Ok, maybe maniacal, but let me know how long it sticks.

In this week’s edition:

• Teachers’ hunger strike gets government stonewall

• Expectations, confidence and MSCI review

• International cash flow monitor

• This week’s stat round-up

It’s elementary, Watson: Teachers’ hunger strike gets government stonewall

Read more

Roads first made Ankara and then its viral trends. This week’s social media phenomenon involves testing which cars can conquer a very steep incline in Çankaya. Toros lover, there’s no other.

In this week’s recap:

• CHP camps signal party split

• Opposition resignations and hesitations

• Trump pushes $700M jet engine sale to Turkey

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Summit prep unleashes AI maps, fake news and dawn raids

Also from us this week:

• Ousted CHP Deputy Chair Ilhan Uzgel on his party’s leadership struggle

There’s a growing chance Turkey’s main opposition party will soon see its cadres part ways.

With compromise unlikely more than a month after a court reinstalled former CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, party factions are increasingly signaling a potential split.

The majority of party members—and their electorate—are expected to stick with ousted CHP chair Özgür Özel and his next step will be publicized soon, a CHP MP told Turkey recap, requesting anonymity to speak openly about party dynamics.

“July is an important deadline for discussions about forming a new party,” the MP said. “The judicial year will end, and courts will go on recess until September. We expect a decision [on a splinter party] before the break.”

What happened: Speaking Tuesday at the CHP parliamentary group meeting, Özel said the party “has been effectively shut down by a palace coup,” adding that current party representatives were appointed by a “judge acting under the instructions of the AKP.”

“We are waging a great struggle within the party. We will resist to the end. We will either find a way or create one,” Özel said, drawing fervent applause from his audience.

As covered in previous recaps, both Özel and his supporters have emphasized that creating or joining another party would be considered a last-resort option if Kılıçdaroğlu cannot be persuaded to hold a party congress in the near-term.

At the same time, they have reiterated that July represents a deadline for such a decision, citing concerns that Özel would be ineligible to run in snap elections if they are held this year. Essentially, anything is possible, and staying in leadership limbo limits Özel’s options.

Camp Kılıçdaroğlu: As for the other side, Kılıçdaroğlu unapologetically doubled down on his stances—including lifting immunities—during a two-hour live TV interview Friday night that is summarized here.

Regarding prospects for a party congress, which would allow CHP members to elect their leadership, Kılıçdaroğlu said a vote was possible in “four to five months,” though not with the current party delegates.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s spokesperson Müslim Sarı later said the process for an ordinary congress would begin in early September.

Meanwhile, Kılıçdaroğlu’s administration continues to “purify” the party ranks with anti-corruption purges that will affect the congress vote results.

The CHP Central Executive Board (MYK) Tuesday dissolved the party’s Antalya and Kayseri provincial organizations. Seventy-four party members, including some of the recently dismissed, issued a statement Wednesday saying they did not recognize Kılıçdaroğlu’s expulsions.

The clock is ticking: The CHP MP quoted above said the Özel camp is working to trigger a party congress as soon as possible, but the source expressed reservations.

“Whoever made the ruling to reinstall Kılıçdaroğlu will also block or delay the appeals process and all legal efforts to reunite the CHP,” the CHP MP told Turkey recap.

The source added this is a “stressful” time for the party and expressed frustration over the national media attention on internal party politics, which serves to undermine the opposition’s image as a viable competitor in the next election cycle.

“This is a maneuver by Erdoğan to make the opposition inefficient and weak. I believe that whatever happens next, it should happen quickly so we can turn back to our main job, which is to struggle for power in this country,” the CHP MP said, referring to winning elections.

“If this goes on for months or years, the people will punish all of us,” the source added.

Cowed control: Opposition resignations and hesitations

Read more

Ousted CHP chair Özgür Özel remains popular with the party base and is attempting to take back his position from the reinstalled but unpopular CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

To do so, Özel is pushing for a party congress in July that would allow party members to vote on their leadership, though Kılıçdaroğlu has maintained such a vote cannot take place until the conclusion of the appeals process behind his reappointment.

Ilhan Uzgel, former CHP deputy chair and foreign policy coordinator, joined the podcast today to outline recent events and the current leadership struggle within the party.

Covered in this talk are the prospects for a CHP congress this summer, the calculations behind forming a splinter party led by Özel, as well as the state of democracy in Turkey and the role of international allies, who will meet in Ankara next month for the 2026 NATO summit.

Referenced in this talk:

Ploy Division (Turkey recap)

Ilhan Uzgel: En kirli pazarlık (BirGün)

Turkey opposition crisis deepens as rival CHP leaders hold duelling meetings (Reuters)

Turkey lashes out at European Parliament report urging EU sanctions on justice minister (AP)

Other ways to watch & listen:

Our webcasts are also available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast players.

Ask us anything

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Get in touch at info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

✅ Typos verify our humanity. All Turkey recap news output is created and fact-checked by people. Find our AI policy in our Code of Ethics.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

In this week’s edition:

• Kirkuk-Ceyhan negotiations

• Saudi axis solidification

• Scandal scanner: Poultry crackdown, $128B debate and Halkbank lawsuit officially closed

• International cash flow monitor

• This week’s stat round-up

Between Iraq and a pipeline: Kirkuk-Ceyhan negotiations

Read more

Istanbul’s handsome ‘corn star’ is overrated. Say hello to Adana’s wayward watermelon man.

In this week’s recap:

• Push for party vote deepens CHP crisis

• Breakaway party prospects and Özel’s voter share

• Justice minister faces EU sanctions

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Turkey loses match, wins social media

Also from us this week:

• Olesya Vartanyan on what’s next for Armenia-Turkey-Azerbaijan ties

• Wouter Massink on how new EU laws could worsen Adana’s waste problem

Always creating and defining our current moment, Pres. Erdoğan put it best Friday when he said:

“The nation has dropped everything and is watching the CHP every day like an action movie. It’s not a political party, it’s more like a fight club.”

We’re surely watching and there are definitely competing factions, but if we’re going to use the Fight Club metaphor, I have to ask: Is reinstalled CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu playing the part of a breakaway Brad Pitt or an interjecting Jared Leto?

Perhaps, the next vote will tell. When and how that comes about is the main subject of today’s issue, but to summarize: Supporters of ousted CHP chair Özgür Özel are calling for a party congress—to vote on the now-contested party leadership—as Kılıçdaroğlu purges CHP members, restructuring the party ranks while deferring calls for a party congress.

Failure to reach an agreement could force Özel to form a new political party or join an existing one (the details of which are covered below).

What happened: Both camps avoided last week’s “fight scenes” by declining to hold the regular parliamentary group meeting this week. Instead of battling for the podium, the Özel camp submitted a petition signed by 833 party delegates calling for an extraordinary congress.

The Kılıçdaroğlu camp, since taking over the party headquarters, has reiterated that a congress can only be held after the appeals process is completed on the court ruling that reinstalled Kılıçdaroğlu last month.

