Turkey Today – 31 August 2021
The Turkish government has raised considerably the rank of the Diyanet head in the state protocol, placing him in the 12th place in the list, above the Chief of General Staff.
Lawyers of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan applied to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to meet with their clients.
Opera singer and BirGün columnist Güvenç Dağüstün has been attacked in İstanbul following his Victory Day concert in Kadıköy.
A PhD thesis from New York State University entitled “Who Rules Turkey BTW 1980 & 2008? Business Power & the Rise of Authoritarian Populism” has not been approved by Turkey’s Inter-Universities Council on the grounds of including “harsh wording, provocative expressions & harsh criticism.”Covid-19: The current figures have not yet been published.
Turkey Today – 30 August 2021
President Erdoğan has signaled lowering the 10 percent election threshold to seven percent. The move is widely interpreted as an attempt to make sure that the ally MHP crosses the threshold.
Imprisoned former HDP MP Leyla Güven and eight others were subjected to disciplinary action for singing a Kurdish song alongside eight other inmates.
The ban on actions and activities in Hakkari, which has been uninterrupted since 2016, has been extended again.
A petition has been launched for academic Can Candan, who has been dismissed from Boğaziçi University.
Taliban Spokesperson Mujahid speaks to Turkey’s state-run AA: “We want to have economic relations with Turkey, too. We need Turkey’s support in education, just as before. We want their aid to continue”.
Health professionals have urged people to get their vaccinations and comply with preventative measures, drawing attention to the rising cases and deaths as the country prepares to reopen its schools.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 19,557 new infections and 245 deaths.
Turkey Weekly 23 – 29 August
Turkey Today – 29 August 2021
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 276.
A new forest fire broke out in the Besta district of Şırnak.
According to governor’s office in Tunceli aerial response to forest fires started. However a new forest fire broke out in the region.
There was an explosion in the house where children brought the object they found on Tendurek Mountain in Diyadin district. One person died in the incident and 4 people were injured.
In Alanya prison, some inmates tested positive for Corona.
Covid-19: 17,332 new infections and 255 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 28 August 2021
Forest fires in Tunceli continue on day 12. Government agencies and the municipality are not allowed to respond to the wildfires in Dersim due to the ongoing military operations, the city’s mayor has said.
The Saturday Mothers came together in the week 857 to ask those responsible for the death of Hüseyin Aydemir. He disappeared after detention by police in October 1995.
HDP Ağrı Provincial General Assembly member Mehmet Birdal went to Iran six days ago and since then no contact has been possible.
Turkey completes evacuating troops from Afghanistan.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 17,912 new infections and 245 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 27 August 2021
HDP member Celalettin Yalçın was abducted and subjected to torture by individuals who introduced themselves as “the police” in İstanbul.
Conscientious objector Şendoğan Yazıcı has been convicted for “alienating the people from military service” due to his posts on social media and for “violating the Military Service Law” because of his conscientious objection. The Borkça Penal Court sentenced him to 86 months in prison and then converted the sentence to a monetary fine of 20,940 lira.
The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara has objected to the acquittal of two people charged with social media posts against the Afrin operation on the grounds that they had shared a Kurdish sentence.
Yurtbaşı/Elazig mayor from the ruling AKP, Yasin Yılmaz, tried to justify his municipality’s purchase of a 600,000-lira Audi with state funds by belittling the domestically-manufactured car Şahin.
Erdoğan said that Turkey has held its first talks with the Taliban in Kabul, adding that Ankara was still assessing the Islamist group’s offer to run the Afghan capital’s airport.
Health Minister Koca: There are no very high risk provinces left in Turkey.
Covid-19: 18,340 new infections and 244 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 26 August 2021
Five people have been sentenced to life imprisonment for an attack on a building of the ruling AKP. No one was hurt in the incident while the windows of the building were broken.
Houses of Alevi families in Adana were marked with a cross.
Public broadcaster TRT forced its men and women employees to take an in-house exam in separate halls. It has fired one of the employees who protested this citing a tweet where she commemorated Marxist revolutionaries killed in 1972.
CHP chair Kılıçdaroğlu tells his party members to get ready for snap polls.
Turkey has given up Kabul airport plan and started evacuating troops from Afghanistan.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 19,619 new infections and 257 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 25 August 2021
Hosting a TV Show, Didem Arslan Yılmaz hung up on a citizen who spoke Kurdish and said: “This is Turkey, you have to speak in Turkish.”
