Midweek: Istanbul is rich, the protests are not over, the “day of the badger” in Gaza

The protests that began exactly a week ago in Turkey have not stopped yet. Demonstrators have gradually begun to cross red lines, with some even insulting President Erdogan.

The opposition CHP, on the other hand, has retained control of Istanbul. The power left vacant after Imamoglu's arrest was taken over by his party colleague.

White House secrets have unexpectedly leaked out. Due to a conscious or unintentional mistake by Trump's National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, a journalist overheard secret conversations between US officials.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is once again on the verge of disaster. Israel is expanding the scale of the massacre in the sector.

Recent developments in Turkey

The opposition CHP has nominated Ekrem Imamoglu, who was arrested on corruption charges and does not even have a university degree, for the 2028 presidential election. In the primary held on March 23, more than 15 million people voted for him. Meanwhile, the flames of demonstrations have not subsided in major cities in Turkey. Although large-scale rallies have been banned in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in these cities. The majority of the demonstrators are university students. The demonstrators have clashed with police and thrown anything they can get their hands on. Demonstrations have been held in more than 50 of Turkey's 81 provinces. According to Istanbul-based journalist Abdurahman Kamburugli, even some of the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's allies have expressed cautious support for the protesters. In particular, there are reports that former President Abdullah Gul, who is no stranger to Erdogan, does not support the arrest of Imamoglu. Many believe that the arrest of Imamoglu is a wrong step and that it could negatively affect the ratings of the ruling party. Erdogan, however, is ignoring all possible consequences of these events. The Turkish President said that the opposition Republican People's Party and its chairman Özgür Özel are responsible for the ongoing wave of violence in the country. Erdogan also asked the opposition to "account for corruption if they have the courage."

Amid such verbal battles between the CHP and the Justice and Development Party, demonstrations on the streets of Turkey are becoming increasingly violent. To date, more than a thousand protesters have been arrested, and hundreds of police officers have been injured. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikoy said that 12 of the 1,133 protesters arrested between March 19 and 23 were linked to terrorist organizations. This indicates that the protests are now taking a more serious turn. The Interior Ministry is calling on citizens participating in the street protests to maintain order and act with common sense. In addition, the rallies held after Imamoglu's arrest have been banned from being broadcast on television. The head of the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council, Abubakr Sahin, has demanded that television and radio companies not broadcast the protests live. Sahin warned that if this demand is not met, their licenses would be revoked. Following this warning, Turkey's leading television channels, in particular TRT Haber, NTV, and CNN Turk, have stopped broadcasting the protests live. However, some TV channels, including the private Halk TV, continue to broadcast live from the protest sites.

The issue of red lines, as highlighted above, is becoming more serious. The situation has reached the point of public insults to Erdogan. On the night of March 25, 41 people were arrested for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family, including his late mother, during demonstrations in the Saraçhane district of Istanbul. In this regard, the prosecutor issued a decision to arrest the suspects under the articles "Insulting the President," "Violating the Law on Rallies and Demonstrations," and "Resisting Officials." Istanbul Security Directorate officers conducted a coordinated operation and detained the 41 suspects. Officials said that additional measures would be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. In addition, it was stated that the government and law enforcement agencies would continue to closely monitor the situation and put an end to any provocations and insults directed against state institutions and their representatives. Erdogan also issued a stern warning against such outrage. On March 25, during an iftar with university students, the Turkish President warned those participating in the demonstrations. He said that legal measures would be taken against those who took this path and that actions against the state would be responded to. Reacting to the demonstrations, Erdogan also compared these events with the West.

"If one thousandth of the vandalism and insults that were said in our country were committed in Western countries, see what would happen to the criminals. Especially those who attacked the police, members of the judiciary, and state officials with malice will be immediately dismissed," he said.

The head of state also said that the demonstrators and the opposition have no understanding of democracy and called on everyone to know their limits.

"I call on everyone to know their limits, to maintain moderation, and not to cross the line between seeking justice and insults and vandalism. Those who do and say the opposite will cause the greatest harm not only to themselves, but also to this country and nation," the head of state warned.

“Whoever takes Istanbul, takes all of Turkey.”

These are the words of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Although he is currently in power and his party is in power, Istanbul has been in the hands of the opposition for many years. Despite the arrest of the city’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, in recent days, Istanbul has remained in the hands of the opposition. Nuri Aslan, a representative of the opposition Republican People’s Party, was elected acting mayor of Istanbul in the absence of Ekrem İmamoğlu. Acting mayor Nuri Aslan won the third round of the election. Aslan’s opponent was Zeynel Abidin, a candidate from the Justice and Development Party. In the city’s 314-member parliament, the Republican People’s Party has 186 seats, while the Justice and Development Party has 120. The remaining 8 seats are divided between other parties and independent deputies. In this situation, the election for the mayor was extended to 3 rounds. 10 representatives of the People's Party of the Republic could not take part in this voting process because they were in custody, like İmamoğlu, and the opposition candidate got 176 votes in the first two rounds. In the third round, a simple majority was enough, and Aslan was elected interim mayor of Istanbul with 177 votes.

