Author: Daily Sabah

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has been governing the country for over two decades, launched a new process of congresses last October. The process that followed unprecedented losses in the March 31 municipal elections continued into 2025. The party’s chair, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is expected to attend the next local congresses over the weekend in the Black Sea provinces of Ordu and Samsun. The events aim to bring forward Erdoğan’s post-election message that focused on “change” within the party, both in cadres and policies. Several heads of the party’s local branches had already stepped down from…

Turkish authorities captured 42 suspected migrant smugglers in operations on New Year’s Eve, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced Thursday. “On the last day of 2024, a total of 41 smugglers were captured in nationwide Shield-37 raids,” Yerlikaya said in a post on X, adding that 14 of the suspects were foreign nationals. He also said a total of 380,807 people were checked for their identity cards and nationwide inspections also found 764 irregular migrants, who were transferred to deportation centers. Türkiye has caught over 1.1 million irregular migrants within its borders since 2020, according to official figures from the Interior…

Belgian Foreign Minister Bernard Quintin will pay a working visit to Türkiye on Thursday, the first top diplomat his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan will host in 2025. The two ministers are expected to discuss bilateral ties and cooperation in the economy, investments, energy and education. Turkish media outlets said that Ankara would highlight the urgency of holding a Joint Economic and Trade Council meeting. Türkiye will also ask Belgium for more efficient cooperation and concrete steps on counterterrorism, especially against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and PKK, which are active in the European country. Belgium hosts about 300,000 people of…

Thousands of people gathered at Galata Bridge at the heart of Istanbul on Wednesday for a rally in support of Palestinians facing genocide at the hands of Israel. Organized by the National Will Platform, which brings together some 400 civic society organizations, the demonstration was led by the Turkish Youth Foundation (TÜGVA). Authorities have closed major roads heading to the bridge ahead of the rally. Demonstrators took boats to ports near the bridge and others preferred walking. Groups gathered outside Istanbul’s iconic mosques near the bridge, from Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque to Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) in the early hours of…

Thousands of people gathered at Galata Bridge at the heart of Istanbul on Wednesday for a rally in support of Palestinians facing genocide at the hands of Israel. Organized by the National Will Platform, which brings together some 400 civic society organizations, the demonstration was led by the Turkish Youth Foundation (TÜGVA). Authorities have closed major roads heading to the bridge ahead of the rally. Demonstrators took boats to ports near the bridge and others preferred walking. Groups gathered outside Istanbul’s iconic mosques near the bridge, from Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque to Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) in the early hours of…

Thousands of people gathered at Galata Bridge at the heart of Istanbul on Wednesday for a rally in support of Palestinians facing genocide at the hands of Israel. Organized by the National Will Platform, which brings together some 400 civic society organizations, the demonstration was led by the Turkish Youth Foundation (TÜGVA). Authorities have closed major roads heading to the bridge ahead of the rally. Demonstrators took boats to ports near the bridge and others preferred walking. Groups gathered outside Istanbul’s iconic mosques near the bridge, from Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque to Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) in the early hours of…

Türkiye is determined to maintain and strengthen its diplomatic approach, which seeks permanent cooperation and creating solutions to global problems, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Tuesday, as he bid farewell to 2024. Noting that Türkiye was able to reap the benefits of its efforts to facilitate peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond, Fidan said Ankara, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visionary foreign policy, will continue to work towards regional stability in 2025. He continued by saying that Türkiye is determined to maintain its solutions-oriented diplomatic approach. “We will continue to defend our country’s interests with a…

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan discussed Türkiye-Armenia relations and global developments in a phone call on Tuesday, diplomatic sources said. No further information was provided about the phone call. Türkiye and Armenia had little ties in the past, and relations were entirely cut off in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union as Armenia engaged in a conflict with Azerbaijan and occupied the territory of Karabakh. Türkiye is the closest ally of Azerbaijan. Türkiye and Armenia have also been at odds over their shared history. Armenia accuses Türkiye of “genocide” of hundreds of thousands…

Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who is the architect of a call to the terrorist group PKK to lay down its arms, said the latest meeting between the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan and a political party would give momentum to a good beginning. Bahçeli, who has been a fierce proponent of counterterrorism efforts against PKK and other terrorist groups, issued a stern warning to the group, though, in his New Year message. “Under new circumstances, changing balance of power and against gamechanger Türkiye, PKK can only dream gaining a stronghold in northern Iraq,…

Speaking to French broadcaster France 24 in an interview released on Monday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the European Union to return to the “pre-Sarkozy” era for his country’s membership process. Fidan noted that before French President Nicolas Sarkozy took office (in 2007), the EU had a strategic view of Türkiye, but after Sarkozy, relations between the bloc and Türkiye fell victim to “domestic policies” of the bloc’s members and identity politics. “There are two tendencies in Europe now: should Europe be a geostrategic thinker, including Türkiye into the club and create its own center of gravity in its own…