"The “Youthall Youth Expectations and Trends Survey” paints a grim picture: while [Turkish] graduates once looked forward to independence, today nearly 77% of young adults live with their parents, unable to afford rent or basic living costs" www.paturkey.com/news/2025/tr...

"According to a decree, the “additional financial obligations” imposed on 22 categories of U.S.-origin products since 2018 have been lifted [...] Ankara signals an expectation that Washington will, in return, reduce or lift tariffs imposed on Turkish exports" yetkinreport.com/en/2025/09/2...

If you are wondering what Turkey's strategy here is, I think it is this: "Demonstrate relevance and build ties anywhere and everywhere, so long as we can keep risks relatively low." All in all, I think Ankara has done very well with this.

"Turkey will soon deploy troops to help train Niger's military to counter militant groups [...] a small number of Turkish commandos and special forces who in the past served and gained experience in Syria and Iraq will be deployed to Niger" www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-...

News of the moral and cultural war being waged by the Turkish government. Pop star Mabel Matiz has been summoned by the police to the public prosecutor's office for questioning over the lyrics of his latest song, Perperisan, which some find obscene. bianet.org/haber/mabel-...

A must-read by Murat Inceoglu bianet.org/yazi/a-brief...

Journalist İsmail Saymaz describes the removal of provincial governors as a ‘purge’, adding that some of them are allegedly involved in corruption cases. These ‘resignations’ are expected to affect other key AKP cadres in the coming days. halktv.com.tr/makale/bicak...

At the UN General Assembly, Turkish President #Erdogan is expected to focus on certain key themes of the AKP's foreign policy discourse: denouncing the international order (and promoting an overhaul of the international system), but also defending the "oppressed". m.sabah.com.tr/yazarlar/neb...

According to T24 columnist Mehmet Yilmaz, the AKP aims to retake 100 opposition municipalities, including 14 metropolitan municipalities. An entire team led by Hayati Yazıcı (head of political and legal affairs for the AKP) is reportedly dedicated to this task +

In his observations of the CHP's extraordinary congress, pro-gov columnist Abdulkadir Selvi highlighted 2 things: 1) the unity of the party, 2) the marginalization of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the consolidation of the influence of CHP President Ozgur Ozel. www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/abd...

Kemal Can (@yahyakemalcan.bsky.social) on the Erdoğan-Trump meeting: Erdoğan, who is struggling to consolidate his power through internal dynamics (Kurdish opening, operations against the CHP), needs more than ever (and is even forced) to rely on external support. medyascope.tv/2025/09/21/e...

Under threat of having its leadership dismissed by the courts, the CHP, Turkey's main opposition party, held an extraordinary congress, which served as a vote of confidence. Ozgur Ozel, the CHP's president, received the support of 835 delegates (out of 1,127). yetkinreport.com/2025/09/21/c...

The AKP forced eight provincial chairpersons to resign. Some are wondering about the reasons behind these shifts : performance assessments, internal factional tensions, generational renewal, strategic repositioning in anticipation of a crucial political cycle? www.paturkey.com/news/2025/sh...

Erdogan loves face-to-face meeting and believes he knows how to handle Trump. Trump, for his part, is unusually favorable towards Erdo. Still, one wonders whether Erdogan's team has fully gamed in the possibility that Trump will throw their boss under the bus... just because he can.

"Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. are poised to win aircraft orders from Turkey as soon as next week for as many as 250 commercial planes and additional F-16 fighter jets, with possible resolution of a long-running F-35 dispute" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The pro-government Turkish media continues to discuss Bahçeli's call for a Turkey-Russia-China alliance. Here, Müderrisoğlu believes that Ankara should not rely too heavily on Moscow and Beijing, calling for the pursuit of a balanced and multidimensional policy. m.sabah.com.tr/yazarlar/mud...

"Turkey plans to sign new energy deals with the US as early as next week, as it seeks to strengthen ties with Washington from commodities to defense. The agreements could include pledges to buy more US liquefied natural gas" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Now that its coalition partner actually proposes an "axis shift" in Turkey, we will see how AKP people will go back to giving a warm embrace to Washington/NATO.

Erdoğan's main ally Devlet Bahçeli proposes, in the context of the war in #Gaza, an alliance between Turkey, China, and Russia against the US and Israël. A proposal that some pro-government columnists already consider radical but above all unrealistic. m.sabah.com.tr/yazarlar/mel...

"Turkish and Egyptian forces are holding joint naval and air exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean next week, their first in 13 years, Turkey’s Defense Ministry has said" www.ekathimerini.com/politics/for...

While the Turkish government subjects the CHP to a big ‘loyalty’ test, transfer policies will continue. Sources report that the metropolitan mayor of Bursa and district mayors in the city may switch from the CHP to the AKP. t24.com.tr/haber/31-mar...

"Just recently, Turkey stood out for its repeated assaults on international norms. Now, though, those norms have been shattered by a host of bigger and more aggressive actors, from Moscow to Washington, and Turkey looks almost calm in comparison" foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/17/t...

I think the court's decision yesterday to postpone the trial on annulment of CHP congress(es) has more to do with the challenges that Ankara faces in spinning the assault against the CHP than with its determination to neutralize the opposition.

