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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Editor In Chief: Ahmet Dirican Editor of Turkish Weekly: Duygu Guvenc Copy Editor: Stefan Martens Contributors: Goksel Bozkurt, Erdal Saglam, Mehtap Belen, Seyma Pasayigit GET IN TOUCH Layout: Gokce Ekin Baran

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Atatürk Bulvarı No: 154/B Çankaya / ANKARA FOR SUBSCRIPTION: [email protected] 2021 May 3-9 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Domestic A DIPLOMATIC Politics TAKE ON TURKEY By Arda Mevlutoglu • MOB BOSS MAKES STUNNING • A TALE OF TWO JETS REVELATIONS ABOUT MAFIA, POLITICAL RAISING THE CURTAIN WITH F-16S RIVALS F-35 AND BEYOND “COLOMBIAN COCAINE BELONGED TO AGAR” “PELICAN GROUP TARGETING SPY AGENCY HEAD” • CHP CHAIR WARNS COUNTRIES, BANKS A DIPLOMATIC NOT TO ISSUE LOANS FOR CANAL ISTANBUL TAKE ON TURKEY • IMAMOGLU DEMANDS INVESTIGATION By Barcin Yinanc INTO SELF • A DECADE ON, TURKEY WAKES UP TO THE • SOYLU DRAWS PRO-GOVERNMENT NEED TO INTEGRATE ITS SYRIANS MEDIA’S IRE FOR FLURRY OF CIRCULARS SYRIAN REGIME OBSTRUCTING • POLICE CONDUCT RAID ON ISLAMIC RETURN FURKAN GROUP IN MOSQUES DAMASCUS PLAYING FOR TIME NEW DEAL WITH EU NOT EXPECTED BEFORE JUNE FOREIGN THE EU-JORDAN MODEL AFFAIRS

• TURKEY AMPS UP EFFORTS TO NORMALIZE TIES WITH EGYPT AMID ECONOMY VISITS TO LIBYA, SAUDI ARABIA by ERDAL SAGLAM NO DATE FOR NEXT MEETING • GOVERNMENT MISSTEPS ARE TIES TO TURN ON MUSLIM COMPOUNDING TURKEY’S ECONOMIC BROTHERHOOD, LIBYA WOES NORMALIZATION LINKED TO TRIPOLI, PRESIDENT UNABLE TO PLAY DEFENSE RIYADH WHY SO MANY BAD DECISIONS NOW? CAVUSOGLU TO VISIT RIYADH LOSS OF TRUST HURTING BANKS

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[email protected] facebook.com/ankahaber Atatürk Bulvarı No: 154/B [email protected] facebook.com/ankahaber Atatürk Bulvarı No: 154/B www.ankahaber.net twitter.com/ankahabera Çankaya / ANKARA www.ankahaber.net twitter.com/ankahabera Çankaya / ANKARA All rights reserved® FOR SUBSCRIPTION: [email protected] All rights reserved® FOR SUBSCRIPTION: [email protected] 2021 May 3-9 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

MEDIA, INTERNET ANKA and CULTURE DEEP

• MHP’S ATTACK ON HABERTURK RESULTS • MHP RELEASES CHARTER DRAFT THAT IN DISMISSALS WOULD CURB ERDOGAN’S AUTHORITY • STATE-RUN MEDIA REPORTS SUICIDE AS AKP LEAKS DETAILS FROM OWN ACCIDENT COMING DRAFT • UNIVERSITY STARTS INVESTIGATION INTO OPPOSITION SUMMARILY DISMISSES SCHOLAR WHO CHIDED GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS • ALBAYRAK APPEARS IN FIRST PHOTO BAHCELI AIMS TO REESTABLISH SINCE QUITTING POST SEPARATION OF POWERS • SABAH DIVULGES PRIVATE MESSAGES OF MHP LEADER LOOKING TO SECURE CHP LAWMAKER PARTY’S FUTURE PARTY RETURNING TO PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM IN ALL BUT NAME? ANKA TURKEY DEEP UnPlucked by NAZLAN ERTAN • AKP, CHP TRADE SALVOS WITH VIDEOS • WATCH YOUR HANDS OPPOSITION PLEASED AS PUNCH “CIMOCRACY” AT WORK AKP RECIPROCATES WITH QUESTIONS ON THE OTHER HAND... ABOUT CHP’S 650 MILLION LIRAS HANDS DOWN? GOVERNMENT LEFT SCRAMBLING • HAUNTING WORDS AFTER VIDEO’S FAILURE • GHOSTS OF THE PAST AKP SUPPORTERS SLAM OWN PARTY AKP LOSING GROUND IN AD GAME

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MOB BOSS MAKES STUNNING REVELATIONS ABOUT MAFIA, POLITICAL RIVALS Ultranationalist mafia leader Sedat scores is customary.” Peker issued last week a series of massive allegations against the In reply, Tolga Agar rejected Peker’s Pelican Group and former police accusations, dubbing him “a member chief and Interior Minister Mehmet of a criminal organization” and Agar, who has become a prominent vowing to launch legal proceedings backer of the AKP government in at the “assassination attempt on his recent times. honor and reputation.”

Peker said the former minister’s “I don’t know [Kaharman]. The issue son Tolga Agar, an AKP MP and the has been investigated by the judicial party’s coordinator in the Marmara authorities and the legal process has region, raped and killed Kazakh been completed. The subject has journalist Yeldana Kaharman in Elazig nothing to do with me,” Agar said. in March 2019 and that Mehmet Agar submitted to the AKP after the Kaharman was found dead in her incident. Peker also accused Agar home on March 28, 2019, one day of “illegally seizing” the Bodrum after she went to interview Tolga Yalikavak Marina, which belonged to Agar. Her death was ruled a suicide, Mubariz Mansimov Gurbanoglu, an but many have accused authorities of Azeri-Turkish businessman who is the conducting a cover-up. owner of the Palmali Group. Peker said Mehmet Agar “introduced The mafia boss, who was a supporter Mansimov to Gulenists and then of the AKP until recently, said he had sent him to jail for these links.” evidence for all his claims and that Turkish authorities formally charged “though I don’t like revenge, settling Mansimov on March, 17, 2020, of

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links to Fetullah Gulen. General Command also issued a statement rejecting accusations by Pro-government mob boss Alaattin Peker that the military police played Cakici, retired Gen. Engin Alan and a role in the death of Kaharman. retired Col. Korkut Eken visited “The woman named Yeldana Mehmet Agar in front of the marina Kaharman in no way appealed to in 2020, taking a photo together the gendarmerie, and a claim that that was later shared by Cakici’s she was taken away in a helicopter associates. is completely out of the realm of reality,” the gendarmerie said in the Mehmet Agar has long been a statement. controversial figure and a symbol of Turkey’s “deep state.” He was The Interior Ministry also released sentenced to five years in prison a statement on Peker’s videos and for criminal activities relating to the said organized crime units had been 1996 Susurluk scandal in which the notified in regard to the videos. relations between the deep state The ministry said the process would and the mafia were revealed. He, be followed until the extradition of however, was released after one year Peker, who is the subject of a red on probation in April 2013. bulletin.

