Politics
Former chair calls for accountability at Türkiye’s CHP
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the predecessor of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel, has recently been vocal about corruption allegations against mayors of his party. The veteran politician spoke to the Sabah newspaper over the weekend, the day the CHP held a new intraparty election in which Özel was the only candidate.
Kılıçdaroğlu reiterated his call to his party to “purge” those involved in corruption, only to face an online campaign of criticism. Özel himself slammed Kılıçdaroğlu in thinly veiled remarks during his election victory speech on Saturday.
The former leader of the main opposition had to confront a spate of criticism and insults over a recent video he released online, in which he invited the CHP to launch disciplinary action against “anyone involved in wrongdoing and corruption.” Every politician, every party can succumb to corruption, bribery, and even treason, but the CHP cannot be associated with bribery, corruption, or contractors of the bribery wheel. It cannot proceed with allegations of corruption. It should purify itself,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in the video.
In his interview with Tuba Kalçık of the Sabah newspaper on Saturday, Kılıçdaroğlu said the CHP cannot be remembered as a party of bribery and corruption.
“Whoever is involved in corruption should be held accountable. This state already has a responsibility to punish corrupt people regardless of their ranks,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu said he would defy any opposition to his remarks. “I won’t back down just because of a lynching campaign by fake social media accounts. I spoke the truth,” he said.
He recounted past incidents, including “surviving an assassination attempt in Artvin and another attempt to burn me alive in Ankara’s Çubuk.”
“I never stepped back, back then. It is my duty to speak the truth. We witness moral corruption, as evidenced by this social media campaign against me. I am open to criticism but not to insults. Politicians should be open to criticism,” he said.
“The spiral of corruption and bribery is poisonous. And the CHP is not the only party responsible for addressing it. I have said for years that we do not fear accountability, but we also know how to hold others accountable. The government can, of course, pursue the CHP’s corruption allegations, but it must also answer for its own municipalities, its own bureaucrats and itself. Anyone involved in corruption must be held to account. The state must cut off anyone who is implicated, regardless of their office, status or proximity to power. Only then can the public move forward.
“Politicians are accountable to the people; they do not hold the people to account. Answering for one’s actions is a matter of honor for every CHP member. The CHP should immediately file criminal complaints and libel suits against those who spread false accusations. In the past, there were also corruption allegations against some of my former colleagues. I assigned party members to investigate those claims. At that time, I said the same thing: they should clear their names and return to politics,” Kılıçdaroğlu stated.
Media reports say Kılıçdaroğlu seeks a comeback in the party, and this was evident when he openly said he would accept serving as a trustee for the party if a ruling in a lawsuit seeking to annul the 2023 intraparty election led to the suspension of the Özel administration. Kılıçdaroğlu has denied any ambition.
As Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks were published, the CHP was holding its 39th convention for an intraparty election. Özgür Özel won the election, as he was the only candidate.
In a speech after his win, Özel hit out at Kılıçdaroğlu, who abstained from attending the convention, though he was invited to. Though Özel did not openly name Kılıçdaroğlu in his speech, he said the CHP would “purge” certain people.
“Those who will be purged will be those collaborating with the order. We will purge the party of people seeking to keep the CHP’s vote at 25%,” he said, in reference to Kılıçdaroğlu’s run against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2023 general elections.
The CHP claims corruption allegations against its mayors are politically motivated and social media trolls often accuse Kılıçdaroğlu of “collaborating” with authorities to bring down the CHP.
Turkish defense companies showcased advanced underwater systems, sonar technologies and unmanned maritime platforms in the western province of Izmir as part of the Türkiye-hosted Nusret-2026 Invitation Exercise.
The exhibition at the Port of Alsancak brought together 16 defense companies presenting technologies for underwater operations and mine countermeasures to Turkish and foreign military representatives participating in the exercise.
The Nusret-2026 Invitation Exercise is being held from Oct. 6-16 in the Gulf of Izmir and off the coast of Karadeniz Ereğli. Alongside Turkish forces, the exercise includes units from NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) and the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Group (MCM Black Sea).
Havelsan presented a remotely operated underwater vehicle developed with the company’s own resources that can operate at depths of up to 300 meters (985 feet).
