Turkey Weekly 24 – 30 August 2026
Turkey Today – 30 August 2026
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that an investigation had been launched into former Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Melih Gökçek, who has come under scrutiny over allegations of unauthorised money transfers to companies abroad.
The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office announced that four people had been detained in connection with the hanging of posters of deceased PKK members on certain streets in the city.
As part of an operation targeting the Süleymancılar, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has also summoned former AKP Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin for questioning.
As part of the official programme of celebrations for Victory Day on 30 August, state officials led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Anıtkabir.
Journalist Murat Ağırel announced that he had been contacted by telephone by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and summoned to give evidence as a witness tomorrow.
Turkey Today – 29.08.2026
Speaking on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances during the 1,118th week of the Saturday Mothers’ protest, Sebla Arcan said, “It is the state’s duty to uncover crimes, not to conceal them.”
In a statement issued by the Human Rights Association (İHD) in İzmir to mark the International Day of the Disappeared, it was stated: “We will not give up searching for our missing loved ones or our struggle for truth and justice.”
At a protest organised by the Istanbul and Ankara branches of the Human Rights Association, attention was drawn to the health conditions of the ailing prisoners Mehmet Sait Yıldırım and Dursun Göktaş, and calls were made for their release.
Devlet Bahçeli, who sent a message to the MHP’s Diyarbakır Provincial Congress emphasising a “Turkey free from terrorism” and “brotherhood”, stated that they were not taking the upcoming elections into account in the steps they had taken.
Turkey Today – 28.08.2026
DEM Party Spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said Abdullah Öcalan’s role in the process should be clearly defined and that he should be placed in an position from which he can coordinate the process.
New Party chair Özgür Özel said, “Mayor Ekrem wanted to publish his defence statement—which he was not allowed to present—as a book, but they decided to have the book seized and its publication halted.”
After 17 days of protest outside the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in Ankara, the Independent Mine Workers Union announced victory yesterday. The first installments of long unpaid wages, notice payments and severance reached the workers’ bank accounts.
Turkey Today – 27.08.2026
Osman Kavala released a written statement on the recent European Court of Human Rights ruling calling for his release as soon as possible.
The DEM Party’s Central Executive Board (MYK) convened following the first meeting of the Monitoring and Assessment Board to discuss the latest developments in the process.
DEM Party MP Serhat Eren submitted a question to the Grand National Assembly on the condition of prisoner Mehmet Sait Yıldırım, who suffered from a heart attack this week.
The process of hearing bail applications from the detained defendants in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) case, which was due to begin next week, has started ahead of schedule. Mustafa Akın, Ekrem İmamoğlu’s head of security, and Yener Torunler have applied for bail.
Four journalists from Aydın Denge News were arrested after the newspaper posted on their Facebook a headline titled “Erdoğan passed away.” It turns out that the Erdoğan in question was someone named Gülşen Erdoğan, who shares the same last name as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Turkey Today – 26.08.2026
Sergiy Vlasenko, the PACE rapporteur on the European Court of Human Rights, said: “I call on the Turkish authorities to comply fully with the ruling, to ensure the immediate release of Osman Kavala, and to take the necessary steps to implement the other aspects of this important ruling.”
Abdullah Öcalan will be part of the Sub-Committee on Disarmament and Strategy. There are also plans to establish a sub-committee comprising a team reporting to him, which will carry out work in Turkey, Europe and the Federal Kurdistan Region.
CHP Spokesperson Müslim Sarı announced that those who have aligned themselves with the YENİ Party without resigning from the CHP have been provisionally referred to the disciplinary committee with a request for their definitive expulsion.
Şahin Cangüleç, the lawyer representing Rojin Kabaiş’s family, said they had applied to the Van Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to have two individuals, whom they consider to be suspects, taken into custody and to have DNA samples taken from them.
Independent Mine Workers Union President Gökay Çakır was detained yesterday at the union’s headquarters following arrests at an Ankara protest.
Turkey Today – 25.08.2026
The European Court of Human Rights holds that Türkiye must release Mr Kavala immediately and eliminate the consequences of his conviction.
Mehmet Sait Yıldırım, a 75-year-old prisoner who has been incarcerated for 31 years and whose release has been postponed for a further three months, has suffered a heart attack.
