Politics
Erdoğan assures peace in region despite Israel’s provocation
Speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Wednesday in Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the region would eventually have peace, and it would be “despite Israel, Israel’s provocations.”
He criticized the “massacre” network that has turned terrorism and occupation into state policy and has done everything over the past 10 days to sabotage the U.S.-Iran deal.
Erdoğan champions the Palestinian cause and led Türkiye to cut off ties with Israel after a new round of Palestine-Israel conflict broke out in 2023. Türkiye sees Israel as the main adversary in the region due to the latter’s expansionist policies, which brought conflicts to the levels of genocide in Gaza and spilled over into Syria and Lebanon. Ankara has accused the Netanyahu administration of pursuing a “promised land” ideal, especially in light of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war. Israel was not a party to the recent U.S.-Iran deal to end the conflict and continued attacks in neighboring Lebanon.
The president said they managed to keep the country out of the “ring of fire” during the U.S.-Israel-Iran war. “We did not give in to Israel’s attempts to stir up new conflicts in our region,” he said.
Erdoğan emphasized that one of the riskiest conflicts since World War II had been successfully managed thanks to their policies and coordination with allies. He stated that throughout this difficult process, all institutions, especially the foreign affairs and security bureaucracy, had displayed great effort and dedication.
Explaining that they had contributed to the negotiation process between the U.S. and Iran with great care, “sometimes through back-channel diplomacy, sometimes by taking a direct stance, and at other times by intervening before disagreements escalated,” Erdoğan said: “We are now in a period that requires even greater sensitivity. We know that Israel cannot tolerate even the slightest possibility of peace. Looking at the statements they have made over the past 10 days, one can see that what stands before us is not statecraft but rather a group of radicals who have lost all sense of reason. The situation is so grave that everyone is accusing one another of killing too few people and shedding too little blood. Both the government and the opposition are constantly trying to outdo each other in advocating genocide. A frenzied crowd, competing with one another in recklessness, never wants the guns in our region to fall silent. This network of slaughter, which views its national security as dependent on the instability of everyone else, including its neighbors, and which has turned terrorism and occupation into state policy, has been doing everything in its power over the past 10 days to sabotage the agreement reached through the tremendous efforts of all parties. They will continue every kind of mischief until they achieve their goals. If peace comes to our region, it will come despite Israel. If stability is established in our region, it will be despite Israel’s provocations. No matter what this network of slaughter does, it will not be able to prevent peace, tranquility, justice, stability and prosperity from prevailing in our region, Allah willing,” he said.
“As Türkiye, we will not refrain from doing whatever falls upon us to ensure that even the slightest opportunity for peace is utilized. In the coming period, we will continue to provide every possible support to efforts aimed at achieving a lasting resolution to the Iran crisis,” Erdoğan added.
‘Chaotic’ opposition
As he praised the government’s actions for peace diplomacy, Erdoğan had an equal share of criticism for the opposition, namely the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Though he said Ankara did not care about the infighting in the fragmented CHP, he devoted a substantial part of his speech to criticize the party and warn it not to prevent Parliament from functioning.
“Chaos and turmoil reign in the opposition as our People’s Alliance stands united,” Erdoğan said.
The CHP is engaged in a bitter row over who will lead the party after Özgür Özel was relieved of duty as leader in May over a court verdict affirming that his victory in a 2023 intra-party vote was dubious, over allegations of vote-buying to defeat then incumbent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu was reinstated to his office, while Özel continues to call for another election in the party. Since the court ruled for “absolute nullification” of the Özel administration and Kılıçdaroğlu’s return, the party has been de facto divided in two. The Özel camp refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Kılıçdaroğlu administration. Özel was relegated to the post of parliamentary group chair of the CHP and insisted on holding parliamentary group meetings of the party for two weeks in a row, while Kılıçdaroğlu appears to be bowing to the pressure and instead prefers to hold party meetings at the CHP’s headquarters.
Erdoğan said the CHP was involved in “mud-wrestling” and tried to “drag them to mud as well.” Özel insists on portraying what is happening in the CHP as “an intervention” by the judiciary and the government to divide the party, and his supporters squarely blame Kılıçdaroğlu for betraying the party by accepting the job to lead the CHP.
The president said the CHP took its fight to Parliament, recalling how supporters of Özel occupied the parliamentary hall allocated for the CHP to prevent Kılıçdaroğlu supporters from entering. “They turned their backs on the one they fervently applauded. The folk hero of yesterday is now the public enemy,” he said, referring to the Özel camp’s criticism of Kılıçdaroğlu, who unsuccessfully ran against Erdoğan in the 2023 presidential elections.
Almost one year after his last visit and many developments later, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to visit Türkiye, where he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Burhanettin Duran, head of the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, announced Tuesday that Abbas would embark on a three-day official visit at Erdoğan’s invitation. During their meeting, Erdoğan and Abbas will exchange views on the latest developments in Palestine, bilateral relations and regional developments, Duran added.
