What happened in Turkey in 2024? Dilan Polat, Semih Çelik, Narin Güran...

What happened in Turkey in 2024, a year that felt like a constant rush every single day?

JANUARY 23 - The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) approved Sweden's NATO membership.

JANUARY 28 - One person was killed in an attack carried out by ISIS at the Santa Maria Church located in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul.

JANUARY 30 - The Supreme Court of Appeals' decision regarding the stripping of the parliamentary seat of Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) Hatay MP Can Atalay was read in the TBMM General Assembly. With the reading of the decision, Atalay's parliamentary status was officially revoked. Consequently, the number of TİP MPs fell to 3.

FEBRUARY 2 - Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan was removed from office and replaced by Fatih Karahan.

FEBRUARY 6 - As a result of an attack carried out by the DHKP-C at the Istanbul Çağlayan Courthouse, the perpetrators Emrah Yayla and Pınar Birkoç, as well as a civilian named Dilfiraz Karataş, were killed, and 5 people, including 3 police officers, were injured.

FEBRUARY 13 - 9 workers were left under soil as a result of a landslide at a gold mine in the İliç district of Erzincan.

Within the scope of the investigation into the incident, where it was determined that approximately 9-10 million cubic meters of soil had shifted, 13 people, including engineers, managers, and administrators, were arrested, the mine's environmental permit and license were revoked, and the lifeless bodies of the 9 workers trapped under the soil could only be reached months later.

In the indictment prepared regarding the work-related homicide, it was requested that 43 suspects, including Anagold Country Manager Cengiz Yalçın Demirci, be sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison for "causing death and injury by negligence."

MARCH 31 - On the last day of March, voters went to the polls to elect their new local administrators. The Republican People's Party (CHP) won 14 metropolitan municipalities, rising to the position of the leading party with the votes it received.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) finished the race in second place and suffered its first election defeat in its 22-year rule. Across Turkey, the CHP received 37.8 percent of the vote, the AK Party 35.5 percent, the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi) 6.2 percent, the DEM Party 5.7 percent, the MHP 5 percent, and the IYI Party 3.8 percent. Supreme Election Council (YSK) Chairman Ahmet Yener announced the turnout rate as 78 percent.

With this result, the CHP surpassed the 25 percent vote threshold for the first time since the 1980 coup, which Chairman Özgür Özel described as a "glass ceiling."

APRIL 2 - 29 workers lost their lives in a fire that broke out during renovations at a venue called Masquerade Club in Gayrettepe, Beşiktaş.

APRIL 2 - In the mayoral election held in Van, the victory of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) candidate Abdullah Zeydan was canceled, and the AK Party candidate was declared the winner.

Numerous protest demonstrations were held in Van and Istanbul against the appointment of trustees. Upon the public's reaction and Zeydan's objection, the Supreme Election Council (YSK) declared Zeydan the winner again.

APRIL 12 - A cable car cabin fell onto rocks after a cable car pylon collapsed in Antalya; one person lost their life, and seven people were injured. Due to the incident, 184 people were stranded in the cable car system. Five people, including CHP's Kepez Mayor Mesut Kocagöz, were arrested in connection with the cable car accident. Kocagöz was later released.

APRIL 25 - The verdict was reached in the Çorlu train accident case after 6 years. In the trial where 17 defendants were judged, 15 years in prison were given to the then-TCDD First Regional Manager Nihat Aslan, 17 years and 6 months to TCDD First Regional Maintenance Manager Mümin Karasu, and 9 years and 2 months to Deputy Manager Responsible for Maintenance Service Areas Levent Meriçli.

APRIL 26 - An investigation was launched by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the 'Newborn Gang' that caused infant deaths. Within the scope of the investigation, simultaneous operations were carried out in Istanbul and Tekirdağ to capture the identified suspects.

A total of 47 people were detained in the operations, and 22 were arrested.

APRIL 27 - Müsavat Dervişoğlu was elected chairman at the IYI Party Extraordinary Congress, where Meral Akşener was not a candidate.

MAY 1 - In Istanbul, access to Taksim Square was banned by the Governor's Office for the May 1 Labor and Solidarity Day. From the early hours of the morning, roads leading to Taksim Square and a very large area were closed to traffic.

Metro and metrobus stations intersecting with this area were also closed to access. Confederations, unions, labor groups, and political party representatives who wanted to celebrate May 1 gathered in Saraçhane.

The police, who set up barricades in front of the Bozdoğan Aqueduct in Saraçhane, did not allow the groups to pass. As a result of the police's intervention against those who wanted to march to Taksim, 226 people were detained. 77 of the people detained in the operations were arrested. Following the trials, all defendants were released.

MAY 2 - A meeting took place between the AKP and the CHP at the chairman level for the first time in eight years. AK Party Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CHP Chairman Özgür Özel met at the AK Party Headquarters.

Following the meeting, which was perceived by the public as steps toward normalization in politics, President Erdoğan stated in a statement he made a day later that "a period of softening in politics has been entered," emphasizing the importance of dialogue and cooperation with the opposition.

MAY 15 - Sentences were announced in the Kobanê Case, where 108 people, including former HDP Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, 18 of whom were under arrest, were being tried.

In the hearing held on May 16 at the Sincan Prison Execution Institutions Campus by the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court, the court panel sentenced Selahattin Demirtaş to a total of 42 years in prison. Figen Yüksekdağ received a total of 30 years and 3 months in prison. According to the verdict, Altan Tan, Beyza Üstün, Bircan Yorulmaz, Can Memiş, Aysel Tuğluk, and Sırrı Süreyya Önder were acquitted.

MAY 17 - With the presidential decrees published in the Official Gazette, the sentences of the commanders convicted in the February 28 case were pardoned. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used his authority under the 16th paragraph of Article 104 of the Constitution to lift the remaining sentences of the retired commanders.

