Author: Daily Sabah

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan highlighted the importance of Syria’s unity and complete elimination of all terrorist groups from the country, as he met with his Syrian counterpart in the capital Ankara on Wednesday. “It is time for all ethnic and religious groups in Syria to come together in unity,” Fidan told a joint news conference with Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani. Fidan said Türkiye offered to provide operational support to Syria regarding its fight against Daesh terrorists. He welcomed the stance of the new Syrian administration on the issue of terrorists, saying that the Assad regime hosted terrorist groups posing a threat…

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani discussed steps to be taken to protect the country’s territorial integrity, as they met at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara on Wednesday. Erdoğan told the Syrian top diplomat that the Assad regime had left destruction behind while saying that Türkiye would support efforts to reconstruct the country and provide humanitarian necessities to the Syrian people. He continued by highlighting the necessity to lift sanctions on Syria in order to rebuild the wartorn country. The president also reiterated that terrorist groups have no place in the country’s…

A corruption investigation into public tenders that netted a mayor also uncovered links of the prime suspect to companies run by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB). A report by Sabah newspaper says companies owned by the suspect, identified as Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, were awarded tenders worth hundreds of millions of Turkish liras between 2019 and 2024. Aktaş was among 40 suspects detained in operations as part of the investigation earlier this week. Six other suspects remain at large. The businessman is the second high-profile figure in the case after Rıza Akpolat, mayor of Istanbul’s upscale Beşiktaş district. Legal proceedings are underway…

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has received Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah at the Presidential Complex in the capital, Ankara, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The two leaders held a closed-door meeting and were accompanied by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın, sources said. Türkiye and Libya have seen closer ties in recent years, especially after the signing of security and maritime boundary pacts in November 2019, along with Türkiye’s aid to help the internationally recognized Libyan government push back putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s forces. Türkiye’s national flag carrier earlier this week resumed flights from Istanbul to Libya’s northeastern…

All countries should “take their hands off” Syria, Türkiye is capable of crushing all terrorist organizations with our Syrian brothers, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday. Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Ankara, Erdoğan also called on PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG, to lay down its weapons and warned the group would “not be able to escape the inevitable end.” “Türkiye is the insurance of Kurds’ safety in Syria,” Erdoğan said.

The death toll from bootleg alcohol consumption in Istanbul has climbed to 11 in the past 24 hours, according to officials. A total of 38 people, including 26 foreign nationals, have been hospitalized after consuming fake alcohol, authorities reported Tuesday. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül announced that licenses for 63 establishments selling counterfeit alcohol have been revoked, and the businesses have been shut down. “All individuals who cause deaths by selling fake or illegal alcohol are being identified and brought to justice. Please be careful – fatalities are rising,” Gül wrote on social media. In his post, Gül highlighted a directive…

The death toll from bootleg alcohol consumption in Istanbul has climbed to 19 in the past 72 hours, according to officials. A total of 65 people, including 26 foreign nationals, have been hospitalized after consuming fake alcohol, authorities reported Tuesday. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül announced that licenses for 63 establishments selling counterfeit alcohol have been revoked, and the businesses have been shut down. “All individuals who cause deaths by selling fake or illegal alcohol are being identified and brought to justice. Please be careful – fatalities are rising,” Gül wrote on social media. In his post, Gül highlighted a directive…

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday that 110 suspects were captured in the past week in Operation “Clamps-34” against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The suspects were apprehended in 23 provinces including the capital Ankara and Istanbul, Yerlikaya said in a social media post. They were wanted for being part of the group’s “academic network and military network.” FETÖ, which was behind the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, is known for its widespread infiltration into the public sector, from the judiciary and law enforcement to the army. Yerlikaya said they were captured in the group’s so-called “absence houses” (safe…

Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) renewed his call to the terrorist group PKK to disband itself. Bahçeli, an ally of the government, informally launched the “terror-free Türkiye” initiative last year and paved the way for the formation of a delegation of lawmakers from the opposition Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) linked to the terrorist group. Lawmakers visited Öcalan recently and conveyed his message of readiness to contribute to the initiative. They are expected to visit the jailed leader of the terrorist group Abdullah Öcalan again this month or in February. Addressing MHP’s parliamentary group meeting…

A month after the collapse of the 61-year Baath regime in Syria, Syrian refugees in neighboring Iraq are longing to return home, but the PKK/YPG terrorist group’s occupation remains a major obstacle. Syrians displaced by the civil war that broke out in 2011 have been living under strenuous conditions at the Domiz refugee camp in northern Iraq’s Duhok region, which is under the control of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). The news of Bashar Assad’s toppling in a lightning anti-regime offensive last month has sparked joy and hope among the displaced Syrians. Many, however, complain they can only return home…