Politics of Turkey

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday that only "a few obstacles" remain before reaching the "bright future we call the Century of Türkiye," as the nation celebrated its Republic's 101st anniversary.

Erdoğan led a delegation of state officials to Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Türkiye, for the Oct. 29th Republic Day celebrations.

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has criticized the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for asking early elections in late 2025.

"[CHP Chairman] Özgür Özel's call for early polls is an eclipse of reason and a delusion," Bahçeli said at a press conference he held on Sept. 19 in the Turkish capital.

The central government budget posted a deficit of 129.6 billion Turkish Liras in August, rising from a deficit of 96.8 billion liras in the previous month, the Finance Ministry has said.

In August 2023, the budget ran a surplus of 51.3 billion liras.

The combined net profit of Turkish banks amounted to 233.6 billion Turkish Liras in the January-May period, rising 23 percent from a year ago, according to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

In May alone, banks posted a net income of 42.93 billion.

An average home price in Türkiye was 3.4 million Turkish Liras ($103,000) in May, according to the numbers from Endeksa, which compiles data on the real estate market.

Home prices rose 48.47 percent annually, while the monthly increase was 0.36 percent.

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler has reiterated Turkey's resolve to protect its rights within the so-called Blue Homeland region. 

"As we persist in combating terrorism, we safeguard our borders. And without any compromise, we defend our rights and interests in the Blue Homeland," he said.

The combined net income of Turkish banks increased by 32 percent in the first four months of 2024 from a year ago to 190.7 billion Turkish Liras ($5.94 billion), show data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

Total assets in the banking industry grew by 11.4 percent compared with the end of 2023 to reach 2.69 trillion liras as of April.

Turkey will not neglect its energy interests in the eastern Mediterranean and Libya, despite prioritizing the natural gas Sakarya field in the Black Sea, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.

Turkey's Ministry of Education is also including the Turkey-Libyan maritime memorandum in the new educational program for school students, along with the "Blue Homeland" dogma that expresses Ankara's claims in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has emphasized his administration's commitment to achieving a lasting reduction in inflation.

"The main priority of our economic program is to increase the welfare of our nation by reducing inflation to single digits," Erdoğan said during an event in Istanbul on May 25.