★ On August 5, 2025, Kaya Genç wrote in Index on Censorship about the parallels between Donald Trump's second term in the United States and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's rule in Turkey, noting similar authoritarian tactics against journalists, academics, artists, and political opponents.

  He highlighted how U.S. aid cuts under Trump weakened Turkish independent media such as Argonotlar and contributed to the closure of Gazete Duvar, while Erdoğan's cultural crackdown since 2014 has targeted leftists, LGBTQ+ groups, feminists, Kurds, and dissenting journalists.

  Both leaders have intervened in universities, curtailed freedoms, and used vague "red lines" to intimidate critics, though U.S. institutions still retain comparatively more independence.

  Observers warn that as each borrows from the other's strategies, the risk increases of a globally normalized form of autocracy blending tactics from both countries.

★ President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that nine mayors, including Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu, have joined the ruling Justice and Development Party, marking the party's 24th anniversary.

 

  Erdoğan welcomed them, framing their move as support for the "Century of Turkey." He criticized opponents of the defections and directly targeted opposition Republican People's Party leader Özgür Özel, promising to "disturb him more."

  Özel claimed Çerçioğlu switched to the Justice and Development Party under threat of prosecution and legal action against her husband's company.

  On Friday, as part of a corruption investigation into the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued detention orders for 44 people, including Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney.

  This arrest comes amid a broader pattern in which 17 mayors from the opposition Republican People's Party, including Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of İstanbul and a presidential candidate, have been detained in recent months on corruption or misconduct charges.

  Observers note that the Justice and Development Party has never prosecuted any of its own mayors for corruption, even in cases where strong evidence existed.

  Critics argue that this selective enforcement points to an underlying political motivation: using corruption probes to weaken rivals while shielding ruling party figures from accountability.

★ Among the people detained are individual that have health problems, According to critics, the justice ministry is disrearding their medical needs, 

  For example, the Forensic Medicine Institute under the ministry has concluded that there is no medical obstacle to detained Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık remaining in prison conditions, despite his long history of health problems, and independent evaluation by healthcare professionals. 

★ According to Bianet, Greece has officially recognized the Alevi-Bektashi community in the Evros region as an independent religious entity, granting it the right to establish its own representation, places of worship, and separate religious education.

  The decision, affecting about 3,500 people in several villages, follows a 2018 application by the Seyyid Ali Sultan Lodge and marks a milestone for the community's legal status in Greece.

  In contrast, Alevis in Turkey still lack formal recognition as a distinct religious group and do not enjoy equivalent legal rights for their worship places or religious education. There are an estimated 15 million Alevis in Turkey.

★ Gallup, a U.S.-based analytics and advisory company best known for its public opinion polling and global surveys on social, economic, and political trends, has released its "Global Emotions" report ranking the world's angriest countries.

  Lebanon, which was third last year, moved to first place, while Turkey came in second. They were followed by Armenia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Mali, and Sierra Leone. 

  In Lebanon, 49% of people described themselves as "angry," compared to 48% in Turkey — meaning nearly half the population in both countries feels angry.

  In contrast, El Salvador ranked first in positive emotions research, making it the happiest country in the report.

  Gallup noted that in Turkey, even before anger levels were high due to persistent inflation and an increasingly authoritarian government.

  The survey also found that people globally are living better lives compared to the past. However, in Turkey, a mood of hopelessness is increasingly spreading. 

  It points out that 66% of Turkey is struggling and 20% is suffering.

★ Turkey's central bank kept its year-end inflation forecast of 24% unchanged, the same prediction it had in May—striking a more optimistic tone than either markets or business after annual consumer inflation hit 33.5% last month. The bank's quarterly inflation report is closely watched by investors, who try to gauge future interest rate decisions from them.

  Governor Fatih Karahan today said that the bank was "absolutely not on autopilot" with cuts, and said that given inflation is still above forecasts, a "tight and determined stance" is still needed. In the release, the bank upped their predictions for 2026 from 12% to 16%—but stuck to their long term aim of bringing inflation down to 5%.

★ Bankruptcy and Concordat Filings Hit Record Highs in 2025.

  In the first five months of 2025, the number of companies seeking concordat protection in Turkey surged to 2,235.

  Temporary concordat rulings rose 108 percent year-on-year to 1,259, while final concordat rulings jumped 236 percent to 822.

  The number of firms declared bankrupt reached 553, and rejected concordat requests climbed 95 percent to 333.

  Economist Özge Öner notes that key sectors such as textiles, construction, and furniture — vital for exports and employment — are at the center of this trend.

