Author: Daily Sabah

The head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Ibrahim Kalın discussed the latest developments regarding Gaza cease-fire efforts with Hamas political bureau officials on Monday, amid reports of progress. Kalın held a phone call with Hamas officials, discussing the progress made in negotiations and the current state of discussions, sources said. Both sides agreed that efforts must continue to reach a cease-fire, sources added. Qatar on Monday presented Israel and Hamas with a final draft of a deal to end the Gaza war, following a midnight breakthrough in talks attended by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy. Türkiye has been fiercely…

The Turkish coast guard has nabbed 41 irregular migrants off the coast of western Muğla province, the agency said Sunday. The coast guard found 16 irregular migrants, including a child, on land on the coast of Marmaris district. Another group of 25 migrants, along with two suspected smugglers, were caught on a rubber boat near the coast of Fethiye district. The two suspect smugglers were detained, while the migrants were transferred to the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management for further processing. According to the latest statistics from the agency, coast guard teams caught a total of 55,467 irregular migrants in…

The Interior Ministry on Monday replaced Mersin Mayor Hoşyar Sarıyıldız with a trustee following his arrest over links to the PKK terrorist group. Sarıyıldız, a member of the opposition’s Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), his deputy Nuriye Arslan and three other party members of the municipality’s assembly were arrested earlier on Monday, the ministry said in a statement. They all face charges of “carrying out propaganda for a terrorist organization,” “membership of an armed terrorist organization,” as well as “opposing the law on preventing the financing of terrorism” and “opposing the law on meetings and demonstration marches.” “Akdeniz…

As a delegation of lawmakers met figures relevant to Türkiye’s “terror-free initiative” to end the terrorist group PKK on Sunday, the Ministry of National Defense announced the elimination of 9 PKK members in Iraq and Syria. The ministry said in a statement that they would continue remaining “unforeseeable and swift” in counterterrorism operations as it announced three terrorists were eliminated in Iraq’s north and another six in northern Syria in operations. “Terrorists cannot escape the fate awaiting them,” the ministry said. Around the same time, lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) linked to the terrorist group met…

Parliament’s General Assembly will resume its weekly work on Tuesday with an agenda dominated by draft bills and a debate on pensions. Lawmakers will discuss the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) bill for the establishment of the Turkish Justice Academy, an educational institution first of its kind for intra-judiciary training. The bill proposes the eligibility of judges and prosecutors with at least an eight-year career in the profession for assignment to the academy. The academy will also host a Legal Studies Center and Education Board to define the training courses. Parliament’s subcommittees will also have a busy week.…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attended a meeting on Syria hosted by Saudi Arabia on Sunday. His counterparts from European countries, the Arab League and Syria’s new foreign minister were among the meeting participants in Riyadh. Before the main meeting of all ministers and representatives began, Fidan spoke at a meeting of Arab League ministers and highlighted that regional countries had a responsibility to steer the developments in Syria in the right direction. “As Türkiye, we are ready to help the people of Syria in this difficult path forward,” Fidan underlined. He also called for more international cooperation to achieve…

A presidential decree, published in the Official Gazette late Friday announced the appointment of several key positions within the Foreign Ministry, including deputy foreign minister and ambassadors. Zeki Levent Gümrükçü, Türkiye’s Permanent Representative to NATO, has been appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ahmet Rıza Demirer was named Director General of Bilateral Relations, while Tahsin Timur Söylemez will serve as Director General of International Mediation. Gülsun Erkul, previously a Foreign Policy Advisory Board member, was appointed as Director General of Energy, Environment, and Transboundary Waters. Refik Ali Onaner and Ali Rıza Güney were both assigned as Directors General of…

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Türkiye has broken and dismantled the terrorist corridor that was being formed in northern Syria from four different points, as he warned the PKK/YPG to lay down their arms or face elimination. “Through our cross-border operations, We have broken and dismantled the terrorist corridor that was being formed in northern Syria from four different points,” Erdoğan told a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Aydın province on Friday. He noted that Türkiye has destroyed the terrorists at home and successfully established a wall to protect itself against attacks from the…

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…