Retired commanders Çevik Bir, Çetin Doğan, Fevzi Türkeri, Cevat Özkaynak, Yıldırım Türker, Erol Özkasnak, and Aydan Erol were released from prison with the decision.

JUNE 10 - President Erdoğan paid a return visit to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel. This meeting, which took place at the CHP Headquarters after 18 years, was evaluated as a concrete indicator of the softening process in politics.

In the meeting where President Erdoğan expressed the necessity of a "new constitution," CHP Leader Özel made evaluations on many topics ranging from economic problems and the appointment of trustees to the Sinan Ateş and Tahir Elçi assassination cases.

JULY 1 - On the first day of July, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki left his ministerial post due to health problems and was replaced by Murat Kurum.

JULY 30 - The 17-article "Draft Law on Amendments to the Animal Protection Law," which includes regulations regarding stray animals and caused reactions in the public, was accepted and enacted in the TBMM General Assembly.

AUGUST 2 - The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) imposed an access ban on the social media platform Instagram, citing catalog crimes.

AUGUST 17 - Blood was shed in the TBMM, which gathered extraordinarily on the agenda of the Constitutional Court's (AYM) decision that "the stripping of Can Atalay's parliamentary seat is null and void."

AK Party MP Alpay Özalan physically attacked TİP MP Ahmet Şık with a punch at the podium. DEM Party MP Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, whose eyebrow was split after Alpay's attack, was taken to the Parliament hospital.

AUGUST 19 - Dilan Polat, who was decided to be released within the scope of the lawsuit filed against her for "establishing and managing an organization for the purpose of committing crimes," "laundering assets derived from crime," and "violating the Law on the Regulation of Betting and Games of Chance in Football and Other Sports Competitions," was released from prison.

SEPTEMBER 8 - 8-year-old Narin Güran, who went missing in Tavşantepe, Diyarbakır on August 21, was found dead in the bed of the Eğertutmaz Stream.

OCTOBER 1 - The TBMM opened after a two-month recess. Before the session attended by President Erdoğan, a message was sent to CHP MPs stating, "You will stand up when the President comes to the podium, but you will not applaud." Following this message, while seven CHP MPs remained seated when Erdoğan arrived, more than 50 MPs did not attend the session.

The CHP group had not been standing up to protest Erdoğan at the opening of the Parliament for a long time. CHP leader Özel explained the decision with the words, "We took an important step so that it would not be done to our President next year."

The DEM Party group greeted Erdoğan by remaining seated. TİP MPs did not take their places in the hall on the grounds of 'Can Atalay's imprisonment and the usurpation of his will.'

OCTOBER 1 - At the opening of the new legislative year of the TBMM, a development that created as much of an agenda as the change in the CHP's attitude toward President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Parliament was MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli coming to the DEM Party rows and shaking hands.

Bahçeli shook the hands of Tuncer Bakırhan, the co-chair of the DEM Party, which he frequently says "should be closed," and some of its MPs.

OCTOBER 4 - In Fatih, Istanbul, two 19-year-old women named İkbal Uzuner and Ayşenur Halil were killed by a man named Semih Çelik.

Çelik first murdered Uzuner in the house where he lived in Eyüpsultan, and shortly after, he murdered Halil at the Edirnekapı Walls in Fatih.

After the murders, he killed himself.

OCTOBER 7 - 2-year-old Baby Sıla, who was taken to intensive care after being sexually abused and beaten in Tekirdağ, lost her life in the hospital.

OCTOBER 22 - MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli called on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to "apply for the right to hope and speak at the DEM Party Group Meeting in the TBMM," on the condition that he dissolves the organization.

OCTOBER 23 - Five people lost their lives in the attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) in Ankara. The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack. The People's Defense Center (HPG), affiliated with the PKK, said that TUSAŞ was targeted because of the "weapons it produces."

OCTOBER 30 - Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer was detained on charges of 'being a member of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization' within the scope of the investigation launched against him. A day later, a trustee was appointed to the Esenyurt Municipality.

NOVEMBER 4 - Trustees were appointed to the Mardin, Batman, and Halfeti municipalities under DEM Party administration.

NOVEMBER 11 - 16 people, including Serdar Ortaç and Mehmet Ali Erbil, were detained within the scope of an illegal betting investigation. While house arrest was decided for Ortaç and Erbil, 12 suspects were arrested.

NOVEMBER 18 - Democrat Party Istanbul MP Cemal Enginyurt and Izmir MP Salih Uzun resigned from their party.

NOVEMBER 20 - Nasuh Mahruki was arrested due to his social media posts.

NOVEMBER 22 - Trustees were appointed to the Dersim municipality under DEM Party administration and the Ovacık municipality under CHP administration.

NOVEMBER 29 - A trustee was appointed to the Van Bahçesaray municipality under DEM Party administration.

DECEMBER 24: 11 people lost their lives in an explosion at the ZSR company's explosives factory in the Karesi district of Balıkesir.

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç announced that 10 people were detained within the scope of the investigation.

It was revealed that ZSR Patlayıcı Sanayi AŞ, where 11 workers lost their lives, had been given millions of liras in state support for years.

DECEMBER 25 - In the case regarding the Grand İsias Hotel in Adıyaman, which collapsed during the earthquakes on February 6, 2023, and where 72 people, including TRNC athletes, lost their lives, 6 defendants were given prison sentences ranging from 8 years and 4 months to 18 years, 5 months, and 7 days.

DECEMBER 28 - DEM Party members Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan went to İmralı Island to meet with Abdullah Öcalan.

DECEMBER 31 - According to the Monument Counter (Anıt Sayaç) prepared from data reflected in the press, 425 women were killed by men in 2024.