Participatory democracy is embodied in the Turkish Parliament’s petitions committee, or “dilekçe komisyonu” in Turkish, that oversees the demands and suggestions of citizens.

The committee plays an active role in resolving the problems of ordinary citizens and addressing their demands. The committee’s chair, Sunay Karamık, said the wide array of demands on issues affecting the daily lives of people and the improvement of public services often guides their path to find solutions to problems that need comprehensive solutions. “They also reinforce our determination to strengthen democratic participation,” Karamık told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday.

It is one of three committees where citizens have direct access, and in the latest term of the Parliament, it received an average of 28 petitions daily.

Every petition is recorded and categorized by the committee’s experts and delivered to regular meetings of the Parliament’s presidential council. There, the council members discuss them and decide on the subsequent process for petitions. In the past two years, the committee received some 20,000 applications, and so far, the council has decided on about 9,500 petitions. Petitions requiring implementation of new laws or amendments to existing ones are also referred to the office of the Parliamentary Speaker, while one copy is delivered to the president’s office. The council’s decisions that require the preparation of draft bills are declared to lawmakers. Occasionally, the committee receives petitions outside its jurisdiction and rules for inaction while petition holders are informed.

Karamık, a lawmaker for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), chairs meetings of the committee members on petitions, and together, they assess the source of problems citizens seek solutions for and seek information from relevant public institutions to that extent.

The committee plays a decisive role in addressing the problems voiced by citizens, from outlandish to crucial.

One of the concrete examples of the committee’s efficiency is related to a citizen’s complaint about credit card fees. The citizen applied to the committee after his/her bank refused to return the fee despite regulations barring banks from charging customers for ownership of the card. After correspondence with the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) and the management of the said bank, the committee helped the citizen reimburse the fee.

Another citizen sought the return of his deep freezer, which he loaned to teams working in aid and rescue work after the Feb. 6, 2023, earthquakes in southern Türkiye. The committee’s investigation found the deep freezer at a state institution whose staff moved the deep freezer by mistake to the capital, Ankara, after the aid work was wrapped up. After correspondence with the institution, the committee ensured the delivery of a deep freezer to the applicant’s address.

A citizen complained about the inappropriate manners of a train station ticket office attendant while buying a ticket in the southern province of Adana. The committee informed the railway authority about the matter, and in turn, the authority launched an investigation into the attendant. As a result, the attendant was disciplined and fined.

Other resolved petitions include one about improvement of a village road in western province of Çanakkale, evacuation of chickens emitting odor from a residential area, demand for demolition of illegally built structures, fixing bureaucratic errors that made a citizen ineligible for disability benefits, installation of street lighting to a neighborhood in a small town in northern province of Samsun, cancellation of wrongfully issued traffic fine and construction of a house for an earthquake victim.

Karamık says every voice matters to them, and they work to contribute to efforts to strengthen democracy. “Petitions constitute an important data source; they reflect problems people from different segments of society face, and they reflect public expectations,” she said. She points out that the committee is among the rare institutional mechanisms in direct contact with citizens. “We are not only assessing personal applications, we are also detecting social needs in general and developing solutions. Together, we expand participatory democracy and build a future shaped by citizens’ expectations and demands,” she added.

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A network of corruption across municipalities in Istanbul, Türkiye’s most populated city, is under the spotlight after the March arrest of the city’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, a popular name of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). An in-depth investigation into the wrongdoings of an alleged criminal network led by Imamoğlu led to five separate operations that netted dozens of suspects. In the meantime, more people come forward to confess to the wrongdoings involving Imamoğlu and other suspects.

Some 24 suspects among 230 detained so far invoked leniency laws in exchange for valuable information shedding light on the accusations. Most are names closest to Imamoğlu, including top bureaucrats of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB).

Confessions of suspects shape the investigation centered at IBB, which led to the arrest of 114 people out of 230. Twenty-four suspects were released with judicial control after accepting a collaboration deal with investigators. Among those who benefited from leniency in prison terms are Murat Abbas, former head of Kültür AŞ, a subsidiary of IBB, Ertan Yıldız, who chaired a committee overseeing the municipality’s subsidiaries, Mustafa Mutlu, who served as an adviser for public tenders for Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district municipality, and businesspeople Murat Ilbak, Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, Eyüp Subaşı, Ali Nuhoğlu, Seyfi Beyaz and Süleyman Atik.

