Mustafa Elitas

A drone shot of collapsed buildings after an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, 7 February 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

Tolls charged for bridges and highways will not be increased in 2023, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced.

Several projects were implemented under the public-private partnership model without putting additional burden on the budget, Erdoğan said, following a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Jan. 9.

Türkiye's first local car Togg, which is expected to be on the streets in the first quarter of next year, has been given a head start with a law decreasing the Special Consumption Tax (ÖTV) for electric cars of its class.

Representatives of Turkey's three largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms have conveyed demands under three main topics to a senior official of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP): Capital requirements, technology infrastructure and financial transparency.

Six lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have filed criminal complaints against former Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ after he said FETÖ, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt, had played a significant role in the adoption of laws in parliament that resulted in several military personnel to serve jail time over a decade ago.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have agreed on a 17-article amendment to internal regulation of the Turkish parliament, a change required by the constitutional amendment approved after the April 16 referendum. 

The Turkish parliament's industry commission on June 13 announced that it omitted a contentious article that would have enabled the building of industrial facilities on olive groves in the country if "public interest" can be imputed under the supervision of a preservation board from the draft law, less than a week after it had been withdrawn for a review amid rising concerns.

A contentious draft law to make possible for the building of industrial facilities on olive groves if "public interest" can be imputed under the supervision of a preservation board will be withdrawn to the commission, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) official has stated. 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday took back control of the ruling party he founded, a step that gives the nation’s most powerful man additional authority to appoint loyalists to parliament lists and party posts across the nation.

With "Yes" votes winning a narrow majority in the April 16 constitutional referendum, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has started to analyze the source of the votes, and according to initial party evaluations three percentage points of "Yes" votes came from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), while 1.5 percentage points came from Kurdish party voters.