TURKEY: Soldiers’ Death & more – 16th Jan 2024

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 16th of January twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Unfortunately, the Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday the 13th that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK carried out a devastating attack on a Turkish military base in Northern Iraq. Tragically, nine soldiers lost their lives, and four others were injured.

On the same day, President Erdoğan met with senior security officials to discuss counter-terrorism strategies against the terrorist groups in Northern Iraq. He emphasized that the country will continue its operations in the area until all terrorist groups are ‘neutralized.’ The National Defence Ministry announced that over twenty terrorists have been killed since the attack on the Turkish base.

On Monday all schools held a moment of silence before the lessons started to honor the martyrs. However, the government didn’t announce an official state of mourning, which has been criticized by many. People have pointed out how back in twenty fifteen, the government issued a national state of mourning for the death of a Saudi king but wasn’t honoring its own soldiers now.

Mustafa Destici, the leader of the ruling bloc’s ally, the Great Unity Party, called for a comprehensive fight against terrorism on Twitter following the deaths of the nine soldiers. Attached to the tweet, he posted a photo with the logos of twenty-five opposition political parties, implying that they are the terrorists. Opposition parties condemned Destici's stance, and accused him of exploiting soldiers' deaths for political gain.

Next up, an epic fail story…

On Wednesday the 10th, President Erdoğan and Yılmaz Tunç, the Justice Minister, shared pictures from a special event commemorating the establishment of the National Intelligence Organization, or MİT. Naturally, many high-ranking intelligence officers were in attendance and pictures revealed their faces, and therefore their identities, to the World Wide Web. Erdoğan and Tunç removed the pictures from their accounts but many pointed out how exposing MİT personnel is punishable under the National Intelligence Organization law, with penalties ranging from two to eight years in prison. This incident recalled previous legal actions, such as the twenty twenty arrests of the OdaTv News Director and a journalist for reporting on the funeral of an MİT member in Libya, leading to the blocking of OdaTV's website. Now the question remains, will there be a lawsuit against the president?

Recall that back in November, Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the son of Somalia's president, hit and killed a motor courier in Istanbul. The police later issued an arrest warrant and a travel ban on the man, but he had already fled the country by then. Well, he returned to the country and participated in the court hearing on Friday the 12th. In the hearing, the court lifted his arrest warrant and exempted him from participating in future hearings. He still has a potential prison sentence of up to six years, but the wife of the deceased withdrew her criminal complaint against Mohamud, so many think that he’ll walk away. Some speculated that Mohamud paid her off.

The ruling led to many people calling the judiciary system rotten, and complaining about how justice is ‘for sale’ in the country, implying how money and power can help you get away with anything, including murder.

Back in twenty nineteen, the Istanbul Governor’s Office ruled the deportation of Hüsam İbrahim, a Syrian refugee, for driving under the influence violating traffic safety. His attorney filed an injunction, invoking the principle of "non-refoulement" in international law that states asylum seekers shouldn't be forced to return to potential persecution. Well, the Constitutional Court’s verdict is out. It ruled in favor of İbrahim and declared that the deportation decision for İbrahim was a violation of the "prohibition of ill-treatment." His attorney welcomed the ruling and highlighted a growing harshness in immigration cases influenced by the political atmosphere and the anti-immigrant sentiment.

More news on the judiciary…

According to the reporting of the daily Cumhuriyet on Thursday the 11th, the Parliament dismissed a case involving Süleyman Soylu, former Interior Minister. The case had to do with an injury to human rights defender Aydın Aydoğan during a police intervention at the 700th week of the Saturday Mothers' protest.

Back in twenty eighteen when Süleyman Soylu was the interior minister, he banned the Saturday Mothers protest. The Saturday Mothers is a group that has been organizing peaceful sit-in protests every Saturday in Galatasaray Square since May nineteen ninety-five. The group consists of individuals searching for their missing relatives who disappeared in custody and those seeking justice for the people they loved who fell victim to unsolved political assassinations.

The ban resulted in police intervention, as the group continued holding demonstrations, and what was once a peaceful protest quickly got out of hand. Aydoğan broke an arm because of the police’s excessive force. Soylu faced criminal complaints for his role in the incident, as many blamed him for creating a tense atmosphere. The Constitutional Court ruled a violation of rights due to disproportionate police force. However, the Istanbul and Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Offices claimed a lack of jurisdiction and sent the case to the Parliament.

Now Aydoğan is considering an individual application to the Constitutional Court.

On Sunday the 14th, after Antalyaspor scored a goal in a football match, its Israeli player Sagiv Jehezkel displayed the words "100 days 07.10" on his wristband, referencing the 100th day of Hamas’ attack on Israel. Subsequently, the Antalya Chief Prosecutor's office launched an investigation into him. The police later detained him. After his release on Monday the 15th, the Interior Minister announced that Jehezkel left the country for Israel. Antalyaspor also removed the player from the squad, and later, the club announced its efforts to terminate his contract.

The Culture Ministry announced that, starting from Monday the 15th, there will be separate entrances for worshipers and foreign tourists at the historical Hagia Sophia Mosque in İstanbul. The Ministry added that the mosque would also charge foreign tourists around twenty-seven US Dollars, or 825 Turkish liras, for visiting the mosque. However, the ministry's information lacks clarity in distinguishing between foreign tourists for worship and domestic visitors interested in cultural aspects.

Recall that Hagia Sophia was originally an Eastern Roman church, but it later served as a mosque in Ottoman times. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, it became a museum. Back in twenty twenty, in a controversial move, the government converted it back into a mosque. This transition caused overcrowding and structural issues, and damaged the historical building.

On Thursday the 11th, the exchange rate of Turkish liras surpassed thirty liras per US Dollar, marking a record high. Over this, JPMorgan, a US investment bank, updated its year-end forecast for the lira's exchange rate from thirty-four to thirty-six per dollar.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, started naming its district mayor candidates. One of the most controversial names is Erdal Beşikçioğlu, the candidate for Ankara’s Etimesgut district. Beşikçioğlu is actually an actor, famous for his role as a righteous Ankara city cop with a violent attitude. The character is heavily associated with the city of Ankara. The CHP’s move was called into question, as the party might be chasing clout by picking a famous person. Some also speculated that Mansur Yavaş, the city’s current mayor and the mayoral candidate for the next term, didn’t want Beşikçioğlu to be a candidate and threatened to resign if that happened. However, it later came to light that it wasn’t true.

Beşikçioğlu pointed out that he had a positive relationship with Yavaş, and emphasized that they both shared love for Ankara. Beşikçioğlu said that he didn’t consider himself a politician but that he aims to focus on addressing issues young people face in Etimesgut.

And to close this edition…

Turkey is preparing to send its first astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı, to the International Space Station. He will be launched into space on the night bridging the 17th and 18th of January at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission marks a significant step for Turkey in the field of space exploration.

Aaaaaand that's it for this week!

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