We almost went on summer break without mentioning Barbenheimer, but these Barbie-themed renditions of Ankara and Emine Erdoğan are just too good.
And yes, a break! Our recaps will pause for the month of August, along with billing for paid subscribers, but we’ll keep publishing exclusive reports to feed your summer reading lists.
Speaking of, do read Jennifer Hattam’s report on the politicization of the national women's volleyball team and how their success has been met with cheers and jeers.
Thanks again to all our readers and supporters! We’ll be back in the blink of an Eylül.
Roses are red, violets are blue, it seems CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is stuck to his chair with glue.
In his biggest interview since BaBaLa TV, KK appeared on Habertürk last Thursday and it was a ride, to say the least. When the presenter asked if the May election results were a defeat, KK answered: "I don't see it that way … We just couldn't win."
According to the main opposition party chair and former presidential candidate, the reason for his non-defeat was an uneven playing field, though later in the 1 hour 43 minute program, he acknowledged the CHP failed to campaign sufficiently beyond large cities.
"The party needs a rejuvenation," KK said without showing intentions to step down.
He then defined last week's leaked "change-wanters" meeting as unethical, referring to an apparent power struggle involving İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and other senior members who want to unseat KK.
A senior CHP figure who took part in the meeting and withheld their name told Turkey recap:
"The thing that was unethical was neither the meeting nor the demand for change … [it] was leaking that video, and they did it on purpose to block our way."
In the Habertürk interview, KK also confirmed that he and far-right Victory Party head Ümit Özdağ made a secret deal before the second round vote, but refused to share details. Özdağ previously claimed KK had offered him three ministries and the head of intelligence in return for support, though this remains unconfirmed.
Former CHP allies were not ecstatic to hear about these details. "I'm glad we didn't win [the election]," said Gelecek Party spox Serkan Özcan, while İYİ Party’s Bilge Yılmaz published an apology for not fighting hard enough to prevent KK’s candidacy.
In other CHP news, Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan was expelled from the party Wednesday. He was among the first political figures to call on KK to step down after elections and recently marched 200 km to the CHP headquarters in Ankara to underline his demand.
"I wasn't expecting anything else from this party," Özcan told Turkey recap regarding his expulsion. He then criticized KK for his apparent refusal to take stock of the party’s election performance.
"There haven't been any inner-party meetings to discuss the results,” Özcan continued. “People in the CHP are afraid of Mr. Kemal, but if we really want a change, everyone should be more brave.”
He went on to say the current leadership problems in the CHP will also affect party plans for the upcoming municipal elections in March 2024.
"Some people only care about their positions in the party," Özcan said. "But if they continue this way, it’s certain that we'll face another defeat."
– Gonca Tokyol
Palestine your own business
As Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his visit to Turkey following surgery and unrest at his country, Pres. Erdoğan received not one, but two Palestinian leaders this week. On Tuesday, Palestinian Pres. Mahmoud Abbas visited Ankara, and Erdoğan stressed Turkey’s support for the Palestinian cause.
The next day, they held a three-way meeting including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The rare get-together comes as further talks between Abbas’ Fatah party, Hamas and other Palestinian groups will be held this weekend in Cairo.
In other foreign news, pundits are busy analyzing Turkey’s Gulf policy, with Al-Monitor reporting that Gulf investments usually mean “buying established enterprises that provide high yields rather than building new factories.”
Weakest link in the grain
Efforts to restore the grain deal continue, but FM Hakan Fidan said alternatives without Russia would “be far fetched and will highly likely endanger security”.
As Russia continues to target Ukraine’s food export infrastructure, Swedish officials say Russia-backed actors are carrying out disinformation campaigns and spreading news that Stockholm officials support the recent Quran burnings.
The EU condemned the events as “offensive, disrespectful and a clear provocation”, though in Sweden there appears to be little political support to ban the burnings. Meanwhile, Erdoğan is not talking like Stockholm’s NATO bid is a done deal:
“Turkish parliament's working schedule will determine the process of Sweden's NATO membership,” he said Friday, adding the ever-continuing demand of wanting to see “concrete steps on the fight against terrorist organizations and on the extradition of terrorists.”
For his part, US Sen. Bob Menendez continues to oppose the F-16 sale to Turkey, saying: “Sweden still hasn't received a vote from Turkey even though Erdoğan said, 'Yes, OK, Sweden should be in.' He could have called the parliament. He could have had the vote. He hasn't had it.”
In a Foreign Policy column titled, ‘What does Turkey actually want?’ analyst Steven Cook argued the NATO saga should be seen in the light of Erdoğan’s long-term project of establishing Turkish independence and power.
“Erdoğan (and his opposition) do not want Turkey to be treated merely as a security asset on Europe’s southeastern flank,” Cook wrote.
He seeks to “extract a commitment from Biden to provide Turkey with new F-16s as well as convince EU leaders to renew cooperation with Turkey … and then be hailed as a statesman after agreeing to Sweden’s NATO membership.”
Doublesplint glum
In her first news conference today (Thursday), Central Bank Gov. Hafize Gaye Erkan raised the year-end inflation forecast to 58 percent, up from 22 percent previously. The more credible figure prompted surprise among investors, though many noted the lack of policies to combat inflation in the near term.
“Turkey’s new central bank governor has disappointed financial markets with her rate hikes, but she has delivered realistic forecasts,” Bloomberg Economist Selva Bahar Baziki said. “What’s missing is serious policy action to bring runaway inflation closer to its target.”