The public prosecutor’s office in Nusaybin launched an investigation against MA reporter Ahmet Kanbal for reporting about a 16-year-old boy who was arrested 30 times within the last three years.
The former BDP mayor of Şırnak, Serhat Kadırhan, has been jailed. The Kurdish politician is accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “destroying the unity and integrity of the state”.
Suffering from leukemia and having a stroke, 70-year-old Mehmet Ali Çelebi is taken to hospital 5 days a week from prison. His family said he is now 56 kilograms and he is not in a condition to live alone in a prison cell and demanded his release.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 19,970 new infections and 217 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 24 August 2021
An Armenian cemetery in the Tuşba district of the eastern Van province has been damaged by bulldozers.
The administration of an İzmir prison has been asking inmates whether they “like” jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to determine their eligibility for a reduction of their sentences based on “good behavior,” the Human Rights Association (İHD) said.
Journalist Ozan Acıdere briefly detained while covering Bogazici University protests on newly-appointed rector.
BirGün Newspaper journalist İsmail Arı targeted by Minister Mustafa Varank over article on alleged corruption on public tenders.
The İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office submitted an indictment requesting between one and four years imprisonment for prominent Turkish actor Genco Erkal, 83, on charges of insulting President Erdoğan.
Covid-19: 19,191 new infections and 230 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 23 August 2021
The dismissed HDP co-mayors of Siirt are investigated over a debt relief campaign for causing a decrease in municipal revenues. The trustee-led municipality has launched a similar campaign.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sued the parents of the youngest Gezi victim, Berkin Elvan, for insulting him. If convicted, Gülsüm and Sami Elvan face up to four years and eight months in prison.
The community of Boğaziçi University is in protest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appointment of yet another unwanted rector via a presidential decree. Eight students were detained while reading out a statement in front of the AKP’s Sarıyer District Organization.
Forest fire in Tunceli’s Hozat district that broke out 6 days ago continues and no intervention has been made to extinguish it.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 18,857 new infections and 232 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly 16 – 22 August 2021
Turkey Today – 22 August 2021
President Erdoğan has appointed acting rector Prof. Naci İnci as the new rector of Boğaziçi University. Ninety-five percent of the school’s academics opposed his candidacy in a vote last month.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 269.
Nine imprisoned women, including dismissed HDP MP Leyla Güven, were investigated for singing Kurdish.
Two Iraqi citizens were killed in an Turkish drone attack in KRI.
Covid-19: 18,622 new infections and 206 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 21 August 2021
In its defense for the lawsuit filed by MLSA against the circular that bans filming during public demonstrations, the Ministry of Interior claimed that the circular is an “in-house instruction”.
The Saturday Mothers came together in the week 856 to ask those responsible for the death of Metin Akyıldız. He disappeared after detention by two civil police in September 1992.
Şenyaşar Family’s search for justice continues on day 164. The family lost three members as a result of the attacks of AKP Deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and his relatives. The family announced that they will move the sit in to Ankara.
İYİ Party İstanbul Chair Buğra Kavuncu was attacked following an interview on Halk TV.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 19,351 new infections and 232 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 20 August 2021
At least 19 HDP officials and members have been taken into custody following house raids by police in several districts of İstanbul.
AKP mayor deems concern over fire in Kurdish-majority district Şemdinli ‘fuss’.
bianet Project Advisor Nadire Mater’s press card revoked without notification. The cancellation of the card has been revealed after the Presidency Communications Directorate submitted its defense in the case filed by Mater.
Stepping back from his promise to take more refugees, President Erdoğan has said that Turkey won’t be “Europe’s refugee storehouse”.
Justice Ministry has said the arrest of a student from Boğaziçi University on charges of inciting hatred in a poster depicting the Kaaba – Islam’s most sacred site – with LGBT flags was “lawful,” adding that homosexuality was “forbidden” in Islam.
Covid-19: 19,918 new infections and 204 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 19 August 2021
Police raided several houses in Hakkari. Six people were detained.
The forest fires in Kurdish majority Şemdinli have been going on for 3 days. There are no effective extinguishing efforts.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar: We are working to keep Kabul airport open and secure.
A three-year-old child lost her life at the hospital after falling into an elevator shaft in İstanbul. Demirören News Agency journalists Ahmet Yeşilmen and Kubilay Özev and İhlas News Agency reporter Erdal Can İçelli were prevented from covering the incident by neighborhood guards, a law enforcement unit tasked with assisting the police.
