[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

24 June Election Results

Get Ready for a More Aggressive Turkey Sinan Ulgen writes that the AKP sharing its parliamentary majority with the MHP may shift Turkey's foreign policy towards a more isolationist stance, and a more aggressive negotiating style with the United States and the European Union. However, it is also possible that the MHP will seek to focus its influence on domestic politics instead.

TURKEY’S ELECTIONS: WHAT HAPPENED, WHY IT HAPPENED, AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN Bill Park writes that Turkey has moved even closer to the model of a majoritarian democracy, in which the government protects the interests of its base with little regard for the rights of others groups.

Nation Alliance over – Good Party spokesman The IYI Party's spokesman has said that the "Nation Alliance" was only a temporary measure to prevent election rigging, and that now that the elections are over, it is no longer necessary.

“It's the sociology, stupid!”: Anatolia upstages western Turkey Gökhan Bacık writes that in the early days of the republic, Kemalist elites based in Western Turkey expected populations in Anatolia to conform to a cultural hegemony based on secularism on Westernization. He argues that today, the tables are turned, with the country's elites hailing from Anatolia and expecting the Western part of the country to conform to their religion-oriented values.

Turkey's Syria Policies

Foreign Ministry announces Turkey to withdraw from Syria’s Afrin Turkish forces are slowly withdrawing from Afrin, although officials still say they are not sure of the time frame for a full withdrawal.

THE ROADMAP TO NOWHERE: MANBIJ, TURKEY, AND AMERICA’S DILEMMA IN SYRIA Aaron Stein writes that America is encountering the "patron-client problem" with both the SDF and Turkey, as both "clients" are aware of their importance to the "patron," and have thus gained reverse leverage.

In northwest Syria, Turkey extends aid and casts big shadow Although some locals have praised Turkey's development efforts, others have accused it of initiating a process of "Turkification," and the Syrian government has compared Turkey's efforts to colonialism.

Pride Week

Istanbul's Pride Parade Is Cancelled – But Not Our LGBT Pride The Istanbul Pride Parade, which has been organized every year since 1993, was cancelled for the fourth year in a row. However, Efe Songun writes that the other activities surrounding the event will still bring together activists and allies from around the world.

Police dispersed İstanbul pride march with teargas Despite the ban, crowds gathered in Taksim to march for the Istanbul Pride Parade. Although police at first allowed the march to continue, after organizers read their press statement, the crowd was dispersed with teargas and five people were detained.

Migration

Syrian girl with 'tin can' legs finds hope in Turkey Until this month Maya Merhi, an eight-year-old Syrian girl born without legs, was living in an IDP camp in Syria and using tuna cans as makeshift prosthetics. Upon seeing her condition, the Turkish Red Crescent intervened, bringing her to Istanbul to provide her with actual prosthetics.

Facility for refugees in Turkey: member states agree details of additional funding "On 29 June 2018, the 28 EU member states agreed on how to finance an additional €3 billion for the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey to support Syrian refugees."

Press Freedom

Journalists in Jail An updated list of the names, employers, and arrest dates of the 181 journalists currently imprisoned in Turkey.

Turkish underworld joins war on journalists Six journalists and the owner of Karar newspaper are under police protection after crime boss Alaattin Cakici, who has ties to the MHP, made a call on Twitter for them to be "punished" by his supporters.

Urban Space

'Hipstanbulites' struggle to preserve their city's heritage While one Istanbul resident interviewed in the article defines “Hipstanbul" as "trying to preserve whatever memories you have from your friends, family, and childhood," some young people in Istanbul have nostalgia for a past so distant that they have never experienced it.

İstanbul Botanical Garden will be evacuated İstanbul University’s Botanical Garden will be moved, and its former space given to the İstanbul Mufti’s Office. One of the university's botanists said “They should not waste our national treasure. The office of the Mufti can move anywhere, but for us evacuation means the death of our plants.”

Domestic Politics

Thousands march in Turkish cities to protest child abuse After the recent disappearances of several children, thousands protested across Turkey, calling for harsher penalties against those who kidnap or abuse children.

Three Gezi Park protesters to be paid 26,000 TL by the Turkish state Turkey’s Constitutional Court awarded 3,000 lira each to two protesters who were previously charged and sentenced for staging an unpermitted demonstration, and another 20,000 lira to a protester who was beaten by police while trying to escape.

Sivas massacre victims commemorated on 25th anniversary Crowds gathered in Sivas on July, 2nd to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sivas massacre, in which 37 people, most of whom were Alevi artists and intellectuals who were in Sivas for a cultural festival, were killed when a mob set fire to their hotel.

Turkish inflation surges to highest since 2003 "Turkey’s inflation rate surged to 15.4 percent in June, the highest level since 2003, raising the prospect of further rate hikes by the country's central bank."

Students forced to pick religious school as option in new high school entrance system When selecting choices for highschools, middle school students must now list imam hatip religious schools as one of their options. Those who do not name a religious school as one of their options will not be considered as candidates for high-quality highschools.

HDP lawmaker Leyla Güven arrested after release ruling Although a penal court in Diyarbakir ordered her release on June 29th due to lack of evidence, Leyla Guven was arrested again for terrorism charges on the order of a higher court.

State of Emergency to be lifted after cabinet revealed Monday – Turkish PM Binali Yıldırım has announced that the state of emergency will be lifted on Monday, adding that a final decree would be issued to ensure that the lifting of the state of emergency did not impede the "fight against terror.".

The murder of a shopkeeper by the PKK in Turkey’s east triggers outrage The PKK has taken responsibility for the murder of Mevlut Bengi, an AKP ballot box observer, on the day of the elections.

