Politics
Türkiye’s penal reform offers leniency for some, harsher sentences for others
After more than 15 hours of deliberations, lawmakers at Parliament’s justice committee approved the “10th Judiciary Package,” an ambitious omnibus bill over penal amendments on Sunday. Parliament’s general assembly will vote on the bill this week, which will likely be passed as it was tabled by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that retains a majority in Parliament with its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The package is harsh on offenders and relieves convicts suffering from illnesses. Above all, it aims to end the perception of impunity, something felt in public after courts in the past ruled for light sentences in incidents that stirred up public outrage.
The bill increased the minimum limit for prison sentences in certain cases and increased prison sentences for crimes involving deliberate injury and threat. It also provides a minimum jail time of six months for driving under the influence. In road rage cases where vehicles are stopped by other motorists and passengers and their occupants are attacked, the package includes prison terms between one and three years. This sentencing will be increased to 5 to 10 years for the prevention of the movement of aerial vehicles. If passed, the bill is expected to decrease the number of road rage incidents where perpetrators are often caught on cameras attacking innocent people, and cases of unruly passengers who lead to delays in flights.
Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code under the bill include sentences of 14 to 20 years at a minimum for people convicted of attempting to commit a crime that bears life imprisonment and aggravated life imprisonment sentences. The minimum limit for sentencing for those convicted of deliberate injury is increased to one year and six months, from one year. If the offense inflicts a more severe injury, the minimum sentencing will be increased to six years. Minimum limits will be gradually higher based on the severity of injury and scars, and damage it leaves on the victim’s body.
The bill also aims at a more efficient action against the crime of threat. Minimum sentences for the crime will be two months. The maximum limit will be increased to seven years from five years if the threat involves violence.
Additionally, the bill introduces prison terms up to five years for the crime of firing blanks in a way that endangers general security. It aims to curb the disturbing tradition of celebratory gunfire, which may end up fatal if blanks are fired at close distance.
House arrest
The package also offers partial amnesty for certain convicts. Children involved in crimes bearing five-year or lesser sentences will be allowed to serve their time in “children’s education houses” instead of regular prisons. These houses serve as rehabilitation centers for young offenders who are also offered vocational training for post-prison life.
Except convicts serving time for crimes bearing aggravated life imprisonment, convicts suffering from a debilitating disease or disability, convicts who need assisted living and not posing a danger to public security will be allowed to serve their time in house arrest. Convicts with good conduct who have less than one year to complete their sentence in a minimum-security prison will be released on parole if they have served at least one-tenth of their prison term.
For convicts at the age of 80 and above, judges can rule house arrest for the remaining six years or a prison term of less than six years, under the new bill. Judges will also be allowed to rule for nighttime-only imprisonment for offenses bearing prison terms of five years or less. Convicts will be required to report to prison at 7 p.m. every evening and check out at 7 a.m. the next morning. It will not apply to people convicted of deliberate manslaughter.
Female convicts who give birth in prison will be eligible for house arrest six months after the birth, if their sentencing is five years or less.
Orhan Kırcalı, an AK Party lawmaker who was one of the first signatories of the proposed bill, told the committee on Saturday that they sought to end the perception of impunity and expand the scope of sentencing in favor of female and child convicts.
Kırcalı emphasized that significant reforms have been made in the judiciary to date and said those reforms are continuing. He said their goal is to strengthen the sense of justice, meet public expectations and reinforce trust in the legal system.
He recalled that the Judicial Reform Strategy Document, announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as part of the fourth judicial reform package, includes key targets.
Kırcalı said the proposal was drafted based on the fourth Judicial Reform Strategy Document and consists of 30 articles.
“The proposal includes regulations aimed at preventing the perception of impunity and achieving the rehabilitative purpose of penalties,” he said. “Although no changes are foreseen regarding the fixed one-year period of supervised release, it aims to ensure that all convicted individuals serve a portion of their sentences in correctional institutions proportional to the punishment they received. This will help fulfill the rehabilitative purpose of incarceration and strengthen deterrence.”
He added that the scope of special enforcement procedures would be expanded in favor of women and children, and that road blockages in traffic would be classified as a distinct offense with specific penalties.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Provincial chairs of the Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Antalya and Kayseri were expelled from office on Tuesday. They are the latest casualties of the new administration at the party led by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu, reinstated to the office by a court verdict last month, has pledged to cleanse the party of corruption and shady dealings. Along with those reportedly involved in scandals, Kılıçdaroğlu also moved to fire top figures supporting his predecessor, Özgür Özel.
The party announced a reshuffle after an administrative board meeting at the headquarters, around the same time Özgür Özel, now as parliamentary group chair of the party, addressed a parliamentary meeting and called Kılıçdaroğlu to hold an intra-party election.
Almost a dozen provincial chairs were removed from office or stepped down on their own after Kılıçdaroğlu took office. Among them was Çağatay Güç, chair for the branch in Izmir, a CHP stronghold. His predecessor, Utku Gümrükçü, had to confront supporters of Güç on Monday to take office as the protests against the new administration mounted.
Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, the Patriach of the Syriac Orthodox Church, was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday at the presidential complex in Ankara. The patriarch was accompanied by a delegation of clerics from the community. No statements were made about the meeting.
Erdoğan has also received Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew last Tuesday.
The Syriac community had their first church in Republic era built under Erdoğan’s governments. The church was opened in 2023 in Istanbul’s Yeşilköy neighborhood in a ceremony attended by Erdoğan. It is estimated that about 17,000 Syriac residents live in the city. Assyrian Christianity traces its history to communities that lived in the A.D. first century in a region stretching from southeastern Türkiye to Syria and Iraq.
Turkish authorities detain 209 in major anti-terror sweep
Bribery tapes of CHP’s Adalar Mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat were revealed: Let him come, I will talk like a monster – Gallery
Türkiye’s CHP-run municipalities suffer from poor management
Turkish authorities detain 209 in major anti-terror sweep
Bribery tapes of CHP’s Adalar Mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat were revealed: Let him come, I will talk like a monster – Gallery
Türkiye’s CHP-run municipalities suffer from poor management
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