TURKEY: Turcell & more – 7th May 2024

Merhaba from BA! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 7th of May twenty twenty-four A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Turkcell, the country’s largest Global System for Mobile Communications operator, appointed Naci İnci, Boğaziçi University's controversial pro-government rector, as an independent executive board member. Turkcell also appointed other pro-government names in different high-ranking positions to its executive board. Each member will receive a salary of 150 thousand Turkish liras, around four and a half thousand US Dollars, with additional yearly bonuses. The salary alone is nine times the minimum wage. İnci will also receive a salary for his rectoral position.

İnci became the university's rector in twenty twenty amid protests against Melih Bulu, his president-appointed predecessor. Normally, the academic board elects rectors in universities. However, Bulu, wasn’t elected. Instead, President Erdoğan appointed him. Students protested against this as he was a pro-government figure in a secular and independent institution. Upon protests, the president replaced Bulu with İnci, another trustee rector. He became notorious for suppressing dissident students in protests.

Labor day might be behind us, but as always, it included tear gas and police brutality. Apart from the police violence demonstrators faced on Wednesday the 1st of May, on Friday the 3rd, the police arrested over twenty-five people who took part in Labor Day protests at Taksim Square. The police said that they were arrested for joining an illegal march. Earlier, the Governor’s Office banned Labor Day celebrations in Taksim Square. Despite a court ruling against the ban, the police blocked the march, prompting organizers to cancel it to avoid trouble. However, some individual groups decided to march anyway, leading to clashes.

The arrests were called into question as they might have been politically motivated and meant to deter further protests.

On Thursday the 2nd, President Erdoğan decided to halt trade with Israel, citing the worsening situation in Gaza, stopping both exports and imports. This decision will remain until Israel allows enough humanitarian aid into Gaza without interruption. In twenty twenty-three, the countries’ bilateral trade was worth almost seven billion US Dollars. Turkey is the first major trading partner of Israel to cut ties with the country over the Gaza conflict. The Trade Minister announced that the halt was particularly in response to Israel's refusal to let Turkey participate in Gaza aid efforts. Israel's foreign minister criticized President Erdogan's move, calling it dictatorial. Turkey's decision also surprised exporters, who now seek alternative routes to send goods to Israel. Despite the strong rhetoric of the ruling Justice and Development Party or AKP against Israel, its prior maintenance of trade relations drew criticism and negatively impacted the ruling party's performance in local elections.

In other news… The controversial new education curriculum is attracting more criticism. On Friday the 3rd, an opposition delegation walked from the Parliament to the Education Ministry in Ankara to protest against it. One delegate from the group argued that the curriculum prioritized religious and reactionary ideas over modern, secular education. The new curriculum had hundreds of pages on religious topics, but merely touched on the principles of Atatürk, the country’s founder, and the early republican history. The delegation condemned the politicization of education, and blamed the AKP government for undermining the quality and accessibility of education in the country.

On Thursday the 2nd, President Erdoğan met with Özgür Özel, the leader of the main opposition, the Republican People's Party, or CHP. This marked the first meeting between the two leaders in almost eight years, coming just a month after the CHP surpassed Erdoğan's party in local elections. The meeting lasted one and a half hours and the politicians discussed economic issues, foreign policy, and government-municipality coordination. The AKP spokesperson said that President Erdoğan intended to continue the dialogue and arrange a follow-up meeting. Özel left optimistic.

After the local elections that marked AKP’s worst defeat in over two decades, Erdoğan pledged to address any shortcomings that contributed to his party's loss, signaling a potential shift in its hostile approach to dissident views. His meeting with the CHP leader supports this shift.

Still on Özel, on Tuesday the 7th, Özel met with Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party, an ally of the ruling party. The gathering lasted forty-five minutes. Unlike the previous meeting, Özel and Bahçeli met alone. Prior to the gathering, Bahçeli delivered a fiery speech, criticizing the CHP and responding sharply to accusations regarding the party’s responsibility in the assassination of Sinan Ateş. Ateş was the head of the ultranationalist Gray Wolves organization, which shared a common ideology with the Nationalist Movement Party or MHP. However, they had a falling-out because the MHP expressed its support for the ruling AKP.

The two were expected to talk about Sinan Ateş and the ongoing detention of Osman Kavala, who is accused of organizing the Gezi protests and still remains in prison despite the European Human Rights Court’s ruling ordering his release. Recall that the Gezi protests were against the urban development of Taksim Gezi Park.

However, the leaders of the parties haven’t yet issued a press release about what they talked about.

On to AKP’s internal conflicts… During the AKP's Central Decision and Executive Board meeting this week, a member reportedly stated that there’s a general perception that young people can't get a job without being AKP supporters, largely because of the government’s interview process that they allegedly use to eliminate candidates that don’t support their ideology. The interviews were put into question, with calls to lift this practice so that the process would be fairer. President Erdoğan responded sharply to this situation. Reportedly, he challenged it, questioning whoever said interviews would be abolished.

However, last year, Erdoğan announced job recruitment reforms, emphasizing merit-based selections without interviews. Still, he seems to have turned his coat as he has now emphasized the importance of interviews in preventing potential threats to the state's integrity.

About international relations… A report by Germany's think tank SWP highlighted the importance of Germany’s financial aid in infrastructure and climate projects such as expanding rail transportation and digitalization at the municipal level.

Moving on to some health news… On Monday the 6th, the BirGün newspaper reported that a group of researchers from Istanbul Medeniyet University's Infectious Diseases Department conducted a study on COVID-19 patients where they administered medications without their consent. The treatment regimen included antibiotics, and antiviral drugs that weren’t typically used in treating covid symptoms. A renowned medical journal published their research. However, some experts in the field criticized it for lacking proper methodology, as well as for not getting the patients’ approval. As a result, the journal retracted the article, citing significant concerns about these issues. This development has prompted calls for immediate action from health authorities to investigate the matter further and ensure patient safety.

Still on healthcare… The CHP Deputy tasked with monitoring the health ministry highlighted the childcare challenges healthcare workers face. She pointed out the insufficient number of daycare centers that the Ministry provides. She said that the Ministry of Health didn’t meet the fundamental needs of over a million healthcare professionals tirelessly serving day and night, often sacrificing sleep and personal time. The deputy called for immediate action, and proposed that if the Ministry cannot meet the demands, it should hand over the responsibility to the CHP municipalities.

In some unfortunate news… On Tuesday the 7th, the İzmir Suburban Rail system, or İzban, derailed after departing from the Halkapınar station. It caused great panic among people. Luckily, there were no serious injuries. The officials evacuated the passengers from the area swiftly.

And to close this edition, a columnist specializing in the automobile industry stated that starting from the 7th of July, new cars in Turkey will be required to have standard safety features like emergency braking assistance, driver fatigue detection systems, a crash data recorder, and front windshields with safety glass for pedestrian protection. Trucks and buses will need technologies to detect blind spots, prevent collisions with pedestrians or cyclists, and monitor tire pressure. Cars without these features won't be allowed to operate or be sold. So people will have to buy new cars that comply with these regulations, creating more demand, thus increasing vehicle prices.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks your joining us!

By the way, if you're catching us on Spotify, did you know you can drop us a comment or question right there in the episode? It's super easy! The comments are kept private, so feel free to share your thoughts or queries without hesitation and your email, so we can get back to you! So go ahead and write somehting in those comments - we can't wait to hear from you!

Hoşça kalın!