Author: Daily Sabah

Still basking in its victory in last year’s municipal elections, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is confident of defeating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Yet, the party appears indecisive in how to achieve it. A senior CHP figure said they were planning multiple rallies in the coming days in response to the arrest of two of its mayors who ran the Istanbul districts Esenyurt and Beşiktaş. “We will take more general, more tougher, more important steps. It will be a process to take over the government,” Ali Mahir Başarır, party’s group deputy chair told reporters over the weekend. Since…

Two lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) will apply for a visit to Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the PKK terrorist group, the party announced on Sunday. This will be the second visit in months by the same delegation and is part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by a government ally. Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan will formally apply on Monday to the Justice Ministry for a visit to Imralı, a Marmara Sea island where Öcalan is incarcerated. It is unclear when the ministry will approve the visit, but it is expected to happen…

Addressing supporters of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Friday in the central Turkish province of Konya, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lambasted the Republican People’s Party (CHP) for its unwavering support for its arrested mayor, Rıza Akpolat. CHP leader Özgür Özel and senior figures of his party have been campaigning for the release of Akpolat, mayor of Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, since he was detained earlier this week and formally arrested early Friday. The CHP claims the accusations of tender rigging against Akpolat are politically motivated and are not based on concrete evidence. A CHP lawmaker has claimed that…

Turkish security forces have eliminated 29 PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Syria near the Turkish border, the Defense Ministry announced Friday. The terrorists were plotting an attack, the ministry said in a post on X. “Wherever they may be, our fight against terrorist groups will continue until the last is eliminated,” the ministry vowed. The PKK and its U.S.-backed Syrian offshoot YPG have sought to exploit the situation in post-Assad Syria to accelerate efforts to establish a “terrorist corridor” along the border with Türkiye. The PKK/YPG terrorist group and Daesh threaten Türkiye’s borders and the territorial integrity of Syria and remain…

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden amended an executive order that raised a dispute with its NATO ally Türkiye. The executive order on Syria fulfills Ankara’s demands to remove all expressions regarding Türkiye from an earlier decree that called for sanctions on the country over its Operation Peace Spring in 2019. Türkiye’s operation in its neighbor Syria angered Washington, which also serves as an ally of the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK terrorist group that has killed thousands in Türkiye since the 1980s. The United States, which partners with the YPG in Syria under the guise of a fight…

Rıza Akpolat, mayor of Istanbul’s upscale Beşiktaş district from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was among 23 arrested early Friday on charges of corruption regarding tenders. Akpolat and other suspects were detained earlier this week as part of an investigation into rigging allegations that involved the municipality, companies run by municipalities and a businessperson awarded lucrative contracts in Beşiktaş on Istanbul’s European side. That businessperson, Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, was among other arrested suspects after they testified for hours at the courthouse on Thursday. The CHP converged a large crowd outside the Beşiktaş municipality building after the announcement of…

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday welcomed Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, the first Mongolian head of state to visit the country in 21 years. The president’s four-day visit began with a ceremony at the Presidential Complex in the capital, Ankara. The two leaders are expected to discuss expanding bilateral ties and exchanging views on international and regional issues. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaa Khurelsukh shake hands as they meet in Ankara, Jan. 16, 2025. (AA Photo) Earlier on Thursday, Ankara hosted a business meeting where the two countries’ representatives signed a deal to establish a joint chamber of commerce…

The liberation of Syria will benefit Türkiye and Syria alike, according to the country’s new foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani. “Türkiye suffered certain troubles, we know, but what has happened in Syria and Syria’s liberation will benefit both people,” al-Shaibani told Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber on Thursday. Al-Shaibani led the first high-level Syrian delegation to Türkiye on Wednesday following the ouster of Bashar Assad in a lightning anti-regime offensive last month. Türkiye backed the Syrian opposition against Assad when the civil war broke out in 2011. Intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were the first high-ranking officials…

Two families who lost many members to a notorious massacre by PKK terrorists in southeastern Türkiye decades ago announced their support for a new initiative that aims to put a definitive end to the campaign of violence. The Aykut and Boz families recently met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in the wake of a “terror-free initiative” launched by Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of Erdoğan and chair of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Erdoğan has termed the initiative as a historic window of opportunity. The initiative involves a call to the PKK to lay down arms. Bahçeli said earlier that the terrorist…

Türkiye welcomed the Gaza cease-fire agreement, expressing hope that it would pave the way for further peace and stability in the region. In a statement he posted on X, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed the deal, saying Türkiye hopes the agreement will pave the way for permanent peace in the region. “As Türkiye, we have never left our Palestinian brothers and sisters alone in their fight against oppression and oppressors, not even for a moment,” the president said, as he vowed to continue to stand by the people of Gaza, mobilizing all resources to help heal the blockaded Palestinian enclave’s…