Peker accused Berat Albayrak, “COLOMBIAN COCAINE Erdogan’s son-in-law and former BELONGED TO AGAR” treasury minister, of attempting to secure his detention last year. This In a second video, Peker claimed time, Peker noted that the pro- that after taking cocaine with Emir government channel ATV, which is Sarigul, the son of former CHP Sisli ruled by a group belonging to the Mayor Mustafa Sarigul, Tolga Agar former minister’s brother, Serhat threatened Nusret Gokce, a celebrity Albayrak, was on scene to film a chef known for his exaggerated police raid on the mob boss’s home salt-sprinkling routine. During the despite it being 5 a.m. The Pelican incident, Agar reportedly became Group is also known to be close to angry and fired his gun, said Peker. Albayrak. In the end, Sarigul’s driver took the blame, leading to the closure of the Meanwhile, Turkey’s Gendarmerie case.

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Peker also suggested Mehmet Agar “The journalist told me, ‘There are has links with businessman Sezgin suspicions. Mehmet Agar and Hakan Baran Korkmaz, a fugitive from a Fidan [the head of Turkish Intel] are money laundering probe. not getting along. Some think that there is a plot against Fidan. I told Furthermore, the mob boss claimed him I don’t know Hakan Fidan and Mehmet Agar was the real owner had never talked to him. I think the of 4.9 tons of cocaine seized in Pelican Group is trying to target Colombia. “Colombian authorities Fidan.” said these were going to a chemical factory in Izmir. But the police didn’t Peker also said Turkey donated start an investigation,” he said. drones to Morocco in an effort to convince the country to extradite Abdurrahman Dilipak, a columnist the mob boss to Turkey. “Thank God for the radical Islamist Yeni Akit, said the king of Morocco is an honorable Peker’s statements were like Turkish man. He does not give back those WikiLeaks. “From now on, no one can who surrendered to him,” he said. continue on their path as if nothing happened.” It’s not clear where Peker is currently located. In his last video, he said, he “PELICAN GROUP TARGETING SPY is currently in Dubai. AGENCY HEAD” Peker also issued a call to the Early on May 9, Peker released a third Academics for Peace, whom he video, accusing Tolga Agar of not famously threatened in 2016, vowing telling the truth. to “bathe in their blood.”

In the video, Peker accused Serhat “If they expect me to apologize, Albayrak of trying to defame him by then they will make a statement and adding a character called Peker in a say they did not support the terror TV series on ATV. organization [PKK]. If they do, I will say I’m sorry,” he said. Peker focused much of his new accusations on the Pelican Group. Peker also reiterated his admiration Peker claimed that the group sent toward President Recep Tayyip him a journalist whom he respected.

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Erdogan but said the leader’s team during the Cold War, was seen in was misguiding him. front of him; in the first two videos, books by Mario Puzo, who wrote During Peker’s third video, Mark “The Godfather,” had been present Winegardner’s book “Godfathers’ on the desk. Return,” a story of the Corleones

CHP CHAIR WARNS COUNTRIES, BANKS NOT TO ISSUE LOANS FOR CANAL ISTANBUL

CHP Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu Nation Alliance, he said they were has urged companies, countries willing to work with any party and banks not to extend credit to that is in favor of a strengthened Turkey’s government to pay for the parliamentary system. controversial Canal Istanbul project. Regarding the HDP, Kilicdaroglu “If there is a country planning to said, “The HDP is not in the Nation’s invest in the project, we will distance Alliance, but from time to time, the ourselves from that country when we administrators of the HDP are calling come to power. We will definitely not for a strengthened parliamentary pay their money. If a Turkish bank system. We should give them their gives a loan here, it will also see what due. … The HDP is indispensable for will happen when that day comes,” our political life as political parties he said in an interview with T24. “The are indispensable for democracy.” lender will have a responsibility. This country is not a land of plunder.” Kilicdaroglu also said returning to the parliamentary system required a When asked about Iyi Party Chair constitutional change, adding that for Meral Aksener’s statements such a change to occur, it would be regarding the expansion of the better if all parties ask for it.

IMAMOGLU DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO SELF

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan latter of failing to administer Turkey’s scorned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem largest city, prompting the mayor to Imamoglu last week, accusing the ask for investigation into himself.

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In reply to a question about the had initially planned to phase out whereabouts of horses on the the horses but had failed to do so Princes’ Islands, Erdogan said, “We because the party lost municipal don’t even want to think about elections in 2019. what they are doing on other issues [related to administration] since they “Instead of launching an investigation can’t look after the horses of Istanbul into me for folding my hands behind and give an account of them” during my back, I wish you had launched an an online meeting with young investigation on me for the horses,” people. Imamoglu wrote on his Twitter account. Imamoglu also slammed Vehicular traffic is banned on previous municipal administrations the Princes’ Islands, so the main for ignoring the ill treatment of form of transport in the district horses and requested a probe on had been horse-drawn carriages that issue as well. until Imamoglu retired more than 800 horses due to animal welfare Last week, the Interior Ministry concerns. The horses are now the launched an investigation into responsibility of the Agriculture and Imamoglu for folding his hands Forestry Ministry. behind his back during a visit last year to the tomb of Ottoman Sultan Erdogan, however, said former Mehmed the Conqueror and for AKP mayors, rather than Imamoglu, visiting HDP mayors.

SOYLU DRAWS PRO-GOVERNMENT MEDIA’S IRE FOR FLURRY OF CIRCULARS

Turkey’s total lockdown continued Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu last week amid a series of circulars has issued seven circulars since the from the Interior Ministry to ban lockdown began late last month, the sale of menstrual products and banning the sale of “non-essential open outdoor food markets on items,” which has now expanded Saturdays, among other directives, to include light bulbs, menstrual causing chaos in pricing, fury among products, paper, pens, batteries, shopkeepers and farmers – and even combs and dishes following the consternation in the pro-government earlier prohibition on alcohol sales. media.

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But in addition to widespread have incompetence and a lack of opposition media criticism of the understanding of the state’s legacy. bans, some pro-government outlets, This dearth of experience mistakenly such as Hurriyet, have even started believes you can legislate by simply to question the rationale for Soylu’s issuing a circular. Or it is unable decisions. to account for what happens on the ground and the way market “The question of the day is: What dynamics work, for instance, while are essential goods and who gets to viewing enacting legislation as the decide on a definition?” Hurriyet said solution. Either way, it misinforms or in its headline. steers those in the higher echelons of the state in the wrong direction.” The paper also asked questions like “What happens if a pipe bursts, Another columnist in Sabah, Dilek there’s a shortage of stationery or Gungor, lamented the same day electronic appliances run out of how online shopping sites have batteries?” gained a monopoly amid the current lockdown. “Produce sellers and In another circular, Soylu ordered farmers have been unable to offload open-air markets to open on their goods. This has ultimately Saturdays even though such bazaars ended up hurting the consumer. A typically occur on different days in new circular made it possible for districts. The decision caused a rise in bazaars to reopen, so the situation prices in the markets, while vendors was rectified to a certain degree. also chose to set up their tents in Sometimes you’ll throw a stone, but wealthier areas instead of poorer it doesn’t even end up touching the ones. frog that you’ve just spooked. In fact, the spot you were aiming for remains Some sellers of vegetables and fruit untouched. Perhaps it’s damaged protested the decision by dumping something you had no intention of their produce on the streets. hitting to begin with.”

