[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Turkey and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Turkey Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week's roundup to turkey@jadaliyya.com.]

English

The Crackdown on the Gülen Network

AKP in fresh in-house debate over FETÖ fight. Bülent Arınç, among the founders of the AK Parti, has criticized the decree-laws that the government is using against the network of Fethullah Gülen, accused of being the mastermind of the 2016 failed coup. The discussion, according to Serkan Demirtaş, proves that it was necessary to deal with the situation “with the democratic norms and the principles of the rule of law.”

Power and Society

I’m free but my friends still languish in Turkish jails. Novelist Ahmet Altan, freed after three year in jail, writes in an opinion piece that “you can’t possibly be ecstatic about leaving prison. You feel like an accessory to a terrible crime. As a prisoner, you are the victim of injustice; once you leave, you become an accomplice.”

Turkey Detains a Top Journalist Again, Signaling a Continuing Crackdown. Just a few days after being freed, Altan is under arrest once again.

Four HDP Mayors Replaced with Trustees. The Ministry of the Interior has removed four more mayors from their offices in Kurdish municipalities, bringing the total number to twenty-two democratically elected mayors removed from office by the central government since the March 31st elections.

The Economical Crisis and Suicides

Family suicides in Turkey speak of a society that has lost hope. Since 2012 there has been a dramatic increase in suicide rates in Turkey, writes Elif Şafak. “Whenever and wherever democracy is shattered to pieces, and human rights, freedom of speech, diversity and pluralism are trampled on, self-worth is also taken away from people,” she argues.

Why are Turks killing themselves? “One of the heaviest financial crises in Turkey’s history was in 2001. It first became public symbolically when a salesman threw a cash till at then-Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. No one can even come close enough to simply ask a question about the declining quality of life in Turkey,” writes Nevşin Mengü.

Suicides, depression and economic policies. Mehveş Evin adds, “Maybe it’s impossible to name one person or policy responsible for suicide and depression rates, but sociopolitical and economic factors surely play a role.”

Turkey and the US: State of the Crisis

Fear and loathing in ‘New Turkey’. “Even in the more rational circles in Turkey - contends Nevşin Mengü - it is almost impossible to hear critical analysis concerning Turkey’s responsibility” in the deterioration of Turkish-American relations.

Erdogan’s close ties with Trump might be good for him — but they hurt Turkey. “It’s a tactical mistake to bring Turkey into the eye of the storm in Washington and a bigger mistake to reduce a decades-long alliance to a personal relationship with Trump,” argues Aslı Aydıntaşbaş.

Erdogan heads for Washington, where Trump's hands already full. According to Amberin Zaman, Erdoğan is “likely to hit a wall” in Washington, where he will bring forward once again the question of the extradition of the cleric Fethullah Gülen.

How to build trust in Turkey-US ties. Support for the YPG, the threat of sanctions, and politicizing historical issues, writes Kılıç Buğra Kanat, will not help to mend the ties between the two countries.

Turkey and the EU

Can Turkey’s Prickly Relationship With the EU Be Repaired? Turkey-EU relations were already on difficult terms before, writes Marc Pierini. Yet, “Ankara’s military incursion in Syria has made things worse.”

Turkish

The Crackdown on the Gülen Network

Bülent Arınç olayını anlamak için bir kılavuz. Ahmet Akan contends that Bülent Arınç is still convinced to represent the conscience of the AK Parti, but that in fact he has no weight anymore.

Power and Society

Ahmet Altan'ı bir hafta arayla hapisten çıkaran, tekrar hapse atan güç nedir? Hasan Cemal describes the last moments before the new arrest of Ahmet Altan and wonders whether there is an inner power struggle that led the novelist to be released and taken by the police once again in just a few days.

Atatürk and His Legacy

Atatürk ve aydınlanma. “Despite the fact that the counter-revolutionary AKP is trying to have Atatürk’s name forgotten, the people have not forgotten him,” writes Örsan K. Öymen.

Atatürk’e yönelmenin siyasi nedenleri. Recent political events have once again shown the value of Atatürk’s vision, contends Fikret Bila.

Yükselen Atatürk sevgisi neden çok kıymetli? While recognizing how ‘precious’ the love for Atatürk is, Ahmet Akan warns: “It is not something that can be imposed.”

Turkey, the West, and ISIS

Teröristler evlerine dönüyor. Turkey has started to extradite foreign ISIS members. Hasan Basri Yalçın contends that the West will make a big fuss about it, but adds, “Let them use smear tactics as much as they want. We have to continue sending them back.”

Türkiye’nin başındaki yeni dert: Yabancı Terörist Savaşçı’ların ülkelerine iadesi. Since the West has adopted a ‘See no evil, hear no evil’ attitude, Turkey will have to keep dealing with the foreign fighters issue, states Tolga Şardan.

Güç peşindekiler. “In the period we are living it is necessary to be careful about all kinds of dirty and hidden games,” writes Mehmet Soysal, accusing the US and Western countries of a systematic political attack against Turkey.

Turkey and the US: State of the Crisis

Normalleşme yolunda. According to Hasan Basri Yalçın, the incoming Trump-Erdoğan meeting will not be enough to solve the crisis between the US and Turkey, but it is a step towards normalization. “Anyway, Trump is the only one eager to do business with us in Washington,” he remarks.

Eyvah! Yine Beyaz Saray görüşmesi. “It is clear from now that Turkey will see no benefit” from the meeting in the US, contends Zeynep Gürcanlı.

Bu son mektup bu ilişkiyi bitirir mi? In a second letter to Turkish president Erdoğan, his US counterpart Donald Trump threatened sanctions over the S-400s missile system. “Will this second letter lead to a breakup” between the US and Turkey, asks Memduh Bayraktaroğlu.

Görüşmeden ne bekleyelim? Burhanettin Duran states that it is highly unlikely that the meeting in the US will lead to improvements on at least two issues: the extradition of Fethullah Gülen and the charges against Halkbank.

Domestic Politics

Barış Pınarı’na rağmen siyaset hareketli. Despite the fact that the Syrian operation is getting a lot of attention on the media, this does not entail that party politics in Turkey came to an alt. According to Abdulkadir Selvi, a lot is moving and changing.

7 uğursuz T. İrfan Aktan interviews Mehmet Bayrak about the history of Kurdish movements over the past century and the many methods with which the Republic of Turkey has attempted to circumscribe, contain, and quash those movements.