Pushing back on the Kılıçdaroğlu camp’s congress stance, CHP deputy group chair Murat Emir gave a press statement Wednesday to highlight the party bylaws requiring a congress within 45 days if a “simple majority of congress delegates” requests it—which is what happened yesterday.

As reported here last week, there are many gray areas in party congress rules so what comes next involves speculation, but party staffers interviewed by Turkey recap said they do not expect a compromise from the Kılıçdaroğlu camp anytime soon.

Purges: Meanwhile, Kılıçdaroğlu continues a top-down drive to “purify” the party ranks of alleged corruption. Removal procedures resumed Friday for CHP Mersin Mezitli Mayor Serkan Tuncer and Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, who resigned in response.

Expulsions were then extended to 9 CHP MPs and approved by court authorities. Combined with yesterday’s resignation by CHP Istanbul MP ​​Nimet Özdemir, the CHP seat count in parliament fell from 138 to 128 at the time of writing. Stüdyo recap reported more purges are expected, especially in provincial branches.

In a press event Wednesday evening, Özel called on existing and recently purged party members to join him in a pro-democracy vigil.

“An unelected administration is taking over,” Özel said, condemning recent decisions as “illegitimate and unlawful.”

He added, “We invite our party members to stand guard for democracy and to protect Atatürk’s legacy … We stand behind our elected provincial chairpersons.”

Analysis: Osman Sert, research director at PanoramaTR, a public polling and risk analysis firm based in Ankara, believes Kılıçdaroğlu’s approach since retaking office has made it “impossible” for supporters of Özel or jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu to remain in the same party.

“What is certain is this is not sustainable and, probably, in the coming couple of months, we will be seeing two separate political parties in the [main] opposition,” Sert told Turkey recap in a phone interview Wednesday.

He said the foundation of Turkish democracy is deteriorating “brick by brick” amid the ongoing judicial pressure on the nation’s main opposition party. Yet, Sert underlined that the electoral field remains competitive despite recent developments.

“The ballot still matters. The president and the government are still trying to tailor the elections, the opposition and the candidates,” Sert said. “If this was not so, he [Erdoğan] wouldn’t be doing such things.”

“This fight will continue till the bottom,” he continued. “Till the last moment that the Supreme Election Council declares who is the candidate and what time the elections are happening.”

Split the deference: Breakaway party prospects and Özel’s voter share

Read more

ADANA—The Çukurova Delta holds extraordinary natural beauty. Nestled between the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, the region is home to swathes of lakes, swamps and lagoons, hosting dozens of migratory bird species, including flamingos and pelicans.

Its sandy beaches rank among the country’s most expansive. Every summer, the nation’s largest populations of loggerhead and green sea turtles come here to lay their eggs.

Yet, following a recent boom in foreign waste imports, this ecosystem is increasingly threatened by the unregulated dumping of plastics sent here to be recycled. Like rain, plastic refuse pours on the region, amassing in waterways that carry it out to sea, where it’s regurgitated back onto local beaches.

“It used to be all pure sand,” said Kenan Ülgen, a 60-year-old local retiree, sitting at the deserted Adanalıoğlu Beach. Colorful debris is visible all the way to a soda ash and chrome factory in the distance. Some waste bears European labels, but most has been broken down into tiny, unrecognizable fragments. A foul smell hangs in the air.

Not so long ago, Ülgen explained, these beaches were bustling with swimmers and families enjoying picnics. But “people started searching for places that are more, you know, clean,” he told Turkey recap. Now, the Seyhan River and its adjacent canals empty an estimated 5.3 billion microplastic particles into the Mediterranean Sea per hour.

After China banned plastic garbage imports in 2018, Turkey became the leading destination for Europe’s plastic waste, pitching itself as a frontrunner in responsible waste management. In 2025, it collected a record high of 503,000 tons of the European Union’s plastic, and this figure is expected to grow with an upcoming revamp of the bloc’s waste regulations in November.

The majority of this lucrative foreign waste arrives at one of the nearly 200 recycling facilities in Adana. Inside these plants, the material is supposed to be sorted, shredded and processed, often into plastic granules for resale to industrial manufacturers.

But many activists, locals and scientists are skeptical of Turkey’s recent recycling push. They state that amid a lack of regulatory oversight and processing capacity, vast amounts of plastic trash are dumped, burned or discharged into the streams, wreaking havoc on the environment in Adana and beyond.

Pending EU regulation

Turkey’s waste disposal problems, experts and activists fear, are poised to accelerate when the EU’s revised Waste Shipment Regulation comes into effect in November 2026. The legislation will ban plastic waste exports to nations outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The result for Turkey, as an OECD member state in close proximity to Europe, is that it will likely absorb even greater volumes of foreign trash and refuse.

The new rules will bring additional controls to address some concerns, including a requirement for nations like Turkey to explicitly approve all incoming shipments through a tightened “Prior Informed Consent” system.

European exporters must also fund independent, third-party audits to verify that foreign facilities meet strict EU-equivalent environmental standards. Additionally, the EU can completely suspend exports to any country failing to manage waste properly.

Such measures won’t be sufficient, according to Berk Butan, the social and economic systems campaign lead at Greenpeace Turkey.

“The global waste trade is inherently opaque and prone to systematic mislabeling,” Butan told Turkey recap. “The only sound solution is an unconditional, permanent ban on waste imports.”

Multiple experts told Turkey recap that recycling cannot be the primary solution to the current plastic crisis. Instead, they argue that high-consuming nations should reduce their plastic use and take responsibility for managing their waste “in-house.”

“By offloading this high level of waste onto other countries, including Turkey, it also displaces the opportunity for those countries in question to recycle their own domestically produced plastic waste in an environmentally sound manner,” said Lauren Weir, a senior campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

The office of Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the European Commission spokesperson for climate and environmental policies, did not respond to requests for comment prior to the publication of this report.

Adana’s waste problem

The sheer volume of plastic waste dumped in Adana has flooded local waterways with high concentrations of microplastics and other toxins, said Sedat Gündoğdu, a marine biologist at Adana’s Çukurova University, who has been tracking pollution from the recycling industry for nearly a decade.

Gündoğdu said many of Adana’s recycling facilities routinely discharge untreated wastewater directly into local canals as they struggle to cope with immense amounts of both European and domestic trash.

According to Gündoğdu’s studies, water immediately downstream of these facilities has microplastic concentrations up to 132 times higher than upstream levels. Analysis of the wastewater shows it often contains consumer plastics, while the shapes of the particles suggest they likely come from industrial discharge rather than general litter.

“They are discharging this polluted wastewater into the canals, and farmers use that canal as an irrigation source,” Gündoğdu told Turkey recap. “Think about all the pollution transferred into the food system.”

His research found that agricultural soil irrigated with this water contains much higher levels of microplastics. This severely threatens the productivity of local farmland.

Over time, these toxic chemicals can also accumulate in edible parts of the produce and find their way into humans or wildlife. Microplastic intake has been associated with cancer, heart attacks, reproductive problems and a variety of other harms.

