Topkapi Palace, affiliated with the Presidency of National Palaces, started to host its visitors again on summer evenings. Night visits will be held on Saturdays between 13 June and 13 September at 20.30-22.30. Night visits, which have become one of the special practices of the summer season at Topkapı Palace, started this year with an expanded route. Karaağalar Ward, Kadınefendiler ve Concubineler Stony and Mabeyn Yolu Çini Art Gallery were also included in the night route for the first time. Topkapı Palace, which made its first night visit in 2024 since it started operating as a museum in 1924, will continue the practice with a wider route this year. The courtyards of the palace, Imperial Harem, Sacred Relics Department, Treasury Exhibition and terraces will offer visitors a different museum experience under night lights.

NIGHT ROUTE IS EXPANDING
The most important innovation of this year’s night visits will be the addition of three sections that have recently been opened to visitors to the route. The Karaağalar Ward, the Women’s and Concubines Stone House, and the Mabeyn Road Tile Art Gallery in the Harem-i Humayun can be seen during night tours. The new regulation will make the recent progress of Topkapi Palace’s restoration and museum work visible through night visits. Thus, visitors will have the opportunity to experience the historical sites of the palace in an expanding narrative.

Work continues uninterruptedly within the scope of the “Izmit Gulf Eastern Basin Bottom Sludge Cleaning, Dewatering and Disposal Service Project” carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. Within the scope of the project, the second stage of which was completed, 2.4 million cubic meters of bottom mud was cleaned. Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum, together with Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tahir Büyükakın, dived in the cleaned areas.

Making a statement after the dive, Minister Kurum said, “We started a project together with our Metropolitan Municipality in the Gulf of Izmit, Kocaeli, within the framework of the Action Plan for the Protection of the Marmara Sea in 2022. In fact, the project we have started is the largest environmental and nature protection project in the world. Thank God, today we saw with great happiness that the ecosystem of sea meadows, starfish and sea cucumbers has now revived at the bottom of the sea. This is a great happiness for us.” “the occasion,” he said.

70 PERCENT COMPLETED
Stating that the cleaning initiated within the scope of the Marmara Sea Protection Action Plan implemented after the mucilage yielded successful results for Marmara, Minister Kurum said, “Our esteemed President and his esteemed wife, First Lady Emine Erdoğan, really gave special importance and support to this project, our Kocaeli, our Marmara. Here, we completed two stages together with our Metropolitan Municipality. We removed and disposed of a total of 2.4 million cubic meters of bottom mud in two stages. Our goal in total is “Reaching 3.8. So, we can say that 70 percent of the project has been completed. The ecosystem there is already reviving on its own. We started to see fish and creatures we have never seen before, and frankly, the sea has started to breathe.” ANKARA

IT’S FETHİYE’S TURN
MINISTER Kurum announced that a similar project in the Gulf of Izmit will be implemented in the Gulf of Fethiye and said, “Two more dredging ships have joined us in Fethiye. We are starting dredging in the Gulf of Fethiye and hopefully we are taking steps to make the Gulf of Fethiye worthy of our country, our citizens and our nation. Just as we achieved this in Kocaeli, now we will succeed in the Gulf of Fethiye.”

AK Party Deputy Chairman and Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik reacted to the statements of a member of the European Parliament regarding Türkiye. Çelik said:
❱ A POLITICAL SHAME: A member of the European Parliament speaking in the tone of a “colonial commissioner” when talking about the Republic of Turkey is a political shame for him and an abuse of parliamentary values. AP needs to seriously address this indifference. It is not anyone’s place to target the Cabinet of the Republic of Türkiye, our Minister of Justice, Mr. Akın Gürlek, or any member of our cabinet with disrespectful language. The motives behind this disrespect on behalf of the European Parliament should be seriously questioned by this long-established institution. Respect for the sovereign rights of the Republic of Türkiye cannot be a matter of discussion.
❱ WE DO NOT ALLOW DISRESPECT: We do not allow any disrespect to the sovereign rights of the Republic of Türkiye. The European Parliament must strongly compensate for its mistakes in failing to stand on the right side of history on fundamental humanitarian issues, especially Gaza.
❱ POLITICAL BIGOTIA: Today, there are many agendas in which some members of the European Parliament act under the tutelage of “political bigotry” under various influences. This bigoted political language aimed at Türkiye has no validity. We reject the targeting of some members of the European Parliament against Türkiye with “political bigotry”. The best option would be for the AP to send these political bigots to the “Democracy primary school”.

