18 July prevented me from writing a monthly

TURKEY - In Brief 15 Jul 2018 by Atilla Yesilada

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GlobalSource Partners Turkey team has sent its Weekly Reporton vacation until end of August and canceled its joint Monthly, not because we ran out oftopics to cover, but because the fast pace of events require more frequent and narrowly-focused analysis. As far as Yours Truly, the humble Political Analyst goes; 18 July is a key date to judge Ankara’s new policy directions at home and abroad. On Wednesday, the State of Emergency (SoE) will expire; to be replaced by enhanced Measures of Security, the scope of which will tell me volumes in terms of whether the AKP-MHP coalition intends to ease up on the crack-down and rebuild some modicum of democracy. On the same day, an American clergyman, Pastor Andrew Brunson is up for trial a third time, whose continued detention could trigger Congressional sanctions, or even worse.Locking up Brunson on charges of collaborating with Gulenists doesn’t make sense and serves no useful purpose for Turkish diplomacy or the war against Gulenists. His release will be a litmus test of rationality. SoE expires, but its ghost lingers It is not certain; but later on Monday AKP-MHP will reportedly submit draft legislation to the Grand Assembly to ensure that the war against terror can be executed without interruption in the absence of SoE. To some extent, this is understandable, given that led by Germany and South Africa; Gulenists are reorganizing abroad, while some or most of the 18.3K of recent dismissals appear to be based on relatively solid evidence. I’m commenting on the supposedly leaked versions of the draft, which lack answers to the most important questions. Will the indefinite detention period before indictment and the sealing of cou...