New Immigrant Policies? & more– 18th July 2023

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 18th of July twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Thursday the 13th, on his way back from the annual NATO Summit, President Erdoğan answered some questions from journalists. When asked about illegal immigrants, he said that the citizens will soon begin to feel the effects of the government's new immigrant policies, without going into more detail.

On Saturday the 15th, two days after Erdoğan’s remarks, many news outlets reported that the interior ministry would no longer issue new residence permits to foreigners in İstanbul. Many people thought that this was a part of the new policies that Erdoğan mentioned. However, the Directorate of Migration Management quashed the rumors. It stated that it implemented the necessary regulations last year, when it stopped issuing residence permits in ten districts of the city because immigrants living in the districts surpassed 20% of the local population. It added that alongside İstanbul, the ministry stopped issuing residence permits in over a thousand neighborhoods across sixty cities since last year, in order to preserve the ratio, and it’ll continue to add to the lists when necessary. However, right now, there’s no need for such a drastic regulation.

Even though there is no regulation against issuing residence permits right now, the lack of regulations was called into question. Official data suggests that there are over five million foreigners living in Turkey, and over one million of them reside in Istanbul, making up almost 10% of the city’s population. Of course, these are the official numbers, there are also undocumented and illegal immigrants.

Let’s talk about price increases…

Recall that last week, there were a series of tax surges. It seems the country hasn’t got off the tax train yet, as on Sunday the 16th, the people woke up to the news of new and heavy tax increases.

The President announced in the Official Gazette that the special consumption tax on fuel doubled. It used to be a little over two liras, around 10 US cents per litre. Now, it’s over seven liras, or 30 cents. This tax surge increased the price of a liter of gasoline and diesel fuel by 20%. The price of a liter of gas went up from twenty-eight liras to thirty-four liras, that is; from around a dollar to a dollar and thirty cents. While people protested against the increase, the government said that it was in order since they hadn’t increased it in over seven years. Well, the tax rate might not have increased, but the amount consistently surged, as the prices hike up weekly, if not daily.

The minister of finance also said that Turkey is selling the fourth cheapest fuel in Europe as a response to people complaining about the price increase. However, cheap or not, people in Turkey have trouble affording it, as the majority of the country earns minimum wage and spends a big portion of their earnings on paying rent.

Moreover, the government also doubled the consumption tax on natural gas for residential use.

At midnight, around the time the government announced the tax increases, mosques all over the country broadcasted the ‘Sela’ prayer, a prayer said before the funeral service of a Muslim. However, this time, the prayer was said to commemorate those who died during the coup attempt on the 15th of July twenty sixteen. It’s become a tradition since then. However, this time, the mosques said the prayer on the 16th for unknown reasons. A member of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, criticized how the prayer coincided with the increases and said that it was black propaganda, demanding that whoever was behind this be fired immediately. He also criticized the tax increases, saying that they will cause inflation to soar further. His comments were called into question as even the ruling bloc has begun to oppose its own policies.

Luckily, though, this time, the people aren’t the only ones tightening their belts.

On Monday the 18th, the finance ministry revealed that the central government’s budget deficit reached eight billion US Dollars in the first six months of the year. Following this, the minister of finance sent a notice to public institutions asking them to review their spending and cut them to save money.

On another note…

Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of the main opposition the Republican People’s Party or CHP, is suing Jahrein, a Twitch streamer, for calling him a ‘leblebi’ or “roasted-chickpea head” and a “dementia patient”. The streamer, whose real name is Ahmet Sonuç, announced on social media that Kılıçdaroğlu filed a lawsuit against him for emotional damage, demanding 200 thousand liras, or seven thousand dollars in compensation. Sonuç further added that Kılıçdaroğlu has never won anything, and it was likely that he would also lose the lawsuit.

During his election campaign, Kılıçdaroğlu vowed to abolish the law that criminalized insulting the president and said that if he was elected, everyone could criticize him freely. Now it seems that he turned his coat.

On Monday the 17th, Jahrein announced that he also sued Kılıçdaroğlu for the copyrights of a video he made with Kılıçdaroğlu during the elections. He also tweeted a picture of the UNO reverse card on Twitter with the caption “Your move Mr. Leblebi”

Let’s talk about politics…

On Thursday the 13th, the Cumhuriyet Newspaper reported that the Council of Judges and Prosecutors dismissed judge Ahmet Çakmak from his duty permanently. Çakmak recently made it to the headlines after he launched an investigation into Erdoğan for running for president for a third term, even though the law only allows someone to be president for two terms.

For his dismissal, the council cited that Çakmak’ was banished from his place of duty twice, and according to the law of Judges and Prosecutors, if someone receives a banishment penalty twice, they will be dismissed.

Reportedly, Çakmak was banished for comical reasons like using a bold font in a document;, requesting a gym to be built in the courthouse, requesting a prosecutor to receive further training because he wanted to imprison a child, and saying that he’d go to the European Court of Human Rights for the investigations recorded in his file, as his file looks like a ‘parody from a comedy show’.

Moving on...

Recall that last week, President Erdoğan agreed to approve Sweden’s bid to join NATO. However, Erdoğan’S allies don’t seem to agree with him. Fatih Erbakan, the head of the Islamist New Welfare Party, said that Sweden didn’t take any significant steps regarding Turkey’s requests, and even encouraged attacks on what Turkey holds sacred. He said that Turkey wasn’t benefiting from anything by allowing Sweden to join NATO and requested that Erdoğan reconsider his decision.

Last Tuesday the 11th, a police officer was found dead in his car on the side of a highway. His death was called into question as it looked like a suicide because he was shot in the head.

The police officer, referred to as ‘the one with the Maserati’ on social media because of the car he was driving, made it to the headlines in the previous weeks for beating a man and breaking his legs during a traffic argument. After the incident became public, questions arose about how he could afford a Maserati, worth around 8 million liras, or 300 thousand US Dollars, with a police salary, which is 200 thousand liras, or seven thousand US dollars yearly. He was suspended following the incident and the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime unit launched an investigation into him.

Rumors had it that he was part of an organized crime group that executed him.

The leader of the Menzil cult, a radical Islamist cult in the country, recently passed away. His funeral was held in the city of Adıyaman. On Thursday the 13th, Turkish Airlines reportedly added flights to Adıyaman every fifteen minutes to accommodate the people who wanted to attend the funeral. Over 200 thousand people went to the funeral.

Many politicians, including President Erdoğan and some leaders from the main opposition bloc, shared their condolences, praising the leader for his religious service. However, the cult also faced backlash from the public for the suspicious death of children in the cult’s education facilities.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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