TURKEY: Trustee Appointments & more – 5th Nov 2024

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 5th of November twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Wednesday the 30th of October, an Istanbul court arrested Ahmet Özer, the Republican People’s Party or CHP mayor of İstanbul’s Esenyurt district, for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK following a police raid. The government quickly appointed a trustee close to its ranks. Özer’s lawyer struggled to access details of the charges, relying on leaked information that cited a decade-old phone record and quotes from Özer’s published books. This raised questions about the validity of the accusations, as his books—containing the supposedly incriminating quotes—are widely available for sale online and in stores.

Following the mayor's arrest, on Monday the 4th, the government also appointed a trustee to the Municipal Council. This left the municipality without any elected officials.

Trustee appointments didn’t end there… On Monday the 4th, the government appointed trustees to three municipalities led by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy or DEM Party; the Mardin Metropolitan Municipality, Batman Municipality, and Şanlıurfa's Halfeti District Municipality.

This led to nationwide protests. Police violently intervened, using water cannons, rubber bullets, and pepper gas against demonstrators, resulting in at least seventy-five arrests in Batman alone. Journalists covering the protests also faced aggression, including a raid on the Batman Sonsöz newspaper office.

The Interior Ministry justified the trustee appointments, citing ongoing cases against the mayors for alleged ties to the PKK. This raised doubts since these mayors had received government approval to take office. The dismissals were put into question, as they could have been politically motivated.

Some news on international relations…On Wednesday the 30th, the European Commission released a country report addressing Turkey's European Union accession process, highlighting various concerns. The report noted Turkey's 360-degree foreign policy, stating that while it says it is committed to E.U. membership, Turkey diversifies partnerships and asserts strategic autonomy. It also criticized Turkey's relations with Russia, its support for Hamas after the attack on Israel, and its weakening democratic standards.

Despite welcoming the recent improvement in Greece-Turkey relations, the report expressed serious concerns about the deterioration of democracy, the rule of law, and judicial independence. It urged Turkey to implement reforms and comply with European Court of Human Rights rulings, including those concerning Osman Kavala's imprisonment.

Speaking of Osman Kavala, a prominent philanthropist and businessman, Friday the 1st of November marked seven years since the government arrested him. The police initially arrested Kavala in twenty seventeen for allegedly orchestrating the Gezi Park protests, which began when the government attempted to cut down trees in the park to build a mall and evolved into a broader protest against government policies. Kavala was cleared of those charges in February twenty twenty but the police immediately re-arrested him on accusations related to the twenty sixteen coup attempt. He ultimately received a life sentence in April twenty twenty-two for attempting to overthrow the government.

In a recent letter, he said that the European Court of Human Rights found no evidence against him. He criticized the manipulation of laws to bypass the court’s rulings and accused authorities of fabricating espionage charges to suppress dissent.

Since we mentioned the rule of law… Earlier this year, the Constitutional Court lifted a Civil Code rule requiring women to take their husband’s surname upon marriage, citing equality rights. However, the parliament reintroduced a nearly identical rule making women take their spouse’s last name. The Istanbul Bar Association urged lawmakers to respect the Court’s decision. The Association argued that this violates the Constitution’s equality laws and international agreements, like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. They called on lawmakers to follow the court’s ruling and support women’s rights, reminding them that Constitutional Court decisions are binding on all state institutions and individuals.

Next up… On Wednesday the 30th of October, the Energy Minister announced that the country would end subsidies for high-volume residential electricity users starting in February. Households consuming more than twice the average—over 400 kilowatts per hour in a month—will pay the full cost of electricity.

This policy aims to direct financial support to households needing it the most. Only 3% of Turkey’s forty million residential users fall into the high-consumption group, generally those with larger homes or electric vehicles. Even though the government has provided energy aid for years to keep costs lower than in neighboring countries, officials now stress the importance of fairer distribution.

In a related move towards energy reform… On Thursday the 31st of October, the Climate Investment Funds, or CIF, announced an initial seventy million dollar investment to help modernize Turkey’s electricity grid and support the country’s ambitious renewable energy goals. The project aims to strengthen grid connections, implement smart-grid technology, and increase battery capacity to handle sixty Gigawatts of new wind and solar power by twenty thirty-five—enough to power seventy million homes.

On an unrelated note, last Tuesday, the 29th of October, President Erdoğan announced Turkey's intention to develop its own Steel Dome, a multi-layered air defense system similar to Israel's Iron Dome, while also improving long-range missile capabilities. Speaking at the inauguration of the Gökbey helicopter at Turkish Aerospace Industries in Ankara, Erdoğan emphasized the importance of domestic defense systems for national security, asserting Turkey's commitment to achieving full independence in its defense industry. In recent years, Turkey has reduced reliance on foreign defense suppliers, becoming a leading manufacturer of armed drones and producing much of its defense needs domestically.

Turkey's High Election Board, or YSK, has dispatched a delegation to Washington, D.C., to observe the U.S. elections. The delegation seeks to gain insights into the American electoral process, focusing on the presidential election. They met with officials from the Federal Election Commission and planned to engage with other institutions involved in the electoral process, also intending to observe activities on the voting day. This trip follows significant criticism of the YSK from opposition parties in Turkey, particularly due to controversial rulings like the twenty seventeen validation of unstamped ballots in the constitutional referendum, which raised concerns about the integrity of the country’s electoral system.

In Diyarbakır’s Bismil district, claims emerged that women employed under a social aid project were sent to clean the district governor's residence. According to news outlet Amida Haber, the Bismil Social Aid and Solidarity Foundation launched a project called the Elderly Care Project in March to support nearly 400 elderly and vulnerable residents. The foundation assigned eighteen women to this initiative. However, reports indicate that some of these women spent specific days cleaning the residence of the District Governor. The employee attendance records reportedly noted these assignments, including one entry from July that listed a woman as on leave but had a note saying governor’s house.

After these allegations surfaced, one of the workers resigned and submitted a formal complaint, calling for a legal investigation.

In some environmental news… On Friday the 1st, civil society representatives gathered at Munzur Springs in eastern Turkey’s Tunceli province alongside a legal delegation to inspect the area after the Environment Ministry downgraded its protection status. In twenty twenty-three, the ministry reduced the Munzur and Pülümür Valleys’ status to Qualified Natural Protection Area from a First Degree Natural Site. The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects filed a lawsuit against this decision, prompting a court delegation to inspect the site with an expert committee, including environmental engineers and ecologists.

And to close this edition, on Sunday the 3rd, Ruth Jebet from Bahrain and Dejene Debela from Ethiopia claimed victory in the women’s and men’s categories of the 46th Istanbul Marathon. The intercontinental race took runners from Istanbul’s Asian side to its European side, passing iconic sites like the Galata Bridge, the Spice Bazaar, and the Sultanahmet Mosque. Winners received forty-five thousand dollars each.

The Public Run, which followed the professional race, attracted a lively crowd of participants eager to experience the excitement of the marathon. Many joined in, running or walking along the scenic route across the city.

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

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