Much of the waste also ends up being burned either in Adana’s districts or inside recycling facilities, said Sabahat Aslan, head of the Mersin Environment and Nature Association. She added that the toxic smoke spreads into surrounding neighborhoods, where there are elevated rates of respiratory diseases and cancer.

“One of our friends living in this recycling neighborhood, she currently has cancer,” Aslan told Turkey recap. “It happened after the facilities [opened].”

About 200 fires at plastic recycling facilities have been reported in Turkey over the past five years, with 15-20 of them occurring in Adana. Local environmental organizations claim that such frequency alludes to a systemic pattern—possibly of waste disposal—rather than isolated incidents.

The plastic’s impact is also visible at sea. The Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers now account for nearly a tenth of the total plastic waste entering the Mediterranean Sea. This pollution, together with sea currents carrying debris from nearby countries, has taken a severe toll on local fish stocks, said Celal Safsoylu, head of the Karataş Fisheries Cooperative in Adana.

“Many species are facing extinction,” Safsoylu told Turkey recap. He explained that much of the trash accumulates on the seabed, ravaging bottom-dwelling fish. “It greatly affects fish like sand smelt, red pandora and sole,” he said.

To combat the growing waves of waste and the resulting loss of income, a municipality-backed program was recently launched to pay fishers for the plastic waste caught in their nets, Safsoylu said.

Root causes

Gündoğdu believes the illicit disposal of plastic waste is deliberate. Many of Turkey’s recycling facilities are overwhelmed following the influx of more lucrative European waste, and more environmentally sound recycling practices are expensive. Stricter procedures would erode waste importers’ profits, he noted.

“They [recyclers] stopped taking waste from domestic sources because of the profit margins,” Gündoğdu said.

He added that European firms, including those in the UK, cover all transport and tariff expenses since these exports are subsidized through a recycling designation. These firms also pay in foreign currency, and Europe’s trash is considered cleaner and easier to process, said Amy Youngman, a legal policy specialist at the EIA.

Recent figures indicate that Turkey imports more plastic waste than it can process. According to data from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, there are currently about 1,263 facilities capable of processing plastic waste in Turkey, with a total recycling volume of approximately 1.125 million tons.

The same figures show Turkey’s total annual plastic waste imports amount to about 1.3 million tons, on top of the 3.3 million tons generated domestically.

The government has taken steps to address its waste burden, most prominently through its Zero Waste program, launched in 2017 and led by First Lady Emine Erdoğan. Since the initiative’s introduction, officials claim that waste recovery rates have almost tripled to 37.5 percent.

Illicit plastic trade

Besides rising inflows, Turkey has also struggled to curb the illicit trade in plastic waste.

“[The Turkish government] is kind of sacrificing certain communities in the Adana region in order to promote themselves as having this ability to receive all this waste,” Youngman told Turkey recap.

Customs controls tend to be severely under-resourced, inspecting just a fraction of shipments, while exporters frequently disguise ordinary, unrecyclable trash to bypass regulations.

“We see frontloading of clean plastic waste, and behind it is mixed household waste,” Youngman said. “So there is criminal intent mixed within it.” Unless a container happens to be opened or “smells like dirty diapers,” she said, tons of unrecyclable waste from Europe slip through the cracks every year.

Last month, a UK company was prosecuted for trying to illegally export three shipments of plastics contaminated with household waste—including sanitary products, diapers and trash seemingly originating from France—to Turkey. In the official paperwork, the company claimed the shipments contained clean plastics, also known as “Green List” waste.

In May, Turkey recap visited several dumping sites near Adana’s recycling district and observed various types of contaminated plastic waste, some of which was burned or seemingly dumped into the waterways. It was unclear whether this waste came from local facilities or contained foreign refuse.

According to a 2025 statement by Turkey’s Directorate of Communications, imported waste is meticulously monitored from customs to the facility. It also said that between January 2021 and February 2025, nearly 30,000 inspections of waste disposal and recycling facilities were conducted, resulting in the suspension of 227 facilities and fines totaling 913 million TL.

Rising plastic prices

As Turkey spotlights its environmental policies ahead of November’s COP31 summit in Antalya, shipping and supply constraints stemming from the Iran war are changing the cost structures of plastic waste management.

Most prominently, the prices of virgin plastic have skyrocketed this year. The closure of the Hormuz Strait has sent shockwaves through the production, sale and transport of plastics, which are all made from oil and gas. This has sparked speculation that recycled plastic or other materials could benefit from more favorable economic conditions.

“Europe is starting to shift its perspective. Due to costs, plastics that were once viewed as waste are now considered a raw material,” said Ali Mendillioğlu, the head of Turkey’s Recycling Workers Union.

Gündoğdu is less convinced. He argues only about 9 percent of all plastic waste worldwide has ever been recycled, and this is often downcycled into weaker, lower-quality materials that have limited utility.

“They [Europe] claim they are feeding Turkey’s own circular recycling industry. But plastic recycling isn’t actually circular. It’s a toxic business. When you recycle plastic, you produce material that is even more toxic than the original,” Gündoğdu said.

Ask us anything

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Get in touch at info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

✅ Typos verify our humanity. All Turkey recap news output is created and fact-checked by people. Find our AI policy in our Code of Ethics.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

This article is part of a series of reports focusing on Turkey’s climate governance produced with support from the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey Office, and in no way reflects the views of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

This podcast dives into the many factors behind Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s re-election, plus the interplay between Armenia’s peace deal with Azerbaijan and normalization process with Turkey.

Also covered is Russia’s energy leverage in Armenia, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), as well as the human cost and deep distrust left by the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Referenced in this talk:

Armenia election result revives hopes of reopening border with Turkey (RFI)

Türkiye-Armenia Border Reopening: A Turning Point For The South Caucasus (CACI)

Erdoğan congratulates Pashinyan on electoral victory (Armenpress)

US and Armenia sign partnership agreement ahead of Armenian election (Reuters)

Armenia votes West, but cannot quit Russia (EPC)

Other ways to watch & listen:

Our webcasts are also available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast players.

Ask us anything

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Get in touch at info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

✅ Typos verify our humanity. All Turkey recap news output is created and fact-checked by people. Find our AI policy in our Code of Ethics.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

In this week’s edition:

• Central Bank keeps rate steady

• May inflation cools, economic program under scrutiny

• Scandal scanner: Halkbank finale and Rahmi Koç investigation

• International cash flow monitor

• This week’s stat round-up

MP-See, I told you so: Central Bank keeps rate steady

Read more

In this week’s recap:

• CHP locked in its own power struggle

• Congress to constitution: The math behind the strategies

• Peace process updates

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Ankara to stop everything for NATO summit

Also from us this week:

• Anna Montraveta Riu and Laia Palau Biel on land expropriations in the quake zone

• Yıldız Tar joins Recap radio to outline pending LGBT legislation in Turkey

• Diego Cupolo introduces Turkey recap’s manifesto and code of ethics

In the CHP leadership struggle, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu took the social media accounts and Özgür Özel retained the parliamentary podium—for now.

