On April 11, 2025, he appeared in court at the Silivri Open Penal Institution for a trial related to allegations that he threatened Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. The case involves charges that could result in a prison sentence of up to seven years and four months, as well as a political ban. İmamoğlu … Read more
So what happened on the April 2 boycott? Here are the developments related to the April 2 boycott organized by the Turkish opposition: Call for Boycott: – The Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader, Özgür Özel, called for a nationwide boycott on April 2 in response to the jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and student … Read more
Two senior leaders of TÜSİAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association), Turkey’s largest business association, have faced legal action and travel restrictions due to their critical remarks about the government13. Key events: : On February 14, 2025, Turkish prosecutors initiated an investigation into Ömer Aras, Chair of TÜSİAD’s High Advisory Council, for his critical remarks on … Read more
One could observe that the government is very employer-friendly. Bianet listed all the banned/postponed strike proposals since 2003. Here are the banned strikes under the rule of the AKP: The first strike ban during the AKP era occurred on Jul 1, 2003, at Petlas Tire Industry and Trade Inc., where workers were represented by the … Read more
I saw the news Probe launched into counterfeit dollar banknotes in Turkish market and i heard that even in the famous Grand Bazaar circles, store owners refrain from trading with cash dollars. The amount is supposed to be big! Recent reports indicate a significant rise in counterfeit U.S. dollar banknotes, particularly $50 and $100 denominations, … Read more
A strange new tax is on the agenda: The Turkish government has recently proposed a new bill that includes several measures to raise funds for the country’s defense industry. One of the key aspects of this proposal is a new tax on credit cards with high spending limits. Here’s what we know about this specific … Read more
At the moment, we have to pay 150 TRY when we travel abroad. Rumor has it that it will be increased to 3000 TRY (nearly 90 USD)! After unimaginable levels of extravagance and corruption that still last in government, Mehmet Şimşek is after our already squeezed travel budgets.
Pro-government trolls were vehemently denying trade or at least trying to justify it. After a particular instance of police brutality on pro-Palestine demonstrators who demanded an end to trade with Israel, public outcry may have led to partial restrictions on trade. Turkey imposes export restrictions on Israel amid Gaza conflict One Twitter user has been … Read more
Hafize Gaye Erkan resigned last night. In her resignation, she tweeted that she was subject to a character assassination campaign. I am sure there was an infighting going on, and she got caught in it. I just wonder if she works like that in the US: Like a spoiled kid. Keeping her parents right where … Read more
Erdoğan asks Musk to build Tesla factory in Türkiye Well, Musk loves autocrats. Let’s see if he will be persuaded. Thodex cryptocurrency boss jailed for 11,196 years in Turkey for fraud, Cost of living in İstanbul rises 80,6 percent in a year Turkey’s official inflation rate rises by over 10 points in August Turkey hikes … Read more
The western financial institutions who employed him should also be genius. As of July 16, 2023, Turkey has implemented significant tax hikes on fuel. The fuel tax has been increased by almost 200% [2][4][5][6]. This increase in fuel tax is aimed at financing various expenses, including funding a 1.12 trillion lira ($42.2 billion) increase to … Read more
Turkey hikes tax rates to reduce budget deficit ISTANBUL, July 7 (Reuters) – Turkey on Friday hiked value-added tax (VAT) by 2 percentage points and also raised the tax collected on bank consumer loans, in moves intended to tackle a growing budget deficit and also likely to fuel already high inflation. The VAT rate charged … Read more
Turkey ranks 147th out of 163 countries in ‘Global Peace Index’ Image via here The Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) has released the 2023 Global Peace Index. According to the index, Turkey ranked 147th out of 163 countries, sharing this position with Iran. Just below Turkey and Iran on the list was North … Read more
Turkish Lira continues to weaken after elections Following the second round of the presidential election on May 28, the Turkish lira continues to experience depreciation, causing concerns in the economy. Following his re-election, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to appoint Mehmet Şimşek as the minister of treasury and finance was anticipated as a sign of Turkey’s … Read more
A former professor of mine asked me my opinion about an opinion piece at Washington Post. This helped to think about the Imamoğlu case. The trial is a political one and in the long run, those who are responsible will be ashamed of this sentencing. However, I do not share the logic that this will … Read more