TURKEY: Erdoğan’s Meeting with DEM & more – 8th July 2025

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 8th of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Monday the 7th, Turkey took a significant step toward ending its four-decade conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has led an armed campaign since nineteen eighty-four and is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the US.

President Erdoğan met with representatives from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, who visited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan the day before. The meeting followed the group’s May announcement to disband. As part of the process, Kurdish fighters held their first disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday the 4th, laying down light weapons near Sulaymaniyah. Observers say the gesture was symbolic but marks a real chance for political dialogue—if both sides remain committed.

On Monday the 7th, the National Armed Forces announced that twelve Turkish soldiers died in northern Iraq after being exposed to methane gas while inside a cave once used by PKK fighters. Nineteen soldiers were searching for the remains of a comrade killed in a twenty twenty-two clash when the gas leak occurred. The cave was part of a tunnel network in a heavily militarized area where Turkey has long targeted PKK hideouts. The deaths cast a shadow over recent peace efforts and raised questions about safety in ongoing cross-border operations.

Remember the wildfires we mentioned on our last show? Well, a total of sixty-five fires broke out across the country in just over a week. On Friday the 4th, the Interior Minister said the police arrested ten people in connection with them.

Investigators believe some fires started from careless welding or illegal burning. The blazes, worsened by extreme heat and wind, killed at least two people and destroyed large areas of forest in the western city of İzmir and the southern city of Hatay.

As firefighters worked to contain the flames, aircraft and ground crews managed to bring most of the fires under control, but authorities warn that hot, dry weather would keep risks high.

Speaking of fires, on Saturday the 5th, Turkey sent firefighting planes and trucks to Syria’s Latakia region to combat a blaze, a day later than expected because Turkey was battling its own fires. The aid mission included two aircraft and eleven trucks. The situation is reportedly calmer now, but officials remain on high alert.

Sadly, we still have to talk about fires, as on Monday the 7th, a major trial began in the northwestern city of Bolu over one of the deadliest hotel fires in Turkey’s recent history. Thirty-two defendants are facing charges linked to the blaze that tore through the Grand Kartal Hotel on the 21st of January, killing seventy-eight people and injuring more than 130. The fire broke out during the winter school break, when the ski resort was packed with families.

Many guests were trapped on upper floors, forced to jump from windows or attempt escapes using bed sheets as smoke and flames filled the building. Prosecutors said the fire spread rapidly due to critical safety failures, including the lack of an alarm system and emergency lighting. Thirteen defendants, including the hotel owner and senior city officials, face life sentences for what families are calling more than just negligence. The trial is being held in a converted sports hall due to high public interest.

On Saturday the 5th, the police detained three mayors from the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party or CHP, in early morning raids as part of a widening crackdown on CHP-run municipalities. The detainees were the mayors of the southern cities of Adana, Adıyaman, and Antalya,. The Antalya mayor was formally arrested later that same day.

The detentions sparked an emergency meeting of the CHP’s Central Executive Board, which lasted three and a half hours. After the meeting, party leader Özgür Özel condemned the operation and warned of growing political pressure on local governments. He announced that on Thursday the 10th, all CHP mayors will gather in Ankara in response.

On that note about the crackdown on the main opposition, on Monday the 7th, upon the CHP’s request, the Parliament revealed that there’s a presidential request to lift the immunity of sixty-one lawmakers from the CHP, covering 240 separate cases

The news sparked strong backlash within the party, highlighting how the government targets the opposition while shielding its own members. They pointed to the clear imbalance in handling immunity cases, saying that pro-government MPs rarely face the same level of scrutiny. They also emphasized that nearly half of CHP’s Members of Parliament are now under legal pressure.

Still on the opposition, on Tuesday the 8th, a court acquitted Ümit Özdağ, the leader of the ultranationalist opposition Victory Party, in a case accusing him of revealing the identities of Turkish intelligence officers killed in Libya. The charges stemmed from a press conference he held in the Parliament in twenty twenty, where he criticized Turkey for getting involved in a civil war far from home. Özdağ said the intelligence officers died because of that risky decision. Prosecutors said he disclosed classified information about the officers’ roles and positions.

The trial had been postponed after Özdağ cited health reasons and did not attend a prior hearing. The court ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him, ending a years-long case that drew attention from those worried about free speech, national security, and how far the state can go in punishing political criticism.

Last week, LeMan, a well-known Turkish satirical magazine, published a cartoon that officials said insulted religious values. The image, which showed winged figures above a bombed city, was widely interpreted as a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, which the magazine denied.

On Monday the 30th, police arrested three of the magazine’s cartoonists, sparking protests in Istanbul and drawing sharp condemnation from religious and political leaders. On Wednesday the 2nd, the police detained four more staff members, including two cartoonists, as public backlash grew. Press freedom groups have criticized the arrests, saying they reflect ongoing pressure on independent media.

The arrests reignited debate over satire, free expression, and religious boundaries in the country, showing a growing struggle between government control and the rights of independent media.

On Sunday the 6th, Ahmet Hamdi Çamlı, a former deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party, caused outrage by calling the founding of the Turkish Republic in nineteen twenty-three a “bloody coup.” In a social media post, Çamlı said that Turkey cannot become a new, terror-free, and great state without confronting and making peace with that moment in history. His comments referred to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of a secular republic under Atatürk after a four-year war for independence. That conflict saw nationalist forces fight foreign occupiers and the Ottoman sultan’s loyalists.

Opposition figures said Çamlı’s comments reflect a dangerous disregard for the Republic’s founding. They also criticized prosecutors for frequently acting against opposition figures based on vague accusations while remaining silent in the face of Çamlı’s obvious remarks.

On Tuesday the 9th, birdwatchers in Hatay reported that the Milleyha Wetland in Samandağ had completely dried up for the first time. The area, which normally holds water for up to ten months and supports around 314 bird species, has suffered from unusually low rainfall and nearby water channels draining the area more quickly than in past years.

A local birdwatcher said many species have already left, unable to nest or find food. The wetland typically hosts amphibians and fish, which form a vital part of the local food chain.

Conservationists warn the drying trend poses a serious threat not just to birdlife but to the region’s entire ecosystem.

Finally, on Tuesday the 8th, a new climate report hit the news. The report warned that the Mediterranean, including Turkey, will become a major climate change hotspot. Temperatures could rise two to three degrees Celsius (which is four to six degrees Fahrenheit) by twenty fifty and up to five degrees Celsius (nine degrees Fahrenheit) by twenty-one hundred.

Nearly 90% of Turkey’s land faces desertification, with rainfall dropping by 30% by century’s end. The west and south could see sharp temperature increases.

Already water-stressed in twenty nineteen, Turkey risks becoming water-poor by twenty thirty, putting 80% of its people and farmland at drought risk.

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

Don’t forget to hit that free subscribe button to stay tuned for what’s going on in Turkey.

Hoşça kalın!