There are many moving parts (detailed below), but the key trends are:

1. A court ruling sparked a leadership crisis in the main opposition party

2. Erdoğan has since referred to this crisis as an “internal” party dispute

3. Ongoing disputes between CHP factions are confirming Erdoğan’s words

… and there are few other options for ex-CHP chair Özel as he works to retake the party leadership before the current CHP chair, Kılıçdaroğlu, expels Özel supporters from the party in a looming “anti-corruption” campaign.

What happened: Two hours before Kılıçdaroğlu held today’s CHP party council meeting, 28 council members resigned in an attempt to force an extraordinary congress. (We’re still waiting to see what happens next.)

A day prior, the Kılıçdaroğlu-led CHP Central Executive Committee requested the permanent expulsion of nine MPs who support Özel. While announcing the decision, the Kılıçdaroğlu camp spox said the nine MPs had been “removed from all their current positions within the party.”

The blow-by-blow came after clashes nearly broke out between opposing CHP camps outside parliament Tuesday morning. Amid uncertainty over who would speak in the parliamentary group meeting, Özel and Kılıçdaroğlu supporters faced off until CHP Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş called for calm on X.

Yavaş reportedly threatened to leave politics if the CHP descended into a street melee. His efforts deescalated tensions and both CHP leaders delivered speeches Tuesday—Özel in parliament and Kılıçdaroğlu in the party headquarters.

What voters think: In a recent MetroPOLL survey, the majority of respondents from all political parties—except the MHP—said they did not approve of Kılıçdaroğlu’s installment by court ruling. A new KONDA survey found comparable sentiments.

Throughout, suspicions of CHP-AKP coordination keep swirling after a journalist Wednesday asked Erdoğan if he had met with Kılıçdaroğlu but did not get a reply.

The inquiry came after political observers noticed that Kılıçdaroğlu and Erdoğan used similar language in their speeches this week. For example, by:

1. Likening CHP corruption to a nightclub operation.

2. Claiming Turkey’s influence should expand to former Ottoman territories.

What’s next: Everything depends on the timing of the next CHP congress, which allows CHP members to vote on their leadership. Yet, as with the lawmakers, the party’s lawyers are also divided into opposing camps.

Some legal advisors argue an extraordinary congress is needed before July 26 to safeguard CHP’s eligibility in the next elections, while others say the appeals process must conclude on the CHP congress case before a new congress can be held.

In both scenarios, experts argue a party congress is the only “legitimate” conclusion for the CHP crisis. Meanwhile, party members interviewed by Turkey recap this week stressed the timing of the congress will be the key determinant for who leads the CHP next.

“What we’re seeing is a game of chicken,” said a CHP staffer speaking on condition of anonymity. “There are many gray areas in the rules on party congresses, so both sides are trying to dominate the discourse about what comes next.”

“Whoever blinks first, loses,” the source added, stating the Özel camp is working to trigger a congress while pro-Özel members are still in the party. Given enough time, Kılıçdaroğlu is expected to clear out all CHP structures with new appointees.

“We will practice clean politics. We will dismiss all those who are corrupt,” Kılıçdaroğlu said at the CHP headquarters Tuesday as the crowd chanted “expel”.

“We will work together with dedication, we will not work for personal gain,” he added.

Congress to constitution: The math behind the strategies

Read more

In today’s episode, Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of KaosGL.org, a news site dedicated to LGBT issues in Turkey, outlines the pending reforms with Turkey recap editor Diego Cupolo.

They discuss the Tar’s ongoing trial, the current state of LGBT rights in Turkey and why the government’s legal agenda has focused more on conservative family values in recent years. It’s not just for votes, Tar argues.

Referenced in this talk:

RSVP to Turkey recap’s get-together in Ankra on June 11 using this form

Yıldız Tar’s trial history (Expression Interrupted)

LGBTI+ associations: “We will not be packaged away! We are here with pride, we demand to live with dignity!” (KaosGL)

Pro-creation, anti-LGBTQ: What’s behind Erdoğan’s ‘Year of the Family’ program (Turkey recap)

Calls for action against the LGBT+ hostile 12th Judicial Package (KaosGL)

Other ways to watch & listen:

Our webcasts are also available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast players.

Ask us anything

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Get in touch at info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

✅ Typos verify our humanity. All Turkey recap news output is created and fact-checked by people. Find our AI policy in our Code of Ethics.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

Dear readers, it’s no secret that independent, critical journalism has faced increasing pressure in Turkey. This trend has only deepened following the May 21, 2026, court ruling that removed the leadership of the nation’s main opposition party.

In light of recent developments, we are publishing our Manifesto and Code of Ethics below, as well as permanently on our About page. Regardless of the political climate, Turkey recap will continue to produce balanced journalism in the public interest.

Thank you for your support and thank you for reading us.

Our manifesto

“Fact, used as propaganda, is all but impossible to disentangle from the politics of its original transmission.” — Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

At Turkey recap, we believe the world is this way for a reason—perhaps many—and journalists must help people understand the present moment through facts, not persuasion.

We serve the public interest by relaying events and official statements with relevant context and fact-based analysis so readers can reach their own conclusions.

In contrast, propaganda selects a conclusion and builds a path for readers to get there, often by manipulating information to serve political and/or private interests.

Separating facts from ideology has been a challenge throughout history. Failing to do so, we believe, causes irreversible damage and corrodes the foundations of civic discourse.

After decades in mainstream newsrooms, we’ve learned that operating firmly independent media requires not only a journalistic process that represents all sides of a story but also a business model aligned with delivering trustworthy information to the public.

Our mission is to produce balanced, verified and clear Turkey news coverage in both the English and Turkish languages. To achieve that, we’re creating self-sustaining digital platforms accountable only to our readers—free of political influence and financial support from special interest groups.

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Online, all information looks the same. Live news and lies passing as news arrive as equals in synonymous social media frames. Digital media has flattened the playing field, removing the costs that once barred or exposed low-value productions. Now everyone looks legit on Substack, Spotify, TikTok or whatever comes next.

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So, in this media moment, what’s the difference between an influencer, a propagandist and a journalist? We get this question a lot and the answer is simple: Transparency.

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Ask us anything

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Get in touch at info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

✅ Typos verify our humanity. All Turkey recap news output is created and fact-checked by people. Find our AI policy in our Code of Ethics.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

SAMANDAĞ—From a restaurant on the road that links Antakya and Vakıflı, the views towards Mount Musa are spectacular. You can also see the Mediterranean in the distance. However, this landscape is changing rapidly.

Following the devastating twin earthquakes in 2023, reconstruction efforts have given rise to new apartment blocks throughout affected areas. Excavators and cranes dot the region, building roads to link the new buildings, many of which have yet to be linked to utilities or public services.

“This site was purchased through a tender, but everything has been ruined. Nature and the livelihood of the local people have been destroyed,” said Ecevit Alkan, a lawyer defending the owners of the lands that have been turned into building plots through expropriation.

