[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Turkey and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Turkey Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to turkey@jadaliyya.com by Sunday night of every week.]

English

May 1st

May 1 Celebrations Across Turkey A photo gallery of May Day celebrations in cities across Turkey.

May 1 Meeting in Maltepe: We Will See Beautiful Days An overview of the May Day program that took place in Istanbul.

Turks mark May Day far from traditional rallying site May Day protests were banned in Taksim once again this year, with over 26,000 police officers deployed around Istanbul. Turkey has a fairly poor worker's rights record- almost 400 workers were killed on the job in the first months of 2018.

Protestors march barefoot against Turkey’s workplace fatalities In Bolu, hundreds of protestors marched barefoot before lying down for a minute in protest of workplace deaths in Turkey.

Three raising Kurdistan flag during May Day arrested in Turkey Three members of the Kurdistan Socialist party who were carrying Kurdistan flags were arrested during a May Day demonstration in Istanbul. Ari Khalidi writes that while the flag is not illegal in Turkey, the mention of "Kurdistan" remains a sensitive issue- last month, a man was arrested for wearing a Kurdistan T-shirt, and a businessmans' fraternity in Diyarbakir was dissolved earlier this year for having the word Kurdistan in its name.

June 24 Elections

CHP-İYİ Party Meeting: No Joint Candidate The CHP and the Iyi party have decided to present individual presidential candidates. In regards to the CHP's proposed "zero threshold" alliance, the Iyi Party said they would consider it on the condition that the HDP not be included.

Four oppositional parties agree to form election alliance The CHP, Iyi Party, Felicity Party, and Democrat party will form an electoral alliance in order to overcome the 10% electoral threshold. The HDP will run individually.

Felicity Party Declares Its Candidate for Election The Felicity Party (SP) has announced that its candidate for the election will be the party’s chair Temel Karamollaoğlu.

Turkey’s lone 'she-wolf' leaves opposition fractured A profile of Meral Akşener, which follows her evolution from an MP for the True Path Party in 1995 to her creation of the Iyi Party after splitting from the MHP in October. Although she is seen as the strongest presidential candidate in the opposition, Sibel Hurtas writes that in order to win, she must cooperate with other opposition parties.

CHP’s multiple identities and the upcoming snap election Ebru Erdem Akçay writes that the CHP has repeatedly failed to achieve tangible results through mobilizing its base. She cites an identity crisis within the party as the main reason for this.

$6 billion economic handout package to go into effect a month before Turkish elections The AKP has announced a benefits package for pensioners that will hand out 1000 liras before each of the two major Muslim holidays.

Afrin

Inside the ghost town of Shiye in Afrin Video footage of the subdistrict of Shiye in Afrin, which has been paritally destroyed by Turkey's Afrin operation. Thousands of people fled the outlying districts of Afrin towards the city over the course of the fighting.

Turkish groups set up tents for refugees from eastern Ghouta in Afrin AFAD and the Red Crescent have set up 200 tents in Afrin's countryside that will house refugees from eastern Ghouta. Currently, there are around 650 families from other parts of Syria temporarily living around Afrin's Muhammediyye district.

'By what law?' Kurds locked out of Afrin as Ghouta refugees take their place Writing for Middle East Eye, Ammar Hamou says that groups affiliated with the FSA have been giving vacant houses in Afrin to refugees from Eastern Ghouta. One refugee is quoted in the article as refusing, saying "We are not accepting these houses for free without the permission of their owners.”

Syria: Afrin Displacement - Facts and Figures, 26 April 2018 OCHA estimates that around 137,070 people have been displaced from Afrin, with 150,000 remaining in Afrin district. Many IDPs still cannot move to Aleppo city nor return to Afrin.

Turkey backs new opposition governance to mend Afrin The Syrian National Coalition has announced the formation of an interim governing council in Afrin at the request of the Turkish government. The deputy head of the council says that it is only a temporary measure taken prior to elections, and that all members of the council are natives of Afrin.

Migration

Some 150,000 Syrians have returned from Turkey The chair of AFAD is quoted as saying "“Especially after ‘Operation Olive Branch,’ the Azez and Afrin districts have turned into safe areas. With more intense health and education services, more Syrians will be returning there"

Total of Afghans deported from Turkey to reach 10,000 The Turkish Interior Minister said that 7,100 Afghans had already been deported from Turkey, and that the number was likely to rise to 10,000.

Domestic Politics

Operation, Curfew in Diyarbakır’s Districts of Lice, Kulp An indefinite curfew has been declared in 69 villages and hamlets in Lice and Kulp.