  She warns of a growing chain reaction, as a single concordat filing often means suppliers and banks cannot collect payments, breaking the creditor chain and accelerating a "silent collapse."

★ The Short Film Competition marks its 10th year with the theme "Inequalities in Education," organized by the Sabancı Foundation since 2016 to raise awareness of social issues through cinema.

  Held under the slogan "Don't Remain Indifferent," the competition addresses disparities in education related to gender, socioeconomic status, geographic location, digital access, and disability, aiming to inspire meaningful solutions.

★ Kezban Arca Batıbeki adds a new chapter to her 40-year art career questioning pop culture, consumer society, and gender politics with her solo exhibition Sound of Silence, hosted by Merkur Art Gallery from September 13 to November 1.

  The show examines the fragile relationship between nature, the female body, and silence through ethical, political, and symbolic dimensions, featuring predominantly black-and-white paintings in which selective bursts of color glimmer like fragments of memory, reflecting an eco-feminist perspective where silence itself can become a form of resistance.

★ Adapted from Cervantes' Don Quixote [okunusu: don-kiy-ho-tey], a new production directed by Işıl Kasapoğlu with musical direction by Volkan Akkoç will be staged by Çolpan İlhan & Sadri Alışık Theater and Piu Entertainment, starring Selçuk Yöntem as Don Quixote, Zuhal Olcay as Aldonza, and Cengiz Bozkurt as Sancho Panza.

  With a 30-member cast, 15-piece live orchestra, and elaborate sets, lighting, and costumes, the 80-person production revisits the Tony Award–winning Broadway classic, telling a timeless story of imagination, courage, loyalty, and the bittersweet pursuit of an unattainable love.

★ Nil Karaibrahimgil, one of Turkish pop's most beloved artists, will perform at Yapı Kredi bomontiada on August 16 as part of the "World Acoustic" concert series sponsored by Yapı Kredi World.

  Known for hits like "I Love, I Don't Love," "Am I Stupid?", "All the Girls Gathered," and "I Have Wings in My Soul," Karaibrahimgil promises an evening of creative lyrics, distinctive sounds, and energetic stage presence.

 

★ The ancient city of Knidos in Turkey's Aegean province of Muğla hosted the Perseid meteor shower on the night of August 12–13.

  The site's lack of light pollution offered clear views of the event.

  At its peak, the meteor shower created bright, colorful streaks across the sky, blending with the centuries-old ruins to form a stunning scene captured by photographers.

 

★ Yalika Concept Store in Bodrum, a popular meeting place for art lovers, is hosting a new exhibition by painter Yavuz İşler, inspired by colors.

  For over 30 years, İşler has produced original works in painting, and in recent years has focused on three-dimensional pieces using recycled materials such as wood, metal, and plastic. His notable "funnel-headed" and "nail-headed" sculptures have drawn attention, and he is now sharing his vibrant artistic world at Yalika.

  The exhibition, open until August 27, will donate all proceeds from sales to support animals. İşler said he was pleased to open his first show in many years at Yalika, praising its art-filled and animal-friendly atmosphere.

 

★ Actor and sculptor Emre İğdemir's new exhibition, Searching for the Unknown, featuring abstract forms carved from basalt stone, is on display at Hapimag Sea Garden Resort Bodrum from August 8 to 31.

  Inspired by Carl Gustav Jung's quote, "No tree can reach heaven unless its roots reach down to hell," the works invite viewers to reflect on the balance between the conscious and the subconscious.

  Created over two years, İğdemir's upward-reaching basalt sculptures symbolically express the soul's struggle for liberation through an abstract language.

  Curated by Suzan Elif Selçuk, the exhibition explores the relationship between form and space, taking visitors on an inner journey of discovery. 

  Each piece embodies both the raw force of nature and the artist's intuitive transformation process. 

  By bringing his creative background in acting into sculpture, İğdemir presents a multi-layered artistic expression that also aligns with Hapimag Sea Garden's commitment to cultural and artistic sustainability.

 

★ In Muğla's Yatağan district, researchers from Selçuk University are documenting the historic stone houses and intricate wooden carvings of Katrancı neighborhood, which date back over a century. The project, led by Prof. Dr. Bilal Söğüt of the Stratonikeia Ancient City team along with Prof. Dr. Osman Kunduracı and Dr. Nurcan Bahargülü, aims to preserve this endangered cultural heritage for future generations. Around 42 houses remain, and findings will be published in a book titled Katrancı Houses.

