akpden.com
Akpden.com is a Turkish political campaign site that turns taxes on everyday goods into simple price stories.
What is Akpden.com?
Akpden.com presents itself as a weekly record of tax unfairness under Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, known as the AK Party.
The site is linked to the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and was announced by CHP leader Özgür Özel on May 5, 2026 (Diken).
It is not a shop, government service, or neutral tax guide.
It is a political advocacy project that uses strong words, bold numbers, and shopping images to argue that indirect taxes make common products too costly.
The name is also a political joke because “AKP’den” can mean “from the AKP” in Turkish.
What does the website show?
The live page contains two reports dated May 5 and May 12, 2026, even though its header promises a new report every week (Akpden.com).
The first report uses a new car with a stated pre-tax value of ₺1.2 million.
It says ÖTV, KDV, and a TRT fee add ₺1.557 million, bringing the final total to ₺2.757 million.
The second report uses a mobile phone with a stated base value of ₺65,400.
It says the phone receives a one-percent Culture Ministry charge, a 12-percent TRT fee, a 50-percent ÖTV charge, and 20-percent KDV.
The page calculates ₺67,764 in added charges and a final price of ₺133,164 (Akpden.com).
It also converts each tax amount into months of minimum-wage work, food costs, and household electricity bills.
This method makes a dry tax rule feel close to daily family life.
Are its calculations easy to check?
The phone calculation can be rebuilt from the figures on the page, which is a good sign.
The ₺654 culture charge and ₺7,926 TRT fee raise the taxable amount to ₺73,980, then 50-percent ÖTV adds ₺36,990, and 20-percent KDV adds ₺22,194.
Those steps produce the stated final price of ₺133,164.
The car example is less clear because the page does not identify an actual model, engine, tax bracket, or official tariff link.
It calls ₺1.2 million an “advertised price,” yet it treats that sum like a price before all consumer taxes, which may confuse readers because Turkish car listings normally show the final retail price.
The page also rounds ₺2.757 million down to ₺2.7 million in its main image.
A larger editing error appears below the car example, where the graphic says the tax equals 98 months of minimum-wage work but the next sentence says one year.
These flaws do not prove that the main tax argument is false, but they show why readers should check each figure against current official rules.
Why was Akpden.com blocked?
Ankara’s First Criminal Judgeship of Peace ordered access to the site blocked on May 8, 2026.
The stated reason was the protection of national security and public order, under decision number 2026/6064 (Freedom of Expression Association).
The order came only three days after Özel publicly introduced the project.
CHP later used the restriction as part of its message, arguing that a website about phone taxes had been treated as a security problem (CHP).
The block therefore gave the small website far more political meaning than its two short reports could create alone.
Is Akpden.com still the official address?
The .com page remains visible from some locations, but its last displayed report is dated May 12, 2026.
Özgür Özel announced Akpden.net as a replacement on June 23 after saying the earlier address had been taken away (Evrensel).
This means visitors should not assume that the current .com domain is the latest official CHP channel.
The safest approach is to confirm new links through CHP’s official website or verified social accounts before sharing them.
What is the main insight behind the project?
Akpden.com works best as a piece of political communication, not as a complete tax database.
Its smart move is to show the difference between a base value and the final amount paid at the register.
Its weak point is that it gives readers few direct links to laws, tariff tables, product records, or reusable calculation tools.
A stronger version would name each legal rule, show every calculation step, preserve old rates, and let visitors test their own product price.
That would turn a powerful campaign message into a source that people across the political divide could audit and use.