Palestinian media outlets reported that Abbas would arrive in Türkiye later Tuesday and brief Erdoğan on the situation in Gaza, settler attacks in the West Bank and the expansion of illegal settlements.
Abbas is known for his historic speech before the Turkish Parliament in 2024, in which he emphasized that the Palestinian people would stand tall despite Israeli strikes.
The Israeli army has killed more than 73,000 people and injured over 174,000 others in a brutal offensive in Gaza since October 2023.
Despite a cease-fire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, as part of the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, Israel has continued its daily attacks, killing at least 1,258 people and wounding 4,139 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The second phase of Trump’s plan, which was also backed by Türkiye, envisages transferring the administration of Gaza to a Palestinian technocratic committee, deploying an international stabilization force and placing weapons under the responsibility of the National Committee for Gaza Administration under international supervision, alongside a phased Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction efforts.
On Sunday, Hamas reaffirmed its commitment to the road map agreed on with mediators and the Board of Peace to complete the second phase of Trump’s plan for Gaza.
Qatar threw its support Tuesday behind a new trilateral defense pact linking Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, portraying the agreement as a positive step toward greater regional cooperation and stability.
“We welcome any regional cooperation that strengthens security, stability and defense among the countries of the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told a weekly news conference in Doha.
“Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye are countries with which we have strategic relations and fraternal ties based on a shared destiny and common concerns,” he added.
“For the security of our region and the security of the world, we fully positively view any defense framework based on cooperation and good-neighborly relations,” Al-Ansari said.
He stressed that “regional security is a collective responsibility that requires regional coordination and cooperation.”
Last Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the pact in the holy city of Mecca.
The agreement is part of defense cooperation that does not target any country but seeks to strengthen commitments to preserving peace, stability, and prosperity at the regional and global levels, based on burden-sharing and a common understanding of security.
It aims to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack on any of the three countries would be considered an attack on all three.
The agreement also includes defense arrangements under which the three countries will support one another’s security, develop cooperation in the defense industry, and enhance military interoperability.
Parliament was almost full in the early hours of Tuesday as lawmakers voted on a law for the dissolution of the PKK terrorist group, with a rare record of 467 submitting a “yes.”
The General Assembly convened for a lengthy deliberation early Monday with almost all lawmakers attending the session on the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Cohesion.
The law brings deferral for prosecution and sentencing of members of the terrorist group, which agreed to dissolve itself in 2025. It had its fair share of detractors in the ranks of the opposition parties, and the vote also laid bare the divide even within parties. Still, the consensus was almost unprecedented in the session of the 600-seat Parliament.
“What is particularly important here is establishing a sound and sustainable balance between security and freedom, public order and democratic politics, and the security of the state and citizens’ sense of belonging,” Zakir Avşar, a professor from Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, told Daily Sabah.
The adoption of the legislation alone will not determine the outcome of the process, Avşar said, stressing that its implementation will be the critical factor in determining whether the initiative succeeds.
According to the expert, the next phase should remain firmly grounded in the rule of law, while maintaining coordination among state institutions and safeguarding public order. Clear, measured and transparent communication will also be essential to maintaining public confidence and securing broader social support for the process.
Only the Good Party (IP), which has long conditioned itself to reject any move to end PKK terrorism, claimed that the terror-free Türkiye initiative, which gave birth to the law, was a concession to the terrorist group. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that proposed the law cast 268 “yes” votes while 44 lawmakers from its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) approved the law.
Avşar also cautioned against reducing the “terror-free Türkiye initiative” to partisan politics or short-term political debates.
While describing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the driving force behind the vision and the AK Party as the political actor that has spearheaded the initiative, he argued that permanently ending terrorism should ultimately be regarded as a national achievement rather than a victory for any single political party or group.
“The success of this process should therefore be measured not by the political advantage it provides to one side over another, but by its contribution to Türkiye’s common future.”
A total of 35 lawmakers from the main opposition New Party voted in favor of the law while 55 lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which is linked to the PKK, also voted yes. Twenty-nine lawmakers of the former main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) voted in favor. Similarly, the New Path Party cast 16 votes in favor.
Opposition divided over bill
The bill was also the first real test of the unity of the New Party, which was established last month by former CHP Chair Özgür Özel, who was ousted from his party over allegations of vote-buying. Özel announced he would vote yes hours before the session, but YP lawmakers overwhelmingly opposed the law. Almost every lawmaker from the party announced within hours in their social media posts that they would vote against the law, leaving Özel and a bunch of his deputies alone at the “yes” camp.
Avşar said differing positions within the opposition should ideally be viewed as competing approaches to managing Türkiye’s broader transformation rather than simply as part of a political confrontation. However, he argued that opponents of the process had so far failed to make a convincing case for their position.
