TURKEY: Mahir Polat Released & more – 15th April 2025

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 15th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Let’s kick off this edition with some updates on the investigation into İmamoğlu and the İstanbul Municipality. The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund appointed trustees to twenty-four companies that have worked with the municipality or the ones that have close ties with İmamoğlu, including İmamoğlu Construction, his father's company. Additionally, auditors began overseeing twenty-eight other companies.

A journalist reported that Hasan İmamoğlu, İmamoğlu’s father, expressed his deep sorrow over the state’s decision to seize his company. He shared that he had dedicated his life to the company since nineteen sixty-eight. He said due to ongoing investigations and interventions, he hasn't been able to operate his company. He also mentioned that he would not hesitate to return to farming if necessary.

While İmamoğlu’s still in jail, someone else was released. On Wednesday the 9th, a court released Mahir Polat, the Istanbul Municipality’s Deputy Secretary-General, from prison and placed him under house arrest following health concerns. Polat, who has suffered from severe hypertension since he was twenty-one, had been detained back in March as part of an investigation into corruption at the Municipality.

Despite undergoing angioplasty, his health worsened, and he had to be hospitalized twice. Upon this, many individuals and opposition groups called for his immediate release. After public pressure, a court sent him to the Forensic Medicine Institute for further evaluation. The news of his release came shortly after. His lawyer stated that Polat's release is conditional on wearing an electronic bracelet and not leaving his home.

On Monday the 14th, a court released three more students arrested over the protests following İmamoğlu’s arrest and removed all judicial controls. However, forty-three students still remain behind bars.

In other news, on Sunday the 13th, the Esenyurt City Council reported that at least a hundred workers lost their jobs following the appointment of a trustee mayor in Esenyurt, a district originally governed by the Republican People’s Party or CHP. Many were forced to leave without severance pay.

The report detailed the dismissal of sixteen workers and the pressure on others to resign, retire, or leave under mutual agreement. While the trustee administration cited underproductivity as the reason for the layoffs, the workers affected included those who had volunteered for disaster relief or worked overtime.

Some were targeted due to their dissenting social media posts, which opposition groups argue were the real reason behind their terminations.

Next up, on Friday the 11th, the Ministry of National Education reassigned dozens of teachers and administrators at over thirty prestigious public high schools, including Kadıköy Anadolu in İstanbul. The ministry blamed norm excess, a staffing rule tied to student numbers, but critics say this doesn’t explain why experienced, active teachers were removed.

The Education and Science Workers’ Union said the move lacked clear criteria and seemed politically driven, adding that these teachers have joined protests and walkouts before. Protests quickly followed, with support from students, alumni, and parents. Students accused the Education Minister of punishing dissent and damaging public education.

Meanwhile, back in March, U.S. immigration agents detained Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University, and cancelled her student visa. The Department of Homeland Security had accused her of supporting Hamas and engaging in antisemitic activity.

However, on Sunday the 13th, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. State Department found no evidence to support these allegations. After reviewing government databases, officials found nothing linking Öztürk to terrorism or hate speech. They acknowledged she had co-written an article urging Tufts to divest from companies tied to Israel, but said this didn’t justify canceling her visa.

A senator had called for her removal on foreign policy grounds, yet the State Department rejected that argument.

On Sunday the 13th, players of the Sivasspor football club walked onto the pitch before their match against Fenerbahçe holding a banner that read “What’s natural is normal birth,” referring to vaginal delivery. The slogan, part of the government’s new campaign, follows President Erdoğan’s declaration of twenty twenty-five as the Year of the Family.

The sight of male athletes weighing in on childbirth sparked backlash. Women’s groups and opposition figures called it a sexist move, saying only women should decide how they give birth. The term normal birth was also called into question as there was nothing not normal about c-sections.

On Monday the 14th, the Health Minister dismissed the criticism and said football isn’t just for men—calling the move “normal.” This sparked more backlash about women’s autonomy.

Last week, two doctors at Selçuk University Medical Faculty Hospital in Konya faced serious allegations over WhatsApp messages. Screenshots showed messages containing sexist, vulgar, and degrading comments about women patients.

Over the weekend, University officials suspended the doctors and launched an internal investigation, whereas prosecutors opened a case for violating patient privacy and sharing personal data. The court released the doctors under judicial control.

The Turkish Medical Association condemned the behavior as unethical, blaming the market-driven healthcare system. It argued that the current model prioritizes speed and profit over patient care, leaving little space for ethics. This structure fosters moral erosion in hospitals, pushing doctors to treat patients as numbers rather than individuals, damaging both trust and professionalism.

​Earlier this week, rapper Ezhel shared on social media that he donated the proceeds from his defamation lawsuits to the Turkey Veterans and Martyrs' Families Foundation or TÜGŞAV. However, in response, TÜGŞAV announced that it would reject the donation, citing his separatist rhetoric.

Ezhel, known for blending hip-hop, reggae, and trap while addressing social issues, including the rights of Kurdish communities, gained prominence in Turkey. In twenty eighteen, he was briefly detained on charges of promoting drug use in his lyrics but was quickly acquitted. Fearing further legal challenges, he moved to Berlin in twenty nineteen.

TÜGŞAV has since stated that they will return the donation to Ezhel's account.

An unexpectedly severe cold snap hit thirty-six provinces across the country, bringing temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, under thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, damaging crops. In the eastern city of Malatya, known for its apricots, orchards froze after temperatures dropped to freezing levels. Fruit trees froze in nearby Elazığ as well.

Farmers in the western cities of Manisa and İzmir lost grapes and melons, while fig growers in Mudanya, a coastal district in northwestern Bursa, faced serious damage.

Apple growers in central Niğde and Karaman warned that this year’s harvest may shrink even more after last year’s low yield. Frost also harmed walnuts, pears, and hazelnuts in the northern provinces of Sakarya, Bolu, and along the Black Sea coast.

On Monday the 14th, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization responded to recent concerns about the Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, and the new Climate Law that introduces a carbon trading system, which means large polluting companies will need to pay for their emissions or reduce them.

Some groups have been raising fears on social media that the agreement could lead to bans on crops or seeds or restrictions on farming practices. Others said individuals might face carbon taxes or limits on personal freedoms. The ministry rejected all these concerns. It explained that the Climate Law only applies to large-scale industrial polluters, not to individuals or farmers.

Officials also stressed that the Paris Agreement, which Turkey joined in twenty twenty-one, includes no rules that ban farming or seed use.

Speaking of a greener future, between Wednesday the 9th and Friday the 11th, the Istanbul Technical University held the 10th Istanbul Carbon Summit, which focused on sustainable solutions and green finance. Participants from government, business, academia, and civil society gathered to discuss the country’s path to a low-carbon economy.

The head of the Sustainable Production and Consumption Association, shared new data from the World Meteorological Organization, warning that twenty twenty-five could mark the hottest year ever recorded. Sessions explored topics including the role of green investments, and the urgency of decarbonizing the economy. The summit also included awards for climate leadership and panels on how to scale clean technologies and secure climate financing.

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

Did you know that the Rorshok Turkey Update is just one of many? We’ve got country updates, and non-county updates, including the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water.

To check out the full list of updates, follow the link in the show notes!

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