Leaked White House “gossip”

This week, there has been some interesting activity in the Trump administration. More precisely, these events occurred a few weeks ago, during the strikes on Yemen, but were made public this week. The fact is that one of Trump’s closest aides, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, made a childish mistake and denied a journalist access to a secret chat room of high-ranking US officials. As it turned out, Mike Waltz accidentally added the editor of *The Atlantic* to a secret online chat room. In this chat, high-ranking US officials exchanged views on secret military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. This incident was first reported by the editor of "The Atlantic", Jeffrey Goldberg, in an extensive article. Later, the White House also confirmed this information. The conversation, which took place on the Signal messenger, involved US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, US Vice President James David Vance, and other high-ranking officials. The discussions were about the large-scale US strikes against the Houthis in Yemen on March 15.

According to Jeffrey Goldberg, on March 11, he received a request to join via Signal from a user named Michael Waltz. At first, Goldberg thought that this was not the real Waltz but an attempt to trap him. Goldberg was initially hesitant because such situations are common these days, and there are cases of various individuals and journalists doing this to reveal information that could harm them. Nevertheless, he joined the chat. He assumed that it was really Michael Waltz, the US President's National Security Advisor, who wanted to talk about Ukraine, Iran, or other pressing issues. Two days later, he received a message that he had been added to a private chat to discuss the Houthis. Goldberg said that in the days that followed, he had witnessed highly classified information related to US military forces, military operations in the Middle East, and strategic decisions. The chat messages were written by various users, including James David Vance and Pete Hegseth.

“Did they know they had added me to the group? Did they add me on purpose? If not, who did they think I was? Did anyone realize when I joined or left the chat? Do senior Trump administration officials regularly use Signal for sensitive discussions? I realized how much damage could be done to the United States if someone other than me had joined this chat,” Goldberg recalled.

Goldberg also noted that Michael Waltz had violated several government security regulations and that Signal was not a place to discuss military operations. Security experts criticized the US officials' disregard for classified information, calling it "extremely careless."

"I have never seen such a violation. Signal is often used to schedule meetings or other logistical matters. But it is never used to discuss important military operations. The most interesting thing is that a journalist like me has never been involved in such confidential discussions," he wrote in his article.

Michael Waltz, on the other hand, said that he did not know Jeffrey Goldberg at all, but that he took full responsibility for this mistake. After this mistake, Waltz's future fate in the Trump administration was called into question. There were many questions about his stay or possible departure. However, CNN, citing its sources, reported that US President Donald Trump did not intend to fire his National Security Advisor Michael Waltz over the leak of military information. Trump later said that Waltz had learned from this mistake. Trump made a statement about the scandal and explained how the journalist joined the chat. According to him, the number of Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of *The Atlantic*, was saved on the phone of one of Mike Waltz's subordinates, and the journalist was unexpectedly sent a request to join the chat.

"We believe that someone was on the line with permission. Someone associated with Michael Waltz, someone who worked under him at a low level. As I understand it, he had Goldberg's number on his phone. And for some reason, this guy joined the chat," Trump said, explaining the reasons for the incident.

Israel expandsiIts genocide

Since the early hours of March 18, following the end of the ceasefire that came into effect on January 19, Israel has resumed its bloody and intensive offensive in the Gaza Strip. Today, it was announced that the largest Israeli army unit, the 36th Armored Division, has been deployed to prepare for the expansion of the invasion. This unit of the Israeli army, the 36th Armored Division, has previously participated in attacks in northern Gaza and southern Lebanon. Since the Israeli army resumed its massacre in Gaza on March 18, it has continued to eliminate hundreds of civilians as well as Hamas commanders. This week, the Israeli army announced the killing of two Hamas commanders. According to reports, in the past few days, the IDF and the Security Service (SHA) have struck Hamas targets and soldiers in the Gaza Strip. The bombings killed Ahmed Shimali, deputy commander of the Gaza Brigade, and Jamil Wadiya, commander of the Shujaiya Battalion. One of them, Ahmed Shimali, is said to have held a very important position within the movement. He was involved in planning the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, developing the attack strategy, and mobilizing the Gaza Brigade forces. This is the third military leader that Israel has eliminated within Hamas since the resumption of the massacres in Gaza. Before that, they killed Osama Tabash, the head of Hamas military intelligence, in the southern Gaza Strip. Tabash was a high-ranking Hamas official and a key source of operational knowledge for the organization. He held various leadership positions in Hamas, including as a battalion commander in the Khan Yunis Brigade.

Israeli Defense Minister Katz, however, announced that these operations would continue until all hostages taken by Hamas are released. According to him, Israel is supposedly fighting Hamas, but it is not targeting civilians in Gaza and is doing everything required by international law to minimize the damage. But no matter how Katz invents such stories, the numbers and the reality speak for themselves. In particular, since the ceasefire ended and Israel resumed its massacre in the Gaza Strip, about 700 Palestinians have been killed in the area. Most of them were elderly people, women, and children. In addition, more than 1,200 Gazans have been injured in the Jewish state's ongoing genocide since March 19.