Okan Muderrisoglu, Sabah daily’s A day later, Sabah’s chief columnist, bureau chief, also directed some Mehmet Barlas, slammed the criticisms toward the Interior circulars as well. “It is getting harder Ministry in a May 4 piece. “You to manage Turkey. In the old Turkey,

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shopkeepers determined what to sell name, criticized supporters – which in the market. The Interior Ministry included the interior minister’s would deal with problems such son – who illegally entered Adana as order and security. But now the Demirspor’s matches the previous Interior Ministry decides where and week in violation of coronavirus what to sell,” he wrote. protocols.

Sabah’s criticism toward Soylu “The sense of justice is damaged. was not limited to the lockdown. A little self-criticism is necessary,” In another article, Muderrisoglu Kucuk wrote. (See ANKA Review criticized the minister for an April April 26-May 2, 2021, for more on 27 circular banning citizens from circulars and accusations about Soylu recording the voices and images of in regard to Adana Demirspor.) police on the street. Interestingly, news about Soylu is “First, the rationale for regulation failing to make the front pages. Even needs solid ground, convincing his announcement on May 3 about reasons and legality. This circular the apparent killing of three senior is open to criticism in this respect. PKK militants, including one in the There are deficiencies in the circular red category, did not receive any in terms of freedom of expression front-page coverage. and press and freedom to seek remedies,” he wrote. Last year, Soylu tendered his resignation in response to criticisms Muderrisoglu is known to be close to about his handling of Turkey’s first former Treasury and Finance Minister Covid-19 lockdown, in which he Berat Albayrak, a rival to Soylu within gave just two hours’ notice for a the AKP, so his criticisms of the 48-hour curfew in Turkey’s main interior minister could stem from this cities, resulting in chaos and huge intra-party competition. lineups outside stores. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, Another criticism came from Cem asked Soylu to stay on amid a wave Kucuk, a columnist from Turkiye daily. of support on social media, including Kucuk, without mentioning Soylu’s from MHP leader Devlet Bahceli.

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POLICE CONDUCT RAID ON ISLAMIC FURKAN GROUP IN MOSQUES

Police used teargas on May 3 raiding mosques and detaining to disperse a group of Islamic Palestinians. foundation members praying at mosques in the provinces of Milli Gazete, which has links to the Gaziantep and Adana, prompting Saadet Party, also criticized the anger among conservatives. raid. “Those who allow people to gather in stadiums, hotels and Members of the Furkan Foundation congresses despite the full lockdown were practicing the “Itikaf prayer,” have prevented a small group which requires 10 days of constant from worshipping at a mosque prayer in mosques until the end of with teargas. This isn’t Gaza; it’s Ramadan. Gaziantep.”

Police, however, said the prayer Gaziantep Police Chief Cengiz gatherings were a provocation Zeybek decided to retire soon after against Covid-19 lockdown the raid. Taking the blame for the restrictions. handling of the operation, he said, “I asked for my retirement due The Gaziantep Governor’s Office to the problematic intervention said police had detained the Furkan of the personnel under my members after they engaged in civil command, which played into these disobedience and started swearing, provocateurs’ hands, so as not to uttering threats and violating the damage our state and the Turkish lockdown. The office also denied police.” reports that police had entered a mosque in Gaziantep with shoes In a live broadcast on 24 TV, Interior despite video evidence to the Minister Suleyman Soylu discussed contrary. the incident in detail. Labelling Furkan head Alparslan Kuytul as a The foundation slammed police provocateur who defends everything intervention. “This is not Israel, this is that is “anti-Turkey,” Soylu said: “His Turkey!” they said, referring to past group continued their provocations instances of Israeli security forces in the mosque. They used vulgar

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language against our president also critical of democracy, secularism, and the police. They are inside nationalism and racism. Kuytul, who the mosque. It’s a problem if you has accused the AKP of establishing intervene; it’s a problem if you a police state rather than an Islamic don’t. We cannot accept the usage one, was freed in 2019 after close to of teargas. It happened suddenly two years in jail. but this is no excuse. The officer [responsible] has been suspended A prominent social media and an investigation has started.” user, Kuytul has criticized the government’s restrictions on free Soylu also claimed that female speech and its heavy-handed followers of Kuytul took the Quran approach to protesters, particularly in their hands and attacked police police beatings of women wearing officers just to cause public unrest. headscarves.

During the interview, 24 TV also aired Meanwhile, AKP Group Deputy some of Kuytul’s past addresses, Chairman Bulent Turan likened the including one in which he states foundation members to Fadime “Tayyip Erdogan’s pen is broken. He Sahin and Ali Kalkanci, an alleged will be finished soon” just 15 days cult leader and his mistress who before the 2016 coup attempt. In allegedly hatched plots during the another clip, Kuytul labels the coup post-modern coup of 1997 against attempt “theater” and criticizes Turkey’s then-Islamist government. military operations against the PKK. Yeni Safak daily, meanwhile, reported After Soylu’s remarks, the Furkan that police are investigating possible Foundation released a 4.5-hour video links between the Furkan Foundation in which it expressed its happiness at and Egypt or the United Arab overcoming the censorship imposed Emirates. on the group in the mainstream media. Except at night, performing prayers at mosques is not forbidden during The foundation has been under the lockdown. government pressure for years due to its critical statements. The group is

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TURKEY AMPS UP EFFORTS TO NORMALIZE TIES WITH EGYPT AMID VISITS TO LIBYA, SAUDI ARABIA Ankara is continuing its moves to The president also reiterated that bury the hatchet with Cairo amid “seeing Egyptian people stand a series of trips to other important alongside the Greek people would regional capitals in its latest overtures sadden us” in reference to a maritime to the neighborhood. deal between Cairo and Athens.

Last week, top Turkish officials paid NO DATE FOR NEXT MEETING a snap visit to Libya, after which a diplomatic delegation headed by Journalist Islam Ozkan said the Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal statement released after the meeting visited Cairo. This week, Turkish between Turkish and Egyptian officials are planning a trip to Riyadh officials said the discussions were to speak with Saudi officials. “frank and in-depth” but lacked any date for a follow-up meeting. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the talks with Egypt would continue “As there is no mention in the by “developing and expanding,” but statement of the next meeting, it he did not elaborate. shows that the meetings were not that good,” said Ozkan. Erdogan also addressed the Egyptian people, instead of the country’s “The two sides will evaluate government, saying, “We have been the outcome of this round of trying to regain and once more consultations and agree on the next continue our unity which comes from steps,” the countries’ statement history.” concluded.

