Latest news with #Ekremİmamoğlu
See - Sada Elbalad
7 days ago
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Turkey Cuts Interest Rates for First Time Since March as Inflation Slows
Taarek Refaat The Central Bank of Turkey lowered its key interest rate on Thursday, signaling cautious optimism as inflation shows signs of easing and financial markets regain composure after weeks of political turbulence. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) reduced the benchmark one-week repo rate to 43% from 46%, exceeding market expectations for a 250-basis-point cut. The overnight lending rate was lowered to 46% from 49%, and the overnight borrowing rate to 41.5% from 44.5%. The rate cut marks a resumption of monetary easing, which had been on pause since March amid political unrest triggered by the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key opposition figure and potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In its statement accompanying the decision, the MPC reaffirmed its commitment to a tight monetary stance 'until price stability is firmly established.' 'The disinflation process will be supported by curbing domestic demand, strengthening the real value of the lira, and improving inflation expectations,' the statement said. It added that future rate decisions will be assessed on a meeting-by-meeting basis, with a continued focus on inflation outlooks. The decision follows a sharper-than-expected slowdown in annual inflation, which declined to 35.1% in June, edging the central bank closer to its year-end target of 24%. Inflation had peaked at 75% in May 2024, making Turkey one of the world's most inflation-prone economies at the time. Turkish markets reacted with relative calm. The Borsa Istanbul 100 Index initially rose by 1% before paring gains to a 0.5% increase by mid-afternoon. Lira-denominated bonds trimmed earlier losses, with the 10-year yield falling to 31.24%. The Turkish lira held largely steady against the dollar. The easing move reflects growing confidence within the central bank, under Governor Fatih Karahan, that financial volatility has cooled since the post-arrest selloff earlier this year. Following İmamoğlu's detention, markets were rattled by protests and political uncertainty, prompting the central bank to raise rates to 46% in April in a defensive move to shore up the currency. read more CBE: Deposits in Local Currency Hit EGP 5.25 Trillion Morocco Plans to Spend $1 Billion to Mitigate Drought Effect Gov't Approves Final Version of State Ownership Policy Document Egypt's Economy Expected to Grow 5% by the end of 2022/23- Minister Qatar Agrees to Supply Germany with LNG for 15 Years Business Oil Prices Descend amid Anticipation of Additional US Strategic Petroleum Reserves Business Suez Canal Records $704 Million, Historically Highest Monthly Revenue Business Egypt's Stock Exchange Earns EGP 4.9 Billion on Tuesday Business Wheat delivery season commences on April 15 News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters Arts & Culture "Jurassic World Rebirth" Gets Streaming Date News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Arts & Culture South Korean Actress Kang Seo-ha Dies at 31 after Cancer Battle Business Egyptian Pound Undervalued by 30%, Says Goldman Sachs Sports Get to Know 2025 WWE Evolution Results News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Turkish mega-prison that became symbol of Erdoğan's authoritarianism
Silivri was once just a getaway town. An hour's drive west of Istanbul, it was famed for its lavender, its yoghurt, and its summer houses dotted along the Marmara Sea. But to most in Turkey now, Silivri means something different: not the town, but the mega-complex a little further down the coast. This is the prison that since March has held the Istanbul mayor – and rival to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – Ekrem İmamoğlu, as he awaits trial for corruption – and now, the place where he has been given a twenty month sentence, in another of the litany of charges against him, for insulting and 'threatening' a public official. It started taking in prisoners in 2008. Turkish coverage at the time marvelled at the size. Here was a complex – a 'campus', in the new lingo – made of nine separate prisons, spread across almost 1m sq metres, and with a stated capacity of 11,000 people. For the on-site staff alone, there were 500 apartments, a mosque, a market and restaurant, and a primary school for their children. As one prisoner would later write, he would hear them from his cell singing the Turkish national anthem in the playground. Silivri was meant to replace the dilapidated old inner-city jails. It had, it was breathlessly reported, TV and radios in every cell, more than 2,000 security cameras, and eye retina scans for staff coming in and out. Prisoners had access to an indoor sports centre and two open-air football pitches. The mega-prison was swept into a broader narrative of the early Erdoğan years – of a country that was modernising fast. And soon events at Silivri would speak to something deeper too, and hopes that Erdoğan was breathing new life into Turkish democracy itself. For before Silivri was even completed, it began to host a series of groundbreaking trials. Prosecutors had claimed to have unearthed a series of plots among Turkey's old, secular establishment – generals and police chiefs, journalist and lawyers – aimed at overthrowing its elected Islamist government. Hundreds of them were tried at a time in Silivri, not in its courtrooms but in one of its gym halls repurposed for the task, as scores of gendarmes guarded the prison's perimeter. It seemed, for many onlookers, that Silivri was the scene of a historic reckoning with Turkey's past – of the humbling of a secular military elite who had overshadowed democracy for so long. But by the time the guilty verdicts came in 2012, many in Turkey were having doubts. The indictments, it