  These two-story structures, featuring external halls and flat earthen roofs, are typically one or two rooms with distinctive layouts combining stone and wood. The wooden decorations—found on doors, cupboards, shelves, ceilings, and other fixtures—often include motifs referencing the local pine nut trade, such as pinecones.

  Crafted by master woodcarvers from Aydın's Çine Akçaova, the carvings display wheel, star, and diamond patterns, as well as panels depicting pistols, daggers, moons and stars, flowers, lamps, birds, snakes, fish, and other symbols. Many homes also incorporate designs of the pine flower and leaf, reflecting the community's economic and cultural identity.

★ Applications are now open for the 15th Germany–Turkey Co-Production Development Fund, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) through its Meetings on the Bridge program, in partnership with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund. The fund supports feature-length co-productions between Germany and Turkey that have not yet begun filming, encouraging creative collaboration and intercultural exchange. The application deadline is Tuesday, September 16.

  Since its launch in 2011, the program has backed 67 films, including Berlinale and Cannes selections such as A Tale of Three Sisters (Emin Alper), Album (Mehmetcan Mertoğlu), Suddenly (Aslı Özge), Until I Lose My Breath (Emine Emel Balcı), and Blue Bicycle (Ümit Köreken). Other supported projects have screened at major festivals in Toronto, Venice, Karlovy Vary, and Antalya. To date, the fund has provided €1,096,000 in financial support to co-productions between the two countries.

★ The SACO Biennial 1.2 in Antofagasta, Chile, brings together 72 artists from 27 countries—including Turkey—in a setting described as a "desert laboratory" for global artistic exchange. This year's edition emphasizes intercultural dialogue, site-specific production, and the intersection of art with local social, political, and environmental realities.

  Biennial director Dagmara Wyskiel notes that working in the world's driest desert, far from traditional art hubs, has shaped her curatorial approach toward marginalized places, focusing on accessibility and the "de-elitization" of contemporary art.

  Participating artists shared how Antofagasta's unique landscape and social dynamics influenced their work:

•   Sonia Rammer created a hybrid human–animal character inspired by an Atacama lizard, exploring themes of migration, labor exploitation, and environmental damage in Chile's historic saltpeter mining ghost towns. • Salomé Restrepo engaged with issues of migration, displacement, and harsh desert realities, finding that art can reveal deeply human aspects beyond statistics and traditional formats. • Ahmet Rüstem Ekici & Hakan Sorar, collaborating with curator Fırat Arapoğlu and artist Mustafa Avcı, examined "borders" between desert, city, and ocean through augmented reality and interactive digital installations, highlighting layered realities and environmental fragility.

  Overall, the SACO Biennial fosters cross-border artistic collaboration, turning Antofagasta's remote and challenging geography into a fertile ground for rethinking cultural, social, and environmental narratives.

★ The 8th International SOLO Contemporary Dance Festival will be held on August 30–31, 2025 at CerModern's open-air stage in Ankara, coinciding with the art center's 15th anniversary.

  This year's edition features 20 dance artists from 13 countries, focusing on the narrative each performer creates with their own body. The program includes contemporary and conceptual solo performances, workshops, and artist talks, aiming to present dance as both a medium of expression and a space for thought and discovery.

  Coordinated by Esma Meydan with program consultants Deniz Alp, Özgür Adam, and Galip Emre, the festival emphasizes the intimate and expressive power of the solo form, connecting individual stories to shared cultural memory in a physically and emotionally engaging stage environment.

★ Excavations at Çaltılar Mound in Muğla, Türkiye—the region's only active mound dig—are uncovering a 5,300-year settlement history beginning on the edge of a marsh during the Late Chalcolithic period. Led by Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aykurt of Hacettepe University, the 2025 season integrates ceramic analysis and carbon dating to trace occupation phases from 3300 BCE through the Bronze Age.

  Findings reveal eight Early Bronze Age layers built over the initial settlement, later followed by Middle Bronze Age occupation and a Late Bronze Age cemetery. Work this year focuses on 2500–2400 BCE, exposing a stone-built defensive system connected to stone structures, alongside earlier wattle-and-daub style buildings. Charred clay fragments suggest a destructive fire in the site's history.

  Artifacts such as pottery, stone axes, cooking vessels, and loom weights shed light on daily life, craftsmanship, and defensive strategies in prehistoric southwestern Anatolia. The site is especially significant as the first multi-period settlement excavated in Muğla since the Grimeler Cave near ancient Tlos.

★ Underwater excavations off the coast of Kaş in Antalya, Türkiye, have uncovered 15 glass perfume bottles dating back 1,000–1,100 years from the wreck of an Eastern Mediterranean merchant ship. The discovery offers some of the earliest evidence of fragrance imports from the East to Europe during the Middle Ages.

