The World and Türkiye in 2025

Aydın Tiryaki (December 31, 2025)
(Gemini AI was used as a data compilation and writing assistant)

Abstract: The year 2025 has been a year where culture and art were caught between digitalization and “contentization,” while the media struggled to overcome a deep crisis of trust. This article critically examines the role of artificial intelligence in artistic production, the reflection of cultural polarization on arts events in Türkiye, and the decline of traditional media against digital platforms.

Introduction: The New Order of Art and News

As we bid farewell to 2025, the concept of “culture” is no longer limited to museums or theater stages. In an era of consumption dictated by algorithms, the authenticity of art and the truthfulness of news are facing one of history’s greatest tests. 2025 has been recorded as a year where the identity of “creativity” in art was questioned, and “engagement” often took the place of reality in the media.

1. Global Culture: Artificial Intelligence and the “Soulless” Art Debate

In 2025, the way art is produced has fundamentally changed worldwide:

• AI-Generated Art: Video generation models and music AI have fully permeated professional productions. However, this has triggered endless legal battles regarding the “human essence” of art and copyright issues.
• Digital Museum Experience: While “virtual reality” applications replacing physical exhibitions reached a significant market share in 2025, criticism has increased regarding the loss of art’s unique texture behind screens.

2. Culture and Art in Türkiye: Events and Obstacles

For Türkiye, the year 2025 once again demonstrated that art is not just aesthetic but also a field of “expression”:

• Event Cancellations: Concerts and festivals canceled throughout 2025 by various local authorities on the grounds of “social sensitivity” have been the greatest shadow over cultural life. This situation has deepened concerns about the narrowing space for artistic freedom.
• The TV Series Industry and Quality Issues: Although the global success of Turkish series continued, the monotony of content and a focus on “ratings” led to high-quality cinema and theater productions remaining economically sidelined.

3. The Transformation of Media: Loss of Trust and Information Pollution

In 2025, the field of media fell into a state of chaos created by technological speed:

• Misleading Content and Disinformation: The spread of fake images generated by AI across social media in seconds surpassed the “verification” capabilities of traditional journalism. 2025 was a year where the “speed” of news was rewarded more than its “accuracy.”
• Financial Struggles of Independent Journalism: Independent media outlets in Türkiye fought a serious battle for existence in 2025 due to economic depression and advertising restrictions. “Click-oriented” journalism, replacing in-depth analysis, limited the public’s access to accurate information.

4. Digital Platforms and the Future of Cinema

The year 2025 has been a year where the risk of cinema halls turning into “nostalgia centers” increased. While streaming platforms dominated the field with their massive budgets, the rising cost of going to the cinema forced large audiences to access cultural consumption only through screens at home. This resulted in the weakening of cultural venues, which serve as spaces for social gathering.

Conclusion

The data for 2025 has proven that culture and art are struggling to breathe amidst economic depressions and political pressures. The future projection for 2026 must be built on rebuilding art as a free field of production rather than just a “consumption object.” For the media, 2026 must be the year of protecting the “dignity of reality” against the speed of technology.

APPENDIX: CULTURE, ART AND MEDIA – A CURRENT PERSPECTIVE

The year 2025 has been a period in which digital platforms and algorithms have homogenized not only content but also standards of societal taste. On a global scale, the extent of “deepfake” technologies and AI-generated disinformation has undermined the credibility of not just traditional media, but the very concept of “reality” itself. Although culture and art appear to be democratizing through technological means, the fact that algorithms prioritize only “engagement-driven” content is causing artistic depth to be rapidly replaced by a shallowness that is quickly consumed and easily forgotten.

In the context of Türkiye, this process is experienced much more painfully under the shadow of economic constraints and cultural polarization. Rising living costs are transforming culture and art from a “necessity” into an “inaccessible luxury” for the masses, while administrative pressures on festivals and events are narrowing the spaces where art can breathe freely. The decline in quality within mainstream media and the economic bottleneck of independent publishing are weakening the shared cultural platforms where different segments of society could interact, thereby leading to a severance of social ties.

As we enter 2026, the greatest risk is that quality art and accurate news will become completely invisible within the digital noise. While “content fatigue” is emerging globally, Türkiye will have to confront structural issues such as the brain drain in creative industries and the weakening of cultural memory. The struggle against the transformation of art into a tool for propaganda or a commercial commodity will be the most significant intellectual test of 2026.

---

A Note on Methods and Tools: All observations, ideas, and solution proposals in this study are the author’s own. AI was utilized as an information source for researching and compiling relevant topics strictly based on the author’s inquiries, requests, and directions; additionally, it provided writing assistance during the drafting process. (The research-based compilation and English writing process of this text were supported by AI as a specialized assistant.)