Murat Abbas has accused Murat Ongun, a top bureaucrat of IBB and a confidante of Imamoğlu, of organizing irregularities in public tenders and recruitment of municipal officials while Yıldız shed light on a bribery ring at the municipality. Yıldız has confessed that a company paid $1.2 million to cut down red tape and Aykut Erdoğdu, a former CHP lawmaker, acted as intermediary for bribe between the company and IBB. Yıldız told investigators that Erdoğdu brought a bag full of cash and handed it over to Fatih Keleş, chair of IBB Sports Club who is accused of serving as “coffer” for illicit cash accumulated by Imamoğlu.

Ali Nuhoğlu has confessed that he bought three villas in Istanbul’s upscale Emirgan quarters after the city’s water utility paid him a hefty sum for work, and in turn, he sold the villas to a construction company owned by Imamoğlu’s family far below the properties’ real value, as a disguise for the bribe. Nuhoğlu has told investigators that the water utility also forced him to slash its debt to the businessman and pay the slashed amount to the utility’s officials.

Aziz Ihsan Aktaş said that municipalities he won public tenders, particularly the Beşiktaş municipality, forced him to pay extra cash for tenders and extra money was handed to the district’s mayor and his deputies, while in some occasions, he was forced to purchase overpriced properties and vehicles from those people as a disguise for bribes.

Servet Yıldırım, a chauffeur for Hüseyin Köksal, a businessman, told investigators that Imamoğlu told his boss to set up two companies exclusively for access to IBB’s public tenders. Yıldırım said Imamoğlu, Köksal and another suspect shared the illicit cash they won through tenders for lucrative advertising spaces, billboards in the city.

The CHP has claimed that anti-graft operations against municipalities were politically motivated, but officials deny it and point to the independence of the judiciary, which carries out the operations. In the first wave of 2025 operations against municipalities, Imamoğlu and 105 others were detained on March 19 and remain incarcerated in pretrial detention. Looking to earn popularity for Imamoğlu, the CHP has declared him its presidential candidate for the upcoming elections, although annulment of his university diploma days before his detention over irregularities made the former mayor ineligible to run for top office.

In a speech last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hit out at CHP for defending Imamoğlu and others detained on corruption charges.

“If you don’t work for the nation, you are either a ‘rantçı’ (profiteer) or a ‘bantçı’ (someone who uses tape to conceal something),” he said at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party). “Bantçı” in this case refers to a bodyguard of Imamoğlu who was captured in footage as he put tape on security cameras before Imamoğlu’s secretive meeting at a hotel with fellow bureaucrats of IBB. Media outlets reported that the footage emerged in the investigation into the former mayor’s alleged wrongdoings, raising suspicions about the nature of the meeting, which was followed and preceded by more at the same hotel. Some reports claimed that the meeting and others were the venue of discussions on how to share illegal profits Imamoğlu and others gained through graft, from rigging public tenders to bribery in exchange for building permits.

“You see what happened to profiteers, you see what state they drove Istanbul into. We witnessed how they terrorized the squares. They do not tolerate anyone other than themselves. They try to bully anyone who disagrees with them, they attack anyone who does not side with thieves,” Erdoğan said. The CHP held pro-Imamoğlu rallies, claiming the innocence of the mayor, after Imamoğlu’s arrest in March. Rallies in Istanbul and other cities escalated into violent riots. The CHP supporters also launched social media campaigns against celebrities not endorsing the rallies, while the party’s leader, Özgür Özel, called for a boycott of companies he accused of serving the government’s interests, as well as against broadcasters not broadcasting the rallies live.

The president stated that they witnessed a new act of corruption surfacing “almost every day” in the investigation into what he called a criminal organization. “You see how they looted Istanbul’s resources. (The authorities) reveal the tentacles of an octopus extending from Istanbul to other cities, to abroad. Their own colleagues confess how they extorted money and received bribes,” Erdoğan said.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a phone call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday, on the occasion of Qurban Bayram or Eid al-Adha. The two statesmen discussed bilateral ties as well as regional and global issues as they exchanged Eid greetings.

During the call, Erdoğan stated that the ancient friendship and strong solidarity between Türkiye and Pakistan have been strengthened with the steps taken, Türkiye’s communications directorate said on X.

Erdogan visited Pakistan in February. For his part, Sharif paid a visit to Türkiye in May, during which he and Erdoğan discussed bilateral relations and further cooperation. The two men came together again in May as they attended a trilateral summit in Azerbaijan with hosting by President Ilham Aliyev.

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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan engaged in a phone diplomacy on Sunday over Gaza. Fidan spoke to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

The minister discussed the latest developments in Gaza and efforts to establish a cease-fire during a phone call with his counterparts Abdelatty and Safadi, according to sources at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Israel, rejecting international calls for a cease-fire, has pursued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.

Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.