CHP hangs giant banner with the title ‘Borders are our honor’ amid Afghan refugee influx.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 18,320 infections and 216 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 18 August 2021
The death toll in a Turkish air raid on a hospital in Iraq’s Sinjar province has risen to eight.
Lawyers of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan applied to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to meet with their clients.
The US Embassy in Turkey has denied the claims that Washington and Ankara have made an agreement on Afghan refugees.
Turkish pro-government journalist Hakan Çelik has advertised a gun company and posed with a rifle.
HDP deputy Garo Paylan has submitted a parliamentary question regarding the issue that Minority foundations in Turkey have not been able to hold elections for eight years.
Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu warned on the anniversary of the devastating earthquake of 1999, that one third of all buildings in the metropolis would not be durable in the long-awaited jolt expected to hit the mega city.
Covid-19: 19,944 new infections and 168 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 17 August 2021
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu: We view positively the messages that the Taliban has given so far, whether to foreigners, to diplomatic individuals or its own people.
A racist group has attacked Erhan Sevim, a Kurdish man, in Antalya. “You filthy Kurds. Go away or we will burn you,” the group said.
A new draft bill prepared by the ruling AKP will include disinformation and misinformation as criminal activity in the Turkish Penal Code, and even implement prison time of up to five years.
While the questioning of 58 people detained in Diyarbakır continue, JinNews reporter Beritan Canözer was released after her statement was taken at the police station.
Turkey’s Health Ministry has announced that health workers and priority groups are now eligible to receive a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 21,692 new infections and 183 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 16 August 2021
HDP has requested additional time from the Constitutional Court to prepare its defense. The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Cassation submitted the indictment demanding the closure of the party on June 7.
The ban on demonstrations in Van was extended by the governor’s office for another two weeks. The ban has been in place since 21 November 2016.
28 people arrested in Adana last week were released.
A structure dubbed “Kurds’ Mosque” in southern Hatay was renamed “Turks’ Mosque” during a renovation.
President Erdoğan has admitted that Turkey is facing a new migration wave from Afghanistan, which he denied a few days ago.
Turkish Health Ministry assigns booster BioNTech shots to all Sinovac recipients.
Covid-19: 18,163 new infections and 165 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly 9 – 15 August 2021
Turkey Today – 15 August 2021
59 people including 2 journalists who were arrested on Wednesday in Diyarbakır have been in custody for three days.
10 people were detained in Batman and Mardin during police raids, among them Kozluk HDP Co-chair Berjin Altan.
4 people were detained in Bursa due to their social media posts.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 262.
With his father and two brothers killed in an attack by the relatives and security guards of a ruling AKP MP in Urfa, Ferit Şenyaşar and his mother Emine Şenyaşar have been keeping a “justice watch” for 160 days.
Two people were detained for attacking the Ali Baba Sultan Cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, in Istanbul’s Pendik district.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 18,847 new infections and 154 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 14 August 2021
Cort ordered the Co-Chair of the HDP Muş provintial organisation who was arrested on Wednesday to be sent to prison.
The Ali Baba Sultan Cemevi (where Alevis are gathering), located in the Pendik district of Istanbul, was attacked at midnight.
The Saturday Mothers came together in the week 855 to ask those responsible for the death of Mehmet Ertak who was found dead after detention by the police in Şırnak on 18 August 1992.
Sacked Boğaziçi academic Can Candan files lawsuit against rectorship.
At least 70 people, including the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Davut Tezcan, were detained in the police attack on the shopkeepers who wanted to be displaced on the grounds of the Presidency’s “risky area” decision in Bitlis.
The farmers who protested the power cuts of the DEDAŞ in Urfa’s Akçakale district was subjected to police intervention. Police used tear gas on the farmers.
Covid-19: 19,949 new infections and 145 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 13 August 2021
This morning police raided a number of homes in Diyarbakır, Van, Mersin and Adana. During the raids, at least 102 people were detained due to their “social media posts,” including JinNews reporter Beritan Canözer.
Put on trial for “insulting” the trustee of the Muradiye Municipality in her news report, Hikmet Tunç, the Van reporter for JinNews women’s news agency, has been sentenced to 8 months, 22 days in prison.
Struggling against a company’s efforts to expand a lignite mine for a thermal plant, the people of İkizköy and life defenders are still on watch for Akbelen forest in the wake of two decisions of stay of execution.
