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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 23/09/2026

Ankara’s mayor has made his move. He leaves the CHP – the party that embraced him more than 16 years ago – and vows to sit as an independent, saying his first responsibility is to the voters who elected him.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 07/08/2026

This long analysis about the EU’s enlargement prospects by @henryjfoy.ft.com and Martin Dunai is fascinating – not least because it mentions the EU’s longest-standing candidate country, Turkey, precisely once. www.ft.com/content/f8fc...

ft.com

‘It’s now or never.’ Is the EU serious about letting in new members?

Candidate countries hope for progress after years of inaction, but some in Brussels are still uncertain about enlargement

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 15/06/2026

"President Erdoğan has no need to become president again, but Turkey does need President Erdoğan to become a candidate one more time." The biggest indication yet from major aide Mehmet Uçum that Erdoğan's team is preparing the ground for a fourth term www.aa.com.tr/tr/analiz/bi...

aa.com.tr

Bir kez daha erken seçim tartışması üzerine

Genel olarak içinde bulunduğumuz dönemde dünyada ve bölgedeki tüm gelişmelere rağmen Türkiye, siyasal sistemin işleyişi açısından olağanüstü bir durum içinde değildir. | Anadolu Ajansı

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 22/05/2026

It is the day after the night before and the anger at Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has been visceral: we’ve seen instances of his portrait being torn down in party offices, of crowds chanting “Traitor Kemal”. According to some reports today, he’s been left rather upset by it all.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 21/05/2026

So, what happens now? The latest in a long string of court rulings against Turkey's main opposition party is an order to remove the party's leader, Özgür Özel. Is he still in office – and is the country heading for early elections?

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 15/02/2026

A pro-Kurdish demonstration in central London, complete with flags of Abdullah Öcalan, the YPG, the federated Iraqi region of Kurdistan – but not, as was so often the case in previous years, the PKK.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 10/02/2026

In a pretty stunning move, President Erdoğan has tonight appointed Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akın Gürlek – the man who led many of the judicial cases against the opposition’s jailed presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu – as his new justice minister.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 03/05/2025

Sırrı Süreyya Önder died this afternoon of multiple organ failure, after spending nearly three weeks critically ill in hospital following emergency heart surgery. A huge loss for parliament, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party – and the peace process.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 23/04/2025

You don't really need subtitles to see how well presenter Meltem Bozbeyoğlu handles the moment a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Istanbul struck live on CNN Türk, but here they are in any case.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 23/04/2025

Today’s the Turkish parliament’s 105th anniversary. Some, like independence war veteran Rauf Orbay below, believe this – and not 29 October 1923 – is Turkey’s true birthday. It was since then, he argues, that the country operated as a republic. Either way, happy birthday 🇹🇷

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 15/04/2025

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, one of the most recognised pro-Kurdish politicians in Turkey and member of the delegation holding talks with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, has been rushed to hospital tonight with a suspected tear to a heart valve. His party says his condition is serious.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 14/04/2025

Parliamentary arithmetic still matters. A reminder that Turkey's governing party does not have a majority, and its de facto coalition does not wield a three-fifths majority in the Grand National Assembly. You need the latter to change the constitution or call an early election.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 23/03/2025

Now that Ekrem İmamoğlu has been formally charged and he has been stripped – temporarily, we are told – of his Istanbul mayoralty, what happens next? A thread 🧵

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 22/03/2025

Turkey's opposition CHP has called an extraordinary party congress. What happens now – and is Özgür Özel's leadership under threat? A thread 🧵

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 19/03/2025

This morning's police raids targeted 106 suspects but the focus, of course, is on the man who is Turkey's most recognisable politician after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Where now for Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Erdoğan and Turkey? A thread after a tumultuous 24 hours.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 19/03/2025

“The terrorism charge is particularly serious because it could allow him to be removed from office. It means that by the end of the day Ekrem İmamoğlu may no longer be mayor of Istanbul.” Me on the BBC World Service a little earlier.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 18/03/2025

A lengthy post from Ankara's mayor Mansur Yavaş, another possible candidate against Erdoğan, who comes out for İmamoğlu. Notably, Yavaş himself declares he won't stand for president "while this unlawfulness persists".

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 18/03/2025

A big moment in the build-up to the next presidential race: perhaps the most recognisable opposition politician in Turkey can no longer run for office.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 27/02/2025

History in the making in Turkey, where a message from PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan – apparently calling for peace and an end to an armed conflict lasting nearly half a century – is being read out live. But it’s in Kurdish first, so most of the country doesn’t know what’s in it yet.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 26/02/2025

Spare a thought today for Ahmet Sever: journalist, political adviser and author of one of the few actually readable Turkish political memoirs of recent years. His 2015 account of years working for Abdullah Gül are an excellent insight into Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's capture of the AK Party.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 09/01/2025

Launching soon: Turkey’s 165th active political party Yeni Yol – the New Path Party – will be a significant one, at least in parliament, because it involves the merger of three existing parties which are crowded into the same ideological space. For now, Deva, Gelecek and Saadet ride together.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 08/01/2025

New from @reuters.com: Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party delegation to visit jailed PKK militant leader Ocalan for a second time, party sources say

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 29/12/2024

“For this process to succeed, all political circles in Turkey must…operate constructively and avoid narrow, periodic calculations. One of the most important places for these contributions will doubtless be parliament.” A key passage in Abdullah Öcalan’s reply to Devlet Bahçeli.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 24/11/2024

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 06/11/2024

The man who runs elections in Turkey was in the US this week to observe electronic voting booths – and was apparently left impressed by the process. Turkey currently votes with using stamps and ballot papers that are up to one metre wide. @nevsinmengu.bsky.social

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 21/10/2024

There certainly won't be any public show of grief in Turkey today over Fethullah Gülen, whose death was announced overnight. The 83-year-old's name is toxic, and not just because the government blames him for the 2016 coup attempt. That notoriety makes him a pivotal figure. 🧵

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 31/03/2024

As polls close in the east of Turkey, this is your regular election reminder that a strong showing at an individual ballot box does not necessarily indicate a strong national performance.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 28/02/2024

It's 27 years since 28 February 1997, the date of a notorious meeting of politicians and soldiers in Turkey that had such dramatic effects that they're still felt today. If you've got 10 minutes, this video will help explain why. www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9MS...

youtube.com

Milli Görüş: making the country more Islamic | Turkey's politics explained (2)

Episode 2 of a five-part series looking at the origins and thinking behind Turkey's main political movementsBy Michael Sercan Daventry00:00 Teaser00:35 Islam...

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 12/12/2023

Spot the difference On the left: Turkish authorities permit new political party name with a remarkable resemblance to a banned movement. On the right: Turkish authorities reject new political party name with a remarkable resemblance to a banned movement.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 04/12/2023

The increasingly nationalist İYİ Party says it won't to cooperate with the opposition CHP in next year's local elections. It leaves Meral Akşener's party standing against popular candidates she's previously endorsed, like Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 21/11/2023

Turkey’s far-right leader says the country’s president should still be elected by absolute majority. It’s a blow to President Erdoğan, who’s mused about a lower threshold (maybe resetting term limits too). Devlet Bahçeli remains the hardest leader to read in Turkish politics.

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 05/11/2023

It’s official. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has become the first major Turkish political party leader this century to be defeated in a leadership contest. Is this a seminal moment in Turkish politics, or merely the final whimper of the movement defeated by President Erdoğan in May?

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