President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who rose to become one of Türkiye’s most influential politicians from humble roots, did not celebrate his 72nd birthday personally, but supporters cheered the long-serving leader. A song devoted to “Reis” (chief) adorned the social media accounts of supporters of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which released the original song accompanied by a video reflecting Erdoğan’s career and life. The song with a refrain “to many more years, reis” highlights how the most famous man in Türkiye right now started out on the cobblestone alleys of Istanbul and rose to the halls of power of Ankara.

Erdoğan is probably the most renowned politician in Türkiye, especially for those born in the 2000s, as he is one of the unchanged figures in the ranks of governance. He first led the AK Party to victory in 2002 and, since then, served either as prime minister or president. His incumbent tenure is expected to end in 2028, though it is unclear whether he will compete, since current laws block his re-election. Yet, he may be able to run again if Parliament approves an early election before his tenure ends.

It is up to Erdoğan to decide his political future, but his legacy is already full of achievements crammed into 24 years. Erdoğan is credited with launching an unprecedented development drive in every field across the country, introducing a new style of politics mixing the good ideas of old political mindsets. Carving out an image of a man of the people, Erdoğan became the voice of the disenfranchised communities, from Muslims ostracized from the public sector, to Alevis and Romanis. Erdoğan and the party, thus, garnered votes from right-wing parties of yesterday as well as left-leaning voters unsatisfied with the performance of opposition “social democrats.”

Though wrinkles and a slower pace give away his advanced years, Erdoğan occasionally proves that age is just a number. Most recently, he was captured on video while shooting hoops with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. A football player in his youth, Erdoğan took up basketball in recent years, occasionally playing matches with intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın and minister of youth and sports Osman Aşkın Bak.

The president was born in Kasımpaşa, a working-class neighborhood on Istanbul’s European side, in 1954 to parents Ahmet, a ferry captain who originally hailed from Black Sea region’s tea hub Rize, and housewife Tenzile. The eldest of three children, Erdoğan was named after his grandfather Tayyip and Recep, the Turkish name of the seventh month of the Islamic calendar, Rajab.

In his early years, Erdoğan was passionate about football and played in amateur clubs in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he made his first foray into activism and politics. In this tumultuous decade, he was a member of the National Turkish Students’ Union. In the same decade, he enrolled in a business school at Marmara University and started rising in the football world of Istanbul with a transfer to the IETT Sports Club.

In 1976, he was elected as head of the youth branch of the National Salvation Party (MSP) for Istanbul, a tenure that would shape his political future. The MSP was the second major party co-founded by Necmettin Erbakan, Erdoğan’s political mentor. The young man rose in politics and his personal life as he married Emine Erdoğan two years later and welcomed his first child in 1979. But a military coup in 1980 disrupted the future president’s life as it did to millions of others. As political parties were shut down one by one by a military junta, Erdoğan had to suspend his political activities. In the same decade, he scrapped his budding football career as well. After graduating from Marmara University in 1981, Erdoğan pursued a business career and enrolled in the army. But politics have always been in his heart, and he joined the Welfare Party (RP) of Erbakan in 1983. A familiar face in the party due to his MSP past and activism in the Students’ Union, Erdoğan quickly rose in the party and was elected as Istanbul chair of the RP in 1985. A skilled orator and organizer, Erdoğan is credited with boosting the RP’s image in Türkiye’s most populated city.

In 1989, Erdoğan embarked on his long journey in political offices when he was nominated as mayor of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul by the RP. He lost but was undaunted. In the 1991 elections, he was nominated for Parliament as a lawmaker from Istanbul, losing again. Erdoğan, however, did not lose hope and further emerged as a popular figure in the RP.

His big break in municipal politics came in 1994 when he beat relatively more popular candidates of other parties and was elected mayor of Istanbul at 40. This proved Erdoğan’s breakthrough and exposed him to national recognition. Erdoğan is credited with resolving the city’s chronic problems, from severe pollution to addressing longstanding water shortage problems. But Erdoğan faced another hurdle during his tenure. At a time of rising opposition to the RP, which formed a coalition government with the Right Path Party (DYP) by military brass eager for a repeat of the 1980 coup, Erdoğan found himself the target of the witch hunt against the conservative population. A poem deemed “reactionary” by the secular elite led by top generals landed him in a brief court battle. In 1997, Erdoğan, a poetry lover who still peppers his speeches with verses from his favorite poets, was sentenced over this poem, which cost him his seat as Istanbul mayor. He started serving his sentence in 1999 and was released a few months later. The incident only served to boost his image in politics.