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Relations between Turkey and Cairo, Safak Gokturk, said there Egypt have been poor since 2013, were two key issues regarding the when Egyptian Gen. Abdel-Fattah normalization of relations with Egypt. el-Sissi overthrew Mohammed One of them is the principle of Morsi, a politician from the Muslim respecting sovereignty and avoiding Brotherhood, which shares interference in domestic affairs, ideological links with Turkey’s AKP. meaning the AKP cannot support the Muslim Brotherhood, while the For Ozkan, the two countries’ similar second is respect for Arab security, policies on Libya and support meaning Libya. for similar figures in the North African country have hastened the Reminding that Turkey and Egypt normalization process. “The only have both given support to Libya’s thing that’s left is Turkey’s withdrawal interim government and elections of mercenaries,” said Ozkan, recalling planned for December, Gokturk said, that Turkey had never accepted “The Libya issue might be solved the existence of such fighters within itself on Libya’s own during in Libya until Foreign Minister the normalization of relations with Mevlut Cavusoglu met his German Egypt.” counterpart last week. NORMALIZATION LINKED TO “There are many foreign fighters TRIPOLI, RIYADH and mercenaries in Libya. We are like-minded on their withdrawal. Yusuf Alsharif, a journalist based But ending the military training in Dubai who worked in Turkey for and consultancy sustained by the decades, said it was significant that agreement between two sovereign Turkish officials visited Tripoli before countries is not in favor of Libya. The launching their talks with Egypt. intervention into such agreements by third countries is not the right “All these visits are linked to each approach,” Cavusoglu said May 6. other. Turkey wants rapprochement with the Arab countries, including TIES TO TURN ON MUSLIM Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United BROTHERHOOD, LIBYA Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia and the UAE sent a message of ‘first make Turkey’s former ambassador to peace with Egypt, then we will follow.’

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Similarly, Egypt is sending a message Alsharif added that it would be of ‘let’s first reach consensus in Libya, impossible for Libya to organize fair then we can handle the bilateral elections as long as mercenaries are relations,’” said Alsharif. present in the country.

The normalization steps will come CAVUSOGLU TO VISIT RIYADH after Turkey starts to withdraw some of the mercenaries, said Alsharif, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is noting that Ankara had been refusing also expected to pay his first visit to to pull out its mercenaries while Riyadh this week since the murder of Russia and other countries continue Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in to station irregular fighters in the Riyadh’s Istanbul consulate in 2018. country. The visit was scheduled after a phone “Egypt is respectful of that stance call between Erdogan and Saudi but asks for a step-by-step process. King Salman on May 4. For example, it’s asking Turkey to withdraw 1,000 of 10,000 and saying, ‘then we can put pressure on Russia.’”

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A TALE OF TWO JETS Late last month, the United Turkey’s military capability quickly States officially notified Ankara deteriorated, posing a significant about Turkey’s removal from the risk to NATO’s deterrence capability multibillion-dollar F-35 fighter jet on the alliance’s southern flank amid program. the absence of Greece, which had withdrawn from the organization’s Though the announcement didn’t military structure in protest at Turkey’s come out of the blue, what with intervention. What’s more, all of this continued disagreement between was occurring at a time when a major Washington and Ankara over the U.S. ally, Shah Mohammad Reza latter’s Russian-made S-400 missile Pahlavi of Iran, had begun teetering, defense system, the decision is threatening more insecurity on the a major turning point in Turkish- alliance’s borders. American relations. Ultimately, the decision lowers the curtain on an RAISING THE CURTAIN WITH F-16S important chapter in the trans- Atlantic allies’ ties – one that began The United States lifted the embargo decades ago with another fighter jet in 1978, after which the country project. immediately resumed the transfer of weapons and equipment to Turkey, Following Turkey’s intervention in whose most prominent recipient was, Cyprus in 1974, the United States unsurprisingly, the Turkish Air Force. imposed an arms embargo on The biggest item on the list was the the country that had devastating F-16 Fighting Falcon jet, which Turkey effects on the Turkish Armed Forces, selected in 1983, shortly after the especially the Turkish Air Force. 1980 coup.

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The jet was manufactured by Turkish F-35 AND BEYOND Aerospace Industries (TAI), a joint venture that brought together Turkey It’s no surprise that a few decades and General Dynamics, but there on, the same TAI spearheaded were other joint ventures for the F-16 Turkish industrial participation in as well, including TEI for the engines the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and MIKES for the electronic warfare program to develop a successor to equipment. the F-16. The aircraft is designed around advanced sensor and Ultimately, the F-16 project – along data-sharing technologies which, with an effort by FNSS, a joint venture in turn, enable the United States of Nurol Holding and FMC, to and its allies to plan and conduct produce armored vehicles – marked joint operations. Furthermore, the one of Turkey’s first attempts to manufacture of a new generation rebuild its defense industry. of “stealth” combat aircraft requires sophisticated industrial capabilities The F-16 represented a major and infrastructure. leap for Turkey on two fronts: First, through the acquisition of the jet, the Accordingly, Turkey’s involvement in Turkish Air Force received a state- the project as a partner, along with of-the-art combat aircraft equipped plans to acquire 100 of the jets for with advanced weapon and sensor its Air Force – testified to Ankara’s systems, while also adopting a membership in the club in both contemporary system of logistics, military-strategic and industrial terms. training and operational planning It’s also the very same reason why capacity. Turkey’s removal from the project symbolizes a breaking point in Second, the licensed production of Ankara’s relations with Washington the jet and its engine enabled Turkey after four decades of cooperation. to build and improve the necessary infrastructure and human resources It is difficult to foresee how events base for its own defense industry. will unfold or how the S-400 issue will Indeed, TAI would later become a be resolved, but one thing is for sure: powerhouse in the Turkish aerospace What started with the F-16 ended sector. with the F-35.

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A DECADE ON, TURKEY WAKES UP TO THE NEED TO INTEGRATE ITS SYRIANS On April 29, 2011, some 252 The duration has already doubled Syrians crossed the border into in the case of Turkey. And while AKP Turkey fleeing unrest amid the Arab officials would not openly confess Uprisings. it, their country is faced with the uncomfortable reality that a large Ten years on, some 3.67 million majority of Syrian refugees are here more of those Syrians’ compatriots to stay for good. now find themselves in Turkey too, having fled what became one of SYRIAN REGIME OBSTRUCTING the world’s most devastating wars RETURN since World War II. Today, those 3.67 million refugees represent nearly 4.5 The fact that millions of Syrians percent of Turkey’s population. are set to remain is obviously a hard sell to a population that has According to a prominent academic been extremely patient toward the working on migration issues, refugees despite growing anger. Professor Murat Erdogan, 650,000 Syrian babies have been born in That’s why the AKP is desperately Turkey since 2011. By contrast, looking for a political solution in Syria Germany hosts a grand total of just or, at the very least, attempting to 550,000 Syrians. keep the border area stable in order to send back some of the refugees. Experts say that if refugees have not returned home after five years But does Syrian President Bashar in a host country, that suggests that al-Assad want back the 6 million of they’re likely to stay put. his compatriots living outside the

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country’s borders? those figures. According to Onhon, the regime is playing for time in an “At the end of the day, 6 million effort to make people lose interest so means feeding them and finding that the matter falls by the wayside. them a job,” said retired Ambassador Omer Onhon, who served in Syria. With slim chances of a political solution in Syria, Turkey is looking Speaking at a panel organized by to Europe, but the latter appears the Ankara Policy Center last month, less enthusiastic about sharing Onhon and other academics drew the burden and seems less than attention to Law No. 10, a 2018 bill bothered by how EU members that enables the Syrian government on the bloc’s frontiers are illegally to designate land anywhere in pushing back migrants. According the country for redevelopment. to The Guardian, EU countries have The law “is likely to result in many used “brutal tactics to stop nearly Syrians’ dispossession of their 40,000 asylum seekers,” with illegal rightfully owned properties and pushbacks resulting in the death of the formalization of the forced 2,000 refugees. displacement and population engineering initiated by the Assad NEW DEAL WITH EU NOT regime and its allies during the war,” EXPECTED BEFORE JUNE according to the Tahrir Institute for the Middle East. On May 7, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson met There are reports that the law has Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, been applied in the Aleppo region, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu something that complicates Turkey’s and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu hopes of returning its Syrian refugees in Ankara. given that more than 70 percent of them hail from Aleppo and Idlib. An official at the Foreign Ministry told me that Ankara was “not DAMASCUS PLAYING FOR TIME expecting much before the EU’s June summit.” The bloc has not allocated Turkey claims to have successfully financial assistance in its budget repatriated at least 400,000 Syrians, and is consequently having trouble but the UNHCR has not corroborated in drumming up funds, another

