Efkan Ala

The Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been meeting in northern Iraq, former Interior Minister Efkan Ala has claimed, saying they are working together to "drag Turkey into chaos." 

It's the same old story over and over again. If things are not going well in Turkey, then it must be outside forces who are behind this and who are also orchestrating an evil campaign against the country in the international media. 

This has been the standard line of the government and continues to be so.

A parliamentary commission on Turkey's thwarted July 15 military coup attempt is set to hear the opinions of prominent figures including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's brother-in-law, Ziya İlgen, from whom Erdoğan said he first learned about the coup attempt. 

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has criticized the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) over the latter's remarks regarding victimizations since the failed July 15 coup attempt, complaining that the CHP emphasizes the government's post-coup attempt measures more than it mentions the thwarted military coup.

The Turkish cabinet has pledged to not decrease the minimum wage due to the increasing cuts in incomes, said a leading official on Sept. 19. 

Turkey raised the minimum wage by 30 percent to 1,300 Turkish Liras ($436) for over 8 million workers at the beginning of the year.

A cabinet revision is reportedly underway in Turkey, where the country's interior minister recently resigned, as at least five or six ministers could be changed with the start of the new legislative year, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Sept. 19.

The social democratic main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) announced on Sept. 14 that it had received some 30,000 complaints so far from people who believe they have been unfairly treated in the probes into Turkey's bloody coup attempt of July 15.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned media to be more sensitive regarding the probes into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), saying the media should avoid labelling people as Gülenists. 

Bulgaria has become the first EU Member State to sign a protocol for implementing an agreement for readmission of irregular migrants by Turkey, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said.

The protocol was signed in Turkey by Efkan Ala and his Bulgarian counterpart Rumyana Bachvarova, the interior ministry in Sofia said in a statement on Thursday.

A total of 15 suspects have been detained in four different Turkish provinces in relation to the suicide bomb attack that struck the Marmara province of Bursa on April 28. A female suicide bomber detonated herself at around 5:25 p.m. near Ulu Cami, a mosque at the center of the province, on April 27, leaving 23 people wounded.