Villagers in Hatay have historically been engaged in agriculture. Yet, land expropriations carried out by the state to build housing for displaced people are resulting in not only a loss of the land, but also a way of life for some locals.

“When you give money to farmers and buy their means of production, there is no profit to be made, and in this case, moreover, the state has paid very little,” Alkan adds.

TOKI projects

The Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKI) is responsible for building homes on public land for those affected by the earthquake, although it outsources services through tenders to private companies.

TOKI was established in 1984 as a state-owned construction company, with the aim of managing social housing. In 2004, however, following a legal change, the company became the nation’s largest public landowner, outsourcing the work to private construction firms.

Since its creation, the architecture of its buildings has consisted of impersonal-looking housing, constructed in a uniform style and disconnected from the regional identity.

Over time, the agency has become the leading force in urban planning throughout the country. Economic gain has become a key factor, fueled by ties between construction companies and political leaders.

“Through this national agency and laws allowing the expropriation of land, the Turkish government now has a monopoly on the reconstruction of the region,” wrote Sevinç Ünal, a Swiss researcher of Turkish-Kurdish origin.

TOKI has become the only authority responsible for public land and the only one with the power to requisition public and private properties in the name of seismic risk. Representatives at TOKI did not respond to requests for comment for this report.

Researchers Fatma Özdoğan and Cassidy Johnson also agree that “reserve zones” have become the legal tool enabling the state to expropriate land for redevelopment under the pretext of post-disaster recovery.

In their recent research, the pair argued: “This process has often led to forced displacement, particularly in areas with high land values or where redevelopment aligns with broader political and economic interests.”

Without prior notice

Following the road that passes through Vakıflı—a majority Armenian village—one eventually arrives at Kurtderesi, one of the districts of Samandağ that includes a rural area.

Next to the construction machinery and the fences bearing the word “Polis” that block the way to the fruit trees, the Berrak family is making tea while waiting for Ecevit Alkan, their lawyer, to arrive.

“We never received any notification. We no longer have anything in our name. This was our livelihood and we had everything here. We are farmers,” said Bedia Berrak.

Landowners across Hatay complain of numerous expropriations without prior notice or with delayed notice, by which time the bulldozers had already entered the plots and uprooted the olive trees.

In Kurtderesi, “urgent expropriation” orders were first issued in August 2025 for a TOKI housing project. Despite legal attempts by local residents to stop the work and demonstrations by about 30 families, construction companies have continued operations with the support of police, who have carried out “dawn raids” on private properties.

“My uncle and my father have been working these lands for 35 years. And now the state is buying them from us. The money isn’t enough and this land belongs to us,” insists one of the Berrak family members.

“This is illegal. They say expropriation is normal because it’s been done for those affected by the earthquake, but there must be compensation if there is an expropriation, and the citizen must accept the price or take the matter to court to contest the compensation amount,” he adds.

The situation and discontent of the population is repeated in other districts of Samandağ, such as Mağaracık and Hıdırbey, but also in areas of Antakya.

Dikmece was a village of 4,000 inhabitants living in single-family houses of one or at most two stories high, generally with a courtyard where lemon, fig and orange trees were planted. The TOKI plan aimed to expropriate 80 percent of the land and build 1,415 new homes.

Neighborhood mobilization

A month after the earthquakes, heavy machinery began working in one of the Dikmece areas.

“At first it was said that the new homes for the earthquake victims would be built on state-owned land. We were very happy,” explains Meryem Kutlu, a Dikmece resident.

A few weeks later, without being consulted, the neighbors realized that machines were entering their land.

“They decided to build on our farmland, on our olive groves,” Kutlu continued. “No one asked me, ‘Meryem, I’m going to do this on your land, what do you think? Do you agree?’ That’s how it began.”

The land at Dikmece isn’t zoned for construction either, explains Meryem: “It makes no sense for them to be building here. It’s an area prone to landslides and further damage could occur if there are more earthquakes.”

Here, too, local residents have been campaigning for the past three years, led by the women of the village. They have filed three complaints against TOKI regarding its illegal activities: they are calling for the expropriations to be annulled on the grounds that the project is not in the public interest, but rather harms the local community.

To date, they have won some court rulings and have managed to get the construction companies to halt part of the project, explains Meryem, who now also provides legal support to the other affected communities mobilizing against the construction of TOKI buildings.

One of the later stages, which involved the redevelopment of the school area, has been suspended.

“The residents are facing a very difficult task because the construction companies hold a lot of power. So every small victory is a huge one,” she argues.

Still, in the southern part of Dikmece, the scenery has changed and the landscape increasingly resembles an urban area with blocks of flats. Sunni mosques have also been built in an Alawite Arab majority community.

Assimilation concerns

Meryem suspects the TOKI project in an Alawite Arab area is no coincidence. Prior to Dikmece, land expropriations were ordered in another village in the region, Gülderen, and subsequently spread to places such as Serinyol and Samandağ, most of which are municipalities with significant Alawite Arab populations.

“Between Dikmece and Gülderen there is another village, Oğlakören, which has a Sunni Muslim majority, but no land has been expropriated there,” Meryem said.

Alawite Arabs represent five to seven percent of Turkish society, and the government does not recognize them as a distinct religious group. One example is that their shrines and places of worship are classified as “cultural institutions”.

Perihan Koca, an MP for the left-wing, pro-Kurdish DEM Party, also publicly denounced the inequalities surrounding the expropriation of land for the construction of new housing and the problems faced by the Alawite Arab population, asking: “Is the aim to force the Alawite Arab community to migrate?”

She also criticized the lack of access to accommodation and sanitation facilities, water and basic foodstuffs, as well as the demolition of buildings containing asbestos without any safety precautions and the confiscation of their living spaces through hasty expropriations.

Suspicions regarding attempts to relocate communities, divide them and, consequently, assimilate minorities after earthquakes are not without precedent.

Following the 2011 Van earthquake, some locals viewed the state’s perceived inaction in some areas as an intentional attempt to force Kurdish families out of the region and bring about demographic change.

Likewise, members of the Berrak family in Kurtderesi said they believed the government was actively trying to disperse their community after the 2023 earthquake.

“Ninety-four percent of the population in our neighborhood is Arab. We believe these projects will serve to assimilate us following the earthquake,” a Berrak family member said, asking to withhold their name.

Ask us anything

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Get in touch at info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

In this week’s edition:

• Absolute nullity brings tightening

• Expectations and economic cooling

• Doruk miners update

• International cash flow monitor

• This week’s stat round-up

Absolute dullity, this was not: Nullity decision brings tightening

Read more

In this week’s recap:

• Opposition camps regroup, Kılıçdaroğlu digs in

• Where key players stand on the CHP takeover

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• NATO’s future depends on Trump’s mood in Ankara

Also from us this week:

• Noah Bonsey joined Recap radio to discuss Syria and SDF integration

• Wouter Massink and Daniel Thorpe on Turkey’s fast-tracked mining boom

• Diego Cupolo and Emily Rice Johnson respond to reader mail

• Did we mention we’re throwing a party in Ankara and you’re invited?