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diplomat told me. That leaves Turkey however, the future is more uncertain. with the urgent need to adapt its With unemployment on the rise, their policies at the central and local levels chances of ending up becoming the to integrate the Syrians. “educated unemployed” are very high. Thanks to Turkey’s informal economy, around 1 million Syrians are thought The employment issue is important to be working. In relative terms, especially in terms of social cohesion, life is a bit “easier” for the unskilled Basak Yavcan from University of ones in the short term, for they do Liège’s Migration Governance at the jobs that are unwanted by the Turks. Hugo Observatory, told me. (For the (Nevertheless, urban myths continue full interview in English, click here.) to circulate in host communities who are convinced that Syrians are Yavcan believes Turkey and the stealing their jobs.) European Union can come up with sustainable solutions, emulating THE EU-JORDAN MODEL the scheme that was developed in Jordan, where the European Union For the 37,000 Syrian students offers tariff privileges to goods studying in Turkish universities, produced by Jordanians and Syrians.

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GOVERNMENT MISSTEPS ARE COMPOUNDING TURKEY’S ECONOMIC WOES From health to security, the economy have been so many more mistakes and foreign policy, there have been in recent months is a bit more governance errors aplenty from complicated. the administration in Ankara – all of which are making Turkey’s economic One of the most important reasons headache that much worse. is the panic that the government’s poor polling numbers and the The opposition’s successful opposition’s growing effectiveness campaign regarding the have induced in the administration. whereabouts of the Central Bank’s There are other factors too, though, 128 billion dollars in reserves, the such as the reality that President AKP’s knee-jerk reaction to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan now takes all campaign, the ad hoc measures decisions without feeling the need to against the pandemic and some consult with anyone, as well as that inconsistent statements from there’s no one left in his narrowing ministers and senior party officials circle to tell him when he’s doing signal that the country’s government wrong. And then there’s the fact that is at sea. Erdogan realizes that he’s reached a crossroads on foreign policy but he What lies behind the government’s has no obvious road map for walking mistaken decisions? In short, the back from his fallback positions. concentration of all the powers of the administration in one person’s PRESIDENT UNABLE TO PLAY hands and the profound weakening DEFENSE of institutions and the bureaucracy. This said, the answer to why there Ultimately, the president is, to borrow

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the sporting analogy some political WHY SO MANY BAD DECISIONS commentators have used for him, NOW? unable to organize a defense; and given that he’s having to go on the At the outset of the latest lockdown, defensive for the first time, he has no the government sought to minimize idea how to set himself up against problems for companies by stopping the wave after wave of attack. banks from processing checks throughout May, but the decision has Strikingly, the AKP’s errors in only sowed chaos in the markets and communication have reignited snarled payment mechanisms. We the questions on the Central have learned that Union of Chambers Bank reserves every time the and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey campaign has seemed ready to (TOBB) Rifat Hisarciklioglu informed peter out, especially as all the the president of a demand to delay answers have come from one the clearance of checks and that source and lacked any grounding Erdogan directed new Trade Minister in fact. Such discussions, of course, Mehmet Mus to implement such a leave aside the myriad mistakes measure throughout May. However, it in the government’s pandemic has transpired that in addition to not response, of which the suspicions being familiar with the measure, Mus that Ankara has tried to reduce summarily obtained the signatures the official case numbers by of 10 AKP MPs and hurriedly pushed simply conducting fewer tests, the the relevant bill through parliament. constantly changing inoculation The measure, however, meant that numbers, the contradictory policies even if there were sufficient funds in toward closures, particularly the an account, the recipient of a check ban on alcohol sales, and the recent could not cash the money. comment from the foreign minister that Turkey would “completely As anger grew, the Trade Ministry vaccinate anyone that a tourist might issued a new circular, instructing encounter by June” are just a few. banks to accept checks if they were Needless to say, these mistakes have backed up by funds but to hold off hurt sectors across the economy, on processing them until June if especially shopkeepers, while also there weren’t sufficient funds in the leading to much grumbling across sender’s account. After a delay of a huge swathes of society. few days, banks began implementing

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the new directive, but close to a premium has also jumped from 410 third of total checks have not been to 420. processed this month, meaning that many recipients are continuing Most recently, international credit to complain about problems, ratings agency Moody’s noted in particularly in paying wages. a report that the Central Bank’s weakening credibility means that LOSS OF TRUST HURTING BANKS market financing for banks will become costlier and shorter in term Of course, the government’s most and that the country will no longer glaring mistake in recent months have unrestricted access to the in the economy was the ousting of market as it did at the beginning of Central Bank Gov. Naci Agbal – the the year. The report also adds that ramifications of which continue to Turkish banks will only be able to grow by the day. On May 6, Agbal’s support liquidity in the market with successor, Sahap Kavcioglu, avoided lower credit growth. reducing interest rates, but his waning emphasis on maintaining a For this to happen, the government tight monetary policy is raising new needs to avoid offering credit worries and compounding the lack of again, but the markets are on trust in the Central Bank. pins and needles in fear that the administrations could make another In recent days, for instance, the misstep. What’s the upshot of all this? Turkish Lira has continued to lose The government’s snowballing errors ground to other emerging-market are raising the risks for the country. currencies, while its CDS risk

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[email protected] facebook.com/ankahaber Atatürk Bulvarı No: 154/B www.ankahaber.net twitter.com/ankahabera Çankaya / ANKARA All rights reserved® FOR SUBSCRIPTION: [email protected] 2021 May 3-9 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER MEDIA, INTERNET and CULTURE MHP’S ATTACK ON HABERTURK RESULTS IN DISMISSALS Bulent Aydemir, the Ankara Aydemir was targeted by MHP representative of Haberturk TV, was officials and supporters. fired on May 5 after he was targeted by MHP Vice Chair Ismail Ozdemir on The MHP’s condemnation of social media, prompting the station’s Haberturk TV also prompted a social editor-in-chief, Kursad Oguz, to media campaign in which users, announce his resignation in protest. including Bahceli, posted under the hashtag “I don’t watch Haberturk TV.” The firing occurred after MHP Deputy Chair Izzet Ulvi Yonter slammed Ebru “The targeting of journalists by Baki, an anchor at the channel, for politicians is the ugly face of politics,” criticizing the draft of the constitution said the Press Council, labelling proposed by MHP Chair Devlet the incident as “yet more zeal for Bahceli. ‘bringing the press into line.’”