After extensive renovation works, Etimesgut Military Airport opens its doors to national and international flights today under the name “Ankara Airport”. At the historic opening ceremony, which will be held with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Presidential plane taking off from Istanbul will be the first plane to land in the new square. Ankara Airport, which will serve as the new air transportation center of the capital, will play a strategic role in terms of diplomatic missions as well as civil aviation.

FIRST EXAM NATO SUMMIT

The first test of Ankara Airport, which will serve under the code “ANK”, will be the NATO Summit. Heads of state and government who will come to Türkiye as part of the NATO Summit to be held in Ankara on July 7-8 will be welcomed at this airport for the first time. The airport, which is preparing to become one of the new centers of global diplomacy, will reveal Türkiye’s hosting capacity and organizational power during the summit. Ankara Airport, which has been transformed into a modern aviation center where wide-body aircraft can land and take off, will strengthen the capital’s position in the international transportation network.

A BRIDGE THAT WEIGHTS THE EIFFEL TOWER

The 140-meter Capital Aviation Bridge, built within the scope of the Ankara Airport Connection Roads Project, was one of the most striking engineering works of the project. On the bridge, which was built on the High Speed ​​​​Train line and whose weight is almost equivalent to the Eiffel Tower, the deck, which weighs approximately 10 thousand tons, was placed in place by the push-slide method with hydraulic jacks with a capacity of 800 tons.

44 PLANES CAN BE PARKED TOGETHER

The runway, which was previously 2 thousand 450 meters long and 42 meters wide, was increased to 3 thousand meters long and 60 meters wide with the work carried out. This paved the way for large-bodied passenger aircraft and state aircraft to land and take off safely. With the newly built apron area, the airport’s capacity has been significantly increased. Ankara Airport will now be able to provide parking services for 44 aircraft at the same time. Within the scope of the project, the State Guesthouse with a closed area of ​​4,800 square meters for diplomatic contacts and official receptions and an open car park with a capacity of 310 vehicles were built. In addition, a 12.5-kilometer connection road that will provide direct transportation between Ankara Airport and Ay Yıldız Campus has been completed.

The cabinet chaired by President Tayyip Erdoğan is meeting in Beştepe today. NATO will be on the agenda of the meeting, where hot topics in domestic and foreign policy will be discussed.
Summit preparations, developments in the Middle East, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Eastern Mediterranean and the “Terror-Free Türkiye” process are included.

❱ PREPARATIONS FOR THE NATO SUMMIT: At the cabinet meeting, the preparations for the NATO Summit to be hosted by Ankara will be comprehensively evaluated. A wide range of studies, from the capital’s physical infrastructure to security measures, will be discussed. In Ankara, which is preparing to host thousands of participants, the activities carried out to hold the summit smoothly will be reviewed.

❱ DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: The latest developments in the Middle East will have an important place in the foreign policy agenda of the cabinet. Developments in the USA, Israel and Iran line and the possible agreement process will be evaluated. While Türkiye’s contributions to peace efforts will be discussed, the roles that Ankara can assume if the normalization process in the region accelerates will also be discussed.

❱ GAZA AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: Steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza will also be discussed at the meeting. Diplomatic initiatives aimed at preventing ceasefire violations and ensuring permanent stability in the region will be evaluated. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and the diplomatic mechanisms to be operated on this issue will also be on the agenda. Developments in the Eastern Mediterranean will be evaluated at the meeting.

❱ TERRORISM-FREE Türkiye PROCESS:
One of the important agenda items of the cabinet will be the “Terror-free Türkiye” target. The latest developments regarding the disarmament process of the terrorist organization PKK will be evaluated comprehensively. The current state of the process will be discussed in the light of the information provided by the National Intelligence Organization and the Turkish Armed Forces from the field. The timetable and content regarding the legal regulations expected after the disarmament process will also be discussed.

Breaking News… Posting on his social media account after the agreement reached between the USA and Iran, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan said, “We welcome the agreement reached to end the war between the USA and Iran. This agreement constitutes an important step towards establishing permanent peace and stability in the region. We hope that the complementary talks will be continued with a constructive attitude.”

“Türkiye’S SUPPORT WILL CONTINUE UNINTERRUPTED”

Stating that Türkiye’s support for peace in the region will continue uninterrupted, Minister Fidan said, “We congratulate the parties that took this important step and Pakistan, which played a mediating role, and other countries that contributed to the process, especially Qatar. It is of great importance that all relevant countries display a prudent and responsible attitude in order to prevent attempts to sabotage the agreement reached and to maintain regional peace and security. As Turkey, under the leadership of our President, we have given great support and effort to this process from the beginning. Our support for the establishment of peace, tranquility and stability in our region.” “It will continue uninterrupted.”