President Erdoğan said: “Politics is practised every day, but there can be no excuse for casting a shadow over the efforts to free Turkey from half a century of hardship.”
Cihan Aydın, Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), stated that civil society should be represented on the sub-committees to be established within the Monitoring and Evaluation Board, and added that they were considering setting up a committee in collaboration with other civil society organisations to monitor the process.
The Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu leadership of the CHP has withdrawn its appeal in the ‘absolute nullity’ case.
In a statement issued in recent days regarding the attacks on Kurds working as seasonal agricultural labourers in Zonguldak and Düzce, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) emphasised that the incidents must be investigated in all their aspects.
Turkey Today – 24.08.2026
The Monitoring and Assessment Board, established following the publication and entry into force of the “Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration”, has convened for the first time, with Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz leading the meeting.
After the racist attack on Kurds in Zonguldak, four suspects were detained by the gendarmerie. They were released in the morning hours after giving statements to the Public Prosecutor at the courthouse.
In the case of Aziz İhsan Aktaş, a verdict was handed down following 59 court hearings involving 200 people, including seven mayors. The charges relating to organised crime were dismissed, but a barrage of sentences was handed down for charges based on statements from anonymous witnesses. In the case, Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer was sentenced to 8 months and 10 days’ imprisonment and banned from holding public office.
Sixties Pub, a popular LGBTI+ bar in Ankara’s Çankaya district has been shut down following an investigation and subsequent closure decision.
Turkey Weekly – 10-16 August 2026
Turkey Today – 16.08.2026
Murat Karayılan, one of the dissolved PKK’s leaders, said of the framework law passed by Parliament: “This law is a new and valuable step. However, it has many shortcomings and flaws.”
President Erdoğan stated that they expected Trump to honour the commitments made regarding the F-35. Noting that Egypt could also join the Mecca agreement, Erdoğan said that EU membership was no longer a priority for Ankara.
Mehmet Hüseyin Maral, a prisoner who suffered a heart attack at Burdur High-Security Prison on 14 August, was returned to the prison after one day of treatment.
In the village of Xwarik, in the Varto district of Muş, the sit-in protest launched by the Ecology Platform Youth Council against the geothermal power plant (GPP) project planned by the US-based company IGNIS H2 Energy Production Inc. is continuing on its 106th day.
Turkey Today – 15.08.2026
DEM Party Co-Chair Bakırhan, commenting on the ‘framework law’ passed by Parliament, said: ‘This law in itself is not a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue. It is simply a law that removes the grounds for violence and establishes a legal and political framework.’
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş who spoke at the Bosphorus Diplomacy Forum said regarding the Peace and Democratic Society Process: “We are now leaving behind a process that has continued for more than 40 years.”
DEM Party İmralı Delegation members Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan visited imprisoned politicians Selahattin Demirtaş and Selçuk Mızraklı at Edirne High-Security Prison.
Saturday Mothers gathered at Galatasaray Square in week 1,116th and demanded to know the fate of Nadir Nayci, who went missing in Cizre in 1993.
Turkey Today – 14.08.2026
Speaking from the site of the Digor massacre, DEM Party Iğdır MP Yılmaz Hun said, “The state must come to terms with the people regarding the dozens of massacres committed against the Kurdish people; the truth must be investigated.” Hun stated that, despite the murder of 17 people, six of whom were children, justice had not been served in 33 years.
Prof. İbrahim Kaboğlu, head of the İstanbul Bar and a prominent constitutional law scholar, says the Kurdish peace process law is “a discriminatory amnesty.”
For young people detained in Diyarbakır Sur district last night were reportedly beaten while being taken to hospital for medical examinations.
At the Istanbul Financial Centre construction site, workers who are members of Dev Yapı-İş were surrounded by police during a protest over unpaid wages, and one worker was detained.
EMEP MPs İskender Bayhan and Sevda Karaca raised the case of Uğur Eren Yasak, a research assistant at Istanbul Gedik University who was subjected to workplace bullying and had his contract terminated, in Parliament.
Ömer Karakaş, the İYİ Party MP for Aydın, has announced that he has resigned from his party.