Okay, this is not your ordinary news cycle, and this is not your ordinary recap.

Since we last reported on street clashes following CHP head Özgür Özel’s ouster, Turkey’s main opposition party has essentially fractured into two camps and everyone’s trying to guess what comes next — including who will post next on the CHP’s official X account, which is dormant.

It’s a real mess, so in true Marie Kondo fashion, we’re going to compartmentalize the main developments and reactions, though we can’t guarantee they’ll “spark joy”:

Camp K: Re-instated CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu took the stage at the party’s Ankara headquarters Saturday with anti-corruption slogans focused on “cleansing” the party of “bribery” and other immoral actions.

The narrative closely echoed MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli’s media comments three days earlier, and reinforced analyses that Kılıçdaroğlu’s return is part of an elite pact to eliminate effective opposition in Turkey, as Sinem Adar argued here.

Yesterday, Kılıçdaroğlu’s spokesperson said the official CHP chair would speak at the party’s next parliamentary group meeting, on Jun. 9, and convene a party council on Jun. 11, though both are subject to change, according to our CHP sources and Stüdyo recap reporting.

This comes as Kılıçdaroğlu continues to purge party staffers while unveiling a new 19-member central executive committee for the party.

Camp Ö: Former CHP head Özgür Özel led rallies in Izmir, Manisa and Ankara before speaking at this week’s CHP parliamentary group meeting.

Following a streak of street-level mobilization, Özel’s address Tuesday was oddly ordinary and uneventful — as in he brought picket signs to condemn PlayStation prices — before a packed and lively audience.

Since his removal, Özel has been campaigning for an immediate party congress to re-elect the CHP leadership. The prospects for a speedy convention remain unclear, though Özel’s spokesperson has argued the CHP may lose eligibility to participate in snap elections if a congress is not held this July.

On Wednesday, Özel had collected more than 850 signatures from the party’s 1,130 delegates to hold an extraordinary congress. Kılıçdaroğlu has said a congress would be held after the court of appeals issues a final ruling on the CHP case. Stay tuned for more reporting on this.

New party prospects: When asked if he would launch his own political party if he fails to retake the CHP leadership, Özel has repeatedly stated he prefers not to split the party, but it remains a possibility in a “worst-case scenario.”

An April survey by MetroPoll found 66 percent of CHP supporters would vote for Özel’s new party, while about 22 percent would stick with Kılıçdaroğlu. Across all parties, support for an Özel-led party was nearly 35 percent.

Speaking to Turkey recap this morning, Seda Demiralp, a professor of political science and chair of international relations at Işık University in Istanbul, said Özel’s camp will likely try all institutional and procedural avenues to win back the CHP leadership.

If Özel’s efforts fail, a new party should be expected by the end of 2026, Demiralp said.

“Özel’s popularity among CHP voters is very high,” she told Turkey recap. “Our recent research shows that about 70 percent of CHP voters state that they would vote for Özel’s new party if he founded one. Among these voters, the level of anger towards Kılıçdaroğlu matches the anger towards Erdoğan.”

She added that Özel may also be appealing to a “significant portion” of undecided/swing voters, adding this segment tends to be less concerned about CHP dynamics, and more frustrated about “the politicization of the courts, democratic backsliding and the economic costs of the whole process.”

Vapid response: Where key players stand on the CHP takeover

Read more

This is our second Q&A episode following the second religious holiday of the year. We focus primarily on the current judicial pressure faced by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which recently had its leader Özgür Özel removed from power by court order.

Also discussed are the political prospects of re-installed CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, timing forecasts for the next election cycle, peace process updates and more — including Turkey-Bangladesh defense relations.

Referenced in this talk:

Submit a question for our Q&A podcast with this form

RSVP to our Ankara get-together on June 11 using this form

Targeting the Opposition: Türkiye’s Democracy at a Crossroads (ISPI)

Tens of thousands march in support of Turkey’s deposed opposition leader (AP)

Bangladesh and Turkey: Defense Cooperation Enters a strategic phase (BMF)

Other ways to watch & listen:

Our webcasts are also available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast players.

Support us

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Contact us: info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

• Jun 1

  • Erdoğan convenes presidential cabinet convened in Ankara

Read more

Read more

SOMA—Drive out of any city in Turkey, and you will soon encounter whole chunks of the landscape missing. Hilltops, ravines and gorges are violently carved away for their limestone, marble and gravel to fuel the country’s construction sector. Elsewhere, some of Anatolia’s most iconic natural areas have turned into toxic open pits to extract high-demand gold and rare earths.

Such scenes will multiply across Turkey following sweeping overhauls of the country’s mining legislation over the past year. Previously protected forests, farmland and villages have now been opened for companies to locate and extract lucrative minerals.

Officials in Ankara claim this rush is necessary to attract foreign capital, boost exports and breathe new life into Turkey’s stalling economy. But environmentalists and activists warn that an era of unsustainable extraction has been unleashed, which could pose severe harm to Turkey’s remaining natural landscapes and rural economies.

“If things continue at this pace, a huge share of Turkey’s mineral resources will be depleted by 2050,” said Levent Büyükbozkırlı, a researcher with the environmental group Polen Ecology Collective, which tracks Turkey’s mining activities. “This will erase villages’ livelihoods and inflict massive, irreversible damage to nature.”

Buried wealth

Turkey ranks among the most mineral-diverse countries in the world. Some geological surveys estimate $3.5 trillion in mineral wealth remains buried. To tap this potential, over 1.4 million hectares of mining area have been put up for tender since 2024, Turkey recap calculated based on government data.

This equates to 1.5 times the size of the entire island of Cyprus and excludes the sprawling number of illegal or non-tendered mining operations. Companies purchased licenses for mining activity across about half of this territory, Büyükbozkırlı told Turkey recap.

These tenders come in the wake of a controversial 2025 law and ongoing amendments that have fast-tracked mining operations by stripping back environmental regulations and centralizing decision-making within the presidency.

“While drafting the law, we said that we needed to make it attractive for investment,” Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said during a budget meeting in November 2025.

Lobbyists argue these reforms are accelerating mineral exports, which are projected to cross $10 billion in 2026, nearly double the 2024 level. This growth would help narrow Turkey’s chronic trade deficit, with energy and mineral imports accounting for roughly 40 percent of the imbalance.

To close this gap, Turkey intends to triple gold production from 28 tons to 100 tons annually, “without compromising human health and the environment,” Bayraktar stated. The country is also trying to position itself as a major extractor of rare earths—minerals in high demand for their use in electric cars, the defense sector and clean energy. Some, however, remain skeptical of the potential.

“Rare earth elements are an urban legend,” economist Mustafa Sönmez told Turkey recap. “If something like that really existed, why would they have waited until now to go after it? In short, there’s nothing but empty talk. What you actually have is massive environmental damage being done in the name of mining.”

