The mass arrests and replacement of elected mayors with trustees appointed by the state that characterized Kurdish life are being replicated in the rest of the country.

The ousting of Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel by a court that annulled his election – followed by his eviction from party headquarters by riot police – is only the latest sign of how eroded the independence of state structures has become in Turkey.

Freed from any domestic constraint, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned the same unchecked ambition outward, projecting Turkish military power across Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Somalia in ways that threaten the new regional order being built by Israel and the United States.

The scale of domestic capture is what makes everything else possible.

The crackdown against the CHP did not begin with Ozel. It opened in March 2025 with the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on charges that the party claimed were fabricated.

Imamoglu was Erdogan’s strongest challenger at the time, and his jailing sparked the largest protests in over a decade.

The year that followed was marred by authorities jailing more than 500 CHP officials, 16 of them mayors, and stripping towns of the party that had beaten his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the 2024 local elections.

The court that removed Ozel in late May went further still, reinstating the predecessor he had defeated and handing the leadership of Turkey’s oldest party to a judge rather than its members.

This mirrors the process that Turkish authorities have long imposed in the southeast, where elected Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members since 2015 have been detained and removed from mayoral positions on trumped-up charges of terrorism.

 Most notable of these figures was former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, who resides in a Turkish prison to this day. Erdogan’s clampdowns on opposition reflect the extent of his willingness to pursue and consolidate power through state violence.

As the NATO summit approaches in July of this year, Erdogan is set to deploy over 40,000 security personnel around Ankara to secure the event. 

The usage of such personnel within Turkey’s own borders, even for a high-profile event, is likely not just for security purposes but a wider show of force aimed at international observers and domestic opposition alike.

A second political process runs alongside the first and looks like its opposite. Starting in February 2025, the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan called on the movement to lay down its arms and dissolve.

 Senior PKK cadres came together to honor this pronouncement by burning the first batch of weapons at a ceremony in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq).

 The expected legal reforms promised by Erdogan’s government have stalled, and the parliamentary commission now ties any concession to verified disarmament, bringing the talks to a standstill.

Erdogan’s interest in this process is not reconciliation but political calculation. He is 72 years old and approaching the end of the terms Turkey’s constitution allows him. Altering the constitution to extend term limits past 2028 requires Kurdish votes.

From domestic control to regional ambition

This is the consolidated power Erdogan now projects abroad, and nowhere more forcefully than in Syria. The fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2024 removed Iran as the dominant hand in Damascus and left a vacuum that Ankara rushed to fill.

Turkey’s years of military and political investment into the opposition helped topple Assad and install an Islamist government that is beholden to Turkish influence. 

Within months of Assad’s collapse, Turkish intelligence and defense officials were in Damascus to secure an agreement for Turkey to train new Syrian army personnel and supply its weapons.

Talks continue over a deepened defense pact that would give Turkey air bases in Palmyra, including the Tiyas (T4) Air Base that Israel has bombed.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

 Turkey treated the SDF as a Syrian branch of the PKK and had long sought to dismantle the organization. Another more pressing consequence of Ankara’s encroachment in Syria is the de facto role it plays as protector of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa against Israel. 

Damascus increasingly turns to Ankara for a counterweight against Israeli action in the country. Syria is only one theater of a grand strategy.

Ankara’s push into the eastern Mediterranean rests on the doctrine it calls Mavi Vatan (Blue Homeland), anchored in the 2019 maritime accord with Tripoli that drew a Turkish economic zone across waters claimed by Greece and Egypt. 

This fiction gave Ankara a pretext to contest the routes carrying Israeli and Cypriot gas to Europe, and Turkey is now pursuing a similar deal with Damascus to push that line toward Israel’s own coast.

What lends these claims menace is the speed at which Ankara is building the means to enforce them. Late last year, it test-fired the hypersonic Tayfun Block-4, and this May, it unveiled the Yildirimhan, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the state claims will reach 6,000 km.