Turkey Today – 13.08.2026
Following the adoption of the framework law by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s General Assembly, Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, members of the DEM Party’s Imralı Delegation, met with President Erdoğan.
Commenting on the latest developments, DEM Party Spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said, “For the law to be implemented, committees must be established and they must begin their work. These are issues that will become clearer in the coming days.”
Police have detained at least 30 people, including Alihan Kuriş, the leader of the religious order known as Süleymancılar, in an investigation led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
It has emerged that prisoners held at Burdur High-Security Prison were poisoned on August 7 and 11. The cause of the poisoning remains unknown, and the prisoners have reportedly not been taken to hospital.
Turkey Today – 12.08.2026
IHD Co-Chair Oya Ersoy, who stated that all civil society organisations should be included in the monitoring committee to be established under the framework law, said, “Even if we are not given a place on the monitoring committees, we will still fulfil the responsibility that falls to us in practice.”
In a written statement regarding the framework law, MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli emphasised that the legal processes must be implemented as soon as possible, without allowing any gaps in coordination.
Presidential decrees concerning the lifting of parliamentary immunity for MPs, including Özgür Özel have been submitted to the Speaker of Parliament. A total of 63 motions for impeachment have been drawn up against Özel.
Ekrem İmamoğlu, the detained Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, announced that he had resigned from the CHP after 17 years of membership. “We are forging a new path,” said İmamoğlu, calling on people to join the new party.
Nuarin, an artist living in Europe who was detained at Çukurova Airport upon her return to Turkey after 11 years, is to be brought before the public prosecutor’s office tomorrow.
Turkey Today – 11.08.2026
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi has called a meeting with the governors, police chiefs and gendarmerie commanders of all 81 provinces. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş will also attend the meeting.
President Tayyip Erdoğan met with Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş. The meeting was held behind closed doors at the Presidential Complex.
Speaking about the law, which was passed by the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly, AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik said, “The passing of this framework law by 468 votes is also of great significance from a political perspective.”
Around 80 miners who had travelled to Ankara to demand their wages and leave have been detained for the second time.
Of the 17 people referred to the courts as part of the investigation into Kuşadası Municipality, 14 – including the Director of the Private Office, Şebnem Kars Şenol – were remanded in custody, whilst three were placed under judicial supervision. Turkey Today – 10.08.2026
The first six articles of the draft bill on ‘Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Cohesion’ have been adopted.
Ekrem İmamoğlu, the detained Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, has expressed his support for Özgür Özel’s decision regarding the framework bill debated in Parliament today. In his post, İmamoğlu said, “I fully endorse the decision taken by Özgür Özel today.”
The family of Mehmet Şahin Baltan, who was killed in an ambush, criticized the failure to include MOBESE camera footage in the case file for four years and called for justice.
Three young people who took part in a sit-in protest against the sale and use of drugs at Batıkent Square in the Yenişehir district of Diyarbakır have been arrested.
The Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into social media posts claiming that a riot broke out at Konya Type E Closed Prison and that there were fatalities; arrest warrants have been issued for eight people.
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Turkey Weekly 3 – 9 August 2026
Turkey Today – 09.08.2026
The bill prepared as part of the Peace and Democratic Society Process and approved by a majority vote in Parliament’s Justice Committee will be put before the General Assembly tomorrow.
Speaking about the framework law, Mansur Yavaş said, “What Turkey needs is not agreements reached behind closed doors, but a broad social consensus established in full view of the people.”
The detained politicians Selahattin Demirtaş and Selçuk Mızraklı, who issued a joint statement regarding the framework law, thanked Abdullah Öcalan, saying, “We must move this process forward, share our suffering and leave it behind, and walk hand in hand towards the future.”
Turkey Today – 08.08.2026
The “Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration” bill submitted to the Parliament’s Justice Committee was approved in its entirety in a vote.
Saturday Mothers gathered at Galatasaray Square in week 1115 and demanded the perpetrators of the murder of Süleyman Cihan – who was arrested on 29 July 1981, tortured to death and buried in the unclaimed graves – to be brought to trial.
In a statement issued this Wednesday regarding the health of Hayrettin Adak, a prisoner with a medical condition being held at the S-Type Closed Prison, the Prison Commission of the IHD’s Izmir Branch called for Adak’s right to access treatment to be guaranteed.
