Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said Monday efforts to resolve issues surrounding Türkiye’s Russian-made S-400 air defense system are continuing as Ankara seeks to rejoin the U.S.-led F-35 fighter jet program.

In a written response to questions from lawmakers, Güler said Türkiye and the United States are pursuing solutions through dialogue amid improving bilateral ties.

The status of the S-400 system and Türkiye’s return to the F-35 program were also key topics during talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this month.

In 2019, the U.S. removed Türkiye from the F-35 program, where Ankara was also a production partner, following its purchase of the ​S-400 ⁠systems.

Washington claimed the system would endanger the jets and is incompatible with NATO systems, while Ankara repeatedly said there is no conflict between the two and proposed a commission to study the issue.

Speaking alongside Erdoğan, Trump said the time had come to remove sanctions that have strained relations between the two NATO allies.

“We’re going to lift the sanctions,” Trump said. “We don’t want to sanction our friends. I don’t want to choke my friend with sanctions.”

The sanctions were imposed under the U.S. Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) over Türkiye’s purchase of the S-400s.

Güler said Ankara and Washington are working in a spirit of mutual understanding on issues that also involve third countries, an apparent reference to Russia.

“Our military and political relations with the United States are progressing with positive momentum, and we are seeking solutions through mutual understanding and cooperation,” he said.

He added that Türkiye’s defense planning continues to be shaped by current and future security threats, emphasizing that national defense plans are prepared with long-term strategic considerations in mind.

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Authorities announced that Doruk Bulut, head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) branch in Istanbul’s Silivri district, was detained on Tuesday in a corruption investigation.

The investigation has focused on alleged corruption in Silivri Municipality. Bora Balcıoğlu, the CHP’s mayor of the district, was arrested last month on corruption charges.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the investigation that netted Bulut focused on alleged crimes including running a criminal organization, bribery, tender rigging and money laundering.

Based on the testimony of a suspect who collaborated with investigators, the probe found that Balcıoğlu had large sums of bribe money exchanged at various foreign exchange offices through his chief of staff, Aşkın Kaynar, and his driver, Serdar Tuna. It was also discovered that part of the laundered bribe money was sent directly to Bulut, according to a report by the Sabah newspaper on Tuesday.

The investigation, whose details were revealed by the Sabah newspaper, found that suspects in a criminal ring allegedly formed by the mayor and municipal staff were involved in several irregularities that caused losses of more than TL 21 million ($440,000) in municipal resources. The suspects are also accused of irregularities in staff recruitment, leasing procedures, zoning and permit approvals, and the sale of municipal properties.

Silivri is also home to a massive courthouse-prison complex where several CHP mayors, including former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, are held in custody following their arrests on corruption charges. Imamoğlu has faced a spate of trials, mostly stemming from corruption.

Dozens of CHP mayors and municipal bureaucrats have been detained or arrested over the past two years in investigations focusing on corruption. The majority of the allegations involve bribery in exchange for construction permits that are otherwise subject to strict regulations, as well as rigging lucrative municipal tenders.

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A renewed push in the case into the death of nationalist politician Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu may finally bring closure to his family and his Great Union Party (BBP), which has long claimed the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) may have played a role in the helicopter crash that killed him in 2009.

Yazıcıoğlu, his aides and a journalist were traveling in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş on March 25, 2009, when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous area. Search-and-rescue efforts were stalled due to bad weather, but an earlier investigation into the crash had suggested that the efforts could have been deliberately delayed. Still, no substantial progress was made in the case, except for findings that indirectly pointed to the involvement of people linked to FETÖ in delaying the search efforts. Earlier this month, authorities detained new suspects in the case, including a military pilot with alleged ties to the terrorist group, whose leader had “hailed” the death of Yazıcıoğlu, a staunch critic of the group.

BBP Deputy Chair Ekrem Alfatlı told Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Tuesday that they had been waiting for “justice” for 17 years and for “the truth to be revealed.” “Now, there is a new process,” he said, lauding the course of the investigation. He noted that the case was transferred to Ankara from Kahramanmaraş, which meant a new in-depth investigation focusing on “deliberate manslaughter.”

“This was not an accident,” Alfatlı said, emphasizing that it was an “assassination.”

“BBP awaits the truth to be revealed. Transferring the case from Kahramanmaraş to Ankara is an important development, especially in terms of the legal aspect of the case. Previously, the case was handled mostly as allegations of theft and negligence,” he said, referring to allegations that GPS devices had been removed from the crashed helicopter, reportedly as part of a cover-up.

Alfatlı noted that many questions remained unanswered. “We expect answers on why the helicopter’s location could not be determined quickly, why high levels of carbon monoxide were found in the blood of those who lost their lives, why radar systems went offline for 4.5 minutes at the exact moment of the crash and failed to capture any images, why the helicopter was searched for in a different area despite claims that its location had been identified two hours after the incident, why the bodies were found by villagers three days later, and why certain equipment on the helicopter had been removed,” he said.

