TURKEY: Attack in Church & more – 30th Jan 2024

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 30th of January twenty twenty-four A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

We are starting this episode with unfortunate news. On Sunday the 28th, two masked gunmen attacked the Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul during a Sunday morning service, tragically killing one Turkish citizen. Authorities quickly responded and apprehended the two attackers. They revealed that they were Tajikistan and Russian nationals with possible ties to the Islamic State. The group claimed responsibility for the attack, citing instructions to target Christians and Jews. The police also conducted raids at over thirty locations connected to the group and arrested over forty individuals. The CCTV footage shows that the two gunmen specifically targeted the deceased and left the church as soon as he was hit. This suggests that the attack wasn’t a shooting but rather an assassination. However, there haven’t been any official updates on the details of the attack.

Turkish officials expressed condolences and vowed to continue investigations and detain those linked to the extremist group. Pope Francis offered his sympathy for the victim and condemned the violence.

In some news on the economy, on Thursday the 25th, the Central Bank announced that it raised the policy interest rate to 45%, up from 40%, to fight inflation, which is reportedly slowing down a bit, but it’s still way too high. The bank said that it will continue the monetary tightening until prices fall sharply and the economy stabilizes. The bank is also working on improving financial rules and using other tools to control inflation.

The local elections are coming up! On Saturday the 27th, the Supreme Election Council set the parties’ ballot order in a draw. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, scored the coveted first position, while its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party, landed at the opposite end at 31st out of the thirty-five parties. The main opposition, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, will be placed 18th, and the Good Party will be in 2nd place. Some found the AKP's top spot a bit curious, and said that it was “one lucky party,” implying potential corruption in the draw.

Speaking of the elections, let’s talk about the mayoral campaigns in İstanbul. The current Istanbul municipality has a “Mother Card” program that offers free public transportation to the mother of children aged up to four. Murat Kurum, the AKP’s mayoral candidate, proposed a "Family Card" to expand the “Mother Card” program to include fathers and also raise the age limit for children to six.

However, the move was called into question, as some dubbed it the "Father Card," sparking accusations of pandering. The "Father Card" nickname took off on social media. Upon this, the government's anti-misinformation team quickly denied its existence, calling media reports "manipulative." However, this brought even more clouds over Kurum, as the government, which is supposed to be bound by neutrality, is very clearly backing him up, and protecting his image. His privilege was called into question, as it disturbs the balance of a fair election.

On Friday the 26th, Nuray Babacan, a journalist, revealed that Ali Yerlikaya, the interior minister, was bitter over the AKP not naming him as the party’s Istanbul mayoral candidate. Yerlikaya was one of the potential candidates. He was hesitant about the post at first, but later embraced the race, expecting to be named the Istanbul mayoral candidate. In recent months, he even adopted a pro-Atatürk stance to appeal to the nationalists and the common voters in the city but it reportedly alienated him from the AKP’s conservative base, eliminating him as a candidate. Babacan suggested that Yerlikaya's potential to act autonomously also worried the party leadership, as President Erdoğan likely wants someone he can control. However, Yerlikaya is blaming his predecessor Süleyman Soylu and his team for the snub. Since Yerlikaya took office, he has reformed the Interior Ministry, restructuring police and bureaucratic ranks. He also launched operations against criminal organizations and police officers allegedly tied to Soylu's corruption web. He believes Soylu orchestrated campaigns to discredit Yerlikaya and erode his AKP base.

Muharrem Ince, leader of the CHP break-away, the Homeland Party, announced that his party wouldn't collaborate with the CHP in the upcoming local elections. He cited differing views on important issues like the CHP working with pro-Kurdish parties with alleged ties to terrorist groups, and its support of Sweden’s NATO membership. They also had clashes over the name of the city ‘Tunceli.’ It was originally called ‘Dersim,’ a historically significant name for the Kurdish and Alevi population, but the government renamed it in nineteen thirty-five. Nationalists insist on calling it ‘Tunceli’, while locals, as well as the CHP, call it ‘Dersim’.

The CHP's response painted a different picture, saying İnce's sudden change of heart stemmed from the party not meeting his demands.

On that note about Sweden’s NATO bid, the Turkish Parliament finally put an end to the suspense, granting official approval on Wednesday the 24th. But here's what's interesting: before the twenty twenty-three elections, pro-government media was painting a dire picture, suggesting only the ruling AKP stood between Sweden and NATO membership, and Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition presidential candidate and former leader of the CHP, would gladly approve Sweden’s ascension. Fast forward to today: Erdoğan is still the president, and surprisingly, paved the way for Sweden's entry into the alliance.

Anywho, now that the Sweden issue is resolved, Turkey toppled the biggest barrier to a $20 billion F-16 fighter jet deal with the United States. The US Ambassador to Turkey expects the U.S. Congress to approve the sales soon, though not without acknowledging concerns about some human rights issues in Turkey, like the rule of law and freedom of the press.

But that’s not it. Sweden’s ratification also paved the way for resuming drone trade with Canada. Previously, many NATO allies imposed sanctions on exports for the defense industry following Turkey’s military activity in Syria and its purchase of Russian weaponry. However, now Canada states that once Turkey is done with the official paperwork about Sweden’s ratification, it’ll start selling drones to the country again, with one condition: Turkey will be transparent about the drones’ use.

Turkish immigrants in Germany founded a new political party, The Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Renewal, or DAVA, and some speculate that it's an extension of Turkey's ruling AKP. The party's leaders rejected the accusation, saying that they are an independent German party. However, several of the party's founders have ties to the AKP. The DAVA is expected to participate in the upcoming European Parliament elections in June. Experts say that if the party is successful, it could have a significant impact on German politics.

Let’s go back to press freedom for a second. Recall that last year, Sinan Aygül, a journalist, exposed suspected corruption within the AKP-run Tatvan district municipality of Bitlis. The district mayor’s bodyguard jumped Aygül, threatening to kill him if he ever wrote about the district mayor again. Reportedly, a police officer joined the intimidation as well. Shockingly, the attackers then sued Aygül for voicing his outrage about the attack.

On Thursday the 25th, in a head-scratching turn, Aygül received two months in prison for quite literally wishing god’s wrath on them. Meanwhile, his attackers received a one-year prison sentence for “not leaving any scars on Aygül’s face,” leaving a sense of injustice and a question mark over the system's priorities.

Let’s close this edition with some good news for gender equality. On Sunday the 28th, the Constitutional Court announced that women can now finally choose to keep their surnames after marriage. Previously, the law mandated that women adopt their husband's surname upon marriage, or hyphenate it with their own. If they wanted to use their maiden surnames, they'd have to file a suit and spend months, or maybe years, waiting for the lawsuit to settle.

Aaaaaand that's it for this week. So you listen to us, ideally almost every week, but we don't actually know each other. Here's a chance to fix that. On Monday the 8th of April there is a total eclipse of the sun in Dallas, Texas, in the US. There will be events organized the whole weekend before. So on the off chance you can get here, send us an email or check the show notes for more information.

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