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On the second day of the Muslim holiday Qurban Bayram, or Eid al-Adha, on Saturday, parties across Türkiye’s wide political spectrum continued a longstanding tradition: exchanging Eid greetings. Leaders and senior figures of parties, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to opposition parties, great and small, visited each other’s headquarters.

Unlike heated debates at Parliament or election campaigns, the atmosphere was warm as politicians traded jokes and wishes for wellness instead of pointed barbs.

The meetings started with casual talk, but politics eventually made its way to the conversation, just as Eid get-togethers in most Turkish households. Hot topics such as efforts for a new constitution and progress in the terror-free Türkiye initiative that involves an expected end to the campaign of violence by the PKK terrorist group were informally discussed during the meetings.

As it did in Ramadan Bayram, or Eid al-Fitr, earlier this year, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) abstained from Eid visits. The CHP has, however, taken the unprecedented step of visiting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and hosting him at its headquarters in a softening climate in politics following the 2024 municipal elections. However, after the arrest of its Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, in March, the party decided to skip Eid visits, particularly to the AK Party, reasoning that Eid was not an occasion of joy for them due to the arrest of the metropolis’s mayor and other mayors of the party.

The AK Party hosted representatives of nine political parties at its headquarters in the capital, Ankara. Deputy Chair Belgin Uygur was the main host for the party during visits, while the party’s chair, President Erdoğan, chose to spend Eid with his family in one of his rare vacations. Erdoğan was in Marmaris, a popular vacation resort in the southwest, a first in years for the leader who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while vacationing there at the time of an attempted coup in 2016.

The AK Party’s first guest on Saturday was a delegation from government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). AK Party and MHP officials underlined the spirit of solidarity and unity on occasions like Eid, while the conversation eventually drifted into grave matters and how to resolve them.

Uygur highlighted the fact that this was the fourth Eid al-Adha where they are praying again for the liberation of the people of Gaza from attacks by Israel and subsequent genocide. “God willing, this will be the last Eid before they find liberation. People there have a righteous resistance, conduct a strong struggle. But they are deprived of their most basic human rights under constant bombing. Attacks target humanitarian aid delivery nowadays. Under the leadership of President Erdoğan, we always exhibited a clear and decisive stance against this cruelty. We are praying that the international community will not remain quiet in the face of attacks and Gaza will be free again,” she said.

Terror-free Türkiye

Uygur also spoke about the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli last year.

“We made remarkable progress in the goal of terror-free Türkiye thanks to the president’s call for a unified home front and subsequent historic call by Mr. Bahçeli (for a terror-free Türkiye). When the initiative made tangible progress after (the PKK terrorist group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, called them to lay down arms in February), we already had significant democratic gains to move this process forward. Democracy will be strengthened further in the next stage of the initiative,” she said. Speaking of democracy, Uygur moved on to renew the AK Party’s call for support to draft a new constitution.

“We hope to leave behind the coup-era Constitution and move toward a new constitution shaped by the contributions of the entire society and all political parties. Whatever our names may be, our name is ultimately brotherhood, and our surname is Türkiye,” she said, using the AK Party’s slogan for Eid greetings.

“All 86 million of us, with all our differences and all our colors, will continue walking together, united and strong, on the path to a strong and great Türkiye. We will continue to discuss, debate, evaluate and resolve our issues more effectively within the realm of politics,” she added.

The AK Party is set to convene a first meeting of its 11-person commission tasked with discussing a constitutional overhaul in the coming weeks.

The commission, chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, includes AK Party Deputy Chairs Efkan Ala and Mustafa Elitaş, as well as Hayati Yazıcı, Ali Ihsan Yavuz, party spokesperson Ömer Çelik and other deputy chairs. The first meeting, set to be held at the Presidential Complex, is expected to tackle the commission’s method of operation.

In meetings, the commission will develop comprehensive strategies for a new constitution.

AK Party’s chair, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, could also chair some of the meetings scheduled for the following months, party insiders have said.

Lawmakers, academics, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and representatives of various social groups will be in constant contact and utilize ongoing studies and accumulating knowledge, according to the vice president, who spoke to reporters after a recent Cabinet meeting.

“The commission will contribute to the process politically and legally,” he added.

The AK Party has long campaigned for a constitution, including a declaration announced during its 2023 election campaign. The “New Constitution for the New Century of Türkiye” declaration, which refers to the second century of the Republic of Türkiye, underlined the need for a new constitution.

“Establishing a constitutional order based on human dignity for the prevalence of developments in the field of rights and freedoms is necessary,” the 2023 declaration said.

The declaration also said the constitution would preserve democratic gains acquired during the AK Party’s governance and would ensure a high-standard democracy, guarantees for freedoms and the supremacy of law.