turned out, were full of inaccuracies, typos and doctored documents. In fact, there was scant evidence that the plots had existed at all. In hindsight, the Silivri trials hinted at what was to come: the use of police and prosecutors, courts and police to go after the government's opponents. It was all accelerated in Erdoğan's second decade in power, a period marked by not only a failed coup but a state of emergency and a new constitution. A political crackdown brought the arrests of activists, journalists, lawyers, politicians and tens of thousands of ordinary citizens besides. Meanwhile, a moral panic about urban crime led to a huge increase in prison time for petty offences. Turkey's prison population began to soar. In 2002, when Erdoğan's party came to power, Turkey had about 60,000 prisoners; now it probably has over 350,000. In the Council of Europe's latest report, Turkey was said to have about as many imprisoned as the other 45 countries put together. Silivri, built to a capacity of 11,000, was most recently reported to be housing 22,000 people. It is one of the largest prisons in the world. The conditions have always been austere. As the author Ahmet Altan described – during his own imprisonment after the failed coup – occasionally in the spring, passing birds would drop flowers for their nests into his small and sunless courtyard. Once he took one and put it in a plastic bottle to decorate his cell. The next day, the officers took the flower away. Lawyers, wardens, former inmates and their families all speak of a system overstretched: of units for 21 housing nearly 50; of meals shrinking, or of mattresses having to be shared out in shifts; or, during weekly exercise sessions on Silivri's much-vaunted sports pitches, inmates trying to organise a game of football with 40 players at a time. There have always been accusations – denied by the prison authorities – of frequent beatings by guards and deliberate acts of humiliation. In a case three years ago, after an inmate died in Silivri, the prison insisted the cause was a heart attack. His family did not believe it and said his body had been beaten black and blue. The detention of inmates such as İmamoğlu tends to be different. Kept in isolation, in a unit specifically reserved for its high-profile political prisoners, few report any physical mistreatment. Instead, the punishment is the Turkish court process itself: pre-trial detentions that can last years; judges and prosecutors under intense political pressure; and even – as İmamoğlu has found out – the possibility that an inmate's lawyer might be detained too. Today, Silivri has become a symbol of how far Erdoğan is willing to go to stay in power. So much so that the prison's infamous name has found itself part of a Turkish phrase. Silivri soğuk – meaning Silivri's cold – is said to friends, half in jest, half in warning, when they say or do something political deemed to go over the line.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Turkish mega-prison that became symbol of Erdoğan's authoritarianism
Silivri was once just a getaway town. An hour's drive west of Istanbul, it was famed for its lavender, its yoghurt, and its summer houses dotted along the Marmara Sea. But to most in Turkey now, Silivri means something different: not the town, but the mega-complex a little further down the coast. This is the prison that since March has held the Istanbul mayor – and rival to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – Ekrem İmamoğlu, as he awaits trial for corruption – and now, the place where he has been given a twenty month sentence, in another of the litany of charges against him, for insulting and 'threatening' a public official. It started taking in prisoners in 2008. Turkish coverage at the time marvelled at the size. Here was a complex – a 'campus', in the new lingo – made of nine separate prisons, spread across almost 1m sq metres, and with a stated capacity of 11,000 people. For the on-site staff alone, there were 500 apartments, a mosque, a market and restaurant, and a primary school for their children. As one prisoner would later write, he would hear them from his cell singing the Turkish national anthem in the playground. Silivri was meant to replace the dilapidated old inner-city jails. It had, it was breathlessly reported, TV and radios in every cell, more than 2,000 security cameras, and eye retina scans for staff coming in and out. Prisoners had access to an indoor sports centre and two open-air football pitches. The mega-prison was swept into a broader narrative of the early Erdoğan years – of a country that was modernising fast. And soon events at Silivri would speak to something deeper too, and hopes that Erdoğan was breathing new life into Turkish democracy itself. For before Silivri was even completed, it began to host a series of groundbreaking trials. Prosecutors had claimed to have unearthed a series of plots among Turkey's old, secular establishment – generals and police chiefs, journalist and lawyers – aimed at overthrowing its elected Islamist government. Hundreds of them were tried at a time in Silivri, not in its courtrooms but in one of its gym halls repurposed for the task, as scores of gendarmes guarded the prison's perimeter. It seemed, for many onlookers, that Silivri was the scene of a historic reckoning with Turkey's past – of the humbling of a secular military elite who had overshadowed democracy for so long. But by the time the guilty verdicts came in 2012, many in Turkey were having doubts. The indictments, it turned out, were full of inaccuracies, typos and doctored documents. In fact, there was scant evidence that the plots had existed at all. In hindsight, the Silivri trials hinted at what was to come: the use of police and prosecutors, courts and police to go after the government's opponents. It was all accelerated in Erdoğan's second decade in power, a period marked by not only a