Politics
Türkiye appoints new justice and interior ministers in cabinet reshuffle
Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek was announced as Türkiye’s new justice minister and Erzurum Governor Mustafa Çiftçi was appointed to lead the Interior Ministry on Tuesday, following presidential decrees published in the Official Gazette.
Gürlek replaces Yılmaz Tunç, who stepped down after requesting to be relieved of his duties, while Çiftçi succeeds Ali Yerlikaya.
In a statement, Yerlikaya said he was handing the Interior Ministry portfolio to his “dear brother” Mustafa Çiftçi, thanking President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the support he received during his tenure.
Outgoing Justice Minister Tunç also issued a statement, vowing to continue working “with the same enthusiasm as on the first day” for the nation’s future. He congratulated Gürlek on his appointment, wishing him “great success” in his new role.
Born in 1982 in Nevşehir, Gürlek graduated from Marmara University’s Faculty of Law in 2005. After serving as a judge in several provinces and districts, he was appointed head of the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court. While in that post, he became deputy justice minister on June 1, 2022, and was later named Istanbul chief prosecutor on Oct. 2, 2024.
Çiftçi, born in 1970 in Konya, graduated from Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Science in 1995 and joined the Interior Ministry as a district governor candidate the following year. He served as district governor in several provinces, held senior roles within the ministry and later worked at the Turkish Parliament as chief of staff and senior adviser. Çiftçi completed multiple graduate degrees in public administration and theology, and was appointed governor of Çorum in 2018 before becoming governor of Erzurum in August 2023.
March 31 marks the “Day of Genocide” of Azerbaijanis, a chilling episode in the history of the country where 50,000 people were slaughtered by Armenian gangs in 1918. The day is a painful reminder of the past for Azerbaijan, which only recently managed to retake its territory from Armenian occupiers.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the final days of Tsarist Russia, Armenians who had been settled in various regions of Azerbaijan took advantage of the power vacuum to begin massacring Azerbaijanis and seizing their lands.
Arming themselves from 1905 onward, the Armenian gangs stirred up unrest across the country, particularly in Baku.
With the revolution in Russia in 1917, the Tsarist regime collapsed. The Bolsheviks, who came to power, also took control of the administration in Baku. Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary Stepan Shaumian provided political and financial support to Armenian gangs, leading to an increase in attacks against Azerbaijanis.
Between March 30 and April 3, 1918, Armenian and Bolshevik gangs massacred 50,000 Azerbaijanis in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Khachmaz, Lankaran, Hajigabul, Salyan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Nakhchivan and other regions. The massacre ended when the Ottoman army, known as the “Caucasian Islamic Army,” came to Azerbaijan’s aid and cleared the country of these gangs.
The atrocities and massacres committed by Armenians in Azerbaijan in 1918 are recognized as “genocide.”
The late President Heydar Aliyev, through a decree signed in 1998, decided that March 31 would be commemorated as “Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.”
Azerbaijan’s ombudsman, Sabina Aliyeva, stated that the events of March-April 1918 were one of the bloodiest and most tragic examples of systematic attacks against Azerbaijanis.
In a statement to an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent on Tuesday, Aliyeva said that systematic and ruthless crimes have been committed against Azerbaijanis by Armenians since the beginning of the 20th century, both in various regions of Azerbaijan and in present-day Armenia.
Stating that thousands of innocent people were killed during this process due to their national and religious identities, Aliyeva noted that these events have gone down in history as mass massacres.
Aliyeva emphasized that the international recognition of the genocide crimes committed against Azerbaijanis and the ensuring of justice are of great importance to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes against humanity in the future.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance, values or position of Daily Sabah. The newspaper provides space for diverse perspectives as part of its commitment to open and informed public discussion.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in Ankara on Tuesday, according to diplomatic sources.
The meeting focused on regional and global developments, the sources said.
The sources said on Monday that Türkiye would reiterate its full support to the State of Palestine, safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the vision for a two-state solution during the talks. It was also highlighted that Türkiye will not allow the Netanyahu government’s illegal actions and annexation policies in the occupied Palestinian territories to hinder regional and international efforts for the two-state solution.
Fidan was also expected to underline the international community’s responsibility to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from deepening. The talks would focus on the “Board of Peace” and related mechanisms, the situation on the field and future steps, sources said, adding that they would also raise the issue of Israel’s attempts to undermine the Board of Peace’s activities.
The Turkish public and government are major supporters of the Palestinian cause. Türkiye has been a traditional ally to Palestine, but as the Israeli attacks became more brutal, Ankara has become harsher in its criticism in the past year. It has condemned what it calls genocide, halted all trade with Israel and applied to join the genocide case against Israel at the World Court, which Israel rejects.
Türkiye’s intelligence chief held talks with a senior Hamas delegation in Ankara, with discussions centered on the ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza and the deepening humanitarian crisis, security sources said.
The head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Ibrahim Kalın, met with Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’ negotiating team, along with accompanying officials, in a meeting that addressed key regional developments.
According to sources, the talks focused on the situation in Gaza, including Israel’s continued military operations and their humanitarian impact. The sides also discussed Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and restrictions imposed on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Participants emphasized the need for Israel to fulfill its obligations under the first phase of the Gaza cease-fire plan and reviewed prospects for implementing the second phase.
The Hamas delegation expressed appreciation for Türkiye’s efforts to support peace in Gaza and conveyed thanks to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Ankara’s ongoing diplomatic engagement.