Kemal Yavuz, the lawyer for Yazıcıoğlu’s family, said aerial activity in the area at the time of the crash was crucial to the case. Yavuz said they had access to findings showing that hard drives containing radar records that may confirm the presence of three military jets near the crash site before the incident, and which reportedly caused the crash, were destroyed. Yavuz said this was the most important evidence indicating that the crash was not simply an accident. He said they obtained this data during an investigation in 2014 but later found that the findings recorded by military experts had subsequently been destroyed, according to official documents dating back to 2025. “We believe that the evidence was covered up,” he underlined.

Yavuz said the evidence and the recent detentions pointed to what they had been saying all along: that the crash was an assassination of Yazıcıoğlu by FETÖ. “FETÖ was most active in the Turkish air force in the past, so it is quite possible that they played a role in this case,” he said, referring to the terrorist group’s infiltration of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), which ultimately led to the 2016 coup attempt.

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Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet, the mayor of the central Izmit district in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, was detained on Monday on corruption charges. Her husband, Murat Hürriyet, and 26 others were also detained in the same investigation. Other suspects include municipal bureaucrats.

Hürriyet, a former lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was nominated by the party for the municipal post in 2019. She won a second term in 2024. She and the other suspects are charged with running a criminal organization, bribery, and rigging public tenders. Their detention was ordered by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, which neighbors Kocaeli. The office has led a series of investigations into CHP-run municipalities in Istanbul, including one that resulted in the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu last year.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office said the detentions stem from an investigation based on the testimonies of suspects detained earlier, including those who confessed to wrongdoing, as well as statements from secret witnesses. Those statements culminated in a separate probe into past public tenders conducted by the Izmit Municipality.

The office said the owners of companies that submitted bids in public tenders, as well as those whose companies won the contracts, had family ties to municipal officials. It also alleged that companies providing services to the municipality were forced to pay fees to municipal officials in violation of regulations. Hürriyet’s husband is also accused of playing a role in tender processes and the recruitment of municipal staff, despite holding no official position at the municipality.

Dozens of CHP mayors and municipal bureaucrats have been detained or arrested over the past two years in corruption investigations. The majority of the allegations involve bribery in exchange for construction permits, which are otherwise subject to strict regulations, and the rigging of lucrative municipal tenders.

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The spirit of Peace and Freedom Day gripped the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Monday. Prominent guests from Türkiye joined locals to mark the anniversary of the 1974 Peace Operation launched by Ankara. The day marks a milestone in the community’s struggle for independence. In a message on the occasion, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged that they would not abandon the people of the TRNC in their righteous cause, “as the motherland and guarantor state.”

Erdoğan’s message, issued through social media, was also a remembrance of martyrs and veterans who sacrificed their lives decades ago to stop attacks, atrocities and torture by Greek Cypriots on the divided island.

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz and Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler represented Türkiye at the events in the TRNC, which included a military parade. Opposition politician Müsavat Dervişoğlu also joined the events.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also issued a message on the occasion, stating that the military intervention secured the freedom, security and future of the Turkish Cypriot people while reaffirming Ankara’s commitment to defending their rights.

“We proudly and enthusiastically celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation, which secured the freedom, security and future of the Turkish Cypriot people,” Fidan said in a statement shared on social media.

He said that on this day, 52 years ago, Türkiye acted in line with the rights and obligations arising from the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, carrying out the Cyprus Peace Operation alongside Turkish Cypriot resistance fighters.

“Türkiye, shoulder to shoulder with our heroic Mujahideen, ensured the safety of our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters, who were facing the threat of annihilation, and guaranteed their presence on the island,” Fidan said. He added that the Turkish Armed Forces also laid the foundation for the peace, stability and security that have prevailed on the island for more than half a century.

“Today, Turkish Cypriots continue their lives freely, honorably and securely under the roof of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” he said. Reaffirming Ankara’s position, Fidan said: “As the motherland and guarantor, Türkiye will continue, as it has in the past, to resolutely defend the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people.”

He also paid tribute to the Turkish soldiers and Turkish Cypriot fighters who lost their lives during the operation, expressing gratitude to veterans for their service.

The Cyprus Peace Operation was the culmination of a series of developments that rocked the island following the establishment of the now-defunct Republic of Cyprus in 1960. The republic’s Constitution enshrined equal political rights and status for the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities, yet Greek Cypriots were intent on obtaining more.

The dominant mindset among Greek Cypriots was “Enosis,” or unification with Greece. In 1963, the republic collapsed after Greek Cypriots unilaterally nullified the Constitution. The following years saw heavy armament within the Greek Cypriot community, with the support of Greece, and escalating harassment of Turkish Cypriots.

In 1963, Greek Cypriot gangs started implementing the “Akritas Plan,” outlined in an eponymous secret document that proposed methods to neutralize the Turkish Cypriot community’s resistance to the idea of “Enosis.” The murder of two Turkish Cypriots in their car in Lefkoşa (Nicosia) on Dec. 20, 1963, was the first major instance of violence. More attacks followed, mostly claimed by the Greek Cypriot terrorist group EOKA. On Dec. 23, 1963, 21 Turkish Cypriots were shot dead execution-style. Within a year, dozens of Turkish Cypriots were killed in attacks.

