Turkish authorities detained 27 suspects Monday in a second wave of arrests tied to a bribery investigation into the western Turkish city of Uşak, while a separate high-profile corruption trial involving suspended Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu was set to resume with dozens of defendants appearing before the court.

The operation targeting Usak Municipality was carried out simultaneously in Istanbul, Uşak and Izmir as part of an investigation led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to Turkish authorities.

Prosecutors allege that municipal tenders in Uşak were rigged, that bribes were solicited from local tradesmen in exchange for irregular administrative actions, and that large sums of money were collected for Usakspor under the name of donations and aid.

Authorities also alleged that cash donations were delivered directly to the mayor’s office and that senior municipal officials spent money at entertainment venues, with the expenses later covered through the municipal budget under meal and hospitality bills.

The detentions were based on witness statements, testimony from suspects who cooperated under remorse provisions, digital examination reports and findings from Türkiye’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), officials said.

The latest operation came after nine people, including suspended Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, were previously arrested in the same investigation.

In a separate case in Uşak province, Eşme, six suspects tied to an investigation of alleged misconduct were referred to the courthouse after police procedures were completed. Those referred included Eşme Mayor Yılmaz Tozan and his wife, Burcu Tozan.

The Eşme investigation is being conducted under the coordination of the Uşak Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Esme Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Police had detained Tozan, his wife, his driver, a municipal police officer and another municipal employee on April 17. A municipal council member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) who had been sought under an arrest warrant, was later apprehended. Another suspect was found to already be in prison for a separate offense.

Meanwhile, in Istanbul, a sweeping corruption trial involving hundreds of defendants connected to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) was set to enter its 24th hearing.

The case includes 414 defendants, 92 of whom are under arrest, among them former Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was suspended from office after being jailed pending trial.

Prosecutors accuse Imamoğlu, identified in the indictment as the leader of a criminal organization, of a wide range of offenses including forming and leading a criminal group, bribery, money laundering, fraud against public institutions, unlawful collection and dissemination of personal data, destruction of evidence, bid-rigging and abuse of office.

The 3,809-page indictment was completed on Nov. 11, 2025, and seeks prison sentences ranging from 828 years and two months to 2,352 years for Imamoğlu over 142 alleged acts.

The first hearing in the case was held on March 9, and 34 defendants have presented their defenses so far. Proceedings are being held four days a week at a courthouse inside the Marmara Open Prison complex in Silivri, west of Istanbul.

At earlier sessions, the court ordered the release of several defendants, including municipal staff, drivers and businesspeople named in the case.

The court also merged a separate indictment involving seven defendants, including suspended Beyoğlu Mayor Inan Güney, with the main IBB corruption case. Güney and two other defendants were ordered to be present in court for the resumed hearing.

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The Ministry of Family and Social Services will host a two-day summit starting on Tuesday for the protection of children in the digital world. Representatives from 17 countries, including 11 ministers, will attend the event in Ankara, which first lady Emine Erdoğan will also participate in.

The summit aims to discuss joint steps for digital security for children and global cooperation on the matter.

The ministry said in a statement that it would collaborate with UNICEF and the United Nations Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children for the summit. Along with ministers, ambassadors from 30 countries and representatives of international tech companies will attend the summit.

Emine Erdoğan and Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş are expected to address the first session of the summit. Other speakers include Shakhnoza Shavkatovna Mirziyoyeva, First Deputy Director of Uzbekistan’s National Agency for Social Protection, Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children. The ministry said dignitaries from

Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, South Africa, Ghana and Egypt, along with lawmakers from Turkish parliament’s Digital Platforms Committee, will participate in technical panels where prevention policies for protecting children in digital environments and digital literacy will be addressed.

In sessions discussing responsible technology governance and global practices, representatives from global tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, and Google will share their views alongside representatives from Türkiye’s Presidency of Communications, the Cybersecurity Presidency, the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), and the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation). Furthermore, a special session will be organized where children and youth from various countries will share their digital experiences and offer solution proposals.

Within the scope of the summit, Türkiye’s “Action Plan for the Empowerment of Children in the Digital World (2026-2030),” prepared to protect children from digital risks, will be shared with participating countries.

Solutions developed against digital risks and for safe online behavior through the Ministry’s instant notification mechanisms, available via website and mobile app, will be presented as a model application.

Legal regulation studies forecasting new obligations for social network providers and gaming platforms will form a significant agenda item for the technical sessions.

Earlier this month, Parliament began debating a draft law package that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, as authorities seek to strengthen protections against harmful online content.

