Parliament Extends Emergency Rule Powers, Despite Opposition Criticism

LOCAL NEWS

• Turkish Parliament passes law extending emergency rule powers on Sunday for another year.
  • Powers include detaining suspects taken into custody on terror charges for 10 days, dismissing civil servants on terror charges and appointment of state officials to companies linked to terrorist organisations.
  • The bill was highly criticised by the opposition, and has been a concern for Western allies for some time as a key mechanism for suppressing democracy in Turkey
• Erdogan begins two-day visit to Northern Cyprus today and may attempt to reopen the controversial town of Varosha as a means of creating more permanent installations on the ground and bolster bargaining power in the region against Greece & the EU.
  • Erdogan promised "good news" in Cyprus in recent weeks, but failed to add more colour to the statement.
  • Efforts to create a two-state solution have been squashed by the EU this far – favouring a bizonal federation instead
• HDP weighs three options to compete in 2023 elections amid pressure from the Constitutions court to Shut down.
  • 1) defend the party and don't let it shut down 2) Compete under another party that's a component of the HDP 3) HDP politicians compete in elections as independent candidates
• Data: 0800BST* Consumer confidence July, prior 81.7