International Politics

Turkey must recognise Cyprus to gain visa-free EU travel - EU report "A vote passed the European Parliament on Wednesday that will prevent Turkey from obtaining visa exemptions for travel to Europe unless it recognises the Republic of Cyprus"

BP begins operating $28B Azerbaijan gas pipeline to Turkey, Europe The pipeline bypasses Russia to deliver natural gas from the Caspian sea directly to Turkish and European markets.

A Glimmer of Hope for the Two Greek Soldiers Held in Turkey Greek law experts have expressed the view that the planned lifting of the state of emergency may cause the judiciary to review the two soldiers' case more favorably.

"Turkish gov't takes a page from the Gulenist playbook in Washington lobbying" - 3 Part three in a series of articles by Claire Sadar on both the Turkish government's and Gulenist's lobbying efforts in the US. Although some analysts believe that Turkey's improved lobbying strategy has borne fruit with the Trump administration, others say that incidents such Turkish security forces' assault on Washington protestors as still contributing to a negative perception of Turkey on Capitol Hill.

Culture and History

Boost for Turkey’s Gobeklitepe as UNESCO adds ‘ground zero for human history’ to World Heritage List Göbeklitepe, a 12,000 year old megalithic structure in Sanliurfa that is considered to be the world's oldest temple, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Fuat Sezgin, prominent Turkish historian of Islamic science, dies aged 94 Turkish historian Fuat Sezgin has died at age 94. Especially known for his research on Islam's Golden Age of Science, he donated a massive library and museum to Turkey.

Turkish

June 24 Election Results

Bundan sonrası... Sezin Öney draws attention to the fact that the MHP lost votes in all regions of Turkey except for the Southeast/East, and even this region saw a change of only 1 percentage point overall compared to the June 7 elections.

‘Asıl manipülasyonu Adil Seçim Platformu yaptı’ President of the Information and Communication Society Mehmet Şafak Sarı explains the breakdown of the CHP's election tracker on the night of the elections, saying that despite party officials assurances that the platform was working, it had not been tested beforehand. He concludes that when opposition officials told people "not to believe Anadolu Agency's manipulation" and that the election would go to a second round, they were the true "manipulators" of their electorate.

Haziran 2018 Seçim Analizi ve Oy Geçişleri Highlights from data engineering site Çilek Ağacı's analysis of the election results: the number of votes that the MHP lost to the IYI Party were made up by votes coming from former AKP supporters; approximately one in three IYI Party voters and one in four HDP voters voted for Muharrem Ince; and participation rates increased across Turkey, with the exception of the Southeast.

Migration

Torbalı'da tarım işçilerinin birliği ve iş bırakma, kısmi zam getirdi Turkish and Syrian fieldworkers in Izmir's Torbalı district worked together to demand an increase in their wages, which were below the national minimum wage. While some employers accepted the increase, others refused, leading a portion of the workers to go on strike.

İzmir Bornova’da Suriyeli sığınmacılara saldırı For three days, Syrians living in Izmir's Çamdibi district have been subject to violent and organized attacks; the attackers have also broken the windows of Syrian-owned shops and attempted to force Syrians from their homes. The police have so far not taken any action other than dispersing the attackers with verbal warnings.

Urban Space

Galataport Projesi kapsamında İstanbul Modern binası da yıkıldı The historic Istanbul Modern Art museum's former building has been demolished to make way for the new "Galataport" project.

İlki iptal edilmişti: Jeotermal santral projesine dört ay sonra yine ÇED izni After the protests of residents, an Izmir district court rejected the Izmir governorship's decision that an environmental impact evaluation was not necessary for a private firm's planned drilling activities in preparation for a geothermal power plant. However, the firm reapplied with the governorship four months later, and received the same decision.

Sivas Massacre 25th Anniversary

Siyasi ve toplumsal yapısıyla Sivas Zeki Coşkun explains the role that Sivas's socio-political structure played in the Sivas Massacre, saying that by the early 90s, the Islamic and ethnic factions in Sivas that had long been suppressed by Kemalism returned in a radical fashion, and engaged in a power struggle, which fed into incidents such as the Sivas Massacre.

Çeyrek asırlık acı Mehmet Menekşe outlines the state's complicity in the Savas Massacre, during which security forces refused to intervene as a large mob set fire to the Madimak hotel. Afterward, the country's leaders portrayed it as targeting one person (Aziz Nelsin), and many of the lawyers who represented the perpetrators now have influential positions within the AKP. Despite all this, security forces told this year's commemorators that "if you shout any slogans that insult our country's leaders, we will intervene."

Domestic Politics

CHP'de toplu istifa Ten members of the CHP's pronvincial office in Erzurum, including the vice-president, have resigned. In their statement, they cited the office president's favoritism and unprofessional behavior, and requested a provincial congress to address the issue.

Silah Ruhsatlarında Devlet Hastanesi ‘Dampingi’ While approximately twenty million people in Turkey own firearms, only 2.5 million of these have permits. Seçil Türkken writes that even those who acquire permits may do so without passing the necessary evaluations by paying hospital workers.

Türkiye: Rastlantısal Demokrasi, Keyfi Otoriterizm, Mağdurlar Manzumesi An interview with academic Ahmet İnsel on the elections and Turkey's political landscape in general. He speaks on Turkey's high voter turn-out, and the fact elections are a way for society to release tensions without violence; the fact that authoritarian tendencies in government have existed since before 1923; and the paradox in nationalist ideology, which lies in celebrating the Turkish invasion of places such as Istanbul paired with a fear of the original owners coming back to settle scores.