“Ebru Baki is an evil-minded journalist A headline in the left-wing daily who exposes her intolerance of the BirGun said, “Haberturk surrenders,” MHP at every turn and distorts the while other opposition media outlets facts with a wry smile on her face,” listed the many attacks against Yonter wrote on Twitter on May 4. journalists and politicians that were allegedly instigated by Bahceli and The next day, Aydemir stood up for the MHP. In recent years, Gelecek Baki and said, “It happened to me, Party Deputy Chair Selcuk Ozdag, as too, before, and I can’t accept such well as journalists Orhan Ugurluoglu, statements,” while calling on Yonter Sabahattin Onkibar, Yavuz Selim and MHP leader Devlet Bahceli to Demirag, Murat Ide, Ahmet Takan apologize. After his statements, and Levent Gultekin, all of whom

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have nationalist and right-wing centers Haberturk and another Ciner backgrounds, have been targeted by channel, Show TV, were combined. the MHP. As a result, Show TV representative Sibel Erdem became the Ankara On social media, many users claimed representative of both channels, while that the real problem was Haberturk Fevzi Cakir, a well-known judicial TV’s policy of trying to display a correspondent, was named her degree of impartiality. One day deputy. before Baki’s program, Haberturk TV hosted Iyi Party Chair Meral Aksener, Meanwhile, Cimen Cetin was the MHP’s main rival. appointed as Haberturk’s policy news coordinator while Faruk Haberturk TV is also one of the few Demirel became the prime time channels that reports on the HDP, news program coordinator. The albeit rarely, in its news bulletins. appointment of Demirel, who is known for his close ties to the MHP, Haberturk TV’s parent company, has been interpreted as a concession the Ciner Media Group is active in to the ultranationalist party, although energy and coal mining, construction, he, as well as Erdem, Cakir and Cetin, medical, tourism, transport, insurance are all experienced journalists. and glass manufacturing. Ciner is also the owner of Kasimpasa Sports Baki, in the meantime, also drew Club, whose stadium is named after more criticism on social media for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. presenting a program just one day after Aydemir and Oguz lost their jobs After Aydemir’s removal, the news for her sake. STATE-RUN MEDIA REPORTS SUICIDE AS ACCIDENT A man in Istanbul committed suicide Security footage of the incident, by jumping in front of a tram on May however, made clear that the man 4, yet the state-run Anadolu Agency intentionally stepped in front of and state broadcaster TRT elected the oncoming train, leading many not to report the man’s death as a on social media to accuse the state suicide, saying instead that he was media of trying to cover up tragedies accidentally hit while trying to cross caused by the financial crisis. the tracks.

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Problems triggered by the financial CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu put crisis and the lockdowns imposed the blame on President Recep Tayyip without any state support have Erdogan, saying he was responsible caused a spike in the number of for every suicide. suicides. Last week, seven people in Turkey were reported to have taken Gelecek Party Chair Ahmet their own lives as a result of economic Davutoglu, meanwhile, said: “Enough problems. is enough. Get out of the ivory towers to understand the public and AKP MP Ahmet Sorgun argued that immediately declare an emergency the suicides were not related to package.” economic depression but due to conflicts between couples. Noting On Twitter, DEVA leader Ali Babacan the high number of suicides in said, “To those who say that poverty is Scandinavian countries, Sorgun said no longer a problem in our country, I 90 percent of suicides stemmed from ask ... Why are our citizens committing family quarrels. suicide?’” UNIVERSITY STARTS INVESTIGATION INTO SCHOLAR WHO CHIDED GOVERNMENT The Turkish German University has He subsequently deleted his tweet launched a probe against Professor and said he was addressing trolls. Murat Erdogan, who focuses on Syrian refugees in Turkey, for “Freedom of expression doesn’t criticizing the government. include the right to utter insults, especially toward the government “The policies might change of course and its members,” the university said. but ‘hired thinkers’ are no longer “A legal process has been initiated calling [Egyptian President Abdel- against that person who evaluates Fattah] el-Sissi a ‘putschist’ but a freedom of expression in that ‘strong, respectful leader’; they’re context.” not calling the Saudi Arabian king a ‘murderer’ but a ‘friend’; they are The stance of the university, which refuting to the death the things that was founded between Germany and they defended to the death,” Erdogan Turkey in 2010, caused fury on social wrote on Twitter. media.

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ALBAYRAK APPEARS IN FIRST PHOTO SINCE QUITTING POST Berat Albayrak, the former treasury The photo was shared by a pro- and finance minister and son-in-law of AKP social media user who tweets President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has under the pseudonym “Mehmet” appeared in a photograph for the first and who describes himself as an time since he resigned his position in Istanbul-based journalist focused on November 2020. international relations.

The photo, which was posted on Mehmet, who has 36,800 followers social media, purports to show a on Twitter, said he saw Albayrak at the masked Albayrak at Friday prayers at mosque by coincidence. the Great Camlica Mosque in Istanbul on May 7. Albayrak has not made any official statement in response to the photo. SABAH DIVULGES PRIVATE MESSAGES OF CHP LAWMAKER The pro-government Sabah daily fired for signing a peace petition after has revealed WhatsApp messages the breakdown in negotiations with between CHP MP Aykut Erdogdu Kurds. and a former CHP mayor in which the former requested money to pay the Erdogdu also vowed to put President fines for Academics for Peace, as well Recep Tayyip Erdogan on trial for as the penalties he himself received treason because Turkey’s national for insulting AKP members. interests had been sacrificed for his wealth. The report prompted anger as it marked the first time since the Erdogan sued Erdogdu for 250,000 2016 coup attempt that encrypted liras in damages while the Ankara messages had been revealed in Prosecutor’s Office launched an public. investigation into Erdogdu for allegedly insulting the president. Afterward, Erdogdu said he requested the money since the CHP More than a thousand academics was providing financial support to were purged after the 2016 coup the Academics for Peace, who were attempt.

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AKP, CHP TRADE SALVOS WITH VIDEOS The ruling AKP’s recent social media The professor introduces the big ad, an animated cartoon accusing the lie generator, which produces light, CHP of producing lies, backfired last medium and “whopping” lies. week as the party deleted the work from its official accounts on Twitter, In the video, the machine claims YouTube and Facebook two days there is a gold toilet at the after the CHP shared it on its official presidential palace, that milk flows account. from the taps of the palace and that the health minister went to The AKP shared an animated cartoon a barbeque with his relatives by video on May 5 with the title of “Lie ambulance aircraft. At the end, the Production Center” in which CHP professor asks Kilicdaroglu to drink a Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu orders magic potion that causes Kilicdaroglu underlings to manufacture lies on a to parrot the same question – “Where variety of topics. is the 128 billion dollars?” – over and over, irritating Oztrak. The three-minute video was watched by more than 10 million in just a few The professor also presents a liquid days. to Kilicdaroglu, prompting Oztrak to ask whether it’s a disinfectant, The video features Kilicdaroglu which echoes the recent dismissal of (who, while the AKP’s antagonist, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan after it is not portrayed as a bad man), was revealed that her own company CHP spokesman Faik Oztrak (who sold disinfectants to the ministry she is depicted as a bureaucrat) and headed. a crazy professor with messy hair.