For a NATO member to pursue an ICBM is troubling, and while Turkey has no nuclear warhead on it, the capability would put one within reach should Ankara’s calculations shift.

For Israel, the conclusion is unavoidable: the foremost challenger to the order Jerusalem and Washington are building is no longer a weakened Iran.

It is a NATO member with a modern military and growing force projection that is led by an autocrat who has cited his interventions in Libya and Karabakh as a template for action over Palestine.

Erdogan has halted trade with Israel and closed his ports to it. As former prime minister Naftali Bennett rightly highlights, Turkey is the new Iran and poses a growing threat to both Israel and the region’s stability.

The clear lesson for Israeli policy is that Turkey can no longer be treated as a difficult ally simply to be managed and appeased but as a strategic competitor in the region.

The contest will be settled less in Gaza, or even Iran, than in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkish bases, maritime claims, and missile advances are at once. The strikes on the Syrian army and the buffer Israel holds in the South are partly a refusal to let Ankara build a forward base on the Golan.

That refusal must mature into a strategy: closer alignment with Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt; the denial of Turkish encroachment in Syria; and a recognition that the problem lies in Erdogan himself, to be either contained abroad or removed from home.

A government that has dismantled every check on its leader at home is unlikely to accept one abroad. Ankara will keep redrawing the region’s map as it pleases. Until restraints are rebuilt or the source of the sickness is dealt with for good.

The writer is an Australian researcher and conflict analyst who writes on foreign policy, conflict, international security, and human rights. He has written for Johns Hopkins University’s SAIS Europe Journal of Global Affairs, including online syndications such as The Tibetan Review and The Jerusalem Post*. You can find him on X/Twitter:* u/StoicViper

Hengaw – Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Yousef Gharibi, a Kurdish man and follower of the Yarsan faith, has been arrested by Iranian intelligence forces in Eslamabad-e Gharb (Shabad) and taken to an undisclosed location.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Gharibi, 37, a resident of Changur Jalilvand village in Dalahu County, was arrested at around 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, by agents of the Intelligence Department in Shabad without a warrant.

Sources told Hengaw that the arrest took place at his workplace in the town’s business and industrial district.

Efforts by Gharibi’s family to obtain information about his condition and whereabouts have so far been unsuccessful.

His current whereabouts, legal status, and any charges against him remain unknown.

Turkish prosecutors have launched a probe into one of the country’s most prominent tycoons after he made an off-colour joke — a judicial move that critics said risked further undermining business confidence just as Ankara seeks to attract more foreign capital.

Rahmi Koç, the 95-year-old honorary chair of Koç Holding, Turkey’s biggest conglomerate, sparked controversy when he made the suggestive remarks at the opening of one of the group’s hospitals in İzmir last week.

Koç Holding, founded a century ago, has interests ranging from energy and finance to carmaking and healthcare, and is widely regarded as a bedrock of Turkey’s business establishment and secular elite, which is sometimes at odds with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s brand of Islamic nationalism.

“Imagine if the US Department of Justice opened an investigation into Elon Musk, Warren Buffett or Richard Branson if they made a joke,” said Bilal Bilici, a member of parliament for the opposition Republican People’s Party. “It shows how capricious and arbitrary the rule of law can be in Turkey.”

Video clips of the incident showed Koç, who led the company from 1984 to 2003, laughing with former prime minister Binali Yıldırım, 70, after telling a joke about a Kurdish woman speaking to a doctor about a medical complaint. When the doctor told the woman to undress behind a curtain, she replied: “Doctor, you undress first.”

The remarks unleashed a firestorm at a time of high political tensions in Turkey partly linked to attempts to forge a lasting peace deal with Kurdish militants.

Prosecutors in İzmir, Turkey’s third-largest city and the site of the new $150mn Koç hospital, swiftly opened an ex officio investigation into an alleged offence of “publicly insulting a segment of the public”.