Environmental threats

Almost all mining areas auctioned this year fell into groups that include stone quarries and metallic ore extractions. About 500 Group IV mining licenses, which include gold and rare earths, were put up for sale in 2026 for an area covering roughly the size of Istanbul province.

Group IV contains Turkey’s most valuable minerals, but their extraction involves intense water usage, open-pit mining and tailing ponds to store toxic slurry. Cyanide is also used to recover gold from massive amounts of low-grade ore that would otherwise be impossible to process.

“[Cyanide] poses a grave threat to the environment, nature and every living creature,” Başaran Aksu, a representative of Turkey’s Independent Miners’ Union, told Turkey recap.

Aksu further noted that these dangers are compounded by Turkey’s substandard occupational health and safety regulations and environmental inspections.

In 2024, at a gold mine in Iliç, Erzincan, a heap leach collapse killed nine workers and sent an estimated 10 million cubic meters of cyanide-laced soil toward a tributary of the Euphrates River. A few months before the disaster, a routine government inspection failed to detect flaws in the heap-leach pile.

Many of the sold-off parcels encompass rivers, agricultural land, pastures and olive groves. Several are also only a stone’s throw from major residential areas, and numerous villages that fall directly within the zones could soon face expropriation.

In Mount Ida (Kazdağı), Ahlatcı Holding, one of Turkey’s main gold exporters, acquired a mining license last month for an area the size of nearly 3,000 football fields. The group is owned by Ahmet Ahlatcı, whose nephew is ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker Yusuf Ahlatcı.

Besides being a place of great natural beauty, it is also here that in Homer’s Iliad, Zeus and the fellow gods watched the events of the Trojan War in the nearby Çanakkale province.

Yusuf Ahlatcı voted in favor of last year’s deregulation bill to pave the way for mining in protected areas. This new law further sidelined Turkey’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system by skewing the process to guarantee positive reviews.

“I do not think the current mining policy will be sustainable because every place is being opened to mining with unsupervised, recklessly granted permits,” environmental lawyer Arif Ali Cangı told Turkey recap.

Meanwhile, halting these mining ventures through the court is also becoming more futile, Büyükbozkırlı argued.

“We still win cases initially, but then the companies appeal, go around the rulings, bypass them,” Büyükbozkırlı said. “The system has developed all sorts of new mechanisms to get around these obstacles.”

This includes exempting mines from EIA requirements entirely, a loophole that allows corporations to proceed without proper scientific evaluation. Data from Polen Ecology Collective show that a majority of Turkey’s mines do not hold an EIA.

“[These] projects are moving much faster without public participation, democratic oversight or proper consideration of their environmental impacts,” Derya Sever, a fellow researcher at Polen Ecology Collective, told Turkey recap.

Last month, the government’s anti-disinformation unit denied allegations that vast swathes of land had been licensed for extraction. It said that mining operations account for only 0.18 percent of the country’s surface area, and that this work is done according to the principle of “people first, then the environment, then value-added mining.”

“Currently, there isn’t practically any investment or activity at this level of intensity of licensing,” Aksu said. “Permits are being granted to companies for mining operations over a very widespread area. However, the practical implementation of this—drilling and establishing production facilities—such investments are more limited.”

Implications on the ground: Soma

One of the regions that knows the cost of mining extraction is Soma. The small town nestled in the hills near the Aegean coast was once famed for its Turkish tobacco plantations.

“Nobody wanted to become a miner,” explained Süleyman Çetin. Like the generations before him, he was destined to become a tobacco farmer. But when, in the early 2000s, the appetite for foreign tobacco blends took over, and the coal pits got privatized, he, like many other men, had nowhere else to go.

“Once we stopped earning a living, we were systemically turned into miners,” 40-year-old Çetin told Turkey recap. Instead of growing crops, he is now operating a 35-ton machine deep underground, cutting out blocks of coal 6 meters wide.

Çetin has little hope for Soma’s future. Coal fueling the nearby thermal power plant pumps out toxic ash, ravaging local crops and causing cancer rates to skyrocket, locals claim. The regional hospital lacks the specialists required to treat respiratory illnesses plaguing retired workers.

“The biggest physical toll on miners are occupational diseases like pneumoconiosis,” recently retired miner Durmuş Olgunsoy told Turkey recap. “As far as I know, we don’t have a single case officially certified by a doctor.” He added that they write it off as “lung problems.”

Coal in the region is slowly running out. In the past, miners had to walk 500 meters in underground tunnels to get to the extraction site. Now it is 3 to 5 kilometers. The lower they descend, the harder and more dangerous the work becomes. Vast expanses of groundwater have to be pumped out each hour. Levels of methane gas also increase with depth.

In 2014, the worst happened. On May 13, a fire broke out in the Eynez coal mine of Soma. Hundreds of miners were trapped in the smoke deep underground. Olgunsoy was supposed to be working there that day, but decided to take a leave the day before.

“I heard that something happened around 2:30 pm. I immediately went straight to the mine. When I got there, the place was in total chaos—smoke was coming out of the chimneys,” Olgunsoy said.

“We evacuated our friends who were in the area without smoke,” he continued. “We couldn’t reach our friends in the smoke-filled area. We tried to establish underground contact by phone, but it didn’t work. In the late afternoon, we went in with masks and saw our friends’ bodies there, let me put it that way. We left them and tried to search for the living.”

That day, 301 miners died in the shafts. The accident became a symbol of corporate negligence and poor government oversight in contemporary Turkey. It was followed by widespread public anger and political unrest. Protestors, marching with placards saying, “It was not an accident, it was murder,” were met with teargas and water cannons. In March 2026, public officials implicated in the disaster saw their charges dropped after the statute of limitations ran out.

Also in Soma, new plots have been opened for licensing, and expansions are ongoing. But better working conditions remain lacking, Olgunsoy argued, as companies are solely interested in profit and try to cut back on labor costs wherever they can.

“The companies buying [new sites] are like, ‘these minimum wages and labor costs are way too high for us,’” Olgunsoy said. “They’re trying to run things with the fewest workers possible.”

Following the Soma disaster, new legislation guaranteed underground workers a salary of at least twice the gross minimum wage. Yet those earnings are frequently delayed or denied entirely. “It seems there isn’t a single mining operation that’s completely trouble-free,” Aksu said, who was detained last month during Turkey’s largest mining protest in recent memory over withheld pay.

“I used to love my job because of the production,” Olgunsoy said. “I thought we were receiving the state’s support, and that we were supporting the state in return,” he continued. “We felt proud of ourselves, proud of our profession. We could have had better conditions, but well—let’s just say this is how much value the state placed on us.”

Support us

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Contact us: info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Political correspondent

Gözde Ocak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

This article is part of a series of reports focusing on Turkey’s climate governance produced with support from the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey Office, and in no way reflects the views of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

Following a Syrian Army offensive that reclaimed most of the formerly SDF-held territory in northeast Syria, Damascus and the SDF signed a peace agreement in late January to combine forces under the Syria state structure after 14 years of war.