If adopted, the legislation would require social media companies to implement age verification systems, introduce parental control tools and respond swiftly to content considered harmful.

The government says the proposal aims to reduce risks to children’s safety and privacy online.

Under the draft proposal, digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and others would have to block children under 15 from opening accounts and introduce parental controls that would manage children’s access.

Measures on children’s access to social media have gained momentum globally in recent months. In Australia, measures introduced in December targeted users under 16, with social media companies revoking access to millions of accounts identified as belonging to children. Last month, Indonesia began enforcing a new regulation banning children under 16 from accessing digital platforms that could expose them to risks such as pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction. Other countries, including Spain, France and the United Kingdom, are also taking or considering similar steps, citing growing concerns over the impact of unregulated social media content on children.

Most recently, Greece also announced that access to social media for children under the age of 15 would be restricted from Jan. 1, 2027.

Roundtable meetings at the ministerial level at the summit will evaluate holistic policies for the protection and empowerment of children, examples of best practices, and opportunities for international cooperation. Following the speeches by relevant ministers, technical sessions will be held under the headings of “Responsibilities of the Private Sector” and “Digital Participation of Children.”

At the conclusion of the two-day program, a final declaration containing priority areas and solution paths for creating safer digital spaces for children will be shared.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh on the sidelines of the Fifth Antalya Diplomacy Forum in southern Türkiye.

The meeting focused on bilateral ties and regional developments, media reports said.

Erdoğan also met with his Slovenian counterpart Natasa Pirc Musar, Comoros counterpart Azali Assoumani, and Democratic Republic of Congo counterpart Felix Tshisekedi.

Earlier, Erdoğan met with Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency members Zeljka Cvijanovic, Denis Becirovic, and Zeljko Komsic over a working breakfast to discuss bilateral relations, as well as regional and global developments.

According to Türkiye’s Directorate of Communications, Erdoğan stressed that Türkiye supports all constructive steps for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that the country is in a key position for stability in the Balkans.

He also reaffirmed Türkiye’s unconditional support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity and constitutional order.

Noting a recent rise in separatist and provocative rhetoric targeting the Bosniak people, Erdoğan warned that irresponsible actions that could jeopardize stability in the Balkans would benefit no one.

He stressed the importance of building a Bosnia and Herzegovina where its three constituent peoples – Bosniak, Serb, and Croatian – can live in harmony.

He further highlighted the need to increase bilateral trade between Türkiye and Bosnia and Herzegovina and to accelerate cooperation in areas such as transportation and energy.

The meetings came as part of Erdoğan’s engagements on day two of the Fifth Antalya Diplomacy Forum in the southern Turkish city of Antalya.

Under Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Constitution, a three-member body representing the nation’s three peoples collectively serves as the country’s rotating presidency. As of March, Bosniak member Becirovic is the current president.

World leaders and senior government officials are meeting in Türkiye through Sunday for the forum, a major international gathering in the southern Mediterranean city focused this year on managing global uncertainty.

The forum, held under the auspices of Erdogan and hosted by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, is centered on the theme “Mapping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties.”

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Allegations of bribes continue to haunt municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The latest investigation targeting corruption focused on the municipality of Ataşehir, an Asian side district of Istanbul, whose mayor was arrested last March on corruption charges.

On Saturday, 20 suspects, including Ataşehir Mayor Onursal Adıgüzel, were detained. A report by the Sabah newspaper says suspects, mostly municipal bureaucrats, accumulated bribes amounting to $7 million. Adıgüzel and others, including his deputy mayors, are accused of collecting bribes from businesspeople seeking to join the municipality’s tenders and those seeking construction and zoning permits.

Police raided 45 locations across Istanbul to detain the suspects in the wake of the investigation, which included reports by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK). The reports’ findings pointed out that bribery thrives in granting building permits in particular.

The Sabah report says some municipal bureaucrats collaborated with owners of private companies and the amount of the bribe was determined based on the scale of the projects for which owners sought permits from the municipality. Bribes were reportedly shared among the bureaucrats of the municipality. Adıgüzel and other suspects will be referred to a court and will either be released or remanded in custody then. Adıgüzel and some suspects refused to hand over passwords of their cellphones after their detention, the Sabah report says.

Excerpts in the report, derived from tapped phone conversations, highlight the existence of bribery in exchange for permits. In one conversation between employees of a private company, they claim that the municipality asked for an astronomical amount of money in exchange for a permit, but they later bargained to decrease it to “2 million dollars.” In another conversation between a contractor and a lawyer, the contractor said he was forced to pay $6.5 million to secure a permit for an apartment block and for the construction of a hospital. “I still feel a pain in my chest,” the contractor said as he complained to the lawyer.