Ankara police detain 72 more people in connection with attack on Syrians in Ankara.
In a Presidential decision, Erdoğan has launched a fundraising campaign for the victims of fires and floods in Turkey; several social media users have criticized the move.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 21,372 new infections and 157 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 12 August 2021
Police who attacked the Şenyaşar family staging a sit in in front of the Urfa Court House, fined Ferit Şenyaşar on grounds of their banner.
In the final hearing in Adana, Yeni Yaşam Newspaper employee İbrahim Karakaş was sentenced to 9 years and 9 months in prison for ‘being a member of a terrorist organization’.
The Ankara Security Directorate has announced that 76 suspects have been taken into custody over the attacks on Syrian refugees’ houses and shops in Ankara.
President Erdoğan was seen getting help from a teleprompter to answer journalists’ questions during a live broadcast last night.
Covid-19: 22,261 new infections and 138 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 11 August 2021
HDP Muş Provincial Co-chair Belma Nergiz was detained during a police raid. The police also searched the party building.
Former HDP MP Sebahat Tuncel has announced that they were attacked in Sincan Prison in Ankara.
The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), has imposed fines on six TV stations due to the way they covered wildfires.
“When the time comes, we’ll take down all of you,” AKP member Emrah Çelik said in a message he sent to journalist Murat Ağırel. Çelik’s photos with severed heads in Syria had surfaced in 2019.
Several people attempted to attack İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener during a visit to Sivas.
Urfa governor invites 15 men, one woman to meeting on violence against women.
Apple has removed the app for Hornet, the world’s leading gay social network with more than 30 million users, from its Turkey store in line with a verdict delivered in August 2020. Access to the Hornet website was blocked in Turkey in August 2020.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 27,356 new infections and 128 deaths.
Turkey Today – 10 August 2021
Seven people in Kars were detained in police raids for ‘membership in a terrorist organization’.
Prevented from teaching classes at Boğaziçi University by the appointed acting rector, academic-lawyer Feyzi Erçin has filed two lawsuits.
A group of people who last week attacked a live broadcast of the opposition Halk TV, have filed criminal complaints against the TV channel’s crew, under the pretense that they were the ones who were battered.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into Ekşi Sözlük, a popular social network in Turkey, over a discussion about “why people don’t revolt against the government”.
While discharged teacher Karataş’s application was rejected by the State of Emergency Commission because “he was affiliated with the organization”, the Ministry of Education says that there are no reports, minutes or documents about this allegation.
Covid-19: The current figures have not yet been published.
Turkey Today – 9 August 2021
One of the seven members of a Kurdish family who were killed in Konya had asked the interior minister for help, according to newly surfaced Facebook messages.
Access to Jinnews website blocked for the 32nd time.
PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s family and lawyers made a third application to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, demanding an “urgent meeting”.
An 18-year-old Turkish woman has committed suicide following the release of the rapist assailant from police custody on the grounds of “lack of evidence.”
The provincial healthcare director of Turkey’s most populous city of İstanbul has called on the city’s residents to have at least three children, echoing a controversial call frequently made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Covid-19: 23,731 new infections and 117 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly 01. August 2021
It was stated that the murderer of 7 people who lost their lives in the racist attack in Konya was Mehmet Altun. Altun is still at large after 40 hours passed after the massacre in Konya.
The Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the reports that the attack was racially motivated.
Mesopotamia Agency reporter Muhammed Enes Sezgin was detained while following news regarding the attack in Konya.
A preliminary investigation was opened against journalist Özgür Boğatekin for his social media comments on the attack in Konya.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 248.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 20,890 new infections and 96 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly 2 – 8 August 2021
Turkey Today – 8 August 2021
Lawyer of the Kurdish family which was attacked in Konya: Although the assailant was unemployed, he was able to acquire an expensive weapon and rent a car to carry out the attack.
A banner at the HDP office in Van on which the names of those killed in the racist attack in Konya was removed by decision of the public prosecutor’s office.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 255.
Turkish mafia leader Sedat Peker says femicide suspect Ümitcan Uygun walked free after Minister Süleyman Soylu intervened.
Turkish Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum has prevented a journalist from reporting in the Marmaris district of the southern province of Muğla.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 22,699 new infections and 108 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 7 August 2021
Three people have been imprisoned in Van for their participation in a protest against the murder of a Kurdish family in Konya.
The Saturday Mothers came together in the week 854 to ask those responsible for the death of Ferhat Tepe who was found dead after detention by the police on 28 July 1993.
