Author: Daily Sabah

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,…

Read More

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…

Read More

Türkiye will not shy away from using an iron fist to realize its terror-free vision, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday. “We will take determined steps to turn our terror-free Türkiye and terror-free region vision into a reality,” Erdoğan vowed in a video message to mark the new year. “We are making every effort for this process, which will open up a new path for our country, to work in peace, mutual goodwill and understanding,” Erdoğan said, referring to a recent push by his government to end four decades of terrorism in Türkiye. “But we will not shy away from…

Read More

The year 2024 was a rollercoaster for the sports fandom, packed with unforgettable moments that kept them on the edge of their seats. Turkish giants Galatasaray capped the year with flair, defending their Süper Lig title and asserting their dominance in the Europa League. The Crescent-Stars defied expectations at Euro 2024, rising to the occasion when it mattered most. Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç captured the spotlight at the Paris Olympics with his poised brilliance, while Melissa Vargas led the Sultans of the Net to a year of remarkable triumphs. Lions’ roar Galatasaray, reigning Süper Lig champions for two consecutive seasons,…

Read More

A total of 536 suspects were captured in operations against the Daesh terrorist group in 57 provinces in the past 12 days, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday. “Operation Mace” was carried out in coordination with prosecutor’s offices, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the counterterrorism department of the police, Yerlikaya said in a social media post. Since the 2019 collapse of their self-proclaimed “caliphate,” some suspected Daesh members have settled in Türkiye, operating a so-called Khorasan Province (Daesh-K) network, which looks for “new methods” and recruits more foreign members for its activities after constant counterterrorism operations became a…

Read More

Türkiye’s rise as an influential actor in the international community continued in 2024. Throughout the year, Ankara sought to normalize ties with countries it fell out with, further severed relations with some and played a key role in conflicts far away and in its region. A power broker pursuing a delicate balance between sides of various conflicts, Türkiye occasionally achieved its ambitious diplomatic goals. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a veteran politician in power for over two decades as prime minister and president and Hakan Fidan, former intelligence chief turned foreign minister, led this diplomatic blitz. The year began with the…

Read More

Türkiye has welcomed remarks from the PKK’s jailed leader for supporting a process that may lead the terrorist group to lay down arms. “The presence of terrorism is poisoning democratic politics; we want a democracy not shadowed by terrorism,” Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said Sunday in the first reaction from the Turkish government to landmark statements from Abdullah Öcalan. Öcalan is “ready to make a call” to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end terrorism in Türkiye, a party close to the PKK said Sunday. Two lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), known…

Read More

It’s important that the new Syrian state is one where different ethnic and religious groups live side by side in peace, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his Emirati counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a phone call on Monday. Erdoğan and Al Nahyan discussed the latest situation in Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad, in Palestine under Israeli attacks, as well as bilateral, regional and global issues, the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications said in a statement on X. Türkiye will never accept that the PKK/YPG terrorist group in Syria should be considered an interlocutor and the representative…

Read More

Turkish authorities on Monday said they captured two suspects who allegedly aided and abetted the perpetrator of a PKK terrorist attack in Istanbul two years ago. The suspects organized the illegal entry of Ahlam Albashir to Türkiye, who planted the bomb that killed six people and injured 99 others on Istanbul’s commercial hub, Istiklal Street, on Nov. 13, 2022. The suspects also supplied the materials for Albashir, provided a safe house, organized her transport to Istanbul and engaged in other smuggling activities, authorities said. Türkiye’s cultural and economic hub has been targeted several times by terrorist groups like the PKK…

Read More

At an altitude of 2,800 meters (over 9,185 feet), the Başkale district of the eastern province of Van hosts a military outpost defying the cold weather. Dressed in white against the backdrop of snow-white slopes, soldiers deployed on the Turkish-Iranian border patrol the area as temperatures at times drop as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius (minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit) The Güllük outpost is 83 kilometers (51.57 miles) away from downtown Van and long stretches of barren landscape straddle across the border. Soldiers utilize high technology and winter camouflage to perform multiple tasks, from fighting against smuggling and irregular migration…

Read More