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In every corner of the region, Israel’s name formidably looms as a threat. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pointed out this reality as he attended a news conference on the last day of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in the eponymous Turkish city on Sunday.

“Israel’s expansionism became a global problem,” he said, as he explained how they started it with Gaza. “It is obvious that they have a depopulation policy there, either by killing people or driving them away. The international community utilized all diplomatic tools to prevent it,” he said.

Türkiye mobilized efforts to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza and joined the international diplomatic blitz to that extent. Nevertheless, Israel, apparently strengthened by inaction in the West and the staunch support from some members of the international community, did not backtrack much, except accepting a cease-fire in Gaza it later violated repeatedly. As the U.S.-Israel-Iran war intensified, Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon again, under the pretext of eliminating Hezbollah. In the worst attacks since the notorious “pager bombings” of 2024, Israel made incursions into Lebanon in indiscriminating attacks against general population. Since last month, more than 2,000 people were killed in Israel’s attacks in Lebanon.

Fidan said Lebanon was once again at the clutches of a ruthless war. “In addition to the Israeli occupation that displaced more than 1 million people, we see Israel is implementing its policy of invasion in Gaza now in Lebanon. This is an occupation that will seriously affect region’s stability. Israel is applying a fait accompli. We will do everything we can to stop this,” he said.

Another source of concern for Türkiye is Israel’s emerging alliance with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration. The two countries, which had past hostilities with Türkiye and that continue to a degree to this day, signaled expanding defense cooperation with Tel Aviv in a recent trilateral summit. Fidan underlined that Türkiye would not intervene in the cooperation between other countries but expressed Ankara’s anger over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks during the summit that implied that it was an alliance against Türkiye. Fidan pointed out that the alliance was also one-of-a-kind for Israel in Europe.

The minister said Türkiye was strong enough to defend itself against any threat from the emerging alliance but highlighted that the Muslim countries in the region had concerns about this new alliance. “This is a concern especially for weaker countries,” he highlighted.

He also commented on Türkiye’s cooperation with Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and said it was for stability and economic prosperity in the region. He was responding to a question about Israel’s concerns that the alliance may be against Tel Aviv. Representatives of the four countries came together on the margins of the forum, in the third such quadrilateral meeting in recent memory.

“Our objective is to develop a realistic, actionable framework across multiple domains, including economy, technology, health and defense. These four countries represent a broader regional potential. Our assessment is that the region has not fully utilized its cooperation capacity, and we aim to operationalize this untapped potential,” Fidan said. “This is not an alliance against any actor. Unlike other bloc-based approaches, our focus is on conflict resolution, economic advancement and stability. We believe that regional challenges must be addressed through regional ownership rather than external dependency,” he stated.

U.S.-Iran cease-fire

The same quartet has also been active in mediating a cease-fire between the U.S. and Iran. Commenting on the issue, Fidan said Türkiye was giving its “whole support” to negotiations mediated by Pakistan. “The talks are at a critical point and both sides have sincerity and will to continue them. Since the cease-fire, the whole world is relaxed and I know that the sides are aware of it,” he said, noting that he held a meeting with the Pakistani side before the news conference on Sunday. “We hope the sides will prolong the duration of cease-fire thanks to pressure from the international community. An extension is needed. I am optimistic about it. The negotiations, more or less, are complete but there are still disagreements over a few critical matters,” he said.

Fidan stated that the world was in favor of continued negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. “No one wants the war to resume,” he said, pointing out the economic fallout from the war. “It has already inflicted irreparable losses on the budgets of some countries,” he said.

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Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said Türkiye plays a central role as a stabilizing and constructive force in both regional and global affairs, describing the country as a “key to peace.”

“Under the leadership of our President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our country stands out not only in its region but also in the world as a constructive and balancing actor, guided by the understanding that Türkiye is the Key to Peace,” he said on his Türkiye-based social media account NSosyal.

“With strong leadership and effective diplomacy, Türkiye continues to be identified in regional crises not with conflict, but with solutions; not with polarization, but with stability. The humanitarian stance displayed in wars and crises on a global scale is the strongest reflection of the diplomacy of compassion, which places our country alongside the oppressed,” he added.

Duran’s post also included a video featuring President Erdoğan’s previous remarks on world peace and his bilateral meetings with various leaders.

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