TURKEY: Parliament Boycott & more – 7th Oct 2025

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 7th of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Wednesday the 1st, the parliament reopened after its annual break, and President Erdoğan used the opening speech to promise reforms in energy, agriculture, and industry, and to target inflation below 30% by year’s end. However, the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (or CHP) and two smaller parties boycotted the session, stealing the focus from President Erdoğan’s speech.

The CHP said it would not attend parliamentary sessions, arguing that participating would only legitimize what it sees as an increasingly authoritarian government. It cited a wave of arrests of its mayors, municipal officials, and members as evidence that the government is squeezing their political space.

In other news, on Friday the 3rd, Fatih Altaylı, a prominent dissident journalist, appeared in court facing charges of threatening the president. The police arrested him back in June over his comments on a poll showing more than 70% of Turks opposed Erdoğan having a lifetime presidency. In his broadcast, Altaylı had referenced Ottoman history, noting that former sultans were sometimes deposed or assassinated when they lost popular legitimacy. He denied any threats.

The court rejected his release request and postponed his hearing to the 26th of November.

Critics view the case as part of the pressure on dissenting media voices in Turkey.

Meanwhile, economic tensions spread across markets. On Friday the 3rd, official data showed annual inflation jumped to over 33% in September, with a monthly rise of more than 3%. The spike caught analysts and investors off guard, as they had expected a smaller increase.

The surge underscores the risks from the central bank’s earlier interest rate cuts, which aimed to make borrowing cheaper and boost spending and investment. While rate cuts can stimulate growth, they also risk pushing prices higher when inflation is already elevated. Analysts say the unexpected jump may force the central bank to pause or even reverse its easing.

Households face rising costs for food, energy, rent, and transport, and economists warn that continued inflation could further erode purchasing power and eventually require sharper monetary tightening.

Next up, on Thursday the 2nd, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates signed a currency swap worth about eighteen UAE dirhams, roughly 200 billion Turkish liras, about 5.4 billion U.S. dollars. The agreement aims to make trade between the two countries easier by using local currencies instead of the dollar, boosting liquidity in the process.

Analysts say it also shows Turkey’s push to strengthen regional financial ties and protect itself from sudden dollar swings.

The deal complements Ankara’s broader strategy to diversify foreign financing, reduce dependence on global currencies, and create more stable conditions for trade and investment.

On Monday the 6th, unnamed suspects shot and killed lawyer Serdar Öktem, a key figure in the assassination case of Sinan Ateş, former leader of the ultranationalist Grey Wolves organization, in his car in Istanbul. Police found four guns, masks, and gloves at the scene and later detained thirteen suspects, including two minors.

Öktem had earlier been jailed in the Ateş case for allegedly linking the killers from Istanbul to the individuals who ordered the murder. His seized phone was considered crucial evidence, but he told investigators he had forgotten its password after a COVID infection.

The case recently gained attention when the court merged his file with that of other far-right defendants shortly before the attack, raising questions about possible motives behind the attack. Recall that Ateş was unofficially expelled from Gray Wolves and had a fallout with the nationalists.

On another note, on Friday the 3rd, during President Erdoğan’s visit to the United States, one of the main topics on the table was Turkey’s stalled F-35 fighter jet deal. The government pushed for the release of six jets already built for Turkey but still stored in the U.S., yet the US gave no signal of lifting export restrictions imposed after Turkey bought Russian air defense systems.

Meanwhile, the government is proudly promoting its national alternative, the KAAN fighter jet, though it currently runs on American-made F-110 engines also used in F-16s. Earlier in the week, Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister, let it slip that the U.S. Congress has yet to approve export licenses for those engines, warning that if Washington delays further, Turkey will look elsewhere to protect its national security.

His remarks reignited debate at home about how national these engines are. This prompted the President of the Defense Industry to insist that KAAN’s local engine development is on track.

On Thursday the 2nd, President Erdoğan said Turkey would not tolerate any attempt to divide Syria along ethnic or armed group lines. His comments mainly targeted the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF, a Kurdish-led group that controls much of northern Syria and has U.S. backing. Erdoğan urged all sides to respect earlier security deals and warned that Turkey could respond through diplomacy or, if needed, military action.

His remarks reflect the government’s long-standing goal to prevent Kurdish groups from establishing autonomous zones near its border. The government considers the SDF linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which it views as a security threat. The statement comes as regional talks on Syria’s political future remain tense and fragmented.

In unrelated news, on Saturday the 4th, 137 activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla arrived in Istanbul after being deported by Israel. Many were Turkish citizens, while others came from the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. The flotilla, consisting of over forty vessels, had attempted to deliver aid to Gaza but was intercepted by the Israeli navy, which detained around 450 activists. Human rights groups reported mistreatment, including physical abuse, inadequate food, and denial of medical care, with Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg among those alleging harsh treatment.

On Sunday the 5th, massive protests erupted across Turkey, with demonstrators marching in Istanbul, boarding boats, and waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. The rallies came just days before the second anniversary of the twenty twenty-three Hamas-Israel conflict, heightening the emotional atmosphere of the protests.

While all eyes were on politics, water shortages battered daily life. From Wednesday the 1st onward, Ankara grappled with a critical water crisis when two key pipelines from the Kesikköprü Dam ruptured, cutting supply nearly in half. Rotational outages affected over ten municipal districts, including residential neighborhoods, hospitals, and schools. The city dispatched tanker trucks to provide emergency water, and city officials warned the disruption could last days.

The incident exposed the vulnerability of aging infrastructure amid a worsening drought.

Turkey is facing its most severe drought in decades. This week, Bursa enforced strict water rationing, with some districts experiencing up to twelve hours of daily outages. Officials warned that reservoir levels could run dry soon without rainfall, prompting limits on industrial and agricultural water use.

In Istanbul, dam levels hovered from around 28% to 30% of usable capacity, raising alarms for authorities and residents, with some neighborhoods preparing for stricter cuts. Experts say the drought, driven by declining rainfall, rapid urban growth, and resource mismanagement, is the worst the country has seen in over fifty years.

The situation is sparking urgent debates on climate resilience, water policy, and sustainable urban planning, highlighting the strain on Turkey’s water resources.

Closing this edition with some good news, on Monday the 6th, Vedat Işıkhan, the Social Security Minister, announced that Turkey had covered the cost of continuous glucose monitoring devices for children with Type 1 diabetes under eighteen.

Between December twenty twenty-four and September twenty twenty-five, the Social Security Institution reportedly reimbursed over 76,000 prescriptions, amounting to nearly 610 million lira, which is around fifteen million dollars..

Işıkhan said the program aims to improve children’s quality of life and ease the financial burden on families. He added that the government will continue to prioritize public welfare and support access to medical care.

The policy is part of broader healthcare initiatives designed to reduce out-of-pocket expenses for chronic patients, a growing concern amid rising medical costs across Turkey.

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

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