Senior government officials also weighed in. Justice minister Akın Gürlek said over the weekend that “the scales of justice do not weigh according to anyone’s wealth, title or status”.

Ömer Çelik, spokesperson for Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party, said: “The use of the term ‘Kurdish woman’ in a derogatory context runs counter to our values.”

Koç-linked businesses have suffered at least three armed attacks since the remarks, according to local media reports. Several arrests have been reported in relation to the attacks, though no injuries were reported.

The controversy comes at a delicate moment for the Turkish government.

It coincides with a stop-start peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish militant group designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, UK and EU. Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party, the Turkish parliament’s third-biggest political party, has condemned Koç’s remarks.

But it also comes as the government is seeking to attract international capital and foreign businesses, especially those displaced by the conflict in the Gulf, with a series of tax incentives. Erdoğan has said people who move to Turkey or who have not been Turkish taxpayers need not pay income tax on overseas earnings for 20 years.

“Come to Turkey, settle in Turkey, and become part of the growth story of a strong Turkey,” Erdoğan told a business conference on Saturday. “Foreigners who settle in our country . . . will not pay taxes for 20 years on their income earned abroad.”

Economists have questioned whether the incentives will attract long-term foreign investment, given persistent concerns over Turkey’s rule of law, which has been weakened during Erdoğan’s more than two decades of rule.

The World Justice Project ranked Turkey 118th out of 143 countries in its 2025 Rule of Law Index, one place above Russia.

The country’s main opposition party, the CHP, has also faced a legal onslaught that it says amounts to a “legal coup”. Erdoğan’s main rival, Istanbul mayor and putative CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, is currently facing trial on corruption charges. The government insists the country’s courts are independent.

Koç has apologised for his remarks, which capped a week of otherwise successful celebrations to mark the company’s centenary, that included events with leading government and opposition politicians, as well as a free concert given by Turkish pop star Tarkan.

Not all government figures took umbrage at Koç’s remarks. Devlet Bahçeli, one of Erdoğan’s closest allies and a nationalist politician who has spearheaded the Kurdish peace initiative, said it was “wrong” for a “valued businessperson who has spent his life serving Turkey” to be investigated “over a joke made during a friendly conversation”.

بە خەم و پەژارەیەکی قووڵەوە، تۆڕی میدیایی رووداو هەواڵی کۆچی دوایی هاوکارمان هەڵکەوت عەزیز، پەیامنێر و بەرپرسی نووسینگەی رووداو لە بەغدا رادەگەیێنێت.

دوا نیوەڕۆی ئەمڕۆ دووشەممە، 8ی حوزەیرانی 2026، هەڵکەوت عەزیز بەهۆی سەختیی برینەکەیەوە گیانی لەدەستدا؛ دوای ئەوەی لە رێگەی نێوان بەغدا و بەسرە تووشی رووداوێکی هاتووچۆ ببوو.

هەڵکەوت، پەیامنێرێکی لێهاتوو، ماندوونەناس و ئەندامێکی دڵسۆزی خێزانی رووداو بوو. ئەو هەمیشە بە متمانە و، راستگۆیی و پیشەییبوونەوە رووماڵی رووداوەکانی دەکرد. بەهۆی پابەندبوونی بێپایانی بە کارەکەیەوە، شوێنپەنجەیەکی روون و کاریگەری لەسەر شاشە و لەنێو دڵی هاوکاران و خەڵکی کوردستان جێهێشت.

هەڵکەوت عەزیز، کە خەڵکی شاری کەرکووک بوو، لە ساڵی 1989دا لە ئاوارەییدا لە شاری هەولێر لەدایکبووە. ئەو بڕوانامەی دیبلۆمی لە بواری دەرهێنان لە بەشی شانۆی پەیمانگەی هونەرە جوانەکانی کەرکووک بەدەستهێنابوو، نزیکەی 16 ساڵیش لە بواری میدیادا خزمەتی کرد.

