The “4th European Turkish Media Summit” was held in Gelsenkirchen, Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state. The event organized by the European Union of Turkish Press and Journalists (ATGB) was attended by members of the press from various countries in Europe, as well as politicians and representatives of various associations.

AK Party Deputy Chairman Kürşad Zorlu made a statement to the AA correspondent after his speech here. Zorlu stated that they aim to unite the power of the Turkish world diaspora and said, “Recently, the relations between the Turkish world, especially within the organization of Turkish states, continue to grow and grow. An important pillar of these strengthened relations is to bring together our diaspora power.” he said.

Pointing out that there are nearly 20 million Turks living in various countries of the world outside Türkiye, Zorlu pointed out the importance of both the media and non-governmental organizations in strengthening the Turkish diaspora.

Zorlu pointed out that the recent global fractures in the world, searches for new alliances, and developments taking place in different geographies have also affected Türkiye, and said: “Today, the Republic of Turkey has reached the position of a growing country, strengthened by its national defense industry, which is honorable, independent, and able to make its own decisions in its region, against these fractures, geographical tests, and all the crises that are coming to our door.

In response to these challenges in our nearby geography, Türkiye has become a country that takes steps and follows these steps not only here but also in different geographies against these crises and chaotic processes. “Türkiye has now become a mediator country whose words and beliefs are trusted in calming down many ongoing conflict climates in Africa, the Black Sea, the South Caucasus, the Middle East and Asia.”

Giving the good news that they will implement an important project, Zorlu said, “We will turn the Turkish world civil society workshop, which we held for the first time last year, into a big symposium this year and we will implement a large digital system. The Turkish world civil society support system. With this system, today, we are gathering all the non-governmental organizations in the Turkish world under one roof and linking them with all our institutions in Türkiye. With the click of a button, hopefully all these non-governmental organizations will be gathered in a common network, and our cooperation will continue much stronger.” he said.

Referring to Türkiye’s relations with the EU, Zorlu said: “Today, the collapse in the global system, especially the existence of societies that are rapidly moving away from civilizational values, carries the Republic of Turkey to a very important point, both in its region and in the world, and in the alliances with which it has relations. What did our President say? ‘Turkey is the last exit before the bridge for the European Union.’ In this regard, yes, we see relations with the European Union as strategically important and we want to continue our path in this sense. However, we want our friends in Europe to know this very well: Today, Turkey has become a very important new center of excitement for the EU, with its growing, strengthening, increasing population, dynamic structure and rising cooperation area with these Turkish states I mentioned. From this perspective, this mission that Türkiye has undertaken in many areas from Europe to Asia, from Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean, has great meaning for all of us, for humanity, and for the peace and tranquility of our regions.” At the end of the program, Kürşad Zorlu was given the “Turkish World Service Award”.

Minister Göktaş stated in his post on his NSosyal account that people cannot focus for more than 8 seconds anymore. Underlining that this constant state of stimulation harms children more, Göktaş said, “This is exactly why, as in many countries around the world, we are soon implementing our social media regulation to protect our children.” he said. Göktaş’s post also included a video in which he made a statement on the subject. Emphasizing that the video in question should be played with play dough in order to be watched more carefully, Göktaş said that just talking is not enough to watch videos on social media, different movements should also be displayed.

Minister Göktaş said:

“Continuously scrolling the screens on social media has become so normal that we no longer focus on a subject for more than 8 seconds. This constant state of stimulation harms our children more than it does us. Our children’s attention span has decreased by at least 30 percent in the last 10 years. This directly affects their focus, friendship relations, and success rates at school. This has made the teaching process of our teachers very difficult. For this very reason, social media regulations for children are being discussed and implemented all over the world. We want to provide a safer internet environment for our children.” We want support from you, our parents, and our teachers in this regard. Together, we can make safe internet possible for our children.”

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said, “Our Çağrı Bey drilling ship, which we named Curad-1 in April, is the name given to the first newborn babies in Somali. We gave this name to our first well there. Hopefully, it will reach the well point and start deep-sea drilling activities.” he said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with the ship personnel through Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.

