Changes in the Election Process? & more – 21st Nov 2023

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 21st of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Saturday the 18th, after his return from his Germany trip, President Erdoğan expressed his will to change the rules for picking the president. He said that a regular majority should be enough to win the elections instead of the current 50% benchmark. He believes the current system makes political parties ‘stray off the course,’ referencing the six-party opposition alliance in the last elections. They were an odd bunch, as they all supported different and sometimes conflicting ideologies. Yet, they still came together to topple the ruling government and broke apart in the end because of their differences.

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Erdoğan added that the change would make things better and easier and avoid the need to hold a second round of elections with the top two candidates having to get more than 50% of the votes.

On the same day, a group of journalists, activists, and political figures gathered outside Hrant Dink's old Istanbul office, the place where he was tragically shot, to honor his memory and protest the release of his killer from prison for ‘good behavior’ earlier this month.

Hrant Dink was an Armenian journalist and the founder of the Agos newspaper. He stirred controversy with his articles on Armenian identity and the nineteen fifteen massacre. He also got in trouble for 'insulting Turkishness' in two thousand and four. However, he said that he was just trying to ease tensions between Turks and Armenians. His opposing views got him threats from nationalists and the government. Sadly, on the 19th of January, two thousand and seven, seventeen-year-old Ogün Samast shot and killed Dink as he was leaving his office.

The murder is still put into question, as Samast might not have acted alone. If so, the people who ordered the killing have never been caught. The government might have been behind the killing.

On a related note…

On Thursday the 16th, the ANKA News Agency reported that lawmakers of the ruling Justice and Development Party or AKP, and Nationalist Movement Party, rejected a proposal demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the assassination of Hrant Dink.

Next up, some tragic news from the earthquake-hit Hatay province…

On Sunday the 16th, a body was found under the collapsed top floor of a building, where the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake caused the most damage. This might be the body of a person who has been reported missing since the earthquake.

It stirred unease, given that almost 300 days have passed since the earthquake disaster. Every time a body is found, many relive the whole tragedy.

Moving on to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…

As you may know, Turkey is one of the countries that are slamming Israel like there is no tomorrow. Both the government and the public have been very clear about where they stand in the conflict, siding with Palestine. Now, Turkey is boycotting Israeli products and Israeli franchises because of the war. However, no one seems to be talking about how Turkey exports steel to Israel, which is used to build weapons. Similarly, Israel’s oil supply is also shipped from Turkish ports.

In unrelated news, the weather took a turn for the worst…

The weather forecast has been warning about cold and rainy days, and lots of cities have turned into winter wonderlands with storms hitting coastal spots, flooding homes and businesses. Due to this bad weather, schools took a one-day break on Monday the 20th in some cities like Zonguldak, Bolu, and Batman. Pregnant or disabled people working in public jobs also got time off.

In addition, Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines canceled over a hundred flights from and to İstanbul because of the adverse weather conditions.

Speaking of flights…

Reportedly, a Turkish airline, SunExpress, departed from Paris to İzmir, leaving behind thirty passengers. Here’s how it played out: A SunExpress flight scheduled to depart from Paris at 5 pm local time faced an unexpected delay, taking off at 8 pm instead. Passengers at the airport reported a lack of information on check-in counters even when the flight time arrived.

Adding to the confusion, passengers checking the flight status on radar apps noticed the plane had taken off without notice, leaving thirty passengers behind. Allegedly, one of the people left behind was the pilot himself.

Contradicting these claims, SunExpress issued a statement suggesting passengers had been late for boarding. The airline assured that it accommodated the affected travelers in hotels and redirected them to the next available flight. This unexpected turn of events left passengers and aviation enthusiasts questioning the circumstances surrounding the delayed departure from the City of Lights.

Last month, Turkish social media influencer Dilan Polat and her husband Engin Polat were arrested for involvement in organized crime. The police became interested in the couple due to their extravagant lifestyle, and the prosecutor's office discovered irregularities in their companies' financial reports. Following the arrest of the Polat couple and the seizure of their twenty-seven companies, Turkish authorities have launched an investigation into 600 other social media influencers as well. These 600 influencers have come under scrutiny for their ties to organized crime and their use of questionable profits to fund their extravagant lifestyles. They all appear to have a beauty center, which might be used for money laundering.

Most recently, on Thursday the 16th, the police arrested Bahar and Nihal Candan, a sister duo known for their spoiled behavior, for money laundering, likely marking the beginning of a series of arrests within the influencer circle.

Let’s go back to airlines for a minute.

Last year, a Pegasus Airlines employee was convicted for explicitly insulting religious values. He had posted a photo on social media showing him drinking alcohol on a sacred day of Islam,. Pegasus Airlines then fired him for a ‘disgraceful crime.’ He filed a countersuit, but there haven’t been any developments yet. Upon this, in a YouTube video, the man said that he fled to the United States illegally and applied for asylum.

In some more political news…

On Tuesday the 21st, Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, targeted journalist Barış Terkoğlu for an article he wrote titled “Will Erdoğan get Bahçeli off his back?” In his speech, Bahçeli called Terkoğlu mentally challenged and his article a ‘low attempt’ to discuss the issues between his party and the ruling Justice and Development Party. He added that throughout his political career, he has never ridden on anyone's back nor allowed anyone to ride his back.

Over this, Terkoğlu wrote a rather harsh tweet. He invited Bahçeli to have a debate on the topic but added, "unless you have paid a drug dealer or an underaged hitman to kill me,” referring to the widely held belief that the MHP engages in the assassination of its adversaries.

And to close this edition, amidst Israel's ongoing attacks, The Ministry of National Defense provided aircrafts for the safe transport of sick people and their companions from Gaza to Turkey to receive treatment. They arrived in Ankara on Monday the 20th, and settled in different state hospitals.

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