Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, attended the TRT World Citizen Award Ceremony held at a hotel in Beşiktaş. In her speech at the ceremony, First Lady Erdoğan stated that TRT World Citizen Awards is a very valuable project that draws attention to global problems and raises awareness since 2017, and said, “There are more than 130 ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world. More than 676 million women and children are struggling to survive in the shadow of weapons. It is really difficult not to be pessimistic in the face of such a picture.” Stating that humans are the epitome of hope, First Lady Erdoğan said:

PEOPLE ARE FREEZING TO DIE

“We have a ‘World Citizen of the Year’ award winner who cannot be with us today. Our brother was one of the approximately 300 journalists murdered by Israel. Despite the ceasefire, attacks on Gaza still continue. It is a pity that when it comes to Palestine, the common conscience of humanity can remain silent despite universal values. While the lands of Gaza are turning into a children’s cemetery, in the region where the destruction reaches ninety percent, people freeze to death in winter conditions without even finding a tent. The pain of a child is a human being’s pain.” “It is one of the hardest trials anyone can experience; in Gaza, this pain has become a part of daily life. Unfortunately, these images are lost in the flow of social media, videos and promotions. Let’s not surrender to the fatigue of compassion. Let’s continue to be a voice for the oppressed, to correct the wrongs, to act with empathy and to stand against the oppressor wholeheartedly.” First Lady Erdoğan, who took a photo with the award winners at the end of the ceremony, said in her social media post, “I wholeheartedly congratulate the valuable names who were deemed worthy of the award and wish their courage and success on behalf of humanity to be permanent.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the Boğaziçi University Boys’ and Girls’ Dormitories Opening Ceremony held at Boğaziçi University South Campus Albert Long Hall:

I am a brother of yours who has always walked with young people and tried to pave the way for them throughout my half-century of politics and government life. I am sensitive to frequently meet with young people, who are the future of our country, on different occasions. I would especially like to point out that I experienced the same excitement and joy today. As we see the brightness on our young people’s faces, the light and determination in their eyes, we renew our strength and energy every time. As we look at you and meet with our young people, we strengthen our belief in the future, our love for the great and powerful Türkiye, and our passion for the Turkish Century. I pray that God will open your path and your fortune. Together with my young friends here, I pray to God Almighty for a good, healthy and fruitful life for all our young people whose hearts beat for Türkiye.

ISTANBUL IS THE HOME OF KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE

For us, university; It is the center where science, ideas, that is, information, are produced and processed. For us, a student, that is, a student; It is valuable because it demands knowledge and aspires for knowledge. Look, these lands have hosted students, teachers, scientists and cultural experts from all over the world for centuries. Our scientists; He made valuable contributions to the world in every field of science and art, from medicine to geography, from architecture to poetry and literature. The light that illuminates the path of humanity has risen from the east for many years. Istanbul, in particular, became the home of knowledge and science; It has become a center, a source of light in every field. With the Republic period, these achievements were tried to be preserved as much as possible and the academic acquis was further strengthened. In other words, the link between the past and the future somehow continued to be maintained, even though it had its flaws.

WARM WELCOME

Erdoğan was welcomed with carnations by students at the university

Now we need to further strengthen this knowledge and move it to a better point by eliminating the shortcomings and completing the deficiencies. Especially our universities; I believe that it is essential that they focus on research, producing original and qualified information, and developing projects that open Türkiye’s path and horizons in accordance with its primary missions. Whether we have well-established universities like Boğaziçi or new universities opened during our governments; We sincerely hope that all of our 208 higher education institutions become Türkiye’s vision centers. The world is changing rapidly. While our society, private sector and business circles in Türkiye keep up with this change, and there is a reality of Türkiye becoming increasingly popular on a global scale, our universities also need to adapt, renew and update themselves. We should never be afraid of change, transformation and evolution. I find it useful to remind you that:

It should not be forgotten that if there is movement somewhere, there will be abundance. In the opposite case, regression becomes inevitable. Stagnant water gathers moss; After a while it starts to rot. We view all our universities, including Boğaziçi, with this perspective. We are working as hard as we can to ensure that our universities achieve this atmosphere. Of course, in this process, are there those who block our way or create obstacles for us? It’s happening. Especially those who see universities as the backyard of their ideology and establish a feudal order as they please, to be frank, do not want to lose their privileges. Unfortunately, the diversification of Türkiye’s cultural and artistic life and the focus of our universities on their primary missions rather than ideological formatting do not suit these groups.