With the RP suffering from the fallout of a 1997 coup, Erdoğan decided to carve out his own political path and founded the Movement of Virtue with fellow political activists and politicians after his prison stint. The movement evolved into the AK Party in 2001. The rest was history for Erdoğan, who became a household name in Türkiye in his roles as prime minister first and then, president. Along the way, he weathered multiple crises, from an attempt to shut down his party through a lawsuit by the elite circles he beat at the elections, multiple attempts by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), first to undermine his government and then to assassinate the president, as well as the 2013 Gezi Park riots, which sought to overthrow him.

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Chief prosecutor-turned-Justice Minister Akın Gürlek vowed that he would work to end the lengthy duration of trials and ensure a swift conclusion in response to citizens’ complaints. Speaking to the broadcaster NTV on Thursday, Gürlek reiterated plans to establish a “justice hotline” where the public would “feel that their complaints are heard.”

“They will be able to find out why their cases are stalled or delayed,” he said.

Some trials, especially involving multiple plaintiffs, may take years, though Türkiye managed to improve the courts’ capacity in recent years.

Gürlek said they had a performance system in place for judges. “Judges have to follow several principles required for their promotion. They are determined by the Board of Judges and Prosecutors. They are required to issue a verdict within a certain time frame, and their verdicts should be upheld by the Court of Appeals. We will now apply these regulations in a stricter way,” Gürlek said.

“We have to ask a judge why he or she did not conclude a divorce trial for eight years,” he said, giving one example of prolonged trials. “If they cannot present a reasonable excuse for delay, inspectors will examine the cases,” he said.

“Citizens have a right to know why an eviction case took five years. They will be informed of time limits and causes of delays,” the minister said.

Fight against drugs

Gürlek said drug abuse is a “bleeding wound” for society and emphasized the need to examine why young people turn to drugs. Gürlek said authorities first identify the user in drug investigations, followed by the street dealer, then the main distributor and ultimately major cartels.

“This system works the same way all over the world. In our narcotics operations in Istanbul, we captured two primary cocaine distributors. Likewise, we have conducted operations against major cartels abroad. The fight against drugs proceeds step by step. We will pursue it to the end. We must drain this swamp. The future of our youth is entrusted to us,” he said.

Gürlek also said the term “children driven to crime” should be reconsidered while referring to minors involved in crimes.

“We are examining examples in modern and comparative law. In Türkiye, criminal responsibility for children ranges from ages 12 to 18. In Norway, for example, the age of criminal responsibility has been lowered to 10. We are studying these models. We must determine why children fall into a void and turn to criminal organizations. If necessary, we will increase their penalties. We need to revise enforcement regulations. Unfortunately, our enforcement law contains provisions specific to minors, meaning one day spent in prison counts as two. If necessary, we will amend enforcement rules so that minors serve their full sentences,” he said. Gürlek stressed that beyond preventing children from being drawn into crime, their general morality must also be protected.

“Unfortunately, on social media, there are broadcasts and individuals that undermine public morality and encourage children toward genderlessness. We will combat these as well. If there is a legal gap in the Turkish Penal Code, we must introduce sanctions. The future of our children is entrusted to us. We must protect public health and public morality. We have identified deficiencies in the Turkish Penal Code. There are those who publish content on social media that undermines public morality, encourages children toward genderlessness and steers them toward deviant movements. We will fight them as well. Our teams have begun technical work. We hope to implement these measures soon as part of the 12th Judicial Reform Package (expected to be presented to Parliament for approval in the future),” he said.

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A joint operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and Turkish police led to the capture of four members of the terrorist group Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). The DHKP-C, which espouses a far-left, extremist ideology, was behind a string of attacks in Türkiye in the past.

Security sources said on Thursday that the DHKP-C suspects were captured in Istanbul on Feb. 25. They were planning bomb and gun attacks on several critical locations in Istanbul, sources also said.

Earlier this month, MIT and police collaborated on another operation against the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), another far-left terrorist group, rounding up the group’s members in operations across 22 provinces.

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. Two years later, DHKP-C members took a prosecutor hostage at an Istanbul courthouse and killed him during a standoff with police.

The group attempted a similar attack at the same courthouse in 2024, but police officers stationed outside the building thwarted the operation, killing two attackers before they could enter.

The DHKP-C has also claimed responsibility for nonlethal rocket attacks in 2013 targeting the headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party, the Turkish National Police and a Justice Ministry building in Ankara.

The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU.

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Türkiye’s efforts to end PKK violence and remove the division the terrorist group has fostered for over four decades have entered a new phase as the terror-free initiative turned one on Friday.

Jailed PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan said in a letter that the path was open to a “new political era,” exactly a year after his historic call to end the PKK’s armed struggle under the terror-free Türkiye initiative.

The initiative was first conceived in October 2024 by government ally Devlet Bahçeli, who extended an olive branch to Öcalan should he urge his terror group to lay down arms.

Following Öcalan’s appeal, the PKK formally disbanded, ending its terror campaign that began in 1984 and claimed some 50,000 lives, sowing discord at home and spreading violence across borders into Iraq and Syria.