Şenyaşar Family’s search for justice continues on day 152. The family lost three members as a result of the attacks of AKP Deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and his relatives.
Covid-19: The current figures have not yet been published.
Turkey Today – 6 August 2021
A court in Ankara has ordered the release of 3 ISIS members who were on trial for kidnapping an Ezidi girl in Iraq. The child was rescued from captivity in Ankara in February.
Mehmet Altun, the murder suspect of seven people from the Dedeoğulları family in Konya according to the security camera footage, has been arrested.
A group attacked the live broadcast of Halk TV at midnight. Held in the İçmeler area of fire-hit Marmaris, the guests of the program were discussing the raging forest fires in an outdoor program.
After Ziya Selçuk resigned from office, Prof. Mahmut Özer has been appointed as Turkey’s new Minister of National Education. President Erdoğan has also appointed three deputy ministers.
The dead body of an Afghan refugee has been found in Van.
President Erdoğan said that civilians will no longer be allowed to partake in efforts to extinguish wildfires raging through Turkey.
Covid-19: 23,957 new infections and 101 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 5 August 2021
Mehmet Altun, the murder suspect of the Dedeoğulları family, was caught in the land where he was hiding at the end of the 6th day.
Seasonal agricultural workers from Turkey’s southeastern province of Urfa have been subjected to a knife attack in central Anatolian Çorum province.
Intercepted by an armed and racist group in Döşemealtı district of Antalya, HDP District Co-chair Mehmet Deniz said: “They asked for my ID. I told them I didn’t have my ID with me. They later released me. This is a provocation.”
Ümitcan U., who is standing trial as the chief suspect of Aleyna Çakır’s death, has been taken into custody over the death of Esra Hankulu.
Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into social media posts with the hashtag #HelpTurkey claiming that posts include criminal elements such as “insulting the President”, “degrading the Turkish state and the government”, “propaganda of terrorist organizations”.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 24,297 new infections and 108 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 4 August 2021
Taken into custody over the racist armed attack that claimed the lives of seven people from a Kurdish family in Konya, 10 of the 14 suspects have been arrested. Fugitive suspect Altun has still not been caught.
Access blocks have been imposed on 141 news articles of bianet. Among the online content blocked by penal judgeships is bianet’s male violence monitoring report as well as the news on trial of journalists, the operations on December 17-25, 2013 and the land purchase of Berat Albayrak along the route of Canal İstanbul.
Detained while covering an incident of male violence against a woman in İstanbul, journalist Uğur Şahin has been released.
Put on unpaid leave by appointed rector Melih Bulu in April, Cemre Baytok, the Office Coordinator of Boğaziçi University’s Commission on Prevention of Sexual Harassment (CİTÖK), has been dismissed by Rectorate.
Turkish security forces detained 300 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, found in a lorry near the Iranian border.
Covid-19: 26,822 new infections and 122 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 3 August 2021
The Perpetrator of the racist attack in Konya hasn’t been caught yet 5 days after the massacre.
Mesopotamia Agency reporter Enes Sezgin who was battered by a racist group in İstanbul while he was following a press release regarding the Konya attack was detained. Sezgin stated that he was beaten by the police while he was being taken to the hospital for examination.
The Governor’s Office of Antalya has denied the reports that a recent attack on Kurdish seasonal agricultural workers in the southern province was racially motivated.
The lawyers of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan applied to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to meet with their clients.
Turkey’s media regulator RTÜK has threatened TV stations with “heaviest sanctions” over the coverage of the massive wildfires.
After yesterday’s remarks of Presidency’s Communications Director, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey “would of course” accept other countries’ assistance in the fight against week-long wildfires.
Covid-19: The current figures have not yet been published.
Turkey Today – 2 August 2021
The lawyer of the family which was attacked in Konya said, “Over 20 bullets were fired at 7 people, raising suspicions that the murder was committed by more than one person or weapon”.
Seasonal agricultural workers in the Elmalı district of Antalya were attacked by a racist group of around 300 people. The Kurğa family from Mardin had to leave the village.
During a visit in Marmaris on the occasion of the forest fires President Erdoğan distributed packages of tea to people.
“#HelpTurkey campaign makes our state look incapable,” says Presidency’s Communications Director Altun, slamming a social media campaign launched amid criticisms about insufficient firefighting efforts.
Covid-19: 22,898 new infections and 91 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.