UNIVERSITIES ARE HOMES OF SCIENCE, NOT BATTLEFIELDS

Universities are not free centers of science; Despite this so-called libertarian but essentially oppressive mentality, which sees us as a battlefield of ideologies and positions to be controlled, we are walking determinedly towards our goals. Hopefully, we will continue to move forward without stopping or hesitation until we reach the destination. I would also like to emphasize this here: We attach great importance to the fact that our university professors continue their localization efforts while doing universal work.

WE WILL SAVE A LABORATORY BUILDING WORTH 3 BILLION LIRAS

23 years ago, the budget allocated to education was only 7.5 billion lira. I would like to share two more important good news with you here. Hopefully, we will rebuild the Boğaziçi University Library, which was destroyed last year because it was not earthquake resistant, in the very near future. We hope that our new library, which has an investment value of 2 billion liras, will be beneficial for our university and our students. Next year, we will provide Boğaziçi University with a fully equipped and modern laboratory building with an investment of 3 billion liras.

TOTAL COST OF 2 COUNTRIES IS 1.1 BILLION LIRA

The men’s dormitory built within Boğaziçi University has 55 rooms and a capacity of 210 students. The total cost of the dormitory is 350 million TL. North Campus Girls’ Dormitory has 135 rooms and a capacity of 706 students. The cost of the project was stated as 800 million TL.

Speaking at the meeting held within the framework of the courtesy visit, Yayman emphasized that the Republic of Türkiye follows the TRNC closely and that they attach great importance to the unity and integrity of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Referring to the developments in the region, Yayman drew attention to the armament activities of the Greek side and said:

“We are following very closely the armament of the Greek side. This is never acceptable. We carefully note the armament of the Greek side. Today, as yesterday, the Turkish nation stands by the Cyprus cause. The peace and well-being of the Turkish Cypriot people means the peace, prosperity and well-being of Türkiye. The well-being of Türkiye is the well-being of Cyprus.”

Yayman also conveyed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s greetings and hoped that the new service building of the TRNC Assembly would provide beneficial services for the Turkish Cypriot people.

TRNC Parliament Speaker Öztürkler expressed his satisfaction with the visit and stated that every contact from the motherland Türkiye gives strength to the TRNC. Stating that the armament activities of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus are carefully monitored, Öztürkler underlined that the ties between the motherland Türkiye and the TRNC are unshakable.

The delegation also included TRNC Friendship Group President, Konya Deputy Orhan Erdem, AK Party Culture and Art Policies Directorate Deputy Chairman Şeyhmus Dinçel and Deputy Şamil Ayrım.

The visit ended with mutual good wishes and taking a souvenir photo.

Stating that the Turkish left does not support the Palestinian cause, Erdoğan said, “In Western countries, especially the left segments are at the forefront regarding Palestine. There is no left segment in Türkiye. The entire world left supports Palestine. In our country, in fact, for a while, leftists supported the Palestinian cause, but we cannot see that sensitivity there in this period.” Erdoğan also pointed out that Turkey’s population is rapidly aging and said, “Add meaning to your life. Do not delay marriage. Let’s work to give birth to as many children as we can.” Erdoğan answered a question about politics by saying, “I do not have a political career goal.”

Bilal Erdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Knowledge Dissemination Foundation, met with university students at the Youth Meeting at Konya Tantavi Culture and Arts Center. Answering the questions of the students here, Erdoğan said that the Turkish left does not support the Palestinian cause. Bilal Erdoğan said, “Palestinian sensitivity in Türkiye is only the sensitivity of a certain group. In fact, some groups that are the target of certain political polarization do not want to participate there. Because if I go there, they will think that I am this or that person, I am not one of them, so I should not go there. This is one aspect of the matter. On the other hand, the Palestinian cause is seen as the cause of religious believers. You see, in the world, especially in Western countries, left-wing groups are at the forefront regarding Palestine. There is no left-wing section in Türkiye. The whole world’s left supports Palestine.” In our country, there was a time when leftists supported the Palestinian cause, but we cannot see that sensitivity there. Although the left supports this cause all over the world, the fact that the left in our country does not support this cause is a bit of an obstacle to the spread of this sensitivity in Türkiye. This is the issue of all humanity. Even if you do not have sensitivity about Jerusalem, you have to say something with religious sensitivity. “We need to ensure that those who do not have religious sensitivities can also embrace this cause. The boycott is important and should not be diluted.”

