The Weekly Turkey Report: 4th Week of May.
President Erdoğan is adopting methods reminiscent of Stalin’s propaganda tactics to erase Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—the main threat to his potential re-election—from public consciousness. Last week, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office banned posters and photographs of İmamoğlu displayed around the city and on public transportation. In response, a group of CHP deputies hung a massive İmamoğlu banner from the Bosphorus Bridge on Saturday. The prosecutor’s office filed a criminal complaint over this act as well.
The pressure campaign on the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) has escalated into what can be described as state terror. A fresh wave of operations aimed at paralyzing the municipality and intimidating its employees was launched.
In the third wave of an ongoing corruption investigation, 22 people were detained, including İBB’s Director of Press and Public Relations Taner Çetin, Public Relations Manager Serap Karay, Deputy Manager Mustafa Karaoğlu, and Çeşme Deputy Mayor Onur Gülin. Of the 20 referred to court, 13 were arrested and seven were released under judicial control with travel bans. Noyan Kırmızıgül, who was among those detained in this wave, was listed in official documents as having cooperated under the “effective remorse” clause.
In the fourth wave, arrest warrants were issued for 49 individuals, including the general managers of İSTAÇ and KİPTAŞ, and İmamoğlu’s Chief of Staff, Kadriye Kasapoğlu. Police carried out synchronized operations in six provinces, detaining 44 of the individuals named in the warrants.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s dire human rights conditions were highlighted again. According to Mezopotamya News Agency, DEM Party MP Newroz Uysal Aslan submitted a parliamentary inquiry on November 1, 2024, asking how many political and criminal detainees had died in prison between July 24, 2023, and 2024. In response, the Ministry of Justice revealed that 1,026 detainees had died between July 24, 2023, and December 20, 2024.
Aslan stated that prisons had become laboratories for disciplining political prisoners and that the regime’s aim is not only to destroy the body but also to suppress memory, resistance, and hope. She characterized this as not a failure of governance, but rather a deliberate, planned, and ideological annihilation strategy executed through the prison system.
Despite this grim picture, President Erdoğan renewed his call for a “democratic constitution.” Denying that the push for a new constitution is tied to his re-election ambitions, he declared: “We are not doing this for ourselves, but for our country. I have no intention to run again,” and called on the CHP to join hands on constitutional reform.
CHP Deputy Chair Murat Bakan swiftly rejected the call: “We cannot draft a constitution with this government. You can’t write a constitution with someone who doesn’t respect the current one.”
At the same time, the Socialist International Council met in Istanbul, hosted by the CHP. In his opening remarks, Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist International President Pedro Sánchez praised CHP leader Özgür Özel for his leadership during difficult times. “We believe in democracy and justice,” Sánchez said. “Many of our comrades are in prison. We stand with our comrades in Turkey. We are strong, and together we will win.”
Notably, Sánchez did not mention imprisoned CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, though he had met with Erdoğan at Dolmabahçe Palace before the summit. However, in the closing session, the Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding İmamoğlu’s immediate release and reinstatement, calling his imprisonment unjust and unlawful.
In a parallel development, the AKP-MHP bloc moved to consolidate its influence over the judiciary. They unlawfully manipulated the selection process for the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). CHP leader Özgür Özel accused them of rigging the vote by splitting their bloc into two groups to force a lottery between AKP-backed candidates, calling it not just a trick, but a “pickpocket attempt” and an “assault on the constitution.” Additionally, a recent law renamed the Deputy Minister of Justice as “Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice.”
Meanwhile, the first hearing of a case against TÜSİAD President Orhan Turan and High Advisory Council Chair Ömer Arif Aras took place. The case, brought over their remarks at a February 13 general assembly, accused them of “spreading misleading information” and “attempting to influence the judiciary.” The court lifted their travel bans.
In foreign affairs, Turkish Intelligence Chief İbrahim Kalın met in Syria with Syrian officials including President Ahmed Shara and Foreign Minister Esad Hasan Shaybani. The agenda included integrating PKK/YPG into a new Syrian framework, border security, control of customs gates, and transfer of ISIS detention facilities to Syrian government control. Turkey affirmed its readiness to support Damascus in all areas. Following the meeting, Shara made a surprise visit to Turkey and held a two-hour meeting with Erdoğan.
After the PKK announced it would disband and end its armed struggle following Öcalan’s call, its Iranian branch PJAK stated it would not follow suit. PJAK Co-chair Amir Karimi told Sweden-based Aryen TV that they would not disarm or dissolve, affirming: “As PJAK, we will not lay down arms, nor will we dissolve ourselves.”
In a tragic development, peace academic and lawyer Cenk Yiğiter was shot in front of his home in Ankara’s Çankaya district and taken into intensive care at İbni Sina Hospital. Yiğiter had been dismissed from Ankara University Law Faculty by emergency decree.
Other news this week included another large-scale operation targeting the so-called FETÖ network. In raids spanning 36 provinces and centered in Istanbul, 56 of 63 active-duty soldiers named in arrest warrants were taken into custody.
Finally, in a high-profile trial, actors Halit Ergenç and Rıza Kocaoğlu were convicted of perjury in connection with an investigation into ID İletişim’s manager Ayşe Barım. Ergenç was sentenced to 1 year, 10 months, and 15 days; Kocaoğlu to 1 year and 8 months. Both sentences were suspended.
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