Ruling Party Condems West Silencing Pro-Palestine Protests & more–17th Oct 2023

Merhaba from BA! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 17th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Some news on the Palestinian-Israeli war…

Ömer Çelik, the spokesperson of the ruling Justice and Development Party, condemned Western governments for silencing pro-Palestinian protests and criminalizing support for the Palestinian people. In a statement on social media, Çelik said that Israel's actions against the Palestinians were "contrary to all human values, human rights, and international law."

He also said that suppressing demonstrations that are held in the name of human conscience was fascist. The statement came amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests in Western countries following Israel's recent airstrikes on Gaza. It mainly targets Germany, which reportedly banned pro-Palestine protests in its capital city.

What about Sweden’s NATO bid?

Earlier this year, Erdoğan promised to send Sweden’s bid to join NATO to the Turkish parliament once the legislature came back from its yearly break. Well, the parliament reopened this month, but reportedly the Sweden business will be at a standstill until the United States approves its F-16 sales to Turkey. An insider from the ruling Justice and Development Party said that Turkey is waiting for the US to take a step before moving forward with the ratification of Sweden’s NATO application.

Onto some sad news on education…

On Sunday the 15th, a twenty-one-year-old student at Eskişehir Anadolu University committed suicide in the campus cafeteria. Another student found the body and reported it to the authorities. Youth organizations claimed that the student killed himself because of economic problems. However, the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office stated that the student’s suicide note did not mention economic problems as a cause of death. The university released a statement referring to the student's death as an "unfortunate incident." The way that the university addressed the situation was put into question.

A parliament member from the main opposition, the Republican People's Party, or CHP pointed out that nearly 6,000 people have committed suicide in the country due to economic reasons in the last decade— the majority being in their early to mid-twenties.

Dilan Polat, a Turkish social media influencer who has been a big sensation on social media for her lavish lifestyle and excessive spending, and her husband, Engin Polat, are under investigation for alleged involvement in organized crime. The two caught the eye of the police because of their suspiciously luxurious life. The prosecutor’s office found unusual activity in the financial reports of the couple’s companies. Following that, the Istanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office’s Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau launched an investigation into the couple and their families on the charges of establishing and leading a criminal organization, money laundering, tax evasion, and being members of a criminal organization.

The investigation is ongoing, but authorities have already seized the couple's assets, including their businesses, bank accounts, and property. They have also been banned from traveling outside of Turkey. Reportedly, they have made illegal transactions amounting to billions in Turkish Liras. After the news of the investigation broke out, some social media users jokingly mentioned how Polat bragging about her money and luxury life brought down an organized crime syndicate.

Moving on…

Recall that last month, the police arrested a seventeen-year-old high school student on charges of publicly insulting the memory of Atatürk, the founding father of Turkey. Well, the verdict is out and the court sentenced him to over a year in a juvenile jail. However, he will not serve any time in prison, as in Turkey, only convicts with sentences higher than three years serve time. The court also ordered the boy’s release from prison, in line with his sentence. He had been in jail for the past month awaiting his trial. His conviction was called into question as he is still a minor.

Some good news…

On Thursday the 12th, a Turkish court overturned a governor's ban on a rock festival in Adana, on the day it was scheduled to begin. The governor had banned the festival over concerns about alcohol-related crimes, but the festival organizer, Milyon Production, said that the governor's ban was "baseless" and pointed out that other festivals, such as food and film festivals, had been allowed to take place in Adana without any problems. Milyon Production also said that it had initially reapplied to the governor's office with an amended "alcohol-free" festival plan, but the governor had rejected it. The court sided with the organizer and found the governor’s concerns unjustified. The festival went on as it was planned, however, only people over the age of eighteen were allowed.

The court's decision to overturn the governor's ban was a victory for freedom of expression and for the right to assemble peacefully. It also sent a message that the government cannot arbitrarily cancel events that it does not approve of.

Let’s talk about the aftermath of the February earthquakes in Maraş…

Mustafa Büyükbalık, a resident of Maraş, has filed a lawsuit against a bank saying that it lost his gold during the earthquake. Büyükbalık said that he had stored gold worth two million Turkish liras or 71,000 dollars in a safe deposit box at the bank. He said that the bank told him that they had found the safety box undamaged and that it would return his gold to him. However, when he received it, both the box and the gold were damaged and some of it was missing. Reportedly, some of the gold Büyükbalık received wasn’t his as well. He said that if the box wasn’t damaged, then the bank should have given it to him unopened. However, that wasn’t the case. Now, he is suing the bank for compensation for his losses.

Some updates from the entertainment world…

Metin Akpınar, an eighty-two-year-old legendary Turkish actor, recently revealed that he has two twin daughters from a one-night stand he had outside of his sixty-five-year-long marriage. The children were born in nineteen eighty-eight. The revelation of Akpınar's secret children made headlines in Turkey and sparked a debate about fatherhood and family. The actor’s behavior was put into question, as he committed adultery and abandoned his children— even though he had just recently learned about their existence.

On Sunday, the 15th, Show TV, a local TV channel, aired Akpınar's nineteen seventy-five film Where Did This Brat Come From? The film tells the story of a man who discovers that he has a secret son. Many thought that the channel aired the film in reference to Akpınar’s situation.

Another program from Show TV also received a lot of attention this week …

On Saturday the 14th, Güldür Güldür Show, a sketch comedy show, satirized the internal debate within the CHP, over whether to change its leadership or policies.

The sketch, titled We Are Renovating or Yeniliyoruz, which also means we are losing featured a group of CHP members arguing about whether to renovate the party's headquarters. Some members argued that the party needs to change its ways to appeal to younger voters, while others argued that the party should remain true to its traditional values.

The sketch was a hit on social media, and CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called the show's creators to congratulate them. He said that he appreciated the show's willingness to tackle political issues in a humorous way. Even though the sketch also criticized Kılıçdaroğlu’s stance, he said that the sketch’s type of humor was important for politics, politicians, and the public.

And to close this edition…

Turkey is selling permits to hunt wild animals, including chamois, Anatolian wild sheep, wild goats, and red deer. The cost of the permits change according to the species and the province the hunter will hunt in. For example, hunting an Anatolian wild sheep in the central Karaman province costs 675,000 Turkish liras, around twenty-four thousand US Dollars.

The Turkish government said that the program is a way to promote hunting tourism and generate revenue for conservation efforts. The program was called into question as it might be cruel and unnecessary.

And that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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