The government has been pushing to overhaul the Constitution for over a decade now, which was enforced in 1982 following a military coup that led to the detention of hundreds of thousands of people along with mass trials, torture and executions, which still represents a dark period in Turkish political history.

The AK Party has a comprehensive draft prepared by a scientific council during the pandemic, which it’s hoping to submit to Parliament. The MHP also announced a constitutional draft that includes over 100 articles from the past.

The Constitution’s first four articles, which state the essential tenets of the Turkish republic, have been subject to debate for years. CHP has repeatedly accused the AK Party of aiming to change the articles, which the ruling party flatly rejects.

The current 1982 Constitution’s first three articles regulate the basic principles of the country, namely: that the country is a republic; that it is a democratic, secular and social state governed by the rule of law; that its language is Turkish, its capital is Ankara and that the first three articles cannot be altered.

Last summer, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş oversaw talks between political parties on a constitutional overhaul and met representatives of all parties at Parliament to discuss a new constitution. He has said the general consensus was “positive” but that the CHP “still remains far from the table.”

The CHP is inclined to reject a constitutional overhaul, with its leader, Özgür Özel, claiming such a change has raised “other kinds of negotiations” without elaborating.

At least 400 lawmakers must ratify a new constitution draft in Parliament. Anything over 360 votes would allow a referendum, allowing the people to decide.

Speaking during the visit, MHP Deputy Chair Sadir Durmaz said that as a partner of the People’s Alliance it formed with the AK Party, they were committed to Türkiye’s stance against Israel in the face of attacks targeting Palestinians.

Durmaz also spoke about terror-free Türkiye and said they were hoping to get rid of the terrorism problem, “One of the biggest obstacles on the path to Türkiye’s growth and efforts to develop the country.”

“Support by Mr. President and the state to the initiative after our leader’s call and largely good intentions of relevant sides to the issue instill us with hope. It has been 40 years since the terrorism began, and we all suffered from it. Particularly, people in the region suffered,” he said, referring to southeastern and eastern Türkiye where the PKK launched its first attacks and terrorized the population since the 1980s.

“People born at the beginning of the terrorism campaign are now in their 40s and their children, our children, grandchildren should not suffer from the same fate. We have to be together in pursuing our goal of making Türkiye a strong, leading country in the region and in the world by saving it from these problems,” he said.

On the constitution, Durmaz said they had to work together to get rid of the constitution that still bears the marks of the coup era. “Opposition parties always complain about the Constitution, and we hope they will exhibit sincere support for a new one,” he said.

Another guest of the AK Party was the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which has been the strongest critic of the party over counterterrorism efforts against the PKK. The DEM Party is closely associated with the terrorist group, and several members of another party, which was its spiritual predecessor, were convicted of PKK propaganda. The DEM Party’s spokesperson for its Language and Culture Committee, Cemile Turhallı Balsak, led the party’s delegation during a visit to the AK Party. Extending Eid greetings in Turkish and Kurdish, Balsak said Eids have been an important element of social tolerance, brotherhood and peace.

“The society always knows how to resolve its problems through discussing them. As long as we stay together and remain determined, we can overcome them. We are going through an important process,” she said, referring to the terror-free Türkiye initiative.

“It is very valuable for people of Türkiye, and it is crucial to support it in a transparent manner. Anatolia has always had seeds of peace, and the goal should be growing them. We have a historic responsibility, and we attach importance that the process is discussed at Parliament,” she said. For her part, Uygur said that although their views differ, they were all brothers and sisters and they would debate their problems in the parliament and would move forward.

The MHP and the DEM Party, which were worlds away from each other in terms of politics, visited each other’s headquarters on Saturday in a sign of changing times in Türkiye. The two parties had already come together after the terror-free Türkiye initiative was launched by Bahçeli after he shook hands with DEM Party lawmakers in a surprising sight at Parliament last October.

Bahçeli has been a fierce critic of the DEM Party and its predecessors. At one point, he called for their closure for their support of the PKK. However, he revised his stand when he called for Öcalan to attend a parliamentary group meeting of the DEM Party to make his call to the PKK to dissolve itself. This “normalization” between the two parties was evident in Eid meetings with MHP officials pledging that the process would accelerate after Parliament takes new steps following the PKK’s May declaration of dissolving itself. The DEM Party delegation highlighted the birth of “a new climate of peace.” Sadir Durmaz further broke the ice during a visit to DEM Party’s offices.

“I hope you don’t mind if I prefer weak tea,” Durmaz said as he offered a glass of tea, amid the laughter of DEM Party officials. “Dem,” although an acronym for the party, is also used in Turkish to describe the well-steeped tea.

