Mustafa Şen, deputy chair of ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), told journalists on Tuesday that their party still leads in the polls after more than two decades in power. Şen said the opposition “dreamed on” about the polls, referring to claims by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) which pushes for an early election, confident of defeating AK Party. CHP’s early election rhetoric is now confined to supporters of Özgür Özel, the chairman ousted from the post by a court verdict last month. Özel is as confident as his successor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to win the next election scheduled for 2028, five years after Kılıçdaroğlu lost to AK Party’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan despite the support of a six-party opposition bloc.

Şen said that AK Party ranked second in the polls for about seven months, before it rose to the first place in October 2024. “We conducted a poll last week and we will have another this week. Based on these, we still have 37% or 38%. The polls are not surprising since our party at one point had a 50% lead in polls. We are now working to improve the results,” he said. Şen stated “the second party” in the polls had a 26%-27% rate.

On CHP’s call for early elections, Şen said AK Party always favored elections in time but the date may be slightly rescheduled to an earlier date, but only “weeks or months before the scheduled date,” he said. Şen also ruled out the speculation that Erdoğan would not be nominated again. “Our candidate is our president,” he underlined. On a question whether Erdoğan would be eligible to run again as it may require a parliamentary approval for an earlier election for his eligibility, Şen said they would accomplish the majority to that extent. People’s Alliance comprised AK Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are about forty short of majority for approval but Şen ruled out that there would be problems in achieving majority. “The politics is art of achieving this,” he said, without elaborating. CHP has earlier hinted voting in favor of an earlier election for eligibility of Erdoğan though they advocated a far earlier vote.

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Özgür Özel, who was removed from office as the leader of Republican People’s Party (CHP) with a court verdict last month over allegations of vote-buying, called reinstated leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to hold an intra-party election.

Özel, now parliamentary group chair of the party, made his second speech at the parliamentary group meeting since his removal while Kılıçdaroğlu decided to skip the address traditionally done by party leaders. Instead, he attended Tuesday’s administrative committee meetings of the party where new administration under Kılıçdaroğlu would reportedly discuss expulsion of pro-Özel names from the party.

“I invite Mr. Kemal to make a historic decision and end the deadlock in our party, our country,” Özel said in his speech in Ankara. His supporters already mobilized delegates for a petition calling for an extraordinary convention in the party. They believe Özel can win a new vote while Kılıçdaroğlu so far dragged his feet although he pledged that a convention would be held eventually.

Kılıçdaroğlu often repeats that he is seeking to cleanse CHP of “corruption” in reference to vote-buying allegations that reportedly brought Özel to power in the party in November 2023 and corruption allegations engulfing CHP-run municipalities.

Özel said that the party should get rid of “shame of not holding an election.” He noted that it was CHP which introduced elections to Republic of Türkiye. CHP, Türkiye’s oldest party, was established by Republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and until first multi-party elections in 1950, de facto governed the country. Since then, the party failed to win any general election alone.

“One way or another, we will take back this party,” Özel said. The former leader hinted at establishing a new party with his supporters but abstained to take concrete action so far.

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A total of 209 suspects from several terrorist groups were detained on Tuesday in a string of operations by police and gendarmerie forces in the capital Ankara.

Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara announced that counterterrorism police launched raids to capture 148 suspects linked to Daesh and far-left terrorist groups including DSIH, TKP/ML, TKIP, People’s Revolutionary Liberation Party-Front (DHKP/C), MLKP, THKP/C and DKP/BÖG while counterterrorism units of the gendarmerie forces carried out operations to capture 93 suspects from TKP/ML, Daesh, DHKP/C and MLKP. The Office said 209 suspects out of 241 wanted suspects were apprehended in operations.

Separately, Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul announced 24 DHKP/C suspects were captured in operations in the city and seven other provinces. 13 other suspects remain at large.

Daesh and DHKP/C are among major terror threats for Türkiye. Daesh was behind a string of attacks across Türkiye that killed dozens in the past while DHKP/C, although involved in less deadly attacks, is still a security concern especially in big cities.

The terrorist group pursues a far-left ideology and has been actively carrying out attacks and assassinations in the country since the 1980s, but its campaign of violence hit a snag when faced with Türkiye’s barrage of counterterrorism operations.

The DHKP-C’s most high-profile attacks include a suicide bombing that targeted the U.S. Embassy in the capital Ankara in 2013 and the killing of a prosecutor in an Istanbul courthouse in 2015.

Türkiye was one of the first countries to declare Daesh a terrorist group in 2013 and carried out a steady stream of operations to thwart the group, rounding up hundreds of suspects over the past few years. Operations prevented plots by Daesh to attack places of worship in Türkiye. Terrorists from Daesh and other groups, such as the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye. Turkish authorities have ordered the freezing of millions of lira worth of assets since 2013 to crack down on terrorism financiers in line with United Nations sanctions.

