TURKEY: Constitution Changes & more – 17th Sep 2024

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 17th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

As the parliament starts its new legislative year on the 1st of October, debate continues around whether it will tackle constitutional changes. Even though the ruling bloc has been discussing the need to make changes to the constitution, arguing the current one was a work of the military government under a coup, it hasn’t presented any bills about this to the Parliament yet.

Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Free Cause Party within the ruling bloc, has proposed amending the fourth article of the constitution. This article shields the first three articles from changes. These define Turkey’s flag, government form as a republic, and its capital city, Ankara. Yapıcıoğlu argues that immutable articles restrict future generations' autonomy. However, both ruling and opposition parties strongly defend these core principles.

The spokesperson for the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, said that the first four articles will remain untouched in every constitutional revision.

On Sunday the 15th, the Islamist and nationalist Big Family Platform organized its third anti-LGBTI+ Big Family Meeting rally in İstanbul.

The event featured speeches from figures like the Üsküdar University Rector, who advocated for conversion therapy and said that members of the LGBT community were occupying the country as a gang. The rally participants, many carrying identical placards borrowed from foreign far-right groups, called for constitutional protection of the family, describing it as a matter of national security.

The AKP’s Fatih Municipality distributed soup at the event, while the state media TRT and the Anadolu Agency broadcast the rally live. Protesters also demonstrated support for the AKP and Nationalist Movement Party’s push for a constitutional ban on LGBTI+ organizations and propaganda.

Many LGBT organizations condemned the hate rally in Istanbul, calling it an act that spreads discrimination and hatred toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families.

On the same day, the Social Policy, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation Studies Association distributed traditional lokma sweets outside the Fatih Mosque to honor Ahmet Yıldız, who was killed by his father in two thousand eight for being gay. His family refused to claim his body and he was buried in a common grave. Despite forty court hearings, his father remains at large, with many saying that authorities have made little effort to apprehend him.

On Saturday the 14th, the Saturday Mothers gathered for another of their protests at Galatasaray Square in Istanbul. They have held peaceful sit-ins at Galatasaray Square every Saturday since May nineteen ninety-five. They seek justice for missing relatives who disappeared in custody and victims of unsolved political assassinations.

This week, they highlighted the case of Cemil Kırbayır, a twenty-six-year-old student who had been detained on the 13th of September nineteen eighty, a day after the coup. He was tortured to death but his body was never recovered. After the coup, authorities detained numerous individuals like Kırbayır, who held strong ideological views, whether communist, nationalist, or Islamist. They disappeared in detention centers, where they were tortured or executed.

Early on Tuesday the 17th, a fire broke out at a felt factory in the organized industrial zone in the city of Kayseri. Firefighters are still working to control the blaze. There have been reports of multiple deaths and injuries, though the authorities haven’t made an announcement yet.

In other news… On Tuesday the 10th, Murat Kurum, the Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Minister, welcomed Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, at the ministry. Kurum was a mayoral candidate for Istanbul from the AKP, but lost to İmamoğlu, the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP’s candidate. They had an intense rivalry during the elections, with their clashes making headlines almost every week. The president even stepped in, siding with Kurum and promoting him. After the elections, the president reappointed Kurum as environment minister.

It was pleasantly surprising that the two could set aside their rivalry and unite for the good of the people, a striking move given that one is openly pro-government while the other represents the main opposition.

During the meeting, they discussed the city’s earthquake preparedness, urban transformation, and the protection of Istanbul’s natural resources and the Bosphorus. İmamoğlu described the talks as productive, and Kurum emphasized their shared focus on Istanbul’s future.

Next, on Wednesday the 11th, foreclosure officers seized the furniture from the office of Ali Boltaç, the Tarsus District Mayor from the CHP. They said that it was due to the municipality’s unpaid debts related to severance pay.

Boltaç stated that despite three months of reconciliation attempts and partial payments, the debt grew from five and a half million liras, which is about 160 thousand dollars, to ten million liras, around 300 thousand dollars. He called the increase malicious, noting the debt predates his twenty twenty-four term and urged for a restructuring of payments.

On Thursday the 12th, authorities arrested Ahmet Sonuç or Jahrein, a well-known and controversial YouTuber, on obscenity charges tied to his online activity. The arrest followed an investigation into comments he made in a Twitter chat room. Jahrein and another individual, E.K., allegedly made obscene remarks about young girls, which the court considered offensive and against public morals.

The investigation led to charges after authorities found similar controversial content in Jahrein's Twitch broadcasts. His arrest has sparked controversy, as Jahrein’s remarks could have been criticizing the normalization of harmful comments and the rising number of child abuse cases that regularly make headlines. However, there are people who are fed up with seeing child abuse reports weekly and see the arrest as a necessary action.

In some news on foreign affairs, a stabbing in Solingen has reignited Germany's growing migrant crisis, so the government extended controls on its borders. This has raised fears about the future of the Schengen Agreement, which allows free travel within Europe. The new regulations sparked concern in Turkey, as holders of the Green Passport, a special document allowing visa-free travel to the Schengen zone, may now face entry restrictions in Germany.

On a related note, rumors recently spread on social media saying that Japan had ended its visa exemption agreement with Turkey. However, on Monday the 16th, the Directorate of Communications’ Disinformation Center quickly quashed these rumors. In a statement, the center confirmed that the Visa Exemption Agreement between Turkey and Japan remains in place, allowing Turkish citizens to travel to Japan for tourism or business without a visa for up to three months.

More updates on travel as Mustafa Sarıgül, an MP from the CHP, criticized the lack of scheduled flights at Kocaeli Cengiz Topel and three other airports, despite rising costs. He pointed out that Kocaeli airport only had its first flight in five years this August, with just eight flights that month. Meanwhile, the airport’s expenses increased from fifty million liras, which is almost two million US Dollars, to ninety million liras - a little over three million dollars - in one year.

Sarıgül also highlighted a sharp rise in payments to operators under the build-operate-transfer model, which increased from seventy million dollars to 220 million dollars in six years. This model lets private firms build and run infrastructure, with the government covering any shortfall if passenger or vehicle quotas aren’t met. The government originally intended to cut initial construction costs with the model. However, it has now resulted in significantly higher expenses due to many facilities remaining unused.

In unrelated news, The Constitutional Court decided that firing an employee for expressing dissatisfaction with a salary increase violated freedom of expression. The case involved an employee who had criticized his raise via email and suggested a reevaluation, leading to his dismissal. The court found that the email didn’t include any accusations that would justify firing him and awarded the employee thirty thousand liras, which is around 900 US Dollars, in damages.

Finally, The Interior Ministry warns that drivers who haven’t renewed their old-style licenses by the end of this year will face traffic fines and lose their driving privileges. Drivers must update licenses issued before twenty sixteen. Back in twenty twenty-two, the government extended the deadline due to the pandemic but stated that it won’t extend it further. Drivers who miss the deadline will face fines up to twelve thousand liras, which is around 350 dollars, an increase from the current four thousand liras, which are around a hundred dollars.

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

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