HE CALLED TO YOUTH; ‘DO NOT DELAY MARRIAGE’

Drawing attention to the importance of the family, Erdoğan said, “Add meaning to your life. Do not delay marriage. Believing how great an institution the family is. It is not that I should look out for my own pleasure, you should look out for yours, let’s build a home for it. Let’s all have a beautiful, happy home in this world for our afterlife. Let’s work to give birth to as many children as we can. Our Lord gives us this responsibility as a responsibility. If we don’t give such a meaning to this world, this will not get better. You too can change your marriage.” Don’t delay, don’t delay. Our primary schools will start to become empty in 5 years or 10 years. The aging of the population is very bad news. Our fertility rate has dropped from 2.5 percent to below 1.5 percent in 20 years. It is very bad news. Turkey will be a country with a super-aged population of less than 50 million in 2100. “We talk about goals and things to be done in the world, but is it possible to achieve these at this rate?” he said. Answering a question about politics, Erdoğan said, “I do not have a political career goal. Let’s say we became famous when someone came up with something.”

The investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office against Bayrampaşa Municipality for the crimes of “extortion”, “bribery”, “qualified fraud” and “tender rigging” continues.

Bayrampaşa Municipality Deputy Mayor Mahmut Kılıç, who was released in January within the scope of effective remorse provisions during the investigation, testified 3 times in this context.

In his statement given on December 30, 2025, Kılıç explained that he started working as a coordinator at the logistics support center affiliated with Support Services in Bayrampaşa Municipality on September 20, 2024.

Stating that Hasan Mutlu’s brother, Ayhan Mutlu, has been his friend for 20 years, Kılıç said, “Although steps were taken within the scope of the investigation regarding the Marnas Hotel, I was not involved in any irregular transactions here, but as far as I heard from Bilgehan, 1.5 million liras were agreed here upon the instructions of Hasan Mutlu. I do not know how 1 million liras of this money was received, but 500 thousand liras of it was given to Lütfi K. by Bilgehan Yağcı in his office at the municipality.” “I saw that this money was distributed to 10-12 municipal council members. Öztürk H, Ersin B, Deniz U, Arzu D, Çetin K. are some of the council members to whom this money was given, I do not know the others. However, I know clearly that it was not given to Saki T.” he claimed.

Kılıç claimed that Bekir Ö had a business in the illegal structure built here and that he was much more aware of the irregularities here, and said, “The cleaning tender before the cleaning tender awarded to Aslan B was canceled by Öztürk H.’s initiatives. Later, Öztürk H. had the tender canceled again. He ensured that the cleaning job was given to İŞTEM, owned by Aslan B, for 6-month periods. Here, they acted together with Bilgehan Yağcı.” gave his statement.

Kılıç stated that although the price of this tender should have been 12 million liras, it was given to 17 million liras, that he could not know how the 5 million liras were shared between Öztürk H. and Bilgehan Yağcı, and that a shopping card worth 5 million liras was received from the application-market owners regarding the SOO application.

THE ALLEGATION THAT SÜLEYMAN KÖŞKEROĞLU AND ÖZLEM TUT AGREED IN EXCHANGE FOR BRIBE

In his additional statement on January 8, Kılıç claimed that the detained suspect Süleyman Köşkeroğlu wanted to build a construction within the borders of Bayrampaşa district, and that the then Deputy Mayor of Bayrampaşa Özlem Tut, with whom he met, asked for a bribe regarding the transactions to be carried out in the municipality and they mutually agreed.

Kılıç, who claimed that Tut told this to Ayhan Mutlu when Köşkeroğlu prepared the money, that Mutlu sent Safa B, an employee of the company named VG, to these people’s company, and that Safa B received 300 thousand dollars, said that Safa B allocated 80 thousand dollars from this money and went to the municipality to give it to Tut.

Kılıç claimed that Özlem Tut later called him and asked for 200 thousand liras to be collected from the contractor Halit A, who has an office in Yıldırım District of Bayrampaşa Municipality, and that he went to the office with the personnel he worked with in the municipality and gave him 6 thousand 700 dollars, the equivalent of 200 thousand liras.

