An open letter/observation regarding the French Embassy in Ankara (and its staff):
The staff on Yazıcılar Sokak have gone full Turkish shopkeeper — plonking bollards on the road to reserve parking spots for their cars. What should be a three-lane street has been squeezed down to one, thanks to cars parked on both sides. The speed at which foreign diplomats get Türkified is a phenomenon worth studying. One can only wonder whether they carry these habits with them to their next posting. If nothing else, it’s a lovely reminder of just how adaptable — and truly remarkable — a creature the human being really is.
Justice System and Everyday Life in Türkiye
🚨 Stray bullet from Syria wounds Turkish professor in Mardin
A professor visiting the south-eastern Turkish town of Nusaybin in Mardin province was wounded on Sunday after a stray bullet, fired into the air across the border in the Syrian city of Qamishli, struck her in the town centre. Prof Dr Ayfer Gözü, who had travelled from Diyarbakır, was first taken to Nusaybin State Hospital before being transferred to Mardin Training and Research Hospital, where her treatment was completed and she was subsequently discharged.
✊ BirGün journalist İsmail Arı held for 36 days on ‘journalism charges’
BirGün reporter İsmail Arı has been imprisoned at Sincan Prison for 36 days, accused of “publicly disseminating misleading information” over his reporting on alleged corruption and irregularities, including coverage of Erdoğan family members sitting on the boards of 20 foundations, irregularities in judicial appointments, a reported scheme involving over 600 million lira at the Yunus Emre Foundation, and the removal of historic structures at the religious school President Erdoğan attended. Arı was detained in Tokat on 21 March while visiting his wife’s family, transported 450km to Ankara, and jailed the following day after the Ankara 11th Penal Court of Peace ruled that judicial controls would be insufficient; legal experts have described the process as “brutal”, noting the prosecutor sent him for arrest without taking a statement and that the court relied on a denial issued by the government’s Disinformation Combat Centre. From custody, Arı stated his only crime was practising journalism, while protests have spread from Ankara and Istanbul to Artvin, İzmir, Samsun, Mersin, Denizli and Malatya, with demonstrators also calling for the release of fellow detained journalists Merdan Yanardağ and Alican Uludağ.
Politics
📞 Erdoğan phones Trump after attack at White House Correspondents’ dinner
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a telephone call with US President Donald Trump on Saturday to convey his sympathies following an attempted attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington. According to a statement from Türkiye’s Directorate of Communications, Erdoğan described the incident as a heinous act against democracy and press freedom, and wished a swift recovery to the security officer who was injured in the attempt.
🏛️ Turkish parliament to debate cap on housing fees and protections for earthquake victims
The Turkish Grand National Assembly will this week begin debating a bill aimed at curbing arbitrary increases in residential complex management fees, requiring all expenditure items to be approved by residents and limiting any rise to the official revaluation rate where no approved budget exists. The proposal also extends financial protections to those affected by the 6 February earthquakes, making grants and loans provided to eligible recipients exempt from seizure through banking or enforcement proceedings, and introduces a 500,000 lira administrative fine for suppliers who provide ready-mixed concrete to unlicensed or unauthorised buildings. Separately, a 22-member parliamentary commission set up to investigate the school attacks in Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş will hold its first meeting this week to determine its leadership and the witnesses to be heard, while also examining digital risks faced by children; party groups will also convene, with President Erdoğan expected to address the AK Party meeting on Wednesday.
🛡️ Turkish interior minister unveils AI-driven security model in Istanbul
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi has announced a new “security paradigm” at a press gathering held at Tersane İstanbul, pledging to shift from a reactive approach to a proactive architecture that uses artificial intelligence, data analysis and advanced surveillance technology to detect and prevent crime at its source. Çiftçi said the measures would respond to shifting crime profiles driven by digitalisation, migration and social fractures, and outlined a wide-ranging package including continuously updated risk and threat assessments, early-warning systems, expanded cyber-patrols and blocking of illegal websites and social media accounts, uninterrupted counter-terrorism operations, and stronger border security combining technology and personnel. School safety featured prominently, with plans to set up a “security council” in every school, hold monthly safety meetings, and rebuild student-focused risk assessments, alongside closer coordination with families, universities, media and NGOs. The minister also signalled structural changes within the ministry, including a review of the 12/36 shift model for police and neighbourhood watch officers, accelerated graduation of police cadets to bolster staffing, tighter inspection of removal centres and migration management, and intensified traffic enforcement.
☎️ Turkish foreign minister holds talks with Iranian and Pakistani counterparts
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held separate telephone calls on Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, according to sources at the Turkish foreign ministry. The discussions focused on the latest state of negotiations between Iran and the United States.
⚓ Turkish navy escorts drilling vessel off Somalia
Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence has announced that elements of the Somalia Naval Task Group are providing continuous escort and patrol support to the Çağrı Bey drilling vessel and its support ships Korkut, Altan and Sancar, which are conducting energy exploration work off the Somali coast. The update was shared via the ministry’s NSosyal account, confirming that operations to safeguard the vessels are ongoing.
