Official Gazette

Now is not the time or place to laugh. I'm not in the mood to laugh at all. But I just had a good laugh thanks to Turkey's Higher Education Board (YÖK). It made my day. 

I was laughing at the report in daily Hürriyet that YÖK recently posted vacancy adverts, looking for rectors for 19 universities across the country.

The Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) unanimously decided to suspend 203 judges and public prosecutors on Nov. 15 over suspected links to the Gülen movement, widely believed to be behind Turkey's failed July 15 coup attempt.   

New police chiefs have been assigned to 61 provinces across Turkey including İzmir, Adana and Konya, according to a decree published on Oct. 26 in the Official Gazette. The major reshuffle comes as part of sweeping state of emergency decrees just over three months after the failed July 15 military coup attempt.    

Considering the current situation in Turkey, it was inappropriate timing to proceed with the decision to lift the immunities, the commission said, urging Turkey to reinstate deputies' immunities from prosecution. 

Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Faruk Kaymakçı has been assigned as Turkey's permanent representative to the EU, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette on Oct. 14.

Turkey has ratified the payment of $1 million to the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, the Official Gazette reported on Oct. 4.      

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has appointed a history professor, Erhan Afyoncu, as the rector of the National Defense University, a newly founded institution gathering together former military academies which were closed with a decree law in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Turkey will continue to implement daylight savings time throughout the entire year and will not roll back its clocks an hour on Oct. 30, according to a cabinet decision announced in the Official Gazette on Sept. 7.
      

Turkey's EU Minister Volkan Bozk?r has voiced optimism for overcoming possible resistance at the European Parliament over approval of lifting visa requirements for Turkish citizens, after the European Commission said on May 4 that Ankara has met most of the necessary 72 criteria, inviting member states and EU lawmakers to endorse the move by June 30.

Halkbank will delay the repayment of low-rated loan debts for businesses in terror-hit southeastern provinces for one year, according to a cabinet decision that was released in the Official Gazette on May 5.