Bahadır Özgür

bozgur@gazeteduvar.com.tr
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Plots, farmlands, and forests: The real existential threat to Turkey One person from the Republic of Turkey singlehandedly removed the forest status of 721 plots of land, totaling 26.7 square kilometers across 37 provinces, and put them up for sale. Could there be a more terrifying power? 
A regime financed by trillions of liras in tenders The tender regime is the cornerstone of the AKP's economic and political regime. A kind of 'corporatist' structure has been built. This gigantic machine, extending from the center to the smallest local unit, works for a single purpose: Tendering every day for everything from roads to hospitals, garbage collection to landscaping plants, car rentals to catering services. Erdoğan's non-stop 'shock therapy' Erdoğan's 'one-man regime' is officially six years old. For six years, Erdoğan has continued his 'shock therapy' without interruption. The entire character of the presidential regime is determined by constant shocks. Every day, every moment, he has to give society a dose of pain, prevent it from focusing, and keep its consciousness open to inculcation. This is the only valid law.
Producing artillery shells for Ukraine: Who bought the giant plot? It seems that the demand for ammunition in the war in Ukraine has given rise to a new arms company in Turkey. Young entrepreneurs have achieved this success in just two years, as if touched by a magic wand. Will Erdoğan step down? Why does this regime exist if Erdoğan is not going to rule? He can make 'u-turns' on every issue, he can deny what he said yesterday, but he cannot compromise his position. This is the only position he cannot compromise. If he does, his regime will end. The country would evolve into a completely different process where the political positioning of the society will determine whether the aftermath will be good or bad. A mafia kaftan and the Eurasian crime network Organized crime has never been free from the mechanism of politics in Turkey. In a country where billions of dollars go to the counter guerrilla, political party staff, and gangs satisfying the bribery addictions of the bureaucracy, there can be no ‘cleaning’ without structural change. New documents in Utah-linked money laundering case The legal proceedings against businessperson Sezgin Baran Korkmaz (SBK) are ongoing as Austria has accepted Turkey’s extradition request. Within the proceedings, two new documents have been uncovered which indicate that the SBK-owned Paramount Hotel sale was included in the money laundering investigation, a decision was made to confiscate the property, but was soon revoked. The fate of Göcek islands hidden from public The islands of Göcek, which are part of a special protection area (SİT), are under a kind of attack. There are plans to illegally convert the islands into an expensive facility with a pier and lodges where luxury yachts can dock. While there are allegations about the specific individuals involved, what is certain is that a project for the islands has been decided upon and it is being hidden from the public. How money gets laundered in Turkey Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, who is being prosecuted for money laundering in Turkey, fled to Switzerland on April 14 after an international travel ban on him was lifted. This perfectly depicts how Turkey’s ‘sharing economy’ condemns some to hell while preparing cushy beds for others. Despite being tied up in well-documented money laundering schemes, Korkmaz was not even questioned. Yet again we see a commerce-politics relationship with too many questions and not nearly enough answers. The dark side of Turkey-Azerbaijan relations There is so much Azerbaijan inside Turkey that the slogan “Two states, one nation” now has meanings beyond cultural, ideological, and political solidarity. The new slogan could be “Two states, one regime,” where oil money, drones, construction, and deep relations are bringing us closer. For many years, a toxic river has been flowing right in front of us. Turkey for sale by auction Every month, millions of square meters of land belonging to Turkey’s Treasury are sold. When unemployment and poverty are at a record high, the most valuable public properties are shared among the rich via ‘land auctions,’ putting agricultural production and food safety at risk. Property plots and political violence in Istanbul The politics-capital-foundation machinery seems to be running smoothly in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul and a tiny six-line notice published on March 7 about a ‘lost’ man named Dimitriyades is an integral part of this vicious mechanism. Beyoğlu has once again become the primary place where one can find the magnificent harmony of destruction at the hands of neo-liberalism and neo-Ottomanism. A poisonous cocktail President Erdoğan came to power in 1994 as the mayor of Istanbul and since then his one and only motivation has always been Islamism. The loan-friendly capital transactions and the resulting problems paved the way for broad support for Islamism. In the meantime, the pro-market and anti-market forces have united to become the fuel of Erdoğan’s myth as the “savior.” Turkey’s ‘war machine’ and private sector Turkey has the 13th largest army in the world if one takes its fire superiority into account. Military production is not a natural cycle of need. Demand is created by conflicts. Let us note that cooperation with private companies in the military industry, where large amounts of public resources are allocated and infrastructure investments are made, is a kind of “privatization.” Turkey’s government tender scheme The system of government tenders in Turkey often looks sound on paper. When the company with the lowest bid wins the tender, we accept that there were no issues. However, the secret lies