Zekiye Bilinç Serintuna, Havelsan’s underwater systems group leader, said the platform is equipped with sensors and systems enabling navigation and precise positioning. It can be used for military and civilian missions, including search and rescue, mine countermeasures, pipeline monitoring and ship hull inspections.
Meteksan Defense also showcased underwater acoustic technologies, including sonar systems developed for ships and submarines.
The company introduced two new products at Nusret-2026: the Submarine and Underwater Vehicle Detection System (SUVDES) and the National Synthetic Aperture Sonar System (MİLSAS).
SUVDES is designed for tasks including harbor security, protection of critical facilities and the detection of unmanned maritime vehicles.
State-owned defense manufacturer MKE, meanwhile, displayed several systems developed for naval warfare.
They included the Denizhan national naval gun, the Pirana kamikaze unmanned surface vehicle and the Malaman smart bottom mine, alongside infantry rifles used by naval forces.
A total of 20 ships, five aircraft and various unmanned systems are taking part in the exercise, which focuses on mine countermeasures and maritime operations.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi will be in Athens on Thursday. Ministry sources said Wednesday that the purpose of the visit was “cooperation in fighting against transboundary crime, terrorist groups and next-generation criminal gangs.”
He is scheduled to meet Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum Thanos Plevris and Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis. Çiftçi’s talks will focus on joint steps in the above-mentioned areas.
The Turkish and Greek officials will discuss extradition of members of criminal gangs and how to enhance cooperation in this area, ministry sources also said.
Çiftçi stepped up Türkiye’s contacts with neighboring countries in the joint fight against transboundary crimes and recently paid visits to Bulgaria and Georgia to this end.
The minister last visited Athens in April for a trilateral meeting with Plevris and Bulgarian Interior Minister Emil Dechev on security-related issues affecting the three neighboring countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that any confrontation between Türkiye and Greece over the Aegean Sea or the island of Cyprus would benefit neither country nor the U.S., stressing Washington’s commitment to preventing tensions between the two NATO allies.
Speaking in an interview with Greek newspaper Kathimerini during a visit to Athens, Rubio dismissed the prospect of a conflict between Ankara and Athens, describing such a scenario as unthinkable.
“It wouldn’t be good for anybody. It wouldn’t be good for Greece. It wouldn’t be good for Türkiye. It wouldn’t be good for the United States,” Rubio underlined, adding that Washington would not allow such a situation to develop.
Rubio also addressed the proposed Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) electricity project linking Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration and Israel, acknowledging potential obstacles and emphasizing the importance of diplomatic engagement.
He said Washington intended to use diplomatic channels to encourage solutions, arguing that sensitive disagreements were best addressed through private negotiations.
Highlighting Türkiye’s strategic importance, Rubio noted that Ankara had previously hosted negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and maintained cooperation with Washington on several regional issues.
On Türkiye’s efforts to acquire U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, Rubio reiterated that President Donald Trump supported a potential sale but acknowledged that existing U.S. legislation remained a significant obstacle.
He said restrictions tied to Türkiye’s acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems must be resolved before Washington could legally proceed with the transfer.
“The issue is the S-400 system,” Rubio said, adding that the matter remained unresolved despite possible diplomatic solutions.
Türkiye was removed from the multinational F-35 program in 2019 after acquiring Russia’s S-400 air defense system, prompting U.S. sanctions despite Ankara’s role as a production partner in the fighter jet program.
The U.S. and Greece announced $4 billion (TL 196.86 billion) in military sales under the Foreign Military Sales program to support Athens’ long-term defense plans, as the two countries pledged Wednesday to strengthen security and economic cooperation.
The announcement followed the sixth round of the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue in Athens, co-chaired by Rubio and Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, according to a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department.
Both sides said the sales would bolster Greece’s defense capabilities and improve military interoperability, while also pledging to explore further cooperation between their defense industries, particularly in emerging and innovative technologies.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) admitted Cemil Tugay, mayor of Türkiye’s third-largest city, Izmir, on Wednesday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented Tugay with the party’s badge at an official ceremony in Ankara, at the party’s congress center of the party.
Tugay has recently resigned from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and met Erdoğan at the presidential complex last month. His switch marks a major turning point for the opposition, which lost a large number of mayors to the AK Party since the 2024 election. This will be the first time the AK Party will run the municipality of Izmir, a traditional stronghold of CHP, which itself lost substantial power when former chair Özgür Özel resigned and founded New Party (YP) in July.
