We entered the New Year, now exit quickly

TURKEY - In Brief 07 Jan 2026 by Atilla Yesilada

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Greetings from a planet that makes no sense and harbor few intelligence specimens, Earthlings. In the short span of a couple of weeks during which our team took a breather from machine-gun speed report writing, a pause which in my case lasted longer on account of my traditional winter upper respiratory collapse episode, the agenda in Turkey and in the world as it pertains to Turkey changed drastically. Many questions arose at home and abroad with potentially significant impact on politics and the markets. This inaugural brief of 2026 frames the New Agenda and comes up with some answers to the numerous questions it raises. However, I’ll be frank: At this point I’ve drawn few actionable conclusions from the whirlpool of events. The mother of all crackdowns A new amnesty bill has released up to 50K hard core convicts, with another 50K to be freed in the next six months according to new and laxer sentencing guidelines. No worries, the correctional facilities will soon be filled to the brim by alleged money launderers, illegal gambling site operators and celebrities using illicit substances and engaging in “perverse intimate relations”. This is in many sense a clean hands operation a la Turkey, but unlike the prior waves of crackdowns, many of the apprehended have either no political affiliation or are one way or other linked to AKP. While justice being blind does a country good, the reputational damage to be suffered by AKP is immense. The picture that emerges is authorities having known for a long time about the a.m. “crimes” but waiting for orders from Erdogan to act upon them. Why would Erdogan venture upon a crusade which only appears to hurt the reputation of his part...