President Erdoğan met with the personnel of the ship ‘Çağrı Bey’

Erdogan said:

“WE ARE EXPECTING GOOD GOOD FROM ÇAĞRI BEY”

Dear members of TPAO and valuable members of our Çağrı Bey drilling ship, first of all, I hope that your journey will be beneficial and you have a long journey that will last until April, but this journey will be a truly blessed journey and we hope to have good news and news from Somalia. May God help you, hopefully with these drillings we will hear and make the voices of all these ships of Türkiye heard, not only in our country but all over the world. I hope this blessed journey will be beneficial.

ÇAĞRI BEY DRILLING SHIP’S JOURNEY TO SOMALIA

Çağrı Bey, which is 228 meters long, 42 meters wide and 114 meters high, can drill to a depth of 12 thousand meters.

Çağrı Bey, who will not be able to sail through the Suez Canal due to the height of the tower, will sail from end to end in the Mediterranean, then sail to the Atlantic Ocean via the Strait of Gibraltar, follow the West African coast, pass the Cape of Good Hope and reach Somalia.

Before CHP Chairman Özgür Özel’s “We Protect the Will of the Nation, We Do Not Give Our Olives, Air, Water, and Land” rally today, it was revealed that many olive trees were slaughtered in a land in the district.

On February 12, 27 ancient olive trees, each of which was at least 100 years old, were slaughtered on a 3-decare land, which is an olive field, located in Dipsarnıç, Menteş District of the district. It was determined that the land in question belonged to the Milas District Chairman of the Republican People’s Party, Ahmet Kılbey.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı made a statement regarding the scandal on his social media account.

Minister Yumaklı said, “Those who do not leave the word to anyone, saying that we will defend trees and nature when it comes to words, remained silent while dozens of olive trees were being massacred by the Muğla Milas CHP District Chairman.” he said.

Yumaklı stated the following:

RANT GAMES IN THE BACKGROUND OF SO-CALLED ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY!

Is it allowed for CHP members to cut down 100-year-old olive trees? You are no better at lying to our nation. And you talk about going to the squares and protecting olive trees.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned Israel’s decision to register land in the West Bank.

In the statement made by the Ministry, “We condemn in the strongest terms the latest decision of the Israeli government, which aims to impose its sovereignty and expand settlement activities in the occupied West Bank. This step, which aims to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from their homeland and accelerate Israel’s illegal annexation steps, is a clear violation of international law and is null and void. Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian lands. The expansionist policies intensified by the Netanyahu government in the occupied West Bank undermine ongoing peace efforts in the region and lead to a two-state solution.” “We call on the international community to take a determined stance against Israel’s attempts to create a de facto situation. Turkey will continue to support efforts to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian State with geographical integrity, based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” statements were included.

In the sea phase of Steadfast Dart 2026, NATO’s largest and most comprehensive exercise in 2026, the Bayraktar TB3 UCAV, stationed at TCG Anadolu, once again proved itself with its autonomous take-off capability and firing power from the short runway. Bayraktar TB3, which was stationed on the ship within the scope of the exercise and took off from the short runway without any problems, destroyed the targets with full accuracy in the double salvo MAM-L fire it fired towards the designated surface target. The soldiers of the countries participating in the exercise gave full marks to Bayraktar TB3 after the successful shots made by the national UCAV against sea targets. Bayraktar TB3 SIHA, which impressed the soldiers of allied countries, successfully completed its operation by landing safely at TCG Anatolia after the shots hit the targets accurately.

FIRST OPERATIONAL DEMONSTRATION IN THE AREA OF OPERATIONS ABROAD

This activity of Bayraktar TB3, which is the first UAV in the world that can perform operations by taking off and landing from short-runway ships, is of strategic importance as it is its first operational demonstration in a field of operations abroad. While there are currently 3 Bayraktar TB3 UCAVs on duty on the TCG Anadolu ship, the performance of these platforms in geographies such as the Baltic Sea is followed with great interest by NATO allies.

IT IS AIMED TO CARRY OUT SHOOTING WITH MAM-T AMMUNITION

In the following stages of the exercise, the capabilities of Bayraktar TB3s will continue to be demonstrated at the highest level. According to the planning, it is aimed that 2 Bayraktar TB3 UCAVs will take off from TCG ANADOLU one after the other and carry out a coordinated operation in the coming days. At this stage, a double salvo MAM-L is being fired with a Bayraktar TB3, while the other Bayraktar TB3 platform is aimed to be firing with MAM-T ammunition, which has higher destructive power.