Turkey Weekly 6 – 12 October 2025
Turkey Today – 12.10.2025
Mesut Aslan, a member of the Education Union Şırnak Branch Executive Committee, has begun a hunger strike in protest against the overturning of the prison sentence handed down to Burak Ercan, the deputy headmaster who sexually abused 43 students in Cizre.
Nine of the 33 individuals detained as part of an investigation into allegations of bribery in connection with permit applications submitted to the Ministry of National Defence have been arrested.
Journalist and documentary director Hakan Tosun, who had not been heard from since the night of 10 October, was found beaten on the roadside. Tosun, who was stated to have had a brain haemorrhage, was taken under treatment in the intensive care unit.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel, MPs and mayors gathered with citizens living in Europe at the ‘Standing Up for the Will of the People’ rally held for the first time in Europe in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
Turkey Today – 11.10.2025
A delegation led by the Iraqi Foreign Minister visited Turkey. It was noted that the water issue was on the agenda of the meeting.
Roni Rubar İmen, a reporter for Welat Agency (AW) who was detained in Cizre, reported that he had been subjected to violence.
Saturday Mothers gathered at Galatasaray Square in week 1072 and asked about the fate of Cemil Kırbayır, who went missing in Kars 45 years ago.
Zeynel Taş, co-mayor of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in Urfa’s Bozova district, who was detained in 2016 and subsequently imprisoned, has been released after nine years in captivity.
Kuşadası Mayor Ömer Günel claimed that Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu provided him and his family with development profits in Sultanhisar before joining the AK Party.
Turkey Today – 10.10.2025
DEM Party İmralı Delegation member Pervin Buldan stated that during their last meeting on Imrali, Abdullah Öcalan said, ‘The commission must come to Imrali as soon as possible,’ adding that a five-person delegation was planning to visit Imrali.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office requested permission from the Ministry of the Interior to investigate Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş and Chief of Staff Nevzat Uzunoğlu as part of a ‘concert’ investigation.
The Van Bar Association and legal institutions demanded that Kurdish be granted official status, that obstacles to its use in public spaces be removed, and that it be recognised as a language of education.
The 104 people who lost their lives in the DAESH attack on the Labour, Peace and Democracy rally held in front of Ankara Train Station on 10 October 2015 were commemorated on the 10th anniversary of the massacre. Police attacked the march.
Turkey Today – 08.10.2025
DEM Party MPs reacted to the Justice Ministry’s appeal against the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling on Selahattin Demirtaş by protesting the decision in Parliament with placards and applause.
ÖHD, TUAY-DER and İHD stated that violations in Antalya prisons had reached a point where they threatened the right to life and called for an end to arbitrary violations.
Soldiers were heard at the 14th meeting of the Process Commission established in Parliament. Prior to the meeting, Numan Kurtulmuş met with the deputy group leaders.
The fourth hearing of the case against journalist Rüstem Batum, who was charged with ‘insulting the President’ based on two posts he made on X, was held in Istanbul. The court, which decided to uphold the arrest warrant for Batum, postponed the hearing until May.
The first hearing of the retrial of lawyer Özgür Urfa, whose 10-month prison sentence for ‘insulting the President’ was overturned by the Court of Cassation on the grounds of statements made in his appeal, began in Istanbul. The hearing was postponed until 31 October.
Turkey Today – 07.10.2025
Parliament TV, which broadcast the DEM Party Parliamentary Group Meeting live, muted the sound of Kurdish slogans chanted by women participating in the group during the broadcast.
MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli stated at his party’s group meeting that the commission should visit İmralı. He requested that a call similar to Öcalan’s 27 February call be made for the SDF in Syria.
The fourth hearing of the trial of journalist Nurcan Yalçın, who is charged with ‘membership of an organisation’ and ‘financing terrorism’, was held in Diyarbakır. Trial adjourned until January.
The fourth hearing of the trial of Nimet Tanrıkulu, one of the founders of the Human Rights Association (İHD), who is accused of ‘membership of an organisation’, was held in Istanbul. The court ruled that the judicial control measures against Tanrıkulu should continue.
The autopsy report from the Forensic Medicine Institute stated that MHP-affiliated lawyer Serdar Öktem sustained separate injuries to his head, face, and left arm, each of which was lethal.
Turkey Today – 06.10.2025
CHP Vice Chair Murat Bakan asked Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya after ISIS- linked family killes a driver: “How many people who are citizens of the Republic of Turkey have joined ISIS, sympathize with them, or have contact with them?”
It was announced that the number of signatures in the CHP’s signature campaign entitled Freedom for İmamoğlu and Early Elections had reached 24 million.
YÖK President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar announced that the ‘Turkey-Syria Friendship University’ will be established in Damascus and that the agreement will be signed in the coming days. There are also plans to open a branch of the university in Aleppo.
Journalist Furkan Karabay, who has been detained for 145 days, has been placed in solitary confinement.