Author: Daily Sabah
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend an informal meeting with his EU counterparts, also called the “Gymnich meeting”, on Thursday in Poland’s Warsaw, Foreign Ministry sources said Tuesday. According to the sources, during the event, Fidan will meet with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, along with the foreign ministers of EU member states, candidate and potential candidate countries. Last August, Fidan also took part in a Gymnich meeting, the first time the EU had invited Türkiye in five years, seen as part of the bloc’s efforts to revitalize relations with Türkiye. The meeting is considered important for strengthening dialogue…
Nineteen years after their infamous Champions League final defeat in Paris, Arsenal return to the French capital on Wednesday with fate knocking once more – and this time, a 1-0 deficit stands between them and the biggest game in club football. Ousmane Dembele’s early strike at the Emirates handed Paris Saint-Germain a slender first-leg lead in their semifinal showdown, forcing Arsenal into rare and daunting territory. Only two clubs – Ajax in 1996 and Tottenham in 2019 – have ever overturned a first-leg home defeat to reach the Champions League final. Now Arsenal, bruised by recent domestic setbacks and haunted…
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the guest of honor at the board meeting of the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) held in Ankara on Monday to elect new members. The society marks its 157th anniversary this year and Erdoğan had nothing but praise for the country’s primary aid organization. Erdoğan highlighted the Red Crescent’s work in Gaza, which suffers under constant Israeli attacks and a lingering blockade. “The Turkish Red Crescent never abandoned our Gazan brothers and sisters. They deliver aid in Gaza regularly and every day, 15,000 people benefit from the Red Crescent’s aid in Gaza,” Erdoğan said, referring to…
A trial date has been set in July for a well-known talent manager charged with attempting to overthrow the Turkish government in an investigation connected to nationwide riots in 2013. Ayşe Barım was arrested on Jan. 28, and eight actors were summoned to testify as witnesses in her case. The first hearing in Barım’s case will take place on July 7, an Istanbul court said Monday. A 171-page indictment by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Barım of planning and organizing the 2013 riots, now dubbed the Gezi Park riots, citing her “intensive communication” with the defendants in the Gezi…
Less than two months after an informal meeting in Geneva, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar met the head of the Greek Cypriot administration, Nikos Christoulides, in a buffer zone on the divided island. Colin Stewart, special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General on the island and head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force, hosted the two men with vastly different views on the island’s status. Before a head-to-head meeting, Tatar and Christoulides joined Greek and Turkish Cypriot youth who formed the Youth Technical Committee for cooperation on the island, where the sides do not recognize each other. The…
The head of a top business association, along with his colleague, is facing fresh charges of “attempting to influence a fair trial” weeks after being indicted for “intervening” in Turkish politics. Orhan Turan, chairperson of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSIAD), and Ömer Aras, a member of the association’s high advisory board, were indicted Monday over their remarks “attempting to manipulate the judiciary” at a TÜSIAD board meeting in February, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul said in its indictment. Turan and Aras made assessments regarding political, legal, judicial and administrative events whose contents they were unaware of,…
Barcelona return to the spotlight of Europe’s grandest stage on Tuesday, chasing a sixth Champions League crown and redemption at San Siro after a breathless 3-3 first-leg draw with Inter Milan. The Catalans were left bloodied but unbeaten after a chaotic opening chapter at Montjuïc, where defensive rigidity met explosive flair. Inter drew first blood just 30 seconds in – the fastest semifinal goal in tournament history – as Marcus Thuram’s fancy flick stunned the hosts and set the tone for a European classic. But Barcelona, riding the wave of Hansi Flick’s high-octane system, punched back with equal fury. Teenage…
An omnibus bill set to be voted on by Parliament in the coming weeks will increase prison terms for traffic road rage brawls and celebratory gunfire, two occasions that sometimes turn fatal and happen almost daily across the country. The first “judicial package” of Türkiye’s ambitious Judicial Reform Strategy Document is part of efforts to end the perception of impunity. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is currently putting the final touches on the bill that will amend the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) for better public security and an effective fight against crime. The bill particularly aims to…
An investigation into vote-buying allegations in an intraparty election of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in 2023 nears conclusion. Prosecutors readied an indictment according to a Sabah newspaper report and target 124 suspects, including nine incumbent lawmakers of Türkiye’s oldest party. Prosecutors sent an appeal to Parliament about the case. If found guilty, suspected lawmakers can be imprisoned once their legislative term ends and they lose immunity. Incumbent chair Özgür Özel replaced stalwart Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the 2023 election as head of the main opposition, but media reports dubbed the election “shady” as several former members of the…
Barring die-hard fascists, Sırrı Süreyya Önder had few detractors and plenty of friends, as evidenced both in his lifetime and posthumous tributes. A large crowd streamed into Atatürk Culture Center in Istanbul for a commemoration ceremony on Sunday for the deputy parliamentary speaker and Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) lawmaker who passed away on Saturday. Funeral for Önder was similarly crowded, drawing people from across the diverse political and social spectrum of Türkiye. Önder, who was embattled with several illnesses in the last days of his life, was hospitalized after cardiac arrest on April 15. After days in intensive…