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Spiralling debts and mismanagement engulf municipalities run by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) since the 2024 elections.

CHP’s populist discourse granted the party first genuine wins in decades in the municipal elections but municipalities failed to follow up this with public services. Under the administration of now ousted chair Özgür Özel, CHP sought to break the curse of two decades of defeat to ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) by pledging a more prosperous Türkiye to the electorate disillusioned with rising cost of living. But economic pledges are nowhere to be seen in the municipal services. Instead, financial woes are piling up.

Most CHP-run municipalities fail to pay the municipal employees properly, leading to strikes. Municipal workers complain that irregular payments and in some cases, absence of payments, force them to withdraw loans.

Çiğli, a district of CHP stronghold Izmir, is among the worst faring municipalities in terms of financial and human resources management. The municipality fired 147 workers after the 2024 elections without paying compensation and for at least five months, did not pay salaries of most workers. Protests by workers have been common in the past two years while suicide of a worker, a father of three who was fired without compensation made the headlines.

Other districts of Izmir are no different. In Karşıyaka, workers complaining lack of payment went on strike for days. In Buca, workers tried to storm the city hall to protest unpaid wages. A strike by garbage collectors employed by the municipality had triggered a pollution crisis in the district last year. Konak municipality was also rocked with strikes by workers over unpaid wages.

CHP has managed to win the 2024 vote in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, an AK Party stronghold and took over the municipality debt-free. However, in two years, a debt crisis took hold in the municipality, forcing it to skip even pensions of retired workers. Newly retired personnel complain they were not paid severance pay for months. Unable to pay salaries, the municipality decided to sell four properties it owned. Similarly, the Eyüpsultan municipality of Istanbul where AK Party lost to CHP in 2024, suffer from financial woes and last year, the municipality told workers that it can only pay a fraction of their wages due to economic problems.

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The court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of 35 suspects, including Adalar Mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), as part of an investigation into allegations that permits were issued in exchange for bribes in protected areas of Istanbul’s Adalar district.

The investigation, led by the Istanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, focuses on claims that municipal officials granted licenses for unauthorized constructions in areas designated as natural and archaeological protected sites.

According to judicial authorities, 39 suspects were referred to court following questioning by prosecutors. The court ordered the detention of 35 individuals, including Akpolat, while four others were released under judicial supervision measures.

Prosecutors allege that municipal officials, including senior administrators and employees, were involved in a scheme in which permits were issued in return for bribes. Evidence collected during the investigation reportedly indicated that negotiations over payments took place between municipal officials and business owners and that cash was delivered either directly to officials or to individuals linked to them.

Authorities said investigators identified 47 suspects allegedly connected to 40 separate incidents uncovered during the probe.

The investigation culminated in coordinated raids carried out on June 19 across Istanbul and three other provinces. Police searched 90 addresses and detained 42 suspects, including the mayor.

During one of the searches, authorities seized $258,000 in cash and 13 gold bracelets from the residence of a contractor identified by the initials M.Ö., a former member of the Adalar Municipal Council.

Following police questioning and medical examinations, the suspects were transferred to the Istanbul Anadolu Courthouse. Three individuals were released after giving statements to prosecutors, while the remaining suspects were referred to court.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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Turkish Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalın met with Lt. Gen. Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the Libyan National Army, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, security sources said on Tuesday.

According to information obtained from sources, the talks focused on efforts to preserve stability in Libya and advance the country’s political and military unification process.

The two sides discussed ways to maintain the current atmosphere of peace and strengthen efforts aimed at bringing Libya’s rival eastern and western administrations, as well as their military forces, under a single authority.

Forces from the east and west-based administrations were joined by military elements from Türkiye and the U.S. earlier this month for exercises in Sirte in the first such joint event since 2014.

Kalın and Haftar also reviewed bilateral relations between Türkiye and Libya, discussing opportunities to expand cooperation across various sectors and further strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

Türkiye has remained actively engaged in Libya through diplomatic, economic and security cooperation initiatives, while supporting efforts aimed at preserving the country’s territorial integrity, political unity and long-term stability.

The talks in Benghazi reflect Ankara’s continued engagement with key actors across Libya as international and regional stakeholders seek progress toward reconciliation and the establishment of unified state institutions.

Turkish Defense Ministry previously said that Türkiye always supported United Nations-led processes in Libya and maintained contacts with “all sides.”

It noted Türkiye trained more than 23,000 Libyan military personnel, both in Türkiye and Libya, and was continuing to support Libya in several fields, from demining to defusal of unexploded ordnance, counterterrorism, the fight against irregular migration and smuggling.

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