TURKEY: İmamoğlu’s Speech & more – 18th Mar 2025

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 18th of March twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Sunday the 16th, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and a candidate for the Republican People’s Party or CHP’s primary election, visited the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, a Kurdish-majority city. This visit was significant as this was the first time İmamoğlu has directly addressed the often overlooked Kurdish issue, referring to problems Kurdish people face in the country. He emphasized that peace requires dialogue from all parts of society, especially in Parliament, and that violence cannot be the solution.

Notably, he spoke in Kurdish during his speech, greeting the crowd with “Newroz Pîroz be,” or Happy Nevruz. Nevruz celebrates the arrival of spring and symbolizes renewal, unity, and peace. For Kurds, this day also marks the Kurdish New Year. Still, Kurds are not the only ones who celebrate this holiday, as some Turks, especially Alevis, join the celebration.

More on İmamoğlu, as on Friday the 14th, the University Lecturers Association and the Democratic University Initiative of Istanbul University condemned political pressure on university staff, citing the investigation into the legality of İmamoğlu’s diploma. The case has been called into question as a possible attempt to discredit him and block a presidential run against President Erdoğan.

The groups criticized the pressure on Istanbul University’s administration and opposed its alignment with the government’s political agenda. They pointed to the resignation of the Dean of the Faculty of Business as evidence of internal pressure. Their statement called on universities to reject political influence and uphold academic integrity.

Next up, on Friday the 14th, Tayip Temel, the co-chair of the Press and Propaganda Commission for the People’s Equality and Democracy, spoke out against Google’s traffic embargo on independent media outlets in Turkey. He criticized Google’s search algorithm changes, saying that they hinder independent journalism — which often voices dissent — by blocking access to readers. Temel emphasized that this move, alongside economic pressures, forced news outlets like Gazete Duvar to shut down.

He accused global digital platforms of systematically targeting independent media, calling it part of a broader plan to eliminate free press. Temel demanded that Google’s control over the media be broken and called for an end to the digital blockade on independent news.

To know more about this, check the links in the show notes.

Speaking of journalism, on Wednesday the 12th, Halk TV, an opposition news channel, faced backlash for airing an interview with pro-government figure Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı. Journalists opposed the talk, arguing that featuring Kütahyalı—once aligned with the Gülen movement undermined the channel’s pro-democracy stance. The government accused it of plotting the twenty sixteen coup, but later the movement became a strong government supporter.

Timur Soykan said Kütahyalı’s appearance discredited a channel that had paid the price for supporting democracy. In protest, journalists Serpil Yılmaz, Şule Aydın, Barış Pehlivan, Timur Soykan, and Murat Ağırel resigned. They later announced that Kayda Geçsin, their political discussion program on Halk TV, would continue independently on YouTube.

Halk TV owner Cafer Mahiroğlu later stated he was unaware of the interview and wouldn’t have approved it. The channel removed the video the next day.

On to another dissident journalist, on Saturday the 15th, İsmail Saymaz revealed that he had learned of a travel ban imposed on him while attempting to leave the country. Saymaz, who had traveled abroad five times in the past two months, rejected the decision, calling it an intimidation tactic against critical journalism.

He criticized the lack of transparency, stating that the court didn’t allow his lawyers to access the case file and official documents, so he didn’t even know why he was banned from traveling abroad. He called the legal restrictions unlawful, demanding justice in the face of what he called a politically motivated investigation.

On Friday the 14th, Bulut Gürsoy, the CHP Altınordu District Chair from the northern city of Ordu, stated that the city authorities blocked the party from using the Atatürk Indoor Sports Hall for its presidential primary on the 23rd, citing weekend sports events. He said the party had completed all legal applications and was initially told the venue was available.

Gürsoy condemned the decision as a double standard, pointing out that two months earlier, the Justice and Development Party held a congress there without issue. He called it an attack on democracy and vowed to hold the vote despite obstacles.

In a follow-up to a story we covered in previous shows about a wedding hosted by Mustafa Aydın, the Deputy Chairman of Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency or BDDK, new details have emerged regarding illegal gambling ties. The wedding, held on the nineteen ninety-seventh of September twenty twenty-four, became notorious when journalist Murat Ağırel, attending as an uninvited guest, filmed a disturbing scene.

The footage showed high-ranking bank officials lining up to present expensive gifts to the couple, raising bribery concerns. Now, Timur Soykan reports that among the guests was Erkan Kork, the controversial PayFix owner linked to illegal gambling.

Ağırel’s video showed Kork speaking with Aydın, fueling speculation that the BDDK may have facilitated Kork’s controversial acquisitions, including a bank and a TV station, despite ongoing investigations into his financial activities.

On Thursday the 13th, the Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission approved a bill raising retirees’ religious holiday bonuses from three thousand liras to four thousand liras, around 115 US dollars. The bill also includes measures to support Olympic, Paralympic, and Deaflympic athletes, covering expenses for eight thousand competitors.

Other provisions introduce higher fines for unauthorized transportation services, stricter border controls on foreign-plated vehicles with unpaid tolls, and a new performance-based bonus system for airport workers. The bill also proposes increasing birth aid payments to encourage higher birth rates.

Meanwhile, Istanbul Municipality’s Assembly approved multiple borrowing requests and funding agreements in its monthly meeting. The municipality secured an eighty million dollar domestic loan for a metro construction project in Pendik. Additionally, twenty-three municipal subsidiaries received approval for a combined fifteen billion lira, which is around 430 million US dollars, in loans.

The assembly also approved a sponsorship deal renaming the Masko metro station to Mall of Istanbul-Masko for three years in exchange for eighty million liras, around two million dollars.

In some economic news, on Monday the 17th, President Erdoğan published a decision in the Official Gazette that prohibits the sale of cut gold to anyone except licensed jewelry businesses and individuals engaged in precious metal trade. The move aims to curb unregulated gold transactions, which have increased in recent years. The Minister of Treasury and Finance had previously announced the plan to tackle informal gold markets.

The new rules also raised the limit for exporting foreign currency to 185,000 Turkish liras (which is about 5,300 US dollars) to help prevent money laundering and terrorism funding.

In unrelated news, on Thursday the 13th, during Ali Yerlikaya, the Interior Minister’s visit to southeastern Batman, he toured the city's animal care center and announced the start of inspections on the enforcement of the Animal Protection Law. The law requires municipalities to manage stray populations humanely and improve rehabilitation efforts. He said inspectors are set to visit all eighty-one provinces to evaluate local governments’ compliance.

He explained that inspectors would offer guidance rather than conducting an investigation. Inspections will continue every two months, with findings shared publicly.

To close this edition, on Sunday the 16th, the Birgün News Outlet reported that the Competition Authority launched an investigation into streaming platforms Netflix, Disney+, Exxen, BluTV, Amazon, and Gain over possible competition law violations. Officials said an initial review found enough evidence to move forward.

The investigation will look into whether Netflix used its influence to favor its own content and limit opportunities for independent creators. It will also check whether all six platforms made exclusive deals that unfairly restricted competition among producers, actors, and writers.

The Authority noted that the investigation does not mean any violations have been confirmed or that fines will be issued.

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

Did you know that you can send an episode as an MP3 file? You can download it directly from our website: www.rorshok.com/turkey. The link’s also in the show notes.

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