Kayyım In Waves

Issue #236

In a Thanksgiving tradition, US Pres. Biden spared the life of two turkeys with the words: “Keep calm and gobble on.”

In an Adana kitchen, a local man spared the life of a rooster after it cried the word: “Anne”. Moral of the holiday: When in danger, get the cluck out.

In this week’s recap:

• Peace process sees new trustees, detentions

• Ankara joins Gaza ceasefire huddle

• Turkey unveils climate plans at COP29

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Windstorm raises roofs across Anatolia

Also from us this week:

• Gonca Tokyol and Ingrid Woudwijk report on the women sustaining Hatay’s olive harvest.

• Ingrid Woudwijk interviews Ömer Madra on the revival of Açık Radyo after a broadcast ban. (Turkish only)

• Sibel Hürtaş reports on developments from the ongoing ‘newborn gang’ trial.

MHP head Devlet Bahçeli again pushed for peace talks Tuesday. © MHP

This was not a week of pardons in Turkey. The state appointed new trustees (kayyım) and launched nationwide operations detaining journalists, human right activists, a district mayor and more.

Let’s start with the trustees that replaced elected Tunceli Co-Mayor Cevdet Konak (DEM) and Ovacık Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül (CHP) Friday evening. Both were sentenced last week for “membership of a terrorist organization”, which the Interior Ministry cited as the reason to remove the two from office.

“This intervention against a city like Dersim, a symbol of resistance,” DEM said in their condemnation of the kayyım, using the city name most locals prefer for the province.

During a visit to Ovacık, CHP MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu said: “These decisions are made upon political instructions.”

Then, Tuesday morning, the police raided homes in 30 provinces, detaining 231 people in an operation “against the PKK”, the Interior Ministry announced.

Among the detained were 10 journalists, a DEM party district mayor, human rights activists and other civil society actors. Because of a confidentiality order on the file, many details are not known yet.

Press freedom organizations demanded the immediate release of the journalists.

In Diyarbakır, where journalists protested the detainment of their colleagues, there was a feeling of censorship in the air, a reporter told Turkey recap. Out of fear of retribution, she requested to remain anonymous.

“The ongoing detentions, arrests and pressures on journalists are a major obstacle to journalism,” she continued. “It affects us too, we are feeling uneasy, thinking: ‘Will they take us too?’”

Meanwhile in Ankara, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli suggested Tuesday that DEM Party politicians should meet with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The same afternoon, DEM applied to the Justice Ministry to visit Öcalan. Despite rumours the green light had been given, both DEM and the Justice Ministry said there had yet to be official approval Wednesday evening.

Pres. Erdoğan, for his part, gave mixed signals Wednesday. He called Bahçeli's declarations on Öcalan “groundbreaking”, but also said “the picture we are faced with does not allow us to be very hopeful”, when talking about DEM and the PKK.

Additionally, when asked whether there should be a meeting between DEM and Öcalan, Erdoğan said: “They are meeting.”

What this entails exactly is anyone's guess, but DEM stressed the last political delegations met with Öcalan in April 2015. “The last visit was by Ömer Öcalan [in October]. There were no other meetings,” a DEM spox said.

Yet with the current application, “the ball is in the government’s court,” Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit told BBC Türkçe, which also reports Ahmet Türk is expected to meet with Bahçeli as part of the process.

Vahap Çoşkun, an advisor in the previous peace process, told DW he thinks talks are being held between the state and the PKK, and the state and Öcalan.

Additionally, AANES politician İlham Ahmed told Al-Monitor “there are facilitators” between Turkey and North-Syria, adding: “Anything Ocalan says is of vital importance and we believe that everything and anything he says will be for the benefit … of all the Kurds.”

“Unlike the 2013–2015 peace process, which pursued more long-term goals, this new peace initiative seems to be focused on short-term objectives and more responsive demands,” said Berfin Coşkun, researcher at the Kurdish Studies Center in Diyarbakır.

She added, the continued trustee practice is pressuring DEM to accept any extended hand while “reminding them of the consequences of non-cooperation.”

“Although this strategy may be politically coherent, it is contributing to confusion among Kurds and further eroding the trust — already dramatically diminished since 2015,” Coşkun told Turkey recap.

– Ingrid Woudwijk

A Rutte awakening. Just kidding, the two Uzun Adamlar are doing fine. © TCCB

Deriders on the storm: Ankara joins Gaza ceasefire huddle