The election of pro-European independent candidate Nicusor Dan as the next president of Romania may open a new page in Türkiye’s relations with that country, according to experts. Experts say under the tenure of the former Bucharest mayor, political, trade and economic relations between Türkiye and Romania are expected to strengthen, and regional cooperation is expected to increase.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) earlier this week, Marmara University associate professor Meral Balcı said she had the opportunity to observe the elections on the ground, noting that the Romanian presidential vote marked a critical turning point in the country’s foreign policy orientation.

Balci noted that Nicusor Dan, an independent and center-right candidate, was elected president by leaving behind the far-right, anti-EU candidate George Simion. “This result shows Romania’s will to continue its integration with the EU and NATO,” she added. Pointing out that it is possible to evaluate Dan’s victory as a positive development in terms of Türkiye-Romania relations, she said: “Both countries had signed a ‘Strategic Partnership’ agreement in 2011, deepening cooperation in political, economic and security fields. Dan’s pro-EU and pro-NATO policies may pave the way for further strengthening of existing cooperation with Türkiye.”

Balcı pointed out that new partnerships are likely to be established, especially in areas such as the defense industry, energy security and trade, saying: “Dan’s commitments on anti-corruption and rule of law can also encourage the sharing of experience between the two countries, in parallel with similar reform processes in Türkiye.” Balcı said that Türkiye and Romania are key actors in terms of the security and stability of the Black Sea region, noting that both countries are developing joint strategies against regional threats as NATO members.

Referring to the recent establishment of the Black Sea Mine Countermeasure Task Group with Romania and Bulgaria under the leadership of Türkiye against the mine threat in the Black Sea, the professor said: “This cooperation is of great importance in terms of ensuring maritime security and protecting trade routes.”

Balcı stated that Türkiye and Romania’s development of joint projects in areas such as energy security, cyber defense and combating cross-border crimes will contribute to strengthening regional stability. “In the future, joint exercises and training programs to be organized by the two countries within the framework of NATO can further deepen military cooperation. In addition, initiatives such as the planned establishment of a joint NATO command in the Black Sea will also serve to strengthen the security architecture in the region,” she added.

Ecaterina Matoi, program director at the Middle East Political and Economic Institute, based in Bucharest, Romania, told AA that economic cooperation is developing rapidly around the world and that changing global trade standards through bilateral agreements and dynamic economic measures can revitalize sectors.

Energy hub

Matoi pointed out the importance of Türkiye’s initiative to become an energy hub at the regional level and said: “In addition to the existing pipeline network and ongoing cooperation with Bulgaria on new energy development and trade infrastructures, Türkiye may decide to analyze the Romanian energy market more closely due to its historical and strong economic-cultural ties. As a pioneer in the utilization of hydrogen sulfide, Türkiye could offer cooperation to any riparian country due to the multifaceted positive impacts of such projects.”

Noting that Türkiye has a positive balance of trade with Romania and Bulgaria, she emphasized that Ankara trades significantly with Europe.

“The recent expansion of the Schengen Area to Romania and Bulgaria significantly increases the mobility of business representatives and facilitates tourism,” Matoi said, pointing out that Europe is Türkiye’s most important trading partner.

“Eastern European countries such as Romania remain a gateway and connection point between the EU and Türkiye,” she said, noting that there are key elements pointing to an overall positive development and cooperation between Türkiye and the EU. Stating that it is important for the two countries to optimize the developments in the Black Sea region and create a globally competitive infrastructure, Matoi said: “Thus, trade and economic partners can basically become more efficient and future-proof.” She pointed out that Türkiye has the potential to increase its direct investments in Romania and said: “Reciprocally, Romanian demand for Turkish goods and services is also relatively strong. There are incentives for Romanian entrepreneurs to consider investing in Türkiye.” “Cultural and geographical proximity and the strong commitment of both sides to contribute to the economic development and stability of the region are long-term guarantees for mutual trade and investment,” Matoi said, adding that the cooperation frameworks for Romania and Türkiye are not systematically tied to short-term market indices or interest rates.

Dan assumed the presidency on May 26 after defeating his far-right and nationalist rival George Simion. This year’s elections were held after the 2024 elections were canceled following objections. The results are expected to be an important turning point for regional stability. In his inauguration speech, Dan emphasized the importance of national stability and restoring trust in democratic institutions. He also pledged to strengthen Romania’s ties with the European Union and NATO. The projects to be carried out through the Middle Corridor and the Black Sea may enable the development of diplomatic and economic relations between Türkiye and Romania and bring bilateral cooperation to a higher level.

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