Kılıç, who stated that he gave this money to the staff he came with to convey to Özlem Tut, claimed that he did not know for what purpose the money was received.

BRIBERY ALLEGATION AGAINST AYHAN MUTLU

Suspect Kılıç continued his statement as follows:

“In addition to my statement about the cleaning tender that Aslan B received, Öztürk H. called me on a Friday, the date of which I cannot remember exactly, and asked if I was at the logistics support center. When I told him that I was here, he said that he wanted to come and have a coffee. A short time later, Ayhan Mutlu came to the same place. Here, together, we took out the money in the bag of 2 million 400 thousand liras that Öztürk brought from the trunk of the vehicle. Later, Ayhan pulled up to the same place. He put this money in his trunk. As far as I know, this money was brought on the day the payment was made. Ayhan (Mutlu) then went to my office. He said that he had credit card and check debts and that he needed 2 million liras. This situation will be seen when the account transactions are examined.

“COURT ROOMS ARE NOT POLITICAL ARENA”

Minister Akın Gürlek was reminded of MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli’s call regarding the live broadcast of hearings within the scope of investigations against some municipalities.

Gürlek, who was asked about his evaluation of the broadcast of these cases on television, said, “This must be allowed by the legislation. Currently, there is no regulation in our law regarding the live broadcast of these cases, but if the Supreme Parliament shows a will on this issue, it can of course be broadcast. I want to say this, courtrooms are definitely not political arenas, political shows or propaganda cannot be made. Judges decide on behalf of the nation, based on the evidence in the file. We need to especially underline this. Political propaganda should not be made in courtrooms. Judges are not affected by this propaganda. Because judges are supreme. “He decides on behalf of the Turkish nation.” he said.

“Can a person in prison be visited at any time? Can his messages be easily carried outside?” Asked the question, Gürlek said the following:

“We have a legislative gap here. I have instructed my friends on this issue during my Ministry of Justice process. We will make a legal regulation. There is a distinction between detainees and convicts. Lawyers can meet with detainees in prison whenever they want. Even if their lawyer goes there at 3 a.m., they can meet with the detainee, but there is no such thing for convicts. There is such a gap, especially for detainees. Lawyers can meet easily and give them their personal notes and letters. The law needs to be amended. In particular, lawyers can meet with detainees and give notes to each other, and they can do so easily. “Normally, all letters and notes are stamped as ‘seen’ by the prison administration. If they are not appropriate, they are not sent, but since there is a gap in the legal regulations for detainees, the notes can be easily given to lawyers and given to other persons through lawyers. We hope to carry out a study on this and present it to the Parliament.”

“WE NEED TO GET RID OF THE DISEASE OF ILLEGAL BETTING”

Pointing out that the issue of illegal betting is a bleeding wound of the nation, Gürlek said that he fought against this issue when he was the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor.

Stating that he will address this issue as the Minister of Justice, Gürlek said, “We need to get rid of the illegal betting problem. We have solved the illegal betting system. If there is a lack of legal regulation, we will make legal regulation. Illegal betting companies are constantly following the technology. We close a site, two minutes later a dot is placed at the end of the site and it reopens. The important thing is to dry the entire source. We may have deficiencies in terms of legal regulation. We will do about them.” he said.

Pointing out that they carried out important operations within the scope of “fixing match-fixing in football” investigations, Gürlek said, “We did not look at the names, titles and identities of the individuals here either. Football must be clean. Match-fixing should not be done here. We have carried out very sensitive studies on this issue. There is a special office in the Istanbul Courthouse. It works very well in this regard. We will spread it in Türkiye as well. As the Minister of Justice, I promise the society about illegal betting, we will go to the end of this matter, we will root it out.” “We will scrape it. If there is a deficiency, we will correct it.” he said.

Emphasizing that drugs are Türkiye’s biggest problem, Gürlek said, “We have taken the necessary steps regarding drugs. We have carried out good operations in Istanbul. Hopefully, we will do whatever is necessary to get rid of the drug epidemic during the Ministry of Justice period. Families are very upset about their children using drugs. Mothers and fathers come to me and say ‘save our sons from this disease’. We will go to the end of this process.” he said.