BlueBay Economist Timothy Ash echoed the sentiment, adding the presentation was “articulate” and “credible” but policymakers appear to have their hands tied.
“The overall message, reading between the lines, is that we don’t really have a mandate to aggressively tighten [monetary policy] this side of local elections next March.”
The lira stayed remarkably stable before and after Erkan’s inflation report, trading at just below 27 liras per USD. This comes as Turkey’s economic slowdown becomes visible in various ways, with foreclosure cases up 63 percent this year.
Also, according to a recent survey about 90 percent of Turkish citizens said they haven’t gone to a cinema, live performance, sporting event or cultural site in the last year due to lack of interest or lack of financial means.
The pain is felt even by Feyza Erbaş, daughter of Diyanet head Ali Erbaş, who complained Wednesday about not being able to vacation abroad due to the lira’s rapid devaluation.
(Fo)restroom for customers only
Turkey’s latest environmental movement has already produced iconic images in the Muğla province, where an 88-year-old woman, Zehra Yildırım, is leading protests to stop the cutting of the Akbelen forest located near the İkizköy village.
The formerly protected area will be razed to expand a nearby mine for lignite – aka brown coal or one of the world’s least efficient and most polluting fossil fuels. The resistance gained support from pop star Tarkan this week and produced trending hashtags like #AkbeleneDokunma – meaning ‘Don’t Touch Akbelen’.
But after three days of mostly peaceful forest sit-ins, authorities removed demonstrators Wednesday using tear gas with direct hits on YSP MP Perihan Koca and documentary journalist Kazım Kızıl.
Immediately afterwards and this morning (Thursday), videos were shared on social media showed the start of the tree cutting process in the area.
Torun’s hammer
And in some real local journalism, an Ardahan man got so angry his nephew went on holiday while his relatives worked the fields, that he tried to shame him by publishing the young man’s beach photo on the front page of their hometown paper.
In other yerli ve milli news:
There are two types of Ottoman sheep: the accessory and the legendary.
“Fur-ever united: Turkish man weds Russian bride with dog witnesses” is a real Daily Sabah headline and paw-ssibly the outlet’s most accurate report in decades.
İstanbulites went for an unplanned swim when a dock collapsed into the Bosporus.
Authorities shut down a Cihangir venue for hosting a speed dating event. The owner claimed innocence, saying no swingers were involved.
Finally, some use Google Maps to trace Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi’s footsteps. Others use it to spot terribly placed parking lots in İstanbul, or what we might call poor urban de-sigh-ns.
Speed reads
Wildfires hit Turkey’s Mediterranean coast as temperatures soar (Al-Monitor)
EU ready to boost links to Turkey but accession still taboo (Bloomberg)
Turkey's university entrance exam results reveal alarming scores in all fields (Duvar)
RTÜK fines streaming platforms for violating 'family protection principles' (Bianet)
Turkey bans advertisement on Twitter (GN)
Detention of journalists over report on judicial members draws international condemnation (Bianet)
Turkey recasts ‘Top Gun’ to give its TV soft power a harder edge (Bloomberg)
Turkey witnessed remarkable surge in emigrations in 2022, shows TurkStat data (Bianet)
Turkish government banned access to 712,000 websites in 2022 (Duvar)
New Chinese foreign minister Wang talks Ukraine in Turkey on first trip (Reuters)
Weekend reads
Türkiye’s Syria Policy after Erdoğan’s Win
Reviewing post-2011 Turkey-Syria relations, analysts Dareen Khalifa and Gregory Waters write Turkish troop withdrawal is unlikely amid rapprochement efforts, citing one Ankara official who said: “Every kilometer that Damascus retakes sends thousands of refugees our way.” (ICG)
Erdoğan's Change of Heart: Three Reasons for Türkiye’s Greenlighting of Sweden's NATO Membership
The GMF’s Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı argues Erdoğan likely displayed uncertainty after the Vilnius summit “because he wants to ensure that some of the concrete commitments made to Türkiye are upheld before he lets go of his major piece of leverage.” (GMF)
What does Erdoğan’s new term in office mean for EU-Turkey relations?
In this round up of expert comments – including Yaşar Aydın, Yevgeniya Gaber, Cengiz Günay, Paul Levin, Marc Pierini, Ebru Turhan, Valeria Talbot and Karol Wasilewski – Evangelos Areteos predicts: “Brussels will likely lose its weight while EU member states will increasingly enter into further bilateral relations with Turkey.” (CATS Network)
Water and Climate Change Will Shape Iraq-Turkey Relations
Researcher Mohammed A. Salih expects Turkey-Iraq ties to remain highly complicated and unbalanced for years to come, writing: “There is a mismatch of priorities on the Turkish and Iraqi sides, with security constituting the most urgent element for Turkey and water/environment for Iraq.” (FPRI)
Month ahead **Courts and parliament are on break**
Jul 27 The Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association hosts a webinar titled "Reserved Abundance: State Granaries of Early Modern Istanbul" at 1200 UTC
Jul 31 TurkStat publishes tourism stats for Q2 2023
Aug 3 TurkStat publishes inflation statistics for July 2023
Aug 24 Central Bank announces interest rate decision
Aug 31 TurkStat publishes annual GDP figures for 2022 and quarterly GDP figures for Q2 2023
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Diego Cupolo, co-founder + editor @diegocupolo
Gonca Tokyol, freelance journalist @goncatokyol
Ingrid Woudwijk, freelance journalist @deingrid
Verda Uyar, freelance journalist @verdauyar