  Led by Assoc. Prof. Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University, the bottles—made with the mold-melting technique common in the Syria–Palestine region—likely contained luxury scents such as rose oil from Damascus, musk, and amber. The wreck also yielded amphorae with olive oil from Gaza and Palestine, one still holding olive pits, indicating the ship was part of a broader luxury trade network reaching as far as the Sea of Marmara.

  The Kaş–Besmi wreck is among four sites studied under the Heritage for the Future Project, alongside three other Antalya coast wrecks from the Middle Bronze Age to the Roman Imperial era. To date, 411 shipwrecks have been documented along Türkiye's Mediterranean shores, reinforcing Anatolia's role as a cradle of underwater archaeology.

★ At the International Archaeology Symposium and The Golden Age of Archaeology exhibition in Ankara, a remarkable 485-piece collection from Karahantepe in Şanlıurfa was showcased, including an extraordinary 10,000-year-old "vessel within a vessel"—hailed as the oldest and most complex three-dimensional narrative of the Neolithic era.

  Part of the Taş Tepeler Project, which covers ten Neolithic sites beyond Göbeklitepe, the find consists of a large stone vessel containing a smaller one, inside which animal figurines have their heads inserted into stone rings. Unlike two-dimensional carvings or paintings, this arrangement conveys a layered, three-dimensional story, offering unprecedented insight into Neolithic knowledge transmission.

  Project coordinator Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul emphasizes its global significance and potential nomination for the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Ongoing excavations at Karahantepe continue to illuminate early large-scale social organization, making this discovery a landmark for both regional history and humanity's shared heritage.

★ World Games 2025 (Chengdu, China), August 7–17, 2025: Turkey has achieved a total of 4 medals this week—1 gold and 3 silver—from Eray Şamdan (karate), Kübra Kocakuş (muaythai), Emin Özer and Aybüke Kılınç (kickboxing)

★ The Ultra Abant trail race, known as Turkey’s fastest and most runnable trail event, was held for the third time this past weekend. A total of 790 athletes from 9 countries—including Germany, Azerbaijan, France, Northern Cyprus, North Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine—took part, showcasing the natural beauty of Bolu to the world.

★ Turkish para shooter Muaz Erdem Madran won the gold medal at the Para Trap Grand Prix Championship held in Brno, Czechia.

  According to the Turkish Shooting Federation, Madran secured first place in the PT3 category.

  The competition, which began on August 4, concluded on August 11.

★ The "Swim for Health" event was held in Bodrum's Kumbahçe beach, organized by Memorial Health Group in cooperation with the Turkish Swimming Federation.

  The event brought together national open-water swimmers, Memorial doctors and staff, and professional swimmers from Bodrum to highlight the importance of swimming for a healthy lifestyle.

  Notable swimmers such as Sümeyye Boyacı, Aysu Türkoğlu, Zeynep Sever Demirel, and Selin Türkmen joined dozens of athletes and health professionals in the early-morning swim, which drew strong local interest.

  Memorial announced that similar events will continue in different cities to encourage active and healthy living across Turkey.

★ Turkey won a total of 10 medals, including 4 gold, at the 2025 European Shooting and Trap Championships.

  According to the Turkish Shooting Federation, the competition was held in Châteauroux, France, and concluded on August 6, 2025.

  In the women's senior trap trio event, the team of Rümeysa Pelin Kaya, Safiye Temizdemir, and Dilara Bedia Kızılsu earned a silver medal.

  In the women's junior trap trio event, Esma Samira Kaya, İlia Naz Uzun, and Tuğba Tatlı won bronze.

  The men's junior trap trio team of Ege Çapar, Hüseyin Efe Özmen, and Vekil Ege Keten finished fourth.

  Since the start of the championship on July 25, Turkish athletes collected 4 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze medals, closing the tournament with 10 podium finishes.

Ankara, in central Turkey        : 93/63 Mostly Sunny
Antalya, on the Mediterranean    : 88/79 Mostly Sunny
Erzurum, in Eastern Turkey       : 88/48 Mostly Sunny
Istanbul, in northwestern Turkey : 86/72 Mostly Sunny
Izmir, on the Aegean             : 90/73 Mostly Sunny
Trabzon, on the Black Sea        : 84/70 Partly Cloudy

Black Sea measured at Trabzon         : 78
Marmara Sea measured at Tekirdağ      : 76
Aegean Sea measured at İzmir          : 80
Mediterranean Sea measured at Antalya : 87