Author: Daily Sabah

Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) director Ibrahim Kalın met with Muhammad Darwish, the head of the Hamas Shura Council, security sources said Saturday. Kalın and Darwish, as well as the accompanying delegation, discussed measures to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza under Israeli attacks and the coordination of international efforts for it, sources said. The pair also discussed the latest efforts to reach a permanent and comprehensive cease-fire that “will stop Israel’s genocidal activities” in Gaza. Demonstrating a shared stance against all Israeli plans to expel the people of Gaza from their homelands was also on the table, according to security…

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is headed to Algeria on Sunday for a two-day working visit, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. Fidan and his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Attaf will chair the third meeting of the Türkiye-Algeria Joint Planning Group, the ministry said. Fidan is also expected to be received by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and later formally inaugurate Türkiye’s consulate general in Oran. The Turkish top diplomat will review preparations for the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting that will be held when Tebboune visits Türkiye. He will address the negotiation processes of the agreements planned to be signed to strengthen…

First Lady Emine Erdoğan emphasized the significance of sustainability and charitable giving during the opening of Cemre Çarşısı, a charity market organized by the Social Development Center Association for Education and Solidarity (TOGEM-DER), held this year under the theme “Family, Kindness, and Sustainability.” The event, hosted in the foyer of The Peninsula Hotel in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, featured over 70 brands and brought together prominent names from the world of business, fashion, gastronomy, and the arts. The proceeds from the marketplace will go toward TOGEM-DER’s various social aid and development projects. During her visit, Erdoğan toured the stands with Family…

First Lady Emine Erdoğan emphasized the significance of sustainability and charitable giving during the opening of Cemre Çarşısı, a charity market organized by the Social Development Center Association for Education and Solidarity (TOGEM-DER), held this year under the theme “Family, Kindness, and Sustainability.” The event, hosted in the foyer of The Peninsula Hotel in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, featured over 70 brands and brought together prominent names from the world of business, fashion, gastronomy, and the arts. The proceeds from the marketplace will go toward TOGEM-DER’s various social aid and development projects. During her visit, Erdoğan toured the stands with Family…

Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Women and Democracy Foundation (KADEM), delivered a compelling speech highlighting systemic discrimination against women in the workforce – especially Muslim women who wear headscarves – as she criticized restrictive policies in France and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and urged institutional reforms to protect religious freedoms. Speaking at a high-level event titled “The Right to Believe, the Right to Work: Women’s Religious Freedom in the Workplace” at Istanbul’s Ibn Haldun University, Erdoğan Bayraktar, who recounted her personal experiences of exclusion during Türkiye’s Feb. 28 post-modern coup era,…

Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, a prominent and controversial journalist, was detained on Thursday on charges of disseminating disinformation. Kütahyalı had raised eyebrows after a tweet on Wednesday, in which he claimed that authorities would appoint a trustee to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which is under investigation over a shady intraparty election. Kütahyalı has claimed that security forces in the capital, Ankara, were reinforced “against a likely uprising” over the decision. Kütahyalı’s manipulative tweet faced sharp criticism, with some social media users and fellow journalists accusing him of attempting to harm the volatile stock exchange at a time when…

Doctors attending to Deputy Parliament Speaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who was hospitalized Tuesday after a heart attack, said his situation improved slightly on Thursday, but he will remain in intensive care. Önder has a history of ailments and has suffered from a pancreatic tumor and brain clotting in the past. The hospital in Istanbul where he is being treated issued a statement on Thursday, saying that Önder was “responding” to the treatment and his health parameters were improving. Doctors stated that it would be a long process for him, and they had to “wait for longer” for full recovery. Get-well-soon…

Senior officials, his family, supporters and politicians paid tribute on Thursday to Turgut Özal, Türkiye’s eighth president, who died on April 17, 1993. Özal, credited with major reforms in the 1980s, died at the age of 65, reportedly from a heart attack, though the mystery over the exact cause of his demise prevails amid claims of his family that the president might have been poisoned. On the occasion of the anniversary of his death, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz was among the names visiting the president’s grave in Istanbul, near the grave of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, another legendary politician who…

Ankara is amused by Greek threats to “react within five minutes” against Türkiye, according to its Defense Ministry. Greece’s army chief, Dimitrios Houpis, made headlines earlier this month when he said at an economic forum that the Greek armed forces were “prepared to react within five minutes” to Türkiye, accusing the latter of what he called “revisionist tactics” regarding the maritime boundaries. NATO allies Greece and Türkiye have long-standing disputes over boundaries in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean that have brought them close to war several times in recent decades. “You cannot expect us to respond to statements that…

“We will preserve our will to realize the terror-free Türkiye initiative with resolve and sensitivity,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said as he addressed prospective recruits of the Turkish army on Thursday. “Terror-free” Türkiye refers to an initiative launched last year by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the government’s ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The initiative led to the PKK terrorist group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, calling on the group to lay down arms and dissolve in February. The PKK has killed thousands since the 1980s across Türkiye, and despite counterterrorism campaigns, it has remained a major terrorism threat for years.…