Author: Daily Sabah
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday promised to compensate for his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) unprecedented losses in last year’s local elections. “We will work wholeheartedly to make up for the road crash in the March 31 elections at the first possibility,” Erdoğan told supporters of the AK Party at a provincial congress in the western Denizli province. The party has held several conventions across Türkiye since October in an effort to promote Erdoğan’s postelection message that focused on “change” within the party, both in its cadres and policies. Several heads of the party’s local branches had…
More than 40 years of a campaign of terrorism by the PKK may come to a full stop if a new, ambitious plan suggested by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)-led People’s Alliance, succeeds. The “terror-free initiative,” as it is tentatively called by Bahçeli and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, aims to tackle the issue at a time of new regional opportunities and threats for Türkiye. The plan, at least for now, focuses on persuading the terrorist group to lay down arms while future steps will likely depend on…
Getting rid of terrorism in Syria will be among Türkiye’s key priorities in 2025, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday. “Türkiye has no intention of taking over any part of Syria,” Fidan told local and international media representatives in Istanbul. DETAILS TO FOLLOW…
Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to rekindle their fierce rivalry in a high-stakes El Clasico showdown for the Spanish Super Cup title on Sunday at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Having triumphed in the 2023 edition with a commanding 3-1 victory over Real Madrid, Barcelona enter this year’s final seeking redemption for their crushing 4-1 defeat in 2024. In their earlier victory, goals from Gavi, Robert Lewandowski, and Pedri secured a memorable title in the post-Messi era. However, last year’s loss was marked by a Vinicius Jr. hat trick and a Rodrygo strike, leaving…
Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to rekindle their fierce rivalry in a high-stakes El Clasico showdown for the Spanish Super Cup title on Sunday at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Having triumphed in the 2023 edition with a commanding 3-1 victory over Real Madrid, Barcelona enter this year’s final seeking redemption for their crushing 4-1 defeat in 2024. In their earlier victory, goals from Gavi, Robert Lewandowski, and Pedri secured a memorable title in the post-Messi era. However, last year’s loss was marked by a Vinicius Jr. hat trick and a Rodrygo strike, leaving…
Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa will reportedly make his first foreign visit to neighboring Türkiye in the coming period. Al-Sharaa’s visit will be symbolic of the support Türkiye has given to Syria’s anti-regime forces during the revolution and he will be thanking President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency. Neither Türkiye nor Syria has commented on the visit. Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were the first to visit al-Sharaa in Damascus days after anti-regime forces led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), took the capital and Bashar Assad fled to Moscow. Türkiye…
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted the importance of taking immediate action for the reconstruction of Syria, including lifting sanctions in the post-Assad period, as he spoke with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over the phone on Thursday, the Presidential Communications Directorate said. The two leaders discussed bilateral relations, and regional, and global developments, including the Syria crisis. “Stressing the importance of taking action without delay to reconstruct Syria, President Erdoğan expressed his belief that lifting sanctions on Syria, along with Italy’s leadership in this matter, would benefit the process,” the directorate said in a statement.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Thursday that 52,622 Syrian refugees returned to their countries in one month since the fall of the Assad regime in neighboring Syria. Yerlikaya visited Cilvegözü, a major border crossing in the Reyhanlı district of the southern province of Hatay, where scores of refugees pass daily. The minister terms first returnees as “pioneers” who will give an idea to those mulling returning about the current situation in postwar Syria. The minister said Türkiye hosted more than 2.8 million Syrian nationals. “Our Syrian brothers and sisters, since 2017, have returned to their homeland in a safe,…
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday evening convened a special security meeting regarding Türkiye’s “increasing influence” in the Middle East, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post quoting two Israeli officials. The meeting suggests how much importance Israeli officials ascribe to and possibly even fear the possibility that Türkiye’s influence in the region will grow following the downfall of the Assad regime in Syria, Jerusalem Post wrote. The meeting included Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and senior officials from the Foreign Ministry and the defense establishment, the sources said. It was organized…
The Distinguished Guest Day of the Blue Homeland military exercise was held on Thursday in Aksaz, a naval base in southwestern Türkiye. National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler inspected units participating in the exercise. The exercise began on Jan. 7 and will end on Jan. 16. Throughout the annual drill, naval forces will perform maneuvers in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas. In the early hours of Thursday morning, frigates departed from the base in the Marmaris district of Muğla, a popular vacation destination that also happens to be located in close proximity to the Greek island of Rhodes, whose…