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OPPOSITION PLEASED AS PUNCH a document from the state supply office showing the details of an Afterwards, Kilicdaroglu also shared agreement between China and a video in which AKP officials gave Turkey for Sinovac and asked the different replies to the whereabouts treasury minister about 25 million of the 128 billion dollars in Central jabs that have yet to be delivered. Bank reserves and said, “Wait and see, Generation Z will make you an AKP RECIPROCATES WITH animated cartoon.” QUESTIONS ABOUT CHP’S 650 MILLION LIRAS Further, Kilicdaroglu started a challenge by tagging Iyi Party Chair The AKP reciprocated to the Meral Aksener and said, “Dear Meral, CHP’s question campaign on the the 128 billion dollars of this country Central Bank by asking about the and the son-in-law [former Treasury whereabouts of 650 million Turkish Minister Berat Albayrak] are lost. Liras that reportedly went missing We are asking but receiving such from the party soon after pro- different replies. Do you know where government Aksam daily reported they are?” about the resignation of CHP lawyer Kemal Cicek to join Muharrem Ince’s The chain continued as opposition Motherland movement. leaders tagged each other, asking the same question. “In the last three years, which media outlets and polling companies have The CHP also shared a cartoon from the 650 million liras been given to?” the video in which Kilicdaroglu asks Cicek asked, according to the daily’s the professor to take off his mask; headline. Oztrak and the CHP leader then take off the mask, revealing Erdogan. Aksam also reported that Gaye Usluer had resigned from the CHP to The CHP said it would respond on join Ince. May 7, but instead of releasing a video, Oztrak held a press meeting GOVERNMENT LEFT SCRAMBLING in which he listed the government’s AFTER VIDEO’S FAILURE faults, alleged corruption and mismanagement. He also shared The deputy chair of the AKP’s

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publicity and media department, of the video had been bad for the Emre Cemil Ayvali, said the CHP party. “Our defense to defense and wanted the video deleted because continuous attempt to explain and it couldn’t tolerate an animated apologize for crimes we have not cartoon – even as the opposition committed have started to cause a party shared the video on its official serious problem.” Twitter account. Ayvali, however, deleted his tweet after the AKP Another pro-government columnist, erased the video from all its social Nagehan Alci, wrote that the decision media accounts. to delete the video stemmed from an internal party fight. Alci recalled the “As the AKP, we took a step to perception about the CHP, in which establish discreet opposition. We the party members quarrel with each attracted attention to the level of other, and wrote, “The internal affairs political lies,” said Ayvali’s boss, AKP in the AKP have become a boiling Deputy Chair Hamza Dag, who is cauldron full of mischief [toward each responsible for publicity and the other].” media. She also said the same situation was Dag added that they had achieved true for the AKP media. their goal and were asking for a platform in which issues would be Alci highlighted recent public surveys discussed based on real evidence that indicate a decrease in votes and information. for the AKP even as the president’s support level remains at 35 percent. AKP SUPPORTERS SLAM OWN “They are injuring themselves due to PARTY the conflicts and disputes between themselves.” In the wake of the video, AKP supporters on Clubhouse slammed Alci said the youth branch of the AKP Dag for deleting the video while also that prepared the video had been lashing out at the video. disappointed by the reaction and that such efforts would fail to attract Yeni Safak columnist Ismail Kilicarslan young people to the party. wrote that the AKP had been forced into defense and that the deletion

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AKP LOSING GROUND IN AD GAME are the replies that the AKP tried to give in reply to accusations. In fact, The editor-in-chief of Medyascope, this shows this is the indication that Rusen Cakir, said the AKP’s video they’ve thrown in the towel as they had turned into effective campaign give the perception that they are material for the CHP, rather than the struggling,” said Cakir. ruling party. Similarly, columnist Ismet Berkan “There are so many things that go criticized the AKP for highlighting the into the subconscious,” said Cakir, Central Bank reserves question just referring to the gold toilets, the milk as it was about to fall by the wayside. flowing from the palace’s taps or Berkan said the video caused the the barbeque issue. “The ‘Where is opposition to redouble their alliance the 128 billion dollars?’ question is as different party leaders highlighted repeated many times,” said Cakir, the issue in a challenge. calling it the biggest mistake of the video. “It seems that the AKP’s political communication team, which no one “With the lockdown, the question could hold a candle to [in the past], of ‘Where is the 128 billion dollars?’ is far from its former achievements, was about to be forgotten. But the making mistake after mistake. video highlighted the issue once In contrast, the CHP’s political more,” said Cakir, dubbing the video communication team is so successful a fiasco. “If you repeat the slogans of that it doesn’t even compare to the your rival, you start the race behind.” past,” Berkan said.

Cakir recalled the AKP’s previous The CHP has been questioning the advertising tactics in which the ruling fate of the reserves since January party, instead of replying to the by continuously repeating the opposition’s questions, forced them same question. Although AKP to give absurd reactions. officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have replied to “In that video, there is no reply to the question, almost all have given what the government is doing. differing answers. There is no reply to where the 128 billion dollars have gone. There The AKP on the other hand, has

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been referring to Nazi propagandist spreading disinformation regarding Joseph Goebbels’ theory of the big the reserves. lie since April in accusing the CHP of

MHP RELEASES CHARTER DRAFT THAT WOULD CURB ERDOGAN’S AUTHORITY The far-right MHP released a special status for the court as part of 100-article constitutional draft last a new constitution. week, calling for, among other proposals, the election of two vice Bahceli also proposed the presidents – a move that would roll establishment of a supreme court to back some of the president’s current, judge cabinet members and political far-reaching authorities. parties, a new definition for the status of the Central Bank and the renaming “From now on reaching a consensus and reorganization of the Religious to prepare a new constitution is a Affairs Directorate and the High national obligation. The MHP is ready Education Council. for that historical duty without any preconditions,” said MHP leader The draft also proposes tasking Devlet Bahceli, who unveiled his the parliamentary speaker with party’s plans during a rare press “sustaining the national consensus” conference on May 4. as a neutral figure. Bahceli further suggested reorganizing the status Bahceli abstained from sharing the of presidential decrees so that they contents of the draft with the public, do not come into conflict with the stressing that he would share the constitution. document with the AKP first. The ruling AKP and MHP lack the Nevertheless, some of the party’s two-thirds majority necessary to proposals have been revealed. immediately implement a new constitution, while they are also 20 Despite previously calling for the MPs short of the threshold to put a closure of the Constitutional Court – new constitution to a referendum. particularly after it failed to accept an indictment to close the HDP earlier this spring – the MHP called for a

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AKP LEAKS DETAILS FROM OWN court. The AKP is also not said to COMING DRAFT be proposing any changes to the Religious Affairs Directorate or the The AKP’s deputy group chair, Naci High Education Council. Bostanci, welcomed the MHP’s proposal, adding that his party would Yeni Safak reported that the two present its own draft after Eid al-Fitr. parties would work together to compose a joint draft. Bostanci expressed his desire to first discuss the MHP’s text within OPPOSITION SUMMARILY the People’s Alliance while asking DISMISSES PROPOSALS the other parties to propose their own drafts. “It would be fitting if Despite the government’s call, all the parties represented in the Turkey’s opposition parties parliament presented their draft texts categorically refused to discuss a on showing how they approach the new charter with the ruling parties. [new] constitution.” “It’s not our responsibility to change Soon after Bahceli’s press the constitution and then hold conference, pro-government media elections but make a constitution reported that the AKP’s 120-article in which everyone will keep their draft was now complete and that promises after holding elections for a President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was new parliament,” CHP Group Deputy to meet with the MHP leader later Chair Ozgur Ozel said. this week. The Iyi Party’s deputy group chair, According to reports, the AKP will Lutfu Turkkan, also refused to not propose the election of vice discuss the new constitution since it presidents. would entail support for the present “monstrous” presidential system. The AKP also doesn’t favor any changes to the status of the HDP Group Deputy Chair Saruhan Constitutional Court but will instead Oluc, meanwhile, urged Bahceli suggest amendments that could to look in the mirror after calling facilitate individual applications for the closure of the HDP and the and establish new branches at the Constitutional Court.

