Gonul Tol: This week in Ankara

AKP’s “solution process” reboot. The ruling party submitted its long-awaited “Terror-Free Turkey” report to parliament after Erdoğan’s final edits. The roadmap lays out political, legal, and security steps ahead — but notably omits any reference to the controversial “right to hope” (the principle that a life sentence must allow a real chance of release) for PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, despite speculation sparked by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. High-profile arrest shakes pro-gov media. More than ten people, including prominent TV journalist and media executive Mehmet Akif Ersoy, were detained on allegations of drug use and prostitution. Ersoy, a former Habertürk editor-in-chief, called it a “political operation” Hedge fund gate to slam shut? After last month’s market turmoil, Turkish officials are weighing new rules to sharply limit retail access to hedge funds, including raising the “qualified investor” threshold up to $234,000 in financial assets — ten times the current bar. The move, still under discussion, is framed as protecting small investors from risky trades. Rare earth ambitions. A new proposal calls for creating a Critical Minerals Authority to assess Turkey’s potential in rare earth elements, signaling Ankara’s growing focus on strategic minerals amid global supply-chain competition. Drone incidents expose air defense gaps. Turkish F-16s shot down a drone that violated airspace near Çankırı, deep inside the country, while two more crashed drones were found near Kocaeli and Balıkesir over five days. One appears to be a Russian-made Orlan-10. The incidents underscore how Russia’s war in Ukraine is spilling into the Black Sea — and raise questions about Turkey’s air defense readiness.

S-400 rethink? Ankara is exploring ways to return the Russian S-400 air defense systems, a step that Ankara hopes could unlock its path back to the U.S. F-35 program. Erdoğan reportedly raised the issue directly with Putin in Turkmenistan. Gaza diplomacy ramps up. Intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın met Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya to discuss moving to phase two of the ceasefire plan, a day after Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan joined U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian officials in Miami for talks led by envoy Steve Witkoff on post-war governance and a stabilization force.

Source:  Gonul Tol, Twitter posting