Turkish authorities have issued detention warrants for 12 suspects as part of an investigation into the alleged “public sector confidential structure” of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), prosecutors said Tuesday.
According to a statement from the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau identified suspects who allegedly operated within the group’s covert network, infiltrating state institutions. The probe focused on operational phone lines and communication methods used by the organization.
Authorities said evidence indicates that the suspects used ByLock, an encrypted messaging application associated with FETÖ, and were in contact through sequential calls made via payphones and prepaid lines, a known communication tactic of the group.
Some suspects are also linked to prior testimonies regarding organizational activities.
Among the 12 suspects, five are reportedly still employed in public institutions. Police counterterrorism units, in coordination with the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), launched simultaneous operations across four provinces centered in Ankara to detain the suspects.
Separately, in the northwestern province of Edirne, four individuals, including three suspects accused of links to FETÖ, were captured while they were allegedly attempting to cross the border illegally, officials said Monday.
According to security sources, teams from the Provincial Police Department’s Intelligence Branch and the Keşan Police Department’s Counterterrorism Unit conducted an operation targeting individuals preparing for illegal departure abroad.
Following procedures at the police station, all four suspects were referred to court. A judge ordered their arrest pending trial, authorities said.
FETÖ is behind the defeated coup attempt, in which 252 people were killed, and 2,734 were wounded. The attempt was plotted and carried out by FETÖ.
Along with the 2016 coup attempt, FETÖ is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltration.
Türkiye has targeted the terrorist group’s active members and sleeper cells nonstop, and its influence has been much reduced since 2016.
Abdullah Öcalan, jailed ringleader of the PKK terrorist group, confirmed that his group’s “armed struggle” ended and there was no turning back. “It is a process of transition to peace within a democratic republic,” Öcalan said in a message relayed through a delegation of pro-PKK Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Tuesday.
The delegation visited Öcalan the island prison where he is incarcerated on March 27 as part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
The terror-free Türkiye initiative was launched by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli in 2024. Öcalan has agreed to Bahçeli’s invitation to call on the PKK to lay down arms. After Öcalan’s landmark message in February 2025, the PKK consented to start the disarmament process. Since then, Turkish authorities have monitored the full disarmament process and are expected to implement laws to further facilitate the initiative, including by possible leniency in sentencing for PKK members not involved in acts of terrorism.
In his message, Öcalan said the process’ success would “double the strength of the republic.”
“The democratic society is based on such a solution. We have to develop an understanding of citizenship regulating Kurds’ relation with the state in a positive manner,” Öcalan said.
For decades, the PKK carried out a campaign of violence for what it called a self-styled Kurdish autonomy. Öcalan underlined that the initiative was an attempt to resolve a major problem and people should not have a narrow view.
“Pro-hegemony forces have designs for the Middle East. We have seen relatively positive developments in Syria but now war on Iran broke out. The war on Iran laid bare three sides: the U.S.-Israel side, a side led by the United Kingdom, some international and regional powers seeking to maintain status quo and the third side is ours, a side defending democracy and coexistence with the ‘Peace and Democratic Society Process,’” he said, using a name he gave to the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
”What is happening in Iran proved that the process in Türkiye is on the right path and demonstrated that it is important,” Öcalan said.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, colleagues and friends of Mehmet Selim Kiraz joined on Tuesday a commemoration ceremony for Mehmet Selim Kiraz, the prosecutor who was killed by terrorists 11 years ago. On the same day, authorities announced a new operation into the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which was behind the killing, and captured 12 suspects linked to the group.
Kiraz was the prosecutor behind the investigation into the death of Berkin Elvan, who was killed in the Gezi Park riots in 2014. Elvan posthumously became a poster child for DHKP-C propaganda. On March 31, 2015, two DHKP-C terrorists, including one posing as a lawyer, entered the Istanbul courthouse where Kiraz was working. The two suspects held Kiraz hostage for hours before the security forces closed in on them. The terrorists who briefly broadcast the incident live murdered Kiraz hours later. Security forces then stormed the room where Kiraz was held hostage and killed the two murderers of 46-year-old Kiraz.
The main courthouse of Istanbul in the Çağlayan neighborhood was named after the prosecutor posthumously. Gürlek, who worked at the same courthouse as chief prosecutor before his appointment as minister last February, paid tribute to Kiraz in a speech at the courthouse, near the room where Kiraz was killed, which was turned into a commemoration spot.
“These bullets were not just meant for Kiraz. They tried to attack the Turkish judiciary, but let them; the judiciary never succumbs to fear,” Gürlek said in a speech at the ceremony on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, police in Istanbul and the northern city of Giresun launched operations against the DHKP-C and detained 12 suspects who were working for an association linked to the terrorist group.
The DHKP-C is an offshoot of an extremist Marxist-Leninist movement that emerged in the 1970s and was formally established in the 1990s after splintering from a broader coalition of far-left organizations. The group has been responsible for a series of violent attacks over the decades, including the assassination of two politicians and several intelligence officials in 1980.
While the organization maintained a relatively low profile for years, it resurfaced with high-profile attacks in the past decade. In 2013, a DHKP-C militant carried out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy compound in Ankara, killing a Turkish security guard.
In 2024, the group attempted a similar attack at the courthouse where they killed Kiraz, but police officers stationed outside the building thwarted the operation, killing two attackers before they could enter.
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