S&P cuts Turkey’s rating deeper into ‘junk’ Standard & Poor have downgraded Turkey's sovereign debt rating to "“BB-/B”, citing concerns over inflation and the volatility of Turkey's exchange rate.

Justice in disgrace The court has ordered Cumhuriyet Executive Board Chair Akın Atalay's release after 541 days in detention. However, the court handed down harsh sentences to all but three of the defendents in the Cumhuriyet case, including 7 years and 13 months for Atalay, 2 years and 6 months for Kadri Gürsel, and 7 years and 6 months for Ahmet Şık.

Turkish women demand safer, cleaner spaces in mosques The Women in Mosques campaign has highlighted several barriers to women's accessing mosques, such as inadequate prayer spaces or women's bathrooms that are frequently out of order. However, there are signs of hope, such as a mega mosque designed by female architects which has anticipated these concerns.

Turkish chief editor resigns after newspaper sale to pro-govt business Fikret Bila, Hürriyet’s editor-in-chief, resigned on Friday. Vahap Munyar has taken his place.

International Politics

Uzbekistan decides to join ‘Turkic alliance’ during Erdogan’s visit The Uzbek president has announced that his country will join the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States, as well as increase bilateral ties with Turkey in all domains.

Kotzias says Turkey trying to control Cyprus’s energy resources The Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister has slammed Turkey's purchase of new vessels for hydrocarbon exploration.

Turkey’s War on Dissent Goes Global Jago Russel writes on the impact of Turkey's use of Interpol alerts to target political dissidents abroad, especially in the EU. In some cases, it has issued bounties worth hundreds of thousands of euros for information on these individuals.

Demonstrations Staged for Hasankeyf, Sur in 30 Cities Across World Photos from demonstrations for Hasankeyf and Sur in Iran, Germany, France, and Spain.

Bizarre

22-carat golden dress in Turkey bought by Iraqi jeweler An Iraqi jeweler bought the dress, made entirely of gold, for 1.2 million lira at a jewelry fair in Diyarbakir.

Turkish

May 1st

1 Mayıs: İstanbul’da toplam gözaltı sayısı 84’e yükseldi Diken reports that a total of 84 people were arrested during May Day demonstrations in Istanbul.

Saadet Partisi'nden 'anarşist pankart' açıklaması After members of the Felicity Party drew attention when they joined a May Day demonstration holding a sign adorned with anarchist symbols that said "Let workers live so that the state can live" , the party released a statement saying that they did not make distinctions between left and right, particularly when it comes to defending worker's rights.

23 Nisan mı, 1 Mayıs mı? Reminding readers that there are approximately 2 million children working in Turkey, Emre Gürcanlı writes that May 1st shouldn't be for children too.

June 24 Elections

HDP'den 4'lü ittifaka sert tepki The HDP has qualified the alliance between the CHP, SP, DP, and Iyi party as a right wing alliance, saying that the CHP cannot claim otherwise, despite its pretensions to being a "center left" party.

Habertürk sildi: Erdoğan, Akar ve Kalın'ı Gül'ü iknaya yolladı Habertürk published an article alleging that Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalın and Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar were sent to convince Abdullah Gül not to run for president. The article was later deleted.

İYİ Parti'den 5 kurucu yönetici istifa etti Five founding members of the Iyi Party have resigned; no statement has been made regarding their resignation.

Meral Akşener'den 'suikast' iddiasına ilişkin ilk açıklama Meral Akşener has responded to allegations of an assassination plot against her, saying that it is not something to be afraid of, and this type of allegation is only meant to scare people and hold them back.

Domestic Politics

Zorla Yıkılan Alipaşa’da Yarım Milyonluk Lüks Villalar Yükseliyor After the demolition of the neighborhood of Alipaşa, in Diyarbakir's Sur district, TOKI has announced that it will build luxury villas in its place. The villas will be sold for 450-550 thousand TL, while the people who were displaced from the neighborhood are to be paid between 30-120 thousand TL.

HDP ilçe binasına baskın: 39 gözaltı Police raided an HDP meeting on the upcoming elections and May Day demonstrations in Istanbul; 39 people were arrested.

2 çocuğun öldürülmesi davasında 3 polise beraat After 12 years, three police officers have been acquitted for the deaths of an 8 year old and a 14 year old in Diyarbakir, who died after being struck by gas canisters.

Bizarre

Denizlispor'un cezalı taraftarı maçı kiraladığı vinçle izledi After being banned from the stadium, a Denizlispor fan rented a crane so that he could watch their soccer matches from above the stadium.