of young people have social media accounts, 82 per cent maintain at least one account their parents do not know about, effectively rendering parental monitoring efforts redundant. The research, shared by the broadcasting regulator RTÜK, also found that daily television viewing among young people has collapsed from nearly three hours in 2018 to under 40 minutes in 2025, whilst daily social media use now averages three and a half hours. Despite this heavy usage, 43 per cent of young people were assessed as having only moderate or low digital literacy, and 88 per cent of respondents said they believed a minimum age limit — which they placed at around 16 — should be introduced for social media platforms. A deputy chairman of the information and communications regulator BTK told the commission that virtually every video-chat application currently operating in Turkey had effectively become an OnlyFans-style platform, adding that more than 30 such applications had already been blocked in coordination with police. RTÜK also announced plans to deploy artificial intelligence to detect and flag violent content in live daytime television programmes in real time.
🍽️ Parliament’s Ramadan Dinner Splits Three Ways as CHP and İYİ Party Both Stay Away
The parliamentary iftar dinner hosted by speaker Numan Kurtulmuş in the Grand National Assembly’s Honour Hall, attended by President Erdoğan, cabinet ministers, and various party leaders, took place on Tuesday evening without two of Turkey’s main opposition parties. CHP leader Özgür Özel, who had initially been expected to attend, announced at his party’s group meeting that he would instead visit jailed Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan — arrested earlier that day — as a gesture of solidarity, and CHP MPs boycotted the dinner entirely. İYİ Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu likewise declined to attend, holding a separate iftar for his own MPs at the parliament’s Garden Restaurant roughly 300 metres away. MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli was also absent due to a prior engagement, as were former party leaders Ali Babacan and Ahmet Davutoğlu. Among those who did attend were DEM Party co-leader Tuncer Bakırhan, whose party’s İmralı delegation sat at the protocol table alongside the defence minister and an MHP deputy speaker, as well as the leaders of Yeni Yol, Saadet, HÜDA-PAR, and DSP.
Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
🕊️ Kurdish Party Delegation Visits Jailed Former Leader and Demands Legal Guarantees for Peace Process
Members of the DEM Party’s İmralı Committee, Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, visited former HDP co-leader Figen Yüksekdağ at Kandıra Prison, a day after visiting Selahattin Demirtaş and Tuncer Mızraklı in Edirne, as part of a series of consultations with imprisoned Kurdish political figures on the ongoing peace process. Buldan said Yüksekdağ was in good health and high spirits, that she expressed strong support for the process initiated by Abdullah Öcalan, and that she sent greetings to all peoples of Turkey ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March. Sancar said the imprisoned politicians were eager to contribute to the peace and democracy process under free conditions, but stressed that continuing to visit colleagues behind bars was incompatible with the spirit of the process and with basic principles of justice. He called on the government to urgently activate legal guarantees and democratic mechanisms, warning that without concrete steps towards releasing political prisoners, the process could not credibly advance towards lasting peace.
Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
🗣️ CHP Leader Tells MPs to Keep Expulsion Criticism Behind Closed Doors
CHP leader Özgür Özel met with the party’s provincial chairs following the launch of the presidential policy programme, addressing internal tensions over the disciplinary proceedings against former district chairs who had publicly called for the party to cleanse itself of corruption. According to those present, Özel signalled he was not pressing for expulsions, saying the party’s High Disciplinary Council would review any appeals and that nothing had been finalised, whilst also making clear that MPs who had criticised the process publicly on social media had acted improperly — expressing the view that internal criticism should remain within party structures. Provincial chairs were said to have broadly supported that position. On the campaign front, Özel is set to hold a weekend rally in Karaman, attend International Women’s Day events in Eskişehir on 8 March, and travel to Istanbul on 9 March for the opening of the trial of imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, with CHP MPs and party council members to maintain a rotating presence outside the Silivri courthouse for the duration of the proceedings.
⚖️ Özel Visits Jailed Bolu Mayor and Says Erdoğan Would Be the Biggest Culprit If the Charges Actually Stuck
CHP leader Özgür Özel visited Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan at Sincan high-security prison in Ankara — where Özcan was sent rather than a local facility, which Özel suggested was deliberate — and gave a combative press statement afterwards. Özel argued that the extortion charges stem from a scholarship foundation Özcan set up for students from low-income families in Bolu, which rents advertising billboards from local businesses to fund its activities, and that no allegation has even been made that Özcan personally profited from any of it. He noted that AKP and MHP figures sit on the foundation’s board alongside CHP members, and pointed out that the investigation is being led by the same public prosecutor who he said had pressured expert witnesses to resign during the inquiry into the Kartalkaya ski resort fire. Özel added that Özcan had previously filed a formal complaint against that same prosecutor with the Council of Judges and Prosecutors. Dismissing the charges as absurd, Özel said that if running a student scholarship foundation through advertising revenue constituted extortion, then Erdoğan — whose own foundations have operated in precisely the same way for years — would be the biggest offender of all, and that no AKP politician could remain free if the same standard were applied consistently.