Where Is the Friend's House?, Abbas Kiarostami (1987)

In an article for T24, Alpaslan Özerdem wonders whether the current peace process in Turkey is nothing more than ‘peace washing’, i.e. a process based on symbolic measures and promises, without any real reforms or structural changes. t24.com.tr/haber/baris-...

I believe one dynamic in the Kurdish peace process in Turkey is that Ocalan and others in the PKK are willing to sacrifice the quixotic cause of autonomy in Turkey for the possibility of saving the Kurdish presence in Syria. This would seem to support that possibility bianet.org/haber/pkk-le...

Do I expect open conflict between Israel and Turkey? I really don't. But Israeli and Turkish elites are increasingly convinced that it is possible and that, in itself, makes miscalculation more possible.

Turkey kits out Asian navies while building war chest to expand fleet https://asia.nikkei.com/business/aerospace-defense-industries/turkey-kits-out-asian-navies-while-building-war-chest-to-expand-fleet

"In summary, Şahan's case, like other Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality operation cases, is based on confessions, hearsay, and bribery allegations for which no concrete evidence has yet been presented" halktv.com.tr/makale/sahan...

Following the postponement of the lawsuit regarding the 38th CHP congress, pro-government Turkish columnists emphasise several points: 1) the judiciary has demonstrated that it is rigorous and impartial ((‘it did not give in to pressure from the CHP’) 2) the CHP has not yet escaped a +

"Turkey’s post-conflict engagement with Syria signals a clear intent: to entrench its influence through the education system [...]This approach positions [Turkey] as a civilizational partner, shaping Syria’s intellectual reconstruction from within" kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/turkeys-re...

"Le Parti républicain du peuple est confronté à une guerre juridique intense et manque d’alliés, face à un régime qui, pour l’instant, semble tenir bon" @sinemadar.bsky.social www.liberation.fr/internationa...

This article by Y.Çiçek in Türkgün (MHP journal) has caused quite a stir in the Turkish opposition press. Against the backdrop of unrest in the Middle East, it questions the emergence of a “new parallel structure” that could have infiltrated the “national structure.” www.turkgun.com/basyazi/yeni...

For Hakkı Özdal, the decision to postpone the lawsuit regarding the cancellation of the CHP's 38th congress marks the influence of the Erdoğan-Şimşek duo and the government's consideration of economic risks. I am sceptical, but this analysis seems to be widely shared in some opposition circles.

Great @turkeyrecap.bsky.social episode with @gonultol.bsky.social on Turkish democracy, Syria, PKK www.turkeyrecap.com/p/turkeys-de...

Analysing the postponement of the lawsuit regarding the cancellation of the CHP's 38th Ordinary Congress, Uğur Poyraz believes that the judge is trying to buy time in the face of political pressure. He expects a further postponement on 24 October and, more broadly, a lengthy process.

Atilla Yesilada: "Yet, I don’t give much credit to conspiracy theories and certainly don’t believe Erdogan is easing off the pressure on CHP. In my view, today’s decision was another strategic move by Erdogan in response to CHP decision to call another Grand Convention on 22th of September."

I wouldn’t count Hakan within the ranks of the true “pro-government.” He came along to their side quite late and is more someone who tried to remain nominally independent, while still keeping the party line enough to not get fired.

Gokcer Tahincioğlu, in essence: if the extraordinary congress of 21 September proceeds without incident and is deemed procedurally valid, the court could reject the request to annul the 2023 congress on the grounds that it has become moot. Optimistic, isn't it? We'll see.

"The Can affair is less an outlier than a prism. It refracts Turkey’s structural ailments: black-money intermediation, tax evasion, political patronage, religious cover, and media capture. Absent reforms that pierce these circuits, raids treat symptoms, not the disease"

Since the issue of the CHP's 38th ordinary congress will continue to dominate the media in Turkey, one might wonder whether there is consensus within the government regarding the dismissal of the CHP's current leadership. For example, in Hurriyet, Ahmet Hakan + www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/ahm...

Fifth hearing and further postponement in the trial over allegations of fraud against the 38th ordinary congress of the CHP. The CHP therefore remains in limbo, with a case that will continue to take up much of its time and energy. On the government side, the war of attrition will continue.

Hikmet Çetin, former president of the #CHP and close to the current president Özgür Özel, claims that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (himself a former president of the party) is in contact with the highest echelons of the state, notably Erdoğan, to have the 38th CHP congress cancelled.

Current transfers from the CHP to the AKP is part of the latter's domination test. They aim to increase pressure on the CHP's leadership by creating wedges within the party. They also serve to reaffirm&signal the AKP's superiority vis-a-vis the CHP.

In his latest article for Yeni Safak (Islamist), columnist Yusuf Kaplan rails against 2 long-term trends that could lead Turkey to ‘cultural genocide’ (!) : 1) the imitation of Western civilisation, 2) the infiltration of the education system by the CHP 'mentality' www.yenisafak.com/yazarlar/yus...

Kemal Can yazdı: Gerilimle yönetmek ya da gerilimi yönetmek

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, is once again being prosecuted for ‘contempt’. And it's an express procedure : the police investigation report was drawn up on 11 September 2025, the indictment was drafted on 12 September and accepted by the court on 13 September.

In 10 points, Tolga Sirin shows that the lawsuit filed by Istanbul's 45th Civil Court of First Instance against the CHP (over allegations of fraud against the party's 38th ordinary congress) contains numerous legal irregularities. A must-read. t24.com.tr/yazarlar/tol...