Instead, he said, some of the opposition appeared to be seeking to consolidate voters who are skeptical of the initiative and turn those concerns into political advantage.
Despite political disagreements, the expert argued that ending terrorism should be treated as a national objective that transcends party competition.
“The end of terrorism should not be regarded as the success of any single political party, but as a shared achievement of the nation.”
Özel also incurred outrage among supporters, with social media users accusing him of political maneuvering, with messages of “shame on you” piling up. Social media users questioned how Özel was supposed to unite the opposition to the incumbent government with such a wide difference of opinion among the YP’s lawmakers. Supporters of New Path, including local branches of the party, also voiced their opposition to their leader Mahmut Arıkan endorsing the bill.
Avşar added that political actors should focus on strengthening the conditions necessary to permanently end terrorism, while criticism should help ensure that the process remains within the rule of law, upholds democratic standards and takes public sensitivities into account.
The existence of different views is therefore not a problem in itself, he stated. The greater risk would be allowing what he described as a historic opportunity for Türkiye to become overshadowed by short-term political calculations.
Avşar described the process as a historic opportunity to strengthen Türkiye’s capacity for lasting domestic peace, arguing that permanently ending terrorism could have implications far beyond security.
“A terror-free Türkiye would not be a victory for one political camp, but a gain for all of us.”
On Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş and Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi will hold a meeting with governors of 81 provinces for coordinating the next stage of the terror-free Türkiye initiative. Interior Ministry said the meeting would focus on monitoring the process at the provincial level, social cohesion of surrendered members of the PKK, and enforcement of public order. Kurtulmuş, who led the parliamentary leg of the initiative, Çiftçi, who oversees law enforcement, will also discuss with governors possible provocations to undermine the process and combatting disinformation.
The law covers most PKK members who will be able to benefit from its advantages only after the National Security Council formally declares that the PKK dissolved itself and abandoned arms. After the declaration, PKK members will have six months to apply. In return, they will have their prosecution postponed for a period between five and ten years, based on the severity of offenses they have committed while they were a member of the PKK. The PKK’s senior cadres and members involved in intentional murder and other violent crimes will be exempt from leniency.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik hailed a law related to the terror-free Türkiye initiative that was approved by Parliament early Tuesday. Çelik told a news conference in Ankara on Tuesday that the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Cohesion established a legal framework for the initiative, which aims to disband the terrorist group PKK.
“Our goal now is a terror-free region,” Çelik, whose party made the landmark proposal for the framework law, said.
The spokesperson praised Parliament’s vote, saying it had done what it should have done on the matter. “Our president set out a clear road map. Terror-free Türkiye is state policy,” he said.
The initiative began informally in 2024, when government ally and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli called on the jailed ringleader of the PKK to order his group to lay down its arms. Over time, the initiative received a positive response at the government level and was subsequently transformed into concrete steps.
Öcalan was allowed to communicate with a political party linked to the terrorist group and, through them, called on the PKK to dissolve itself in February 2025. The PKK agreed and announced its dissolution a few months later.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a series of high-level talks in Tripoli on Tuesday, meeting Libya’s prime minister and his national security adviser as he began a two-day diplomatic visit that will also take him to Benghazi.
Fidan met Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, prime minister of Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), for talks in the Libyan capital.
The two officials first held a one-on-one meeting before talks continued with their respective delegations.
Following the meeting, Fidan held separate talks with Ibrahim Dbeibah, the prime minister’s national security adviser.
Fidan will continue his diplomatic contacts in Tripoli and Benghazi as part of the two-day visit spanning Tuesday and Wednesday.
Fidan arrived in Libya on Tuesday for a two-day visit. The top diplomat’s trip comes one day after the suspected assassination of a senior Libyan intelligence officer serving the eastern-based forces led by Khalifa Haftar, and amid Türkiye’s efforts to promote unity in the North African country.
The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed last Friday by Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is the focus of a new campaign by the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate.
The deal, which brings the three countries closer together, made its way onto landmarks in Istanbul and Ankara. Images of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif holding copies of the agreement in an iconic photograph were projected onto highly visible locations across the country, including Istanbul’s Galata Tower. Content about the deal was also displayed on digital screens surrounding Ankara’s landmark Atakule Tower on Sunday night. Istanbul’s July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge was illuminated in the colors of the three countries’ flags.
Landmarks in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad and Saudi cities were also illuminated in the colors of the Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani flags to celebrate the deal, while people formed convoys in Pakistan, waving their country’s flag as well as the flags of Türkiye and Saudi Arabia.
The agreement embodies the spirit of alliance among the three countries, which already enjoy close ties. One of its key provisions stipulates that an attack on one of the parties would be deemed an attack on all three and would therefore require a joint response.
The agreement came against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, which has spread across the region, with Iran targeting other countries it views as supportive of the U.S. and disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
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