in the tricky ways the tender items appear to be calculated. Amongst the thousands of government tenders, it is almost impossible to track down the irregularities, unless one looks at the details. Real story behind Turkey's Altay tank saga In 2010, a loan advantage was given to farmers by public Ziraat Bank who bought tractors from them. But the real turning point was the Altay tank program. In debates about why the Altay tanks have never been produced, the Albayrak family has remained behind the scenes. The captain’s imaginary wars President Erdoğan frequently reminds us that we have moved into a new regime and that he has declared war in almost every field. What kind of a war, you would say, is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan waging? Where is the front? What is the status of the ammunition? Who are at the targets? All the president’s oligarchs The public tender and the tax incentive blatantly given to Kalyon Construction last week is the product of a cartelization that has created its own oligarchs. Turkey’s regime is the product of this blend in which a particular class has effortlessly seized a significant portion of the nation’s reserves, its accumulation, and in fact, its wealth. A sword in the Hagia Sophia, a machete in Taksim, a stick in Kadıköy There is a need for a segment that will wear the outfit shown at the podium in Hagia Sophia in neighborhoods. The soul and the spirit that has been infused into the AKP government has to have reciprocity in the streets. The sword at the Hagia Sophia mosque opening will turn into a stick if needed. Who is Erdoğan afraid of? Since Erdoğan's AKP is not able to open an umbrella that would cover everyone, it reinforces the point where it can give a “wheel alignment adjustment” to everyone. However, they know that the magnificent election results are a thing of the past. A water supply project in Northern Cyprus and Turkish clientelism A government-led and much-vaunted water supply project that connects Turkey to Northern Cyprus through an undersea pipeline has turned into a tender scandal. What do Turkey's capital owners want? The relationship between the government and the capital class is now at a deadlock. While the “Daddy State” maintains order, it now also manages the Central Bank and meddles with foreign currency. And though the AKP-led government is solely responsible for maintaining order, its economic fate depends on external factors. Turkey’s capital-owning class and COVID-19 It appears that Turkey’s capital-owning class largely agrees that the pandemic has brought two opportunities. The first has to do with broadening their vast exploitation of labor. The second has to do with obtaining a strategic place in the global supply chain, which is expected to break off from China. Lunatics on TV cannot conceal the AKP government’s failures As the pandemic ravaged Turkey, it turned out the government’s “public health” policies were cynically tied to commercial opportunities. In a country constrained by minimum legal control, the hospital project adjacent to the Atatürk Airport would have likely been the subject of an investigation and ended up before a high court. In fact, such things did happen in Turkey a while back. The final blow to Turkey's parliamentary system The Wealth Fund has the freedom of incorporating any profiting institution without needing to be accountable to the parliament. Moreover, with the recent sweeping law that was passed thanks to the epidemic, the government it is now pretty much exempt from all laws including trade, tax, development and human resources. How many jobs are at risk in Turkey amid coronavirus? The number of workers in Turkey who would be directly affected by staying at home during this period is close to 6 million. If their families are included, then it is not an exaggeration to estimate that the epidemic, at the first glance, will hit more than 15 million people economically. What is so funny about these facts? Growth rates have shown Turkey is rapidly impoverishing. In 2019, income per capita almost collapsed. That figure which was 12.5 thousand dollars in 2013 is now around 9.1 thousand, thus making Turkey fall back behind Lebanon, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria. Turkey’s total national income has gone back from 950 billion dollars to 754 billion dollars. The Muslim Brother and Istanbul’s Terrace Tema tower Revelations have come out uncovering the ties between the Turkish state and Molham Rateb al-Drobi, a member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. As the Gülen movement, the Muslim Brotherhood and pro-AKP foundations demonstrated, education networks have served as crucial institutional structures for Islamist circles. Such networks work as circulatory systems that allow for the movement of economic, political and ideological interests. Many entangled tails of the ‘rat king’ in Turkey In the case in which too many rats are trapped in a confined space, their tails get tangled together after a while. The more they try and use their strength to save themselves, the knot tying them all together becomes tighter. They are unable to sacrifice even one tail to open up just a little bit of comfort space. At the end, they turn into a single creature, the “rat king.” It becomes uncertain which tail belongs to whom. Fights over land from Salvationville to Erdoğan City The ambitious mind that has been working on the extremely profitable scheme in the north of Istanbul was developed through the “sacred lot” cause of the 1970s. All those mega projects that looks meaningless when considered alone — namely the third bridge, the new Istanbul Airport, the North Marmara Highway and Kanal Istanbul — are the evolution of an old dream when thought of all together. With thousands of homes to be built, hotels, hospitals, campuses and a marina, Salvationville turns into Erdoğan City.