Hello, Diego here with some updates. Turkey recap is doing well and we’re restructuring to better serve readers like you with some new projects in the pipeline.
Moving forward, we’ll work with a smaller core team and larger network of freelance contributors. In the process, Gonca Tokyol, Ingrid Woudwijk and Damla Uğantaş have shifted to reporting roles after invaluable contributions to this platform. Keep an eye out for their work.
Full disclosure: The above means I’ll handle more political content so I’ll again disclose that my wife is an MP for the pro-Kurdish DEM Party.
To be transparent, I will now recap weekly Kurdish developments but will continue to recuse myself from direct reporting on DEM Party activities and Kurdish politics in Turkey. Freelance reporters will handle those topics.
Turkey recap remains solely committed to its readers, and we aim to keep delivering independent, balanced reporting with integrity, as we have since 2019. Send feedback and pitches to info@turkeyrecap.com.
In this week’s recap:
İmamoğlu faces new judicial probe
CHP to elect presidential candidate
Trustee replaces DEM mayor in Siirt
Domestic and diplomatic wraps
Drug busts reach new highs (and lows)
Also from us this week:
Hilal Tok on how the growing gap between minimum wage and the cost of living in İstanbul is impacting working-class families
We have to talk about radishes. Or “turp” in Turkish, which can also mean “turnip”. So, the alternative headline for today is: Turnip The Heat.
The turp talk started two weeks ago between Özel and Erdoğan. Then, İmamoğlu picked it up with his speech Monday, titled “Turpun Büyüğü”, which is part of a Turkish idiom that means “the biggest challenge” has yet to come. This will all make sense soon.
In our last recap, we listed the many ways Turkey’s political opposition is facing pressure. That list has since expanded, and İmamoğlu Monday sought to address what he called a “politicized judiciary” that has unjustly prosecuted and jailed opposition party leaders.
“I send my love and respect to both Mr. Ümit Özdağ and Mr. Demirtaş,” İmamoğlu said, referring to the jailed Zafer Party chair and former HDP co-chair, respectively. “I also demand an end to the unlawfulness they have experienced.”
İmamoğlu then turned attention to the investigations he is currently facing – one of which he will testify against tomorrow. İmamoğlu highlighted that the same expert witness was behind several judicial probes into him and other opposition district mayors in İstanbul.
This expert witness, he said, was the “radish” or “biggest challenge” that Erdoğan has yet to pull out of his bag. Essentially, İmamoğlu named and faced the threat. After the presser, a new investigation was launched against the İstanbul mayor for allegedly targeting the expert witness “with the aim of influencing judicial decisions”.
In a resulting cascade of events, three journalists were detained for broadcasting a recording of the expert witness. Two were released, and then two more were detained with arrest orders. A separate journalist is also being investigated for making a hand gesture after talking about the ordeal.
It’s a lot to unpack, but Özdağ summed it up in a statement from prison Monday:
“It’s as if a criminal law hostile to the opposition is being applied,” the Zafer Party chair said. “Are you going to turn the entire country into an open prison?”
Taking a step back, Edgar Şar, co-founder and co-director of the IstanPol Institute, said the ongoing economic crisis is fodder for widespread demonstrations, and the government is taking preemptive actions to quell public dissent.
“The ruling bloc just wants to make sure that the opposition and its base does not consider big demonstrations,” Şar told Turkey recap.
“So, I think this is [a] strategy to increase the pace of the autocratization, to divide the opposition, to distract the opposition and make sure that they are unable to come up with …. an effective electoral strategy,” he added.
On a parallel track, talent manager Ayşe Barım was arrested Tuesday for alleged involvement in the 2013 Gezi protests. When asked if her arrest was related to pressure on the opposition block, Şar responded:
“Erdoğan has always said his party was unable to create cultural hegemony. But this is not how you create a hegemony. I mean, hegemony is a concept that refers to consent. It's not something you can build by force.”
Opposed and equal reaction: CHP to elect presidential candidate
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Turkey recap to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.