✈️ Iran flights resume at Istanbul Airport after 56-day pause
Flights between Istanbul Airport and Iran have resumed after a 56-day suspension imposed following US and Israeli air strikes on Iran that began on 28 February. IranAir flight IR719, an Airbus A310, became the first Iranian aircraft to land at Istanbul Airport at 09:43, completing a three-hour-and-26-minute journey from Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran, followed by an Iran AirTour Airbus A310 at 12:03 and a Mahan Air Airbus A340 at 13:20. The first departure from Istanbul to Iran was a Meraj Air Airbus A300 at 12:02, with two further flights operated by Iran Air and Iran AirTour following at 12:15 and 13:32 respectively. According to reports, all three outbound aircraft switched off their transponders upon entering Iranian airspace via the Caspian Sea, a measure understood to have been taken for security reasons.
🪖 NATO multinational corps takes shape in Türkiye as Ankara summit looms
Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence has confirmed that work is continuing on the establishment of a NATO multinational corps headquarters (MNC-TÜR) in Adana, with only core personnel appointed so far and the multinational status yet to be formally approved. In a written response signed by Defence Minister Yaşar Güler to a parliamentary question from CHP Gaziantep MP Hasan Öztürkmen, the ministry stated that the headquarters will operate under Turkish command and serve a regional role coordinating national defence with NATO forces, in line with strategic and regional plans drawn up under the alliance’s Deterrence and Defence Concept since 2020; the move to a multinational structure was notified to NATO authorities in 2024. The development comes as Türkiye prepares to host a NATO summit in Ankara on 7–8 July, alongside what is set to be the largest industry event in NATO’s history. Following his visit to ASELSAN’s technology campus on 22 April, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced at the Conference of National Armaments Directors in Brussels that the NATO Defence Industry Forum to be held during the summit will be significantly expanded, surpassing last year’s gathering in The Hague and drawing strong participation from all allies.
🕊️ Öcalan calls for democratic rebuilding of Kurdish society
A message from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was read out at a conference held in Diyarbakır by the Democratic Unity Initiative, an umbrella formed by the DEM Party, the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and a range of civil society organisations. In the message, Öcalan argued that no society can endure without renewing its internal dynamics on democratic foundations, and said decades of denial, destruction and repression had deprived Kurds of the chance to undergo this transformation organically. He framed the period ahead as one of “reconstruction” for Kurdish society, to be built through democratic politics, law and institutional organisation across areas including the economy, education, health, language and culture, rather than through violence or coercion. Öcalan called for a comprehensive democratic unity congress, urging that disputes both with nation states and within Kurdish society itself be resolved through negotiation, and singled out tribal and clan-based patterns of relations as a major obstacle to building democratic unity.
Ruling Government (AKP, MHP and DEM coalition aka People’s Alliance)
⚖️ Soylu hits back at coverage of his remarks on Gülistan Doku case
Former Turkish interior minister and AKP Istanbul MP Süleyman Soylu has rejected media coverage of statements he made during his time in office regarding the investigation into Gülistan Doku, the young woman who went missing in Tunceli, describing the reports as coordinated “ordered news” pieces published by opposition outlets in identical wording. In remarks recorded in parliamentary minutes, Soylu had said the matter was being politicised by the PKK and HDP and that allegations against Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel were unfounded; he now says his answers were strictly limited to the specific questions posed by an MP and were given in line with the ongoing prosecutor’s investigation. Writing on social media, Soylu accused journalists of running long-standing smear campaigns against him, said slander was abhorrent in his faith, and insisted the investigation must be pursued with determination wherever it leads, including any possible negligence. He concluded with the warning that those distorting the case would face a heavy reckoning in the afterlife and that “God is on the side of the truthful”.
Opposition Parties (CHP and others)
🇪🇺 European Parliament’s draft Türkiye report flags democratic backsliding and cites CHP leader’s letter
The European Parliament has published the second draft of its 2026 Türkiye report, a 36-page text drawn up by Türkiye rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor that warns of further deterioration in democratic standards, the rule of law and judicial independence, noting that EU accession talks have been at a standstill since 2018 and that Türkiye accounts for over a third of the European Court of Human Rights’ caseload. The draft states that lower courts’ refusal to implement Constitutional Court rulings is endangering the country’s constitutional order, and accuses Ankara of systematically instrumentalising criminal and counter-terrorism law against elected officials, opposition politicians and human rights defenders, citing the arrest or removal of 28 opposition mayors (18 from CHP and 10 from DEM) and the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu since 19 March 2025 on what it describes as fabricated charges widely seen as an attempt to sideline the leading opposition presidential candidate. The text calls for restrictive measures, including asset freezes in the EU, against Turkish officials responsible for rights violations, singling out Akın Gürlek and expressing dismay at his recent promotion to justice minister. The draft notably references a letter from CHP leader Özgür Özel to EU stakeholders advocating deeper institutional and economic integration, including through the “Made in Europe” process, alongside a letter from İmamoğlu and an appeal by former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş to revive the membership process. CHP sources hailed the report as a clear break from the 2025 version, in which the party featured only marginally, arguing that CHP now appears both as the principal political target of state pressure and as a reference actor in EU relations, with the report’s language sharpening through terms such as “political case”, “targeting” and “crackdown”. The draft, already adopted in the Foreign Affairs Committee, is expected to be voted on in plenary in the coming weeks.
Thanks for reading this far, I will see you tomorrow. ☕