The event Tugay attended was originally a gathering to mark the start of the new legislative year, which began last week. However, the mayor was the highlight of the event attended by a large crowd of supporters, as well as several ministers. Tugay’s switch was not fully official before the AK Party’s social media account released a video on Tuesday evening, showing flowers blossoming over a mountain of garbage, in reference to an old anthem about Izmir dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first president of the Republic of Türkiye and founder of the CHP.
Tugay, elected mayor in 2024 as a CHP candidate, left the opposition party in June, one month after a bitter split among supporters of reinstated chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Özgür Özel, who was ousted after a court verdict annulling his chairmanship on charges of vote-buying in a 2023 intra-party election. Despite consecutive wins in most provinces and districts in the past two decades, where it dominated the political landscape, the AK Party found little support in the city, which is viewed as the heartland of CHP voters. The opposition supporters staged a rally against the switch on Tuesday in Izmir. Tugay has defeated AK Party lawmaker Hamza Dağ in the 2024 vote, winning 48% of the vote against Dağ’s 37%. CHP has also won 28 of Izmir’s 30 district municipalities in the same election.
CHP suffered losses of mayors since the 2024 elections as criminal investigations uncovered a vast network of corruption in most municipalities in what the AK Party called “tentacles of an octopus.” Tugay’s predecessor Tunç Soyer is also in custody in a similar investigation into corruption.
A total of 108 mayors joined the AK Party from other parties in the past two years and most are from CHP. Metropolitan municipalities of Ankara and Istanbul remained CHP domains until Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş resigned from the party in September, while Istanbul is governed by Nuri Aslan, an acting mayor who succeeded Ekrem Imamoğlu, the first metropolitan municipality mayor of the opposition party to be arrested on charges of corruption in 2025. Imamoğlu’s conviction may prompt a new election at the municipality. Both Yavaş and Imamoğlu were viewed as future presidential contenders of CHP. Imamoğlu was officially declared such after his arrest. Özgür Özel, who nominated Tugay in the 2024 election, claimed on Tuesday that Tugay was forced to defect to the AK Party while accusing him of treason in the same statement.
‘Here to win hearts’
Speaking at the ceremony, Tugay, accompanied by his wife Öznur on the stage, said he joined the AK Party “to be a friend of those devoted to this cause for a strong Türkiye under the leadership of our president.” “I came here with faith and trust,” he told the applause of AK Party supporters. He recalled his upbringing in Izmir as the child of a modest family and how he served his country for about 30 years as a doctor. “Then, someone I respected told me that the best way to serve the nation is through politics and I took upon this advice.” He mentioned his past as mayor of Izmir’s Karşıyaka district and how he provided services for “all residents of Izmir without discrimination.” “All residents have been a family to me,” he added. He pointed out that Izmir was a precious city of patriotic people. “It is an honor to serve this city,” he said.
Tugay also reasoned his switch to the AK Party with past remarks by Erdoğan, who repeatedly said the AK Party was “friend of the disenfranchised.” “I am engaged in politics to defend the rights of forgotten people living on the periphery of cities, forgotten poor, to defend the rights of farmers and small business owners,” Tugay said. He then quoted Sufi poet and mystic Yunus Emre: “I am not here to fight, I am here for love. Hearts are abode of my friends; I am here to win hearts.” “Under the leadership of our president and valuable support of experienced AK Party family, we embark on a journey to revive Izmir, to resolve its problems,” he said. During long reigns of CHP, Izmir was embattled with a variety of problems, particularly in garbage collection and poor infrastructure.
President Erdoğan said at the ceremony that the AK Party family was growing with new members. “Those who are fed up with the pressure of party barons doing everything in exchange for bribes, those who do not want to be subjected to obscene insults in the middle of the night, and those who seek to serve their cities in peace and harmony see the AK Party as the safest address,” Erdoğan said, in veiled remarks towards Özgür Özel, whose WhatsApp correspondence with a district mayor in Ankara, where he hurled insults over his anticipated switch to the AK Party, was made public. Özel and other top figures of the opposition were also accused of asking for bribes in return for the nomination of mayors, according to the statements of the former mayor of Antalya province, who was arrested earlier on corruption charges.