failed coup but a state of emergency and a new constitution. A political crackdown brought the arrests of activists, journalists, lawyers, politicians and tens of thousands of ordinary citizens besides. Meanwhile, a moral panic about urban crime led to a huge increase in prison time for petty offences. Turkey's prison population began to soar. In 2002, when Erdoğan's party came to power, Turkey had about 60,000 prisoners; now it has almost 350,000. In the Council of Europe's latest report, Turkey was said to have about as many imprisoned as the other 45 countries put together. Silivri, built to a capacity of 11,000, was most recently reported to be housing 22,000 people. It is one of the largest prisons in the world. The conditions have always been austere. As the author Ahmet Altan described – during his own imprisonment after the failed coup – occasionally in the spring, passing birds would drop flowers for their nests into his small and sunless courtyard. Once he took one and put it in a plastic bottle to decorate his cell. The next day, the officers took the flower away. Lawyers, wardens, former inmates and their families all speak of a system overstretched: of units for 21 housing nearly 50; of meals shrinking, or of mattresses having to be shared out in shifts; or, during weekly exercise sessions on Silivri's much-vaunted sports pitches, inmates trying to organise a game of football with 40 players at a time. There have always been accusations – denied by the prison authorities – of frequent beatings by guards and deliberate acts of humiliation. In a case three years ago, after an inmate died in Silivri, the prison insisted the cause was a heart attack. His family did not believe it and said his body had been beaten black and blue. The detention of inmates such as İmamoğlu tends to be different. Kept in isolation, in a unit specifically reserved for its high-profile political prisoners, few report any physical mistreatment. Instead, the punishment is the Turkish court process itself: pre-trial detentions that can last years; judges and prosecutors under intense political pressure; and even – as İmamoğlu has found out – the possibility that an inmate's lawyer might be detained too. Today, Silivri has become a symbol of how far Erdoğan is willing to go to stay in power. So much so that the prison's infamous name has found itself part of a Turkish phrase. Silivri soğuk – meaning Silivri's cold – is said to friends, half in jest, half in warning, when they say or do something political deemed to go over the line.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Erdoğan rival given prison term for threatening Istanbul prosecutor
Istanbul's mayor and Turkey's leading opposition figure, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has been given a 20-month prison sentence for insulting and threatening the city's public prosecutor, according to a court document obtained by Agence France-Presse. The case is one of a number lined up against İmamoğlu, the main rival of the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is already being held over an investigation into alleged corruption. His arrest in March as part of that case triggered Turkey's worst street protests in more than a decade. Wednesday's hearing was held at Silivri court and prison complex on the western outskirts of Istanbul, where İmamoğlu has been held since his arrest. He was jailed for a year, five months and 15 days for having insulted a civil servant, and two months and 15 days for threats, the court document showed. İmamoğlu, who appeared in court, has denied all of the allegations. He says he has been targeted because of his plans to challenge Erdoğan in the 2028 presidential elections. The prosecutor had initially called for İmamoğlu to face up to seven years and four months behind bars, and to be banned from holding public office. That ban, which is imposed when a suspect gets a minimum two-year jail term, was not applied. İmamoğlu was elected Istanbul mayor in 2019 and re-elected in 2024. He was arrested on 19 March in connection with a corruption invesigation and allegations of links to terrorism. The string of charges against him could prevent him taking part in the 2028 presidential election. His arrest sparked demonstrations across the country in the worst unrest since the 2013 Gezi Park protests, which spread across Turkey and which police brutally suppressed.
Al Arabiya
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Turkish prosecutors add charges of forging diploma against jailed Istanbul mayor
Turkish prosecutors charged Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Friday with falsifying his university diploma, a new case threatening more years in prison for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival, already jailed pending corruption charges he denies. Imamoglu, at the center of a sprawling legal crackdown on the main opposition party, has been jailed since March 23 pending trial. He denies the allegations against him, which his party says are orchestrated to protect Erdogan in power. His indictment over his diploma was reported by Milliyet newspaper, which said prosecutors were seeking eight years and nine months of prison time for the new charges. Reuters could not immediately obtain the document. On March 18, Istanbul University said it had annulled Imamoglu's diploma. He was detained a day later on the corruption charges, triggering Turkey's largest protests in a decade, and later jailed pending trial. His detention has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties and some foreign leaders, who call the case politically motivated and anti-democratic. The government denies the case is political. Imamoglu is the main opposition Republican People's Party's presidential candidate in any future election. He won re-election as mayor in March last year by a wide margin against a candidate from Erdogan's ruling AK Party.