“The door is opening to a new political era and strategy,” he said in a written statement from Imralı prison, where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.

“We aim to close the era of violence-based politics and open a process based on a democratic society and the rule of law,” urging all segments of Turkish society to engage with the process.

Since his call, the PKK has formally disbanded and held a symbolic arms burning ceremony in northern Iraq, where it has a stronghold, and withdrew all members from Turkish soil.

In Ankara, a cross-party parliamentary commission last week published a key report meant to prepare the legal groundwork to advance the process, backing plans to reintegrate former PKK members.

Ankara has repeatedly ruled out amnesty for Öcalan or PKK terrorists, with officials saying the legal framework would only consider integration for PKK members who have not engaged in terrorist activities.

Öcalan said his call on Feb. 27, 2025, “aimed to break the mechanism that feeds on bloodshed and conflict” and that “the transition to democratic integration needs laws of peace.”

The democratic society solution envisions a “legal framework with political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions,” he said.

“There can be no Turks without Kurds and no Kurds without Turks,” he added.

The PKK, for decades, has exploited disadvantaged members of the Kurdish community to recruit members to its cause of establishing a so-called “Kurdistan.” Turkish officials have said the terror-free Türkiye confirms Turkish-Kurdish unity.

The report is expected to be put before Parliament next month, likely after the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. If it passes, it will be the first concrete step taken by Türkiye.

The report does not require the surrender of the “last weapon” as a condition for legal reforms. Instead, reaching a certain threshold in the disarmament process will be deemed sufficient. As an example, the evacuation of areas stretching toward Kandil in northern Iraq, including Metina, Hakurk and Gara, has been cited as a possible benchmark.

PKK disarmament efforts had slowed amid tensions related to its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, and its failure to integrate with the Syrian administration. However, following the YPG’s deal to integrate with the Syrian administration, activity on the ground has resumed, and the pace of weapons surrender and cave evacuations has accelerated.

Developments on the ground are being monitored by the National Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). The two institutions are expected to submit a joint assessment to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the coming weeks, detailing the current stage of the disarmament process. Erdoğan is then expected to assign a specific body to oversee and monitor the next phase.

Previous attempts

Türkiye tried its hand at resolving the PKK issue as early as the 1990s. Then-President Turgut Özal took the first concrete steps for a new way to resolve the problem and reached out to Iraqi Kurdish leaders viewed as close to the terrorist group. It was a time when the predecessor of the pro-PKK Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), a key actor in the terror-free Türkiye initiative, first won seats in the Turkish Parliament.

Özal favored a “civilian” solution to the problem. He sought to address the problems the PKK exploited to advance its own agenda, such as more rights for Türkiye’s Kurdish community. Özal’s efforts partially paid off when the PKK briefly declared a “cease-fire.”

However, several violent terrorist attacks in the same decade and Özal’s death in 1993 hindered this fledgling process that would also reportedly include a general pardon for convicted PKK members.

Terrorist attacks continued until Öcalan’s capture in 1999. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the PKK reduced its terrorism campaign before another flare-up in violence.

Starting from 2012, the state launched a new process that was informally called the “reconciliation process.” The process cautiously proceeded, and the government offered expansion of rights for the Kurdish community, especially in education in their own language. The PKK scaled back its activities again, but this process ultimately collapsed too in 2015.

The PKK resumed its campaign and moved attacks from rural parts of the country to urban centers in the southeast, which hosts a predominantly Kurdish population. In response, Türkiye intensified counterterrorism operations and, in the past decade, stepped up aerial strikes and limited cross-border offensives to eradicate terrorists in Türkiye, Iraq and Syria.

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Türkiye’s National Intelligence Academy released a comprehensive report on Friday, warning that the international system is undergoing a rare, multilayered transformation marked by intensifying interstate rivalry, disruptive technologies and widening geopolitical fault lines.

The report, titled “The Transformation of Geopolitical Competition, New Challenges and Türkiye,” argues that the prevailing security paradigm shaped by low-intensity conflicts and counterterrorism in the post-9/11 era is giving way to a harsher phase of strategic competition among states. Conventional military power, it says, is once again central but now deeply intertwined with advanced technologies that are reshaping the character of warfare and global politics.

According to the academy, the shift extends beyond military capabilities to decision-making mechanisms, alliance structures and the overall distribution of global power. Uncertainty, the report notes, is no longer merely a risk to be managed but a variable that directly shapes international competition. Strategic foresight capacity has become one of the core determinants of a state’s security and foreign policy performance.

As the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close, the report describes the international system as experiencing a historic rupture. The strategic frameworks that dominated after the Sept. 11 attacks, focused largely on terrorism and asymmetric threats, are being replaced by a more rigid geometry of interstate rivalry. While the emerging landscape bears similarities to Cold War-era discipline, it is distinguished by what the report calls “hyperwar technologies.”