The president, who made his name in politics after his election as Istanbul mayor in 1994, noted that the AK Party was behind the revolutionary changes in municipal governance with landmark public services. “No one can compete with the AK Party’s approach to municipal governance. No one can compete with the AK Party on finding practical solutions to problems, delivering results quickly, developing projects and setting out a vision for our cities. Municipal governance may be a means of personal benefits for others, but for us, it is solely a means of serving the nation.”
Erdoğan said municipal governance could be a means for others to enrich themselves, their spouses, friends and associates, but for his party it is a position of heavy responsibility that requires serving the nation, making sacrifices and working day and night for the people, referring to the corruption scandals plaguing the opposition.
The president then turned to Tugay and said: “Welcome to the AK Party family; we are delighted to have you with us.” He said they would support Tugay in his efforts to serve Izmir, the “pearl of the Aegean,” and its residents.
Istanbul will host the International Justice Summit on Oct. 8-9, bringing together justice ministers, members of the judiciary and legal experts from more than 70 countries for talks on global justice challenges, including accountability in Gaza, human rights, artificial intelligence and cybercrime.
The two-day summit, hosted by Türkiye’s Justice Ministry at Istanbul’s Çırağan Palace, is expected to draw around 600 participants, the ministry said.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek will deliver the opening address, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to attend the second day of the gathering and address participants.
The summit will feature 40 speakers across eight sessions, along with representatives from 18 national bar associations and more than 30 international organizations. Participating justice ministers are also expected to hold bilateral and diplomatic meetings on the sidelines.
Discussions will cover the implementation of international humanitarian law and accountability, with Gaza serving as a case study, as well as international arbitration, human rights and the future of legal professions.
Other sessions will focus on social media responsibility, migration and burden-sharing, the legal implications of the global energy transition and emerging challenges in the digital sphere.
A panel on international justice in the digital world will address cybercrime and artificial intelligence as well as efforts to establish global norms to respond to rapidly evolving technologies.
In a message published on the summit’s website, Gürlek said challenges ranging from digital threats and energy crises to violations of humanitarian law and income inequality had become major global problems that no country could address alone.
He called for stronger international cooperation and said a broadly accepted international legal framework should be supported by institutions capable of responding to the needs of a changing world.
“Uniting around the universal power of justice and developing international cooperation mechanisms should be our fundamental goal,” Gürlek said.
Gürlek noted the summit would provide a platform for new ideas and discussions on humanitarian law, international arbitration, technological transformation and migration.
He also highlighted Istanbul’s historical position as a crossroads between East and West and a meeting point for different civilizations and legal traditions.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Tuesday that investigators have obtained evidence indicating that the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) was involved in the 2009 death of prominent politician Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, as prosecutors continue an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed him.
Asked whether concrete evidence linking the crash to an operation by FETÖ had entered the case file, Gürlek said: “Of course it has.”
Speaking at Anadolu Agency’s (AA) Editors’ Desk in Ankara, Gürlek said prosecutors believe the incident was carried out under organizational instructions from the group, which Ankara says infiltrated key state institutions before the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Yazıcıoğlu, founder and former chair of the Great Unity Party (BBP), died along with five others when their helicopter crashed in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş in March 2009.
Gürlek cited several pieces of evidence investigators are examining, including alleged contacts involving a military pilot and Adil Öksüz, a key suspect accused of helping organize the 2016 coup attempt.
He also cited phone records, meetings allegedly held with the group’s covert operatives and messages on ByLock, an encrypted messaging application widely used by FETÖ members.
According to Gürlek, one ByLock exchange referring to the incident said it had been carried out “as easily as pulling a hair from butter” and that the group’s leader was “very pleased.”
Gürlek said arrests were made during an initial operation and that Ankara prosecutors have since carried out a second operation. The investigation remains underway.
The minister also addressed a reopened investigation into the 2011 death of former National Intelligence Organization (MİT) officer Kaşif Kozinoğlu in Silivri prison.
Kozinoğlu’s death was initially recorded as a heart attack, but Gürlek said investigators now have findings suggesting he may have died following an intervention rather than from natural causes.
His remains have been exhumed as part of the investigation, while the Forensic Medicine Institute has yet to issue its final report. Nine suspects are currently jailed pending trial in the case, according to the minister.
The minister further said the Justice Ministry’s department investigating unresolved crimes has reviewed around 640 cases and that 56 previously unresolved cases have so far been solved.
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