A survey carried out by SAMER Research among 800 CHP voters in 17 provinces revealed that the New Party, founded by Özgür Özel after he left the CHP, has found significant support amongst the party’s grassroots.
Semra Demir and Kürşat Bafra, lawyers from the Lawyers Association ÇHD who were arrested ahead of the NATO Summit, have been released. Turkey Today – 07.08.2026
The parliamentary Justice Commission has begun considering the framework law bill. MHP Deputy Chair Fethi Yıldız read out Abdullah Öcalan’s 27 February Call for Peace and a Democratic Society.
The New (Yeni) Party announced today that 232 mayors, including 28 city mayors, have joined its ranks after resigning from the CHP.
An application has been filed with the Department for the Investigation of Unsolved Crimes under the Ministry of Justice to reopen the Musa Anter case. Musa Anter, a Kurdish journalist and writer was murdered by the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (JİTEM) in Diyarbakır in 1992.
Speaking at the Digital Media Workshop held in Iğdır, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek signalled new restrictions and legislative measures regarding online journalism. Gürlek said of online journalism: “It absolutely must be brought together under a single umbrella.”
Turkey Today – 06.08.2026
The Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court, which was reviewing the detention orders in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) case, ruled that the detention of 53 individuals – including Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu – should continue.
At a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by President Tayyip Erdoğan, the latest stage reached in the process and the roadmap were assessed in the context of the draft framework bill.
Özgür Özel, the new party leader, said regarding the draft framework bill: “We will continue to uphold the stance we have maintained since the past—and which we have not yet abandoned—that this issue should be resolved within Parliament.”
The Beyoğlu District Governor’s Office has extended the suspension of Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney, who had been removed from office, for a further two months.
In Varto’s Çalıdere village, the tent vigil launched by villagers opposing the geothermal power plant is now in its 95th day.
Turkey Today – 05.08.2026
The framework draft, titled the “Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration,” has been submitted to the Parliament Speaker’s Office. The Justice Committee will begin discussions on Friday regarding the bill.
Speaking about the framework law, AKP Group Chair Abdullah Güler said that the bill would be debated in Parliament, adding that “necessary amendments will be made as needed.”
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested New (Yeni) Party chair Özgür Özel and MP Veli Ağbaba’s parliamentary immunity be lifted as part of an investigation on allegations of aggravated bribery.
In the election for acting mayor held following the arrest and suspension from office of Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş, the CHP’s candidate, Sibel Tan Çetinkaya, was elected.
Turkey Today – 04.08.2026
MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli has signed the framework law proposal titled “Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration.”
AKP’s Abdulhamit Gül and Cüneyt Yüksel visited the New Party at the Parliament to brief them on the framework bill. Murat Emir, Deputy Group Chairman of the New Party, said after the meeting that they had not seen a concrete draft text.
At the closed-door group meeting to be held tomorrow by the AKP Parliamentary Group, a briefing will be given on the draft bill entitled ‘Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Cohesion’.
The release of Aydın Altığ, who has been imprisoned for 31 years, has been blocked for a second time for a period of six months.
In Bursa, six CHP district mayors and municipal councillors have resigned and joined the New Party. There are no longer any CHP mayors in the city.
Turkey Today – 03.08.2026
In yesterday’s meeting with the DEM Party İmralı Delegation, Abdullah Öcalan said: “The law to be enacted by politics is the key to paving the way for this process. The door to a Democratic Republic is being opened fully.”
The draft ‘framework law’ was opened for signatures by AKP MPs before being submitted to Parliament.
Prisoner Aydın Oğuz has not been taken to hospital for 16 days despite his broken foot after refusing to comply with the prison’s “oral-cavity search” imposition.
Furkan Oğlak, who was arrested after being subjected to a racist attack for listening to a song in Kurdish, has been transferred from Kastamonu Type E Prison to Karabük Type T Prison.
Following the announcement that the Justice Ministry would be reopening the investigation into the assassination of journalist Uğur Mumcu, his family requested a meeting with Justice Minister Akın Gürlek. The meeting is due to take place on Thursday.