Armored brigades, airborne divisions, ballistic missiles and cyber-electronic warfare networks are cited as key elements of a battlefield once again centered on conventional force. At the same time, cloud-based combat networks, robotic warfare, algorithmic operations and artificial intelligence are redefining the nature of conflict. The technological transformation, the report says, is expanding the arenas of geopolitical competition into space, cyberspace and critical supply chains.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The war between Russia and Ukraine is presented as a turning point, illustrating both renewed great power competition and the democratization of strategic technologies. Satellite imagery, once limited to state intelligence services, has become routine data within open-source intelligence networks and think tanks.

Targeting data obtained through combat drones has been disseminated widely on social media, contributing to what the report describes as a new war epistemology.

Many of these drones, it notes, are commercially available or produced by startup-level firms, underscoring how advanced capabilities are no longer monopolized by major powers. The report also assesses Russia’s defense spending, arguing that Moscow has maintained its military expenditures at a sustainable level through state capitalism.

Since 2022, Russia’s defense outlays have shown resilience, signaling the durability of its war economy. Some analyses cited in the report suggest that Russia retains sufficient military-industrial capacity to open a second front if necessary.

Ukraine marked four years since Russia’s assault on Feb. 24, 2022, a war that has shattered towns, uprooted millions and killed large numbers on both sides.

Moscow occupies close to a fifth of Ukrainian territory and continues to grind forward, especially in the eastern Donbas region, despite heavy losses and repeated Ukrainian strikes on logistics.

Russia has ⁠launched many thousands of drones and missiles at Ukraine since its full-scale invasion began four years ago. Most recently, ⁠it has targeted power and heating infrastructure during Ukraine’s coldest winter of the war.

Beyond Eastern Europe, the report highlights shifting global fault lines. In the Asia-Pacific, mounting tensions are seen as complicating the strategic balance. A potential conflict around Taiwan could carry an economic cost exceeding $10 trillion, according to estimates referenced in the document. The United States is described as recalibrating its strategic priorities toward dominance in the Western Hemisphere and deterrence consolidation in the Asia-Pacific.

Europe, meanwhile, would require hundreds of billions of dollars in additional defense spending to build an independent military capacity, the report says. In scenarios where the U.S. reduces its role in European defense, the procurement budget needed to sustain conventional forces could exceed $1 trillion.

The document also draws attention to what it calls the “CRINK Axis” – China, Russia, Iran and North Korea –characterizing it not as a traditional alliance but as a flexible security ecosystem. In the Middle East, unresolved nuclear issues and ballistic missile inventories continue to fuel tensions between Iran and Israel. A possible Iran-Israel war, the report warns, could trigger a global economic crisis through disruptions in hydrocarbon markets and generate significant migration flows.

Türkiye’s capabilities

Against this backdrop, the academy assesses Türkiye’s position as comparatively resilient. Due to its geopolitical location and its exposure to multiple crises over the past two decades, Türkiye is said to have felt the effects of global uncertainty early. This experience, the report argues, has enabled the country to develop a strong capacity for resilience while preserving internal stability.

It notes that traditional allies have not provided the expected level of contribution in security and defense over the past decade, accelerating Türkiye’s efforts to strengthen autonomous capabilities. Expanded capacities in defense, intelligence, security and diplomacy are described as positioning the country to navigate the evolving geopolitical atmosphere more effectively.

If Türkiye can leverage its strengths and reinforce institutional capacity to manage risks, the report concludes, it is likely to remain stable and influential amid continuing crises and global uncertainty.

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Türkiye and the Vatican have formalized a cooperation mechanism to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, in a move aimed at strengthening international efforts against illicit financial networks.

A memorandum of understanding between Türkiye’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) and the Vatican City State’s Supervisory and Financial Information Authority entered into force following a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on Friday night.

Under the agreement, the two financial intelligence units will exchange information and analysis related to suspected money laundering, related predicate offenses and terrorist financing. The cooperation will facilitate information-sharing that may support investigations and prosecutions by competent authorities in both jurisdictions.

The two sides will share the widest possible range of available or obtainable financial intelligence, either upon request or spontaneously, based on the principle of reciprocity.

Officials say the agreement reflects Türkiye’s ongoing efforts to expand international cooperation against transnational financial crimes and disrupt the global funding networks of terrorist organizations.

Ankara has long emphasized that such cooperation is critical to counter the overseas financing activities of groups such as the PKK, which Turkish authorities say maintains fundraising, propaganda and logistical networks across Europe.

Turkish officials have repeatedly called on international partners to take stronger action against these structures, warning that financial flows generated abroad directly support the group’s activities.

The new arrangement with the Vatican is expected to enhance Türkiye’s broader strategy of building multilateral intelligence-sharing partnerships to curb illicit financial movements and strengthen the global fight against terrorism and organized crime.

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