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BAHCELI AIMS TO REESTABLISH system that he dubbed the Turkish- SEPARATION OF POWERS style presidential system.”

Ibrahim Uslu, an expert on political PARTY RETURNING TO communication, said Bahceli aimed PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM IN ALL to streamline the presidential system BUT NAME? by reducing the issues that create problems. Karar columnist Taha Akyol highlighted that Bahceli called the Bahceli hopes to reestablish the system the “Presidential System” in separation of powers by offering a contrast to how Erdogan calls it the constitutional status for the Central “Presidential Government System.” Bank and increasing the power of Akyol said Bahceli was proposing a parliament in the appointment of presidential cabinet in which the vice high judges, Uslu said. presidents would be elected and parliament would be empowered. “That means curbing the president’s authority,” he added. Bahceli’s proposal to limit the president’s rights to issue decrees, The commentator also said the AKP endow parliament with the only and MHP would do what they could authority to withdraw Turkey from to find 20 MPs to approve the charter international agreements and make so that it could go to a nationwide the parliamentary speaker a neutral referendum. figure all show that the MHP leader has noticed the unbalanced issues in MHP LEADER LOOKING TO SECURE the system. PARTY’S FUTURE “Bahceli is both revealing the According to Berk Esen, a political problems in the presidential scientist at Sabanci University, government system and presenting Bahceli hopes to empower his the importance of the principles of party by increasing the power of institutional execution and a neutral parliament. “That’s why, by bringing president in the parliamentary the parliament back to the forefront, system,” wrote Akyol, while noting he is trying to guarantee the future that the present system is irreparable. of the MHP by institutionalizing the

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WATCH YOUR HANDS Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s mediatic during a visit to the shrine of mayor and potential challenger to Mehmed the Conqueror on the Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2023 567th anniversary of Istanbul’s presidential elections, is no stranger conquest last year. to probes. Ever since he took the reins of Turkey’s largest city, he “CIMOCRACY” AT WORK has faced a series of investigations largely due to the efforts of the Some papers reported that the ruling AKP and its cronies who have charges were laid following a sought to discredit him at every turn. complaint by Ufuk Akcekay, the A fortnight ago, Imamoglu and his chairman of fourth-tier football father were cleared of charges of club Tokatspor, through CIMER, the fraud over a villa they acquired at infamous online portal that allows lower-than-market prices while it was citizens to make complaints to the still under construction. Presidential Communications Center directly. Akcekay, however, said his But before Imamoglu had time to complaint did not center on the rejoice over the acquittal, he came hand gesture but with the more under a new probe – this time for prosaic allegation that Imamoglu had the heinous crime of folding his dealings with FETO, the gang of U.S.- hands behind his back (wait, there’s based cleric Fethullah Gulen. more) a year ago. On April 28, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu Office invited Imamoglu to testify announced that Imamoglu’s act was on charges of “showing disrespect” “a crime as far as he was concerned,”

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which raised a chorus of protests. and thumb up front and raises the “There is no such thing as crime-in- pinkie and the index finger – rather my-opinion,” Imamoglu hit back. By like a child’s shadow play for a the way, we all know Soylu’s favorite dog – it is the Gray Wolf sign of the gesture: giving a shoulder shove ultranationalists. The “ownership” to then-Economy Minister Berat of the gesture belongs to Bahceli’s Albayrak, followed by a rascal-like MHP, which explained while Meral smile. Aksener, establishing her Iyi Party with others who broke away from the ON THE OTHER HAND... MHP, forbade the gesture at her first congress, only to relax her stance – Turkey’s creative twitteratti and even advocate – its use later on. immediately started mocking the Just don’t do it in Austria, where it’s probe, either by posting other banned. “offensive” gestures (“Imamoğlu insulted the president by spreading HANDS DOWN? his legs too widely next to the president,” went one) while others Sometimes hand gestures become posted a snapshot of MHP leader a question of diplomacy. Erdogan and Erdogan ally Devlet Bahceli and his cronies keep making the in the same hands-back position sign Rabia, the gesture of support at a memorial for fallen soldiers, for Muslim Brotherhood and later for demanding prosecutors launch a those who took to the streets to stop probe into him too. the 2016 coup attempt. Now that Ankara wants to improve ties with The absurdity of the probe Egypt, Haberturk columnist Huseyin notwithstanding, seasoned Turkey Ozturk has asked whether Erdogan watchers know all too well that will quietly drop the Rabia. ANKA hand gestures, like mustaches, shed Review noted that the president has light on the person’s political and refrained from the gesture since mid- ideological inclinations. A right hand March, though it was the symbol of placed on the heart, particularly his “one people, one flag, one nation, combined with a half-smile, may one state” policy. Rabia, c’est moi? indicate that the person greeting you is a conservative. If he (it is seldom a she) puts his middle and ring finger

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The AKP has long courted Brando. “So you wanted to Generation Z and Millennials, play Brando parts and ended but efforts in that direction, up playing with the lives of such as later-denied plan to students,” came a tart reply on influence parents to influence Twitter. their first-time voter children and a cartoon animation The second minister to go Ghosts (analyzed in depth elsewhere in before the youth, Industry and this ANKA Review) scored more Technology Minister Mustafa chuckles than potential votes. Varank, was jokingly asked Of The whether his last name meant Last week, two of Turkey’s that he was a descendant of ministers attempted to take a Vikings, known as Varangians. lighthearted approach to the “I think it’s a possibility [that we Past country’s youth, only to invite are descendants] considering more ridicule than amusement. our family’s physical attributes Joining the #20yearschallenge and the history of our last on social media, Education name,” replied the stocky, dark Minister Ziya Selcuk posted and short minister. One can a photo of a young Marlon only surmise he was joking.

“Implying a coup” has long The soldier-turned-author been a go-to accusation told Cumhuriyet that the to use against journalists, 1960 coup might not have ex-soldiers and politicians, happened if the then-prime particularly since 2016. The minister had declared latest to be tarred with such early elections. So many allegations is llker Basbug, dangerous ideas: the the former Chief of Staff, suggestion that PM Adnan who is now facing up to Menderes (one of the present Haunting three years of imprisonment government’s idols) acted for an interview with daily unwisely and that political Cumhuriyet. Basbug is no leaders would be better off stranger to such allegations, calling for early elections if Words as he was handed a life their support wanes. A quick sentence for plotting a coup lesson: Just add history (the in 2012. In all, he spent 26 same goes for politics and months in prison, walking religion) to the list of topics free after the top court to avoid. annulled the sentence.

GET IN TOUCH Editor In Chief: Ahmet Dirican Editor of Turkish Weekly: Duygu Guvenc