Stating that they reached the “barons” from drug users, Gürlek said, “I would like to thank our members of the Istanbul Police Department, our gendarmerie personnel and our prosecutor friends. We worked very well on these issues. Hopefully, we will work well as the Minister of Justice. The system is a system that goes from bottom to top. You catch the bag dealer, you catch the distributor, you catch the main distributor. You said barons, look, we carried out the Çetin Gören operation, 12 people were arrested. Then the name Siirtli Naci came out. “There is also a fight against the barons.” he said.

“FIGHT AGAINST FETO WILL CONTINUE UNINTERRUPTED”

Regarding the fight against FETO, Minister Gürlek said, “The fight against FETO will of course continue. All our chief prosecutors are already on the alert on this issue. Because FETO is a threat to the state and the country. The new structuring is also being tackled. The fight against FETO is definitely not over, it still continues, and will continue until the end. FETO is definitely our red line, our main agenda. Our fight on this issue will continue uninterruptedly.” he emphasized.

“HELLO JUSTICE” LINE WILL BE ESTABLISHED

Pointing out that citizens mostly complain about the length of litigation processes, Gürlek continued as follows:

“A divorce case, a rental case, a cadastral case takes a very long time. The grandfather files the cadastral case, but it is not completed on time by his grandson. I am thinking of establishing a system like this in my new term as the Ministry of Justice. We will establish a line called ‘Hello Justice’. What is this line? For example, a citizen has a divorce case. The citizen’s divorce case has not been completed for 17 sessions, so the citizen is the victim here and wants it to end. Or there is a rental case. Since 8 sessions. “The rent case is ongoing. Here, the citizen will reach the Alo Justice line. This may be by phone or e-mail.”

Minister Gürlek stated that they cannot give instructions to judges and prosecutors on this issue, but they will convey the grievances of the citizens.

COMMERCIAL COURTS WILL BE GATHERED UNDER ONE ROOF

Stating that Istanbul is a trade city, Gürlek said:

“The world’s trade revolves here. Commercial courts are very important courts. We have very big cases here. We are planning to establish a pilot in Istanbul, I am thinking of gathering all the commercial courts in one place, in a single building. Now, what will be the benefit of this for us? There are commercial courts in Anadolu Courthouse, Çağlayan Courthouse, Bakırköy Courthouse, Küçükçekmece Courthouse. It is very messy. Now the citizens go to Küçükçekmece, cannot make a decision, they leave.” He is applying from the Anatolian Courthouse. All commercial courts will be in a complex, the location is unknown, and our commercial judges will work in these buildings separately from outside the courthouse. This will prevent the process from being prolonged, especially in commercial cases, and will ensure uniformity. We are planning to launch this process as a pilot in Istanbul soon.”

“WE WILL NOT ALLOW STREET GANGS”

Minister Gürlek, on the question about the “new generation criminal gangs”, said, “While working as the Chief Public Prosecutor in Istanbul, we carried out operations against street gangs, but we need to stop the participation. Young people are somehow emulated, or rather encouraged and involved. We need to fight against them. Of course, we may have shortcomings as a law. Some regulations have been made in the 11th Judicial Package. Work on the 12th Judicial Package continues. We will make regulations regarding this. Unfortunately, criminal organizations use these children due to the gap in the law. This is “Legal regulations need to be made on this issue. We need to address the concept of children.” He made a statement.

Emphasizing that they will fight against street gangs until the end, Gürlek said, “We will definitely not let street gangs tolerate it. I hope I will do this as the ‘Executive Minister’. We will destroy street gangs until the end. Operations are already being carried out constantly.” he said.

“GAZA IS OUR RED LINE”

Responding to the question about Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Gürlek said, “As you know, we had the Sumud Flotilla that brought aid to Gaza. Unfortunately, it was attacking brutally and barbarically. During my term as the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, we arrested 37 people. Gaza is our red line. We will take all necessary steps in this regard. Israel’s barbarity and lawlessness are obvious, but we, as the Ministry of Justice, will follow this process.” he replied.

Minister Gürlek said, “The Presidential Strategy Directorate determines a staff. Then, we make recruitments on a provincial basis. In this regard, hopefully, we will bring 15 thousand personnel to our justice community according to a periodic calendar. Likewise, interviews for assistant judge and prosecutor positions will also begin.” gave the information.