Attacks prompted the rise of a secret Turkish Cypriot resistance movement whose members became known as “mücahits” (fighters). Türkiye initially limited its response to sending fighter jets to the island as a warning to Greek Cypriots. During one of those flights, Capt. Cengiz Topel of the Turkish Air Forces Command was captured by Greek Cypriots after his plane was shot down. Topel was tortured to death in captivity, while more Turkish military flights followed.

Although it secretly supported the Turkish Cypriots, Türkiye opted for diplomacy to resolve the issue for years. When EOKA leader Nikos Sampson, backed by the military junta in Greece, seized power on July 15, 1974, Türkiye decided to greenlight military action. Ankara initially suggested joint military action to the United Kingdom, another guarantor state for the island, but London declined. The Turkish coalition government of Bülent Ecevit and Deputy Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan agreed to launch the military operation, invoking Türkiye’s status as a guarantor state.

Türkiye ceased military action two days after it began, seeking to pursue diplomacy again. Talks among the guarantor states ended with the Geneva Declaration on July 30, 1974, which called for the evacuation of Turkish Cypriot enclaves occupied by Greek Cypriots and the restoration of constitutional order.

In the second round of talks on Aug. 8, 1974, Greece rejected the proposal for restoration and insisted on the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the island, while Greek troops and Greek Cypriot militias had not withdrawn from the Turkish Cypriot enclaves. As the talks failed, Türkiye declared the launch of the second operation on Aug. 14, with the now-famous code phrase ordering the operation: “Let Ayşe go for vacation.”

The operation lasted two days but was enough to push back the Greek Cypriots. More violence followed, however, as Greek Cypriot troops massacred villagers during their withdrawal. The Turkish army lost 498 soldiers during the operation, while 270 people, including 70 mücahits, were among the casualties in the Turkish Cypriot community.

The operation, which ultimately prevented Cyprus’ incorporation into Greece, paved the way for strengthening the safety of the Turkish Cypriot community. July 20 is observed as a memorial day by Greek Cypriots.

Since the 1970s, the U.N., which has maintained a peacekeeping force patrolling a 180-kilometer (116-mile) buffer zone bisecting Cyprus from east to west, has made several attempts to end the dispute, but to no avail. Greek Cypriot voters rejected a U.N. peace plan in a 2004 referendum, and the Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union on its own, while Turkish Cypriots were denied the full benefits of membership.

Conquering fear

The Peace Operation is still a vivid memory for Turkish Cypriot mücahits. One of them, Nejat Kocaismail, hails what he calls the arrival of peace on the island. Hüseyin Arpalıklı recounts how they “conquered the fear” when Turkish troops landed in Cyprus. “I remember hugging the troops,” Arpalıklı told Anadolu Agency (AA) on the anniversary of the operation.

Halil Coşkun Alaslanlı remembers seeing Turkish troops hoisting their flag on Çadır Hill in the village of Gaziler on July 22, 1974. “We ran toward them and hugged them. Everyone was crying. They were tears of happiness. We then ran home and brought water to the soldiers. In turn, they shared their food with us. It was a day of excitement,” Alaslanlı said.

Coşkun Adaber was among the Turkish troops participating in the operation. Now serving as the head of a veterans’ association in the southern Turkish city of Adana, Adaber was a gendarmerie commando in 1974.

“We arrived in Kırnı (a logistics hub of the Turkish army in a mountainous area of Cyprus) by helicopter. We then joined paratroopers and a brigade. We were nervous and a little scared, but it did not last long,” he told Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Monday.

Adaber spent 15 months in Cyprus, including more than nine months in the mountains of Cyprus.

Hacı Özdaş, another veteran from Adana, recounts arriving in Cyprus before dawn at a place “reeking of gunpowder.” “It was like Cyprus was on fire,” he said. Özdaş was an anti-aircraft gunner and remembers seeing soldiers crying after their vessel was struck by friendly fire. Özdaş still harbors good feelings for Cyprus.

“If they called me to action, I would gladly go back there to protect them. It is a mission for patriots,” he said.

Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry on Monday reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the Montreux Convention on the 90th anniversary of the deal regarding Türkiye’s straits.

“The Convention, which reaffirmed our country’s sovereignty over the Turkish Straits as its internal waters, has been implemented by Türkiye with neutrality, transparency and diligence for the past 90 years,” the ministry said in a statement.

“As one of the main guarantees of peace, security and stability in the Black Sea, the Convention has consistently remained in force in both times of peace and war, proving its enduring value,” it added.

“As it has done to date, Türkiye will continue to implement the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits with the same determination in the years ahead,” the ministry said.

First enacted in November 1936, the 29-article Montreux Convention grants Türkiye control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles, allowing it to regulate the passage of naval warships while guaranteeing free transit for civilian vessels in peacetime.

The treaty imposes strict limits on non-Black Sea states, including caps on warship tonnage and a maximum stay of 21 days in the Black Sea.

Notably, under Article 21, Türkiye has the right to close the straits to protect itself in times of war or when it perceives an imminent threat.

The Convention is under the spotlight as Black Sea security faces the risk of spillover from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

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