Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu told a Turkish court on April 28, 2026 that he and fellow detainees were subjected to torture following their arrest on March 19, 2025 — and that the abuse is "still ongoing." The statements were entered into the official court record during a hearing in the ongoing "Ekrem İmamoğlu Criminal Organization" trial held in Silivri, as reported by Murat Yetkin in the YetkinReport. Speaking before the court, İmamoğlu — the elected mayor of Istanbul, a city of 15.5 million registered voters, and the Republican People's Party's (CHP) presidential candidate — described the five-day period between March 19 and March 23 as extraordinarily difficult. "We went through a very troubled five days," he said. "Five days hungry and thirsty. May God spare anyone from such torment, such torture. This torture has become routine and is still being carried out." İmamoğlu further alleged that a prosecutor named Cahit Cihat Sarı verbal...
The Institute of Studies for Politics and Democracy (ISPD) has published a new policy analysis by Dr. Nikolaos Stelgias, Chief Editor of The Levant Files and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Nicosia, examining the political upheaval that has gripped the Turkish Cypriot community since early April 2026. The study, offers a detailed account of a dual institutional crisis unfolding in the internationally unrecognized TRNC. At its centre is the decision by the UBP–DP–YDP coalition, led by "prime minister" Ünal Üstel, to issue a Decree with the Force of "Law" suspending the semi-annual cost-of-living allowance for public servants and pensioners — a move made after the relevant bill was rejected by the assembly. The executive maneuver provoked an immediate and forceful public response: an indefinite general strike, large-scale protests in occupied Nicosia, the occupation of the new parliament building, violent confrontations with police, and a subsequent ...