لە 20ی کانوونی یەکەمی 2015ـەوە پەیوەندی بە تۆڕی میدیایی رووداوەوە کرد؛ لەو ماوەیەدا بەرهەمی ناوازە و راپۆرتی لەیادنەکراوی پێشکێش کردن. رووماڵە بەرفراوانەکەی بۆ خۆپێشاندانەکانی بەسرە لە حوزەیرانی 2018، لەگەڵ راپۆرتە هەستهەژێنەکانی لەبارەی دۆزینەوەی رووفاتی ئەنفالکراوان لە بیابانەکانی سەماوە لە تەممووزی 2019، تەنیا نموونەیەکن لە لێهاتوویی و چاونەترسیی ئەو لە گواستنەوەی راستییەکاندا. ئەو بە زمانێکی مرۆیی بەهێز، چیرۆکی ئەو منداڵە ئەنفالکراوانەی گێڕایەوە کە لەکاتی گولـلەبارانکردندا خۆیان بە باوەشی دایکیاندا نووساندبوو.

کۆچی لەناکاوی هەڵکەوت عەزیز شۆکێکی گەورە بوو بۆ هەموومان. ئەو تەنیا رۆژنامەنووسێکی سەرکەوتوو نەبوو، بەڵکو بە میهرەبانی، بەخشندەیی و رووخۆشییەکەی، خۆشەویستی هەمووانی بەدەستهێنابوو. خزمەت، دڵسۆزی و گیانی زیندووی هەڵکەوت هەمیشە لە یادی رووداودا دەمێننەوە.

پرسە و سەرەخۆشیی قووڵی خۆمان ئاراستەی ماڵبات، کەسوکار، هاوڕێیان و تەواوی بینەر و بیسەر و خوێنەرانی رووداو دەکەین. لە خودای مەزن داواکارین سەبووریی هەموولایەک بدات و کۆچکردوو بە بەهەشتی بەرین شاد بکات.

یادی هەمیشە بەخێر و ئارامی بۆ رۆحی پاکی.

تۆڕی میدیایی رووداو
 8-6-2026

Human rights investigator Joost Hiltermann spent years documenting the murderous Anfal campaign. Now he is using fiction to tell the real story

Chiman Hosseinzadeh, a Kurdish woman from Bukan who lived in Afghanistan, and her daughter, Sara Yousefi, were killed on 8 May by a local Taliban official who had sought to marry Sara.

A source familiar with the case said: “Chiman Hosseinzadeh married an Afghan man about 20 years ago and lived in the village of Ghaldouri in Kohistanat district, Sar-e Pol province. She was known as Bibi Chaman Gol and worked as a local midwife.”

According to the source, Mofti Mohammadollah, head of the Taliban’s Hajj and Endowments Department in Kohistanat district, had sought to marry Sara Yousefi, Hosseinzadeh’s 15-year-old daughter.

On 8 May, he went to the family’s home and attempted to forcibly take Sara away, but her mother resisted. The Taliban official then opened fire, killing both mother and daughter.

According to information received, Taliban forces detained the perpetrator after the killings.

Hosseinzadeh’s family was informed of the killings on 31 May and held a funeral ceremony on 2 June in the village of Kahriz-e Sardar in Bukan.

On 2 May 2024 Netflix released a documentary, Secrets of the Neanderthals. The film follows a group of British and Kurdish archeologists undertaking an excavation in Shanidar Cave. 

The discovery of this cave in the 1950s unveiled an archeological treasure trove. Buried deep beneath the sandy surface of the cave’s interior, ten Neanderthal skeletons have lain untouched for over forty thousand years. This remarkable discovery has given the archeological field an entirely new understanding of the Neanderthal community, knowledge and way of life.

However, today, sadly, I will not be diving into the wonders of Neanderthal life, fascinating though they may be. Instead, I will be doing my own kind of metaphorical digging, exploring the geopolitics surrounding this seemingly apolitical archeological site................