TURKEY: Wolf & more – 9th July 2024

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 9th of July twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

On Friday the 5th, the Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, suspended Merih Demiral, a Turkish football player, for two matches for his politically charged goal celebration during the Euro twenty twenty-four Turkey-Austria match in Germany. When he scored the goal, Demiral made a wolf gesture, linked to Grey Wolves, an ultranationalist group associated with racist attacks both within and outside the country. The Turkish Football Federation argued that despite the gesture’s association with the group, the hand gesture is a thousand-year-old symbol of Turkic peoples worldwide. Nevertheless, Germany condemned the act and deemed it racist. The UEFA agreed with Germany, as it suspended the player.

The Turkish foreign ministry condemned UEFA's decision, labeling it unacceptable and accusing German authorities of xenophobia. They said that UEFA only fined other players in similar incidents, such as Serbian players who made the double-headed eagle symbol, representing their country. The Turkish government and football association plan to appeal the suspension.

Speaking of the Grey Wolves, on Thursday the 4th, during the fourth day of the Sinan Ateş murder trial, Ayşe Ateş, his widow, accused four politicians of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, of being involved in her husband’s assassination. Back in twenty twenty-two, Eray Özyağcı shot and killed Sinan Ateş, the former head of the Grey Wolves group —which has ties with the MHP. Even though Özyağcı testified that Doğukan Çep, a criminal, hired him to shoot Ateş over personal conflicts, Ateş's family alleged that the MHP and the Grey Wolves officials orchestrated the murder.

In court, Ayşe said that MHP members threatened Sinan and dismissed him from his position as the Gray Wolves’ head without justification. Despite these accusations, the court released ten defendants, including the other four politicians, with ties to the MHP and declined to hear testimonies from witnesseses, sparking criticism that the trial was avoiding political connections, especially with the government-allied MHP.

Moving on, The Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry's new policy of assigning Turkish coordinators to foreign archaeological excavations has sparked controversy. The Culture Minister announced that they introduced the initiative to speed up excavations and boost cultural tourism, adding that neverending excavations hinder the country’s tourism potential. The problem is excavations are slow and require that these sites be closed off for long periods. The ministry only sees these excavations as money makers and wants the artifacts uncovered to create more tourist attractions. Because they are progressing too slowly for their taste, they are appointing coordinators to oversee the excavations, hoping that would help them move faster.

Experts criticized that the minister focused on square meters excavated to determine the success of the excavations and argued that archaeological projects should be measured beyond physical excavation progress. They insisted that excavations take time and delicacy —it's not something they can just rush for the sake of boosting tourism. They condemned the ministry for caring more about profit than cultural heritage and warned that it would drive away foreign archeologists.

In other news, it has been six years since the Çorlu train disaster, which killed twenty-five people and injured over 300. Mısra Öz, the mother of a nine-year-old child who died in the tragedy, lamented that justice hasn’t been fully served yet. A lack of maintenance on the railways caused the accident. She stated that İsa Apaydın, who was the national railways director then, was responsible for the deaths in the disaster and criticized that he has never even been questioned. She pointed out that he has moved on to lead a successful business despite causing the deaths of over twenty people She emphasized the need for accountability for those directly or indirectly responsible for the incident.

On another note, on Wednesday the 3rd, the Television Supreme Council, or RTÜK, announced that it revoked the broadcasting license of Açık Radyo, a radio channel, for failing to comply with a five-day program suspension that it had previously imposed. The RTÜK initially fined the radio station two hundred thousand liras, around six thousand US Dollars, along with the broadcasting ban. It cited the program guest’s remarks in favor of the Armenian Genocide, and the host failing to correct the remarks. The Armenian genocide is a very controversial topic in Turkey with the government, as well as the majority of the public, denying it. The country almost exclusively refers to it as the “so-called” genocide. Despite paying the fine, Açık Radyo continued broadcasting, prompting RTÜK's decision. Açık Radyo criticized the revocation, asserting its right to free expression, and pledged to continue broadcasting.

On to international relations… Lately, The Ministry of Education has been focusing on French schools like Charles de Gaulle in Ankara and Pierre Loti in Istanbul. They've been inspecting and fining these schools regularly, mainly for things like high school fees. This crackdown was put into question as it might stemmed from rising tensions between France and Turkey, especially with France acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and making critical remarks about Islamism and Turkey. Now, this pressure has gone so far that it's affecting students directly. The government is intervening in school curricula, demanding these schools include religious and ethics classes, follow the Turkish curriculum, and employ Turkish teachers under ministry supervision. Since the forties, French schools have operated independently under a special status, cooperating with the French Education ministry rather than the Turkiey’s. Concerned French and Turkish parents are calling on the Foreign Minister to step in diplomatically to sort out these issues before the new school year begins.

Still on international relations… On Sunday the 7th, President Erdoğan stated that the country was always open to hosting his Syrian counterpart to reestablish relations. He said that the country was ready to reciprocate any positive steps from Syria, with potential facilitation from Russia's Vladimir Putin and the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Next up, some economic news… Recall that last Monday the 1st, the government lifted the 25% rent cap, raising concerns over affordable housing. On Wednesday the 3rd, the executive announced the new cap at just over 65%. Having a cap is somewhat of a relief. However, with the rent prices already being too high, even the lowest increases shake people financially.

In some unfortunate news… Back in late June, neglected power lines sparked fires in the southern cities of Diyarbakır and Mardin, killing fifteen people and hundreds of animals, and devastating agricultural lands. On Monday the 8th, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, officially designated the affected areas as disaster zones impacting daily life. Diyarbakır’s mayor stated that the damage to agricultural lands totalled almost 800 hectares and estimated the total losses at 700 million liras, or twenty-one million US Dollars.

On Friday the 5th, Iran held its second round of presidential elections, after failing to reach a majority in the first round on the 28th of June. Masoud Pezeshkian, a Turkish-origin reformist, won as the country's ninth President against his rival Said Jalili, a man with close ties to the previous Islamist government. This signals a possible shift from Iran’s Islamist policies. According to Iran's Election Center spokesman, Pezeshkian secured 54% of the votes.

And to close this edition, flight delays have recently surged due to air traffic controllers' work-to-rule decision, advocating for improved employment conditions. The workers have decided to strictly adhere to procedural guidelines, refusing to take any initiative, to highlight that the existing guidelines quadruple the time required to perform tasks.his protest aims to demand a policy change by showcasing the procedural hardships and excessive bureaucratic burdens, which impacts both passengers and industry operations. The workers emphasize the need for state intervention to safeguard employment rights, enhance working conditions, and ensure smoother operations in the aviation sector.

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

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