TURKEY: DEM Visits Öcalan & more – 31st Dec 2024

Merhaba from BA! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 31st of December twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Kicking off this edition, on Friday the 27th, a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy, or DEM, Party visited Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Turkey deems a terrorist organization. This meeting came after Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party and President Erdoğan's ally, called on Öcalan to address the organization and halt the armed rebellion in exchange for parole.

This raised eyebrows, given Bahçeli’s ultra-nationalist stance, and many saw it as striking a deal with terrorists. However, the president also supported this notion, giving the DEM Party approval to meet Öcalan.

During their meeting, Öcalan reportedly emphasized the need to strengthen the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood, urged all political groups to act constructively, and highlighted the Turkish Parliament's role in the process.

Speaking of the Turkish-Kurdish relations, on Sunday the 29th, the country announced a fourteen billion dollar regional development plan to bridge the economic gap between its Kurdish-majority southeast and the rest of the country. The investment aims to address the region's lagging economy, partly due to the decades-long insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The Industry Minister revealed that they will fund around 200 projects, with a projected increase of 1,400 US Dollars in annual income per capita by twenty twenty-eight. Currently, Şanlıurfa’s per capita income stands at below 5,000 dollars, significantly below the national average of 13,000 dollars.

In some economic news, on Tuesday the 26th, the central bank cut its policy interest rate to 47.5%. The bank had held rates at 50% since March along with eighteen months of aggressive tightening, reversing earlier unorthodox rate cut policies to combat high inflation that led to soaring inflation and currency devaluation. However, the new cut potentially marks the start of a new easing cycle aimed at stabilizing the economy and addressing high living costs.

Inflation, which peaked at 85% in twenty twenty-two, dipped to 47% last month, with the bank aiming for 21% in twenty twenty-five.

Speaking of inflation… On Friday the 27th, the Labor and Social Security Minister announced that the minimum wage for twenty twenty-five will be 22,104 Turkish liras, which is around 630 US dollars. This is a 30% increase from the previous minimum wage. However, the hike falls short of the country’s 47% inflation rate.

The Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions criticized the decision, calling it unacceptable and demanding a higher increase. Opposition leaders also condemned the wage, arguing it showed President Erdoğan’s disconnection from reality.

Still on the issue… On Saturday the 28th, President Erdoğan addressed the rising cost of living at the 8th Ordinary Provincial Congress of the Justice and Development Party in Bursa, urging citizens to boycott overpriced goods and services. However, critics questioned the practicality of boycotting essential items like food, fuel, and housing, with fact-checking platform Doğruluk Payı reporting that the new minimum wage won’t even cover housing costs in many districts of Istanbul.

Economists emphasized the government’s responsibility for price controls, calling for stronger oversight to combat exploitative pricing. Erdoğan, in the same speech, responded to criticism of the wage increase, stating that the minimum wage is simply a baseline, shifting responsibility to employers. While this may be true, statistics show that most people earn the minimum wage, meaning the baseline effectively determines their salary.

Next up, on Wednesday the 25th, President Erdoğan announced the creation of the Family Institute and the Population Policies Board through a presidential decree in the Official Gazette. The Population Policies Board, formed under the Family and Social Services Ministry, aims to develop and implement population policies while monitoring demographic shifts. The board will include ministers from justice, family, labor, health, and education, as well as the heads of key agencies like the Religious Affairs Directorate and Turkish Statistical Institute.

The Family Institute will focus on family values, welfare, and issues related to women, children, the elderly, and veterans. These initiatives follow growing concerns over Turkey's declining fertility rate, which fell to 1.51 in twenty twenty-three, below 2.10, the number of children needed to keep the population stable. For reference, the rate was 1.63 in twenty twenty-two.

In other news… On Friday the 27th, the International Defense Consulting Construction Industry and Trade Inc. or SADAT, seized the assets of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the former leader of the Republican People’s Party. The action followed Kılıçdaroğlu’s failure to pay damages from a defamation lawsuit that SADAT filed.

In twenty twenty-two, Kılıçdaroğlu called SADAT a paramilitary group training terrorists. SADAT sued for one million Turkish liras, which is around 35,000 dollars, but the court awarded 30,000 liras, a little over 1,000 dollars, plus interest. After he missed the eighteen-month deadline, SADAT seized his bank accounts and other assets.

SADAT, often accused of supporting Islamist groups, denies these allegations and defines itself as a defense consultancy. Its founder, Tanrıverdi, resigned in twenty twenty after controversial remarks about preparing for a messianic figure.

On a tragic note, on Wednesday the 25th, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane traveling from the capital, Baku, to Grozny, Russia, crashed in Kazakhstan's Aktau, killing thirty-eight people. Azerbaijani government sources claim that Russia shot down the plane. In response, on Friday the 27th, the Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister announced that the country would send an expert team to Baku to investigate the crash. The team, which departed for Baku on the same day, will conduct technical and operational analyses, assist with investigations, and work in coordination with Azerbaijani authorities to examine the incident thoroughly.

On Friday the 27th, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of İstanbul, spoke during the Union of Municipalities of Turkey Executive Committee meeting, discussing government seizures of municipal assets due to unpaid debts. İmamoğlu accused the government of specifically targeting opposition-run municipalities since the local elections, citing political and economic measures taken against them over the past eight months. He criticized actions like appointing trustees and seizing properties, calling them unjust practices that go against democracy and the rule of law.

İmamoğlu also announced that a union delegation would visit Syria to assess the needs of cities like Damascus and build sustainable ties between Turkish and Syrian municipalities.

On to a case that rocked the whole country… On Saturday the 28th, a Diyarbakır court sentenced three suspects to aggravated life in prison for the murder of the eight-year-old Narin Güran. The suspects include her mother, brother, and uncle. Narin went missing back in August, and the police found her body nineteen days later in a nearby stream.

The verdict was called into question and many believed it was rushed and questioned the investigation’s handling. The Association for Children and Women First called the verdict insufficient, highlighting the lack of clarity on the crime’s motive.

On Tuesday the 24th, members of the Free Cause Party, or HÜDA-PAR, a radical Islamist group, protested against the staging of My Wife’s Husband, a satire by Croatian writer Miro Gavran criticizing polygamy, outside a theater in Diyarbakır, in the east, calling the play immoral. They chanted religious slogans and condemned the play.

The protests followed earlier online attacks after the play’s announcement. HÜDA-PAR said it insulted Islamic values and demanded its ban. In response, the Culture and Tourism Ministry renamed the play Marriage Comedy and altered its promotional materials. Despite the changes, the group persisted with their objections, highlighting ongoing tensions over artistic expression and cultural freedoms in Turkey.

On Tuesday the 24th, Nedim Yamalı, a Future Party MP left his party to join the ruling AKP. This reduced the Felicity-Future Alliance, the Parliament’s fourth opposition group, to nineteen members, below the twenty-member minimum required for group privileges like committee representation and weekly group meetings.

On Thursday the 26th, to maintain their status, leaders from Felicity, Future and The Democracy and Progress or DEVA Party, all conservative parties formed by former AKP supporters, began negotiating a unified alliance, with two DEVA MPs switching to the Felicity Party.

Meanwhile, Mustafa Yeneroğlu, the DEVA founder, resigned the same day, citing internal conflicts, likely due to the MP switch-over.

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

Before leaving we want to wish you a happy and exciting twenty twenty-five! Thank you for sticking with us, sharing the podcast, and being such an amazing part of our community. We’ll be here as long as you’re enjoying the episodes, so if you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions for how we can get better, don’t hesitate to reach out—shoot us an email at info@rorshok.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Hoşça kalın!