This podcast is a status update on how integration efforts are going in the context of escalated regional instability from the US-Israel war on Iran and amid the continued economic hardships faced by Syrian citizens.

The talk covers how Damascus-SDF negotiations impact the PKK peace process in Turkey, as well as the current challenges, opportunities and risks faced by the transitional government of Syrian Pres. Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Note: This episode was recorded May 25, 2026.

Referenced in this talk:

Submit a question for our Q&A podcast with this form

PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s May 24 public statement (DEM Party)

‘The country is on fire’: Riot police storm CHP headquarters and Bilgi University (Turkey recap)

An Opportunity for Calm in North-eastern Syria (Crisis Group)

Comprehensive Overview of IDPs and IDP Returns 21-5-2026 (UNHCR)

First Turkey-Iraq transit convoy crosses through Syria (SANA)

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Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Contact us: info@turkeyrecap.com.

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Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Ceren Bayar, Parliament correspondent

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Günsu Durak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager

ISTANBUL—Sunday was a dark day in Turkish democracy. Police in Ankara used force to enter and clear out the headquarters of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). A court dismissed its leadership Thursday and reinstated the party’s deeply unpopular previous leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Heavy clashes ensued.

But the CHP’s headquarters was not the only institution the state violently took over that day. In Istanbul, riot police marched into Bilgi University and pushed out all remaining students. By the campus gates, hundreds of students and academics clashed with police armed with riot shields and pepper spray.

The events were sparked by a presidential decree, published at midnight three days prior, ordering the immediate closure of Bilgi University — one of the most prestigious private universities in Turkey. The decree was two lines long, offering no explanation for the decision.

In one night, over 20,000 students and all of the university’s staff were left out to dry, not knowing if they were still students or had a job. Then, in the early hours of Monday, Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reopened Bilgi with the ease of reopening a faucet. Again, the few meagre lines of the presidential decree offered no reasoning.

“There is a Turkish expression that goes ‘when the knife reaches bone’, meaning when push comes to shove,” Poyraz, a student at the protest, told Turkey recap. He was still blinking from the pepper spray. “Right now, the knife has reached the bone. In fact, our whole arm is being cut off. That’s why I see two options for Turkey. We either come to our senses and revolt, or we die.”

Revolt the students did, and for once, successfully it seems. While CHP’s headquarters remain occupied by security forces and the party’s previous elite, students last night reentered their campus to celebrate. There were no expressions of gratitude to the president — “we won” was the message.

Violent clashes

The day after the presidential decree was issued, thousands of students and protestors gathered on campus. There was anger in the air, but even more dominant was confusion. The next day, only registered students were allowed to enter. On the third day, no one could enter and the police surrounded the campus. The remaining few dozen students inside were violently dragged out.

Outside, hundreds of students gathered to protect their university. Police barricades, hundreds of officers, and an armored vehicle with a water cannon (referred to as TOMA) blocked their entrance. “What business does a TOMA have in a university!” the students chanted and threatened to break through the barricades. The officers behind the shield wall only smirked.

The students then attempted to push through. Officers responded with pepper spray and a vicious counter charge, hitting anyone they could with their shields.

Almost exactly parallel to the clashes at Bilgi University, police in Ankara broke down the gates of CHP’s headquarters and cleared the building out with tear gas and rubber bullets. Water cannons were used to disperse the crowd outside. Having lost their party building, CHP chair Özgür Özel decided to march on the parliament.

Back at Bilgi, Doğan Sarıtaş, the head of the CHP’s local district branch, was trying to mediate between the police and the protestors. Following the clash, he stood on the side, his face red from the pepper spray. He stared at his phone, viewing videos of his party headquarters being filled with teargas, and an army of officers.

“The country is on fire,” Sarıtaş snapped. “Injustice and lawlessness are spreading everywhere. On the one hand, there are the events at our headquarters, and now we are at a university. They are preventing our students from entering their own school. We stand with the students, with our friends. We will support their struggle to the very end.”

“Of course, we are hopeful,” he said, despite looking distraught. “More than that, we have strong faith. It’s not just hope. We truly believe we will win this fight. For this country to finally achieve peace, justice, prosperity, and a fair and equal life, we will carry on our struggle on the road to the government. And I believe the election will come very soon — and we will win.”

The closure of the university and the students’ protest would normally be front-page news for Turkey’s independent media. However, it received little coverage over the weekend. All eyes and lenses were turned to the events in Ankara.

“Yes, this received little attention,” conceded Abdullah, a student at Bilgi. “But at the same time, we also need to say this: what is happening in Ankara and here at Bilgi are not independent from one another.”

“It’s not just about a trustee being appointed to a political party,” Abdullah continued. “The fact that decisions can be made this way — that’s what has actually brought us to this point. Even if right now we don’t know the exact reason behind this closure decision, it stems from the same politics.”

Murky reasons behind the closure

The exact reason for Bilgi University’s closure and reopening remain unknown. At the time of publishing, no official reasons were given by state representatives. None of the students, professors, and teachers’ union representatives interviewed by Turkey recap could provide a clear explanation either.

The main lead behind the decision is the university’s links to Can Holding, a major Turkish conglomerate operating in energy, education, media, logistics, and retail. In 2019, Can Holding purchased Bilgi University for around 90 million USD. Then in 2025, the conglomerate came into direct conflict with the state.

Following a report by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), the authorities accused the conglomerate’s top leadership, including owners Kemal Can and Mehmet Şakir Can, of running a criminal organization. They were charged with tax evasion, money laundering, and smuggling.

The assets of the conglomerate were seized, and a local court replaced Bilgi University’s board with state trustees, or kayyum — the most notorious term in Turkish politics of the past few years.

In other words, the state already exercised control over the university through its trustees. Thus, it is unclear why Erdoğan felt a need to revoke the university’s liscence, or indeed, why he restored it.

Both the closure of Bilgi University and the dismissal of CHP’s leadership were strategically timed. They happened one day before the nine-day-long holiday for the Feast of Sacrifice (Kurban Bayramı) began. During these days, financial markets remain closed, and vast segments of the population desert the major cities to go to the countryside.

Yet, despite the initial days of relative inaction and confusion, tens of thousands across Turkey marched in the streets against the government’s actions on Sunday. The students at Bilgi might have received little attention, but regained something much greater: their university.

In the meantime, CHP chair Özgür Özel vowed to take the fight to the streets. “CHP from now on is on the roads, in the streets, in the squares,” Özel shouted Sunday in his coarse voice.

Support us

Turkey recap is an independent, reader-supported newsletter that helps people make sense of the fast-paced Turkey news cycle. Contact us: info@turkeyrecap.com.

Subscribe here on Substack (or on Patreon for discount options). Paid subscribers get full access to our recaps, reports, members-only chat and news tracking tools.

We are an affiliate of the Global Forum for Media Development and aim to produce balanced news that strengthens local media by supporting journalists in Turkey.

Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief

Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor

Ceren Bayar, Parliament correspondent

Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent

Günsu Durak, Stüdyo recap editor

Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager