Politics
Ince dissolves breakaway party, reunites with Türkiye’s CHP
Muharrem Ince, a former presidential candidate who once challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, returned Tuesday to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), ending a three-year political split and dissolving his breakaway Homeland Party (MP).
Ince announced his return during a meeting of the CHP’s parliamentary group, where party leader Özgür Özel welcomed him back, describing the move as a critical step toward opposition unity amid increasing political pressure from the ruling government.
“This party is under heavy attack,” Özel said. “I called on my comrade to return to his political home – and he did.”
Ince, 60, was the CHP’s nominee against Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential election, where he gained national prominence despite losing. He broke with the CHP in early 2021 after internal disputes and founded the MP that May, positioning it as an alternative to traditional opposition politics.
Speaking to lawmakers Tuesday, Ince said his return was prompted by Özel’s sincere outreach and the broader need for unity.
“I did not come with pride or regret,” Ince said. “Sometimes we leave out of frustration. Sometimes we search for hope elsewhere. Today, I return with a desire to heal the wounds of separation.”
Earlier in the day, Ince convened the MP’s executive board, which voted unanimously to dissolve the party. An extraordinary convention is expected in July to formalize the closure, party officials said.
Ince’s MP failed to gain significant traction in national elections, drawing just 0.17% of the vote in the 2024 local polls. Despite stepping away from the CHP, Ince occasionally expressed support for the party, particularly in response to legal actions against its members, including Imamoğlu’s March 2024 arrest on corruption charges, which Ince publicly condemned.
Ince’s return is widely seen as part of Özel’s strategy to consolidate the opposition ahead of future elections, as the CHP seeks to build on its historic gains in the 2024 municipal races – the first time in 47 years the party emerged as Türkiye’s leading political force.
The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) faces a new barrage of operations as part of ongoing investigations across the country. On Tuesday, authorities captured a total of 239 suspects in separate operations against the group, which is the culprit of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
The biggest roundup was in an investigation into FETÖ’s infiltration into the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). Some 158 suspects were captured while a manhunt is underway to capture 16 others in operations based on a joint investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Offices in Istanbul and the western city of Izmir. Security forces carried out raids in 41 provinces in the early hours of Tuesday for operations focusing on active-duty and former military officers who secretly communicated with civilian members of the terrorist group. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul released a statement about the operations and said that FETÖ still poses the biggest threat to the constitutional order and has yet to be undetected infiltrators in the army.
The statement said one of the most efficient investigation methods to detect FETÖ infiltrators focused on the terrorist group’s favored communications model that involves public payphones. This model involves military infiltrators contacting civilian members of the group who serve as handlers, through payphones, and arranging secret meetings. Prosecutors said the office and counterterrorism police carried out joint efforts to create a database on payphones across Türkiye and managed to conduct operations against FETÖ, both against those involved in the coup attempt and other suspects in the army whose direct ties to the attempt were not uncovered before.
Across Türkiye, a total of 1,918 operations were carried out against those suspects since 2016 and 28,262 people were identified. Some 25,869 among them were detained so far. The statement said 9,055 among them were remanded in custody, while 13,972 suspects were released with judicial control and 2,393 suspects remained at large. It also said 9,533 suspects initially detained were released when they collaborated with authorities and supplied information about FETÖ’s inner workings that ultimately led to more operations and detentions. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office said the rate of collaborators in proportion to the total number of suspects captured stood at 37%.
Those wanted in Tuesday’s operations included colonels, lieutenant-colonels and officers in lower ranks serving in the Land Forces, Air Forces, Gendarmerie Forces and Naval Forces of the army, as well as former cadets of military schools.
In another operation based on an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, police detained 21 suspects, including 13 active-duty police officers. Suspects were members of a secret network of the terrorist group within law enforcement and included two “law enforcement imams” of FETÖ. “Imam” is a name given to the group’s handlers for infiltrators in the army, law enforcement or judiciary. FETÖ, which disguised itself as a so-called religious movement for years, often resorts to religious terms in its secretive jargon. Other detained suspects included six former police officers who were earlier expelled on suspicion of having links to the terrorist group. Operations were carried out in Istanbul, Ankara, Aydın, Antalya, Balıkesir, Batman, Erzincan, Gaziantep, Izmir, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Muğla, Samsun and Sivas.
Elsewhere, authorities launched raids in eight provinces against suspects linked to a restaurant chain that was earlier seized for funding FETÖ. Sixty suspects were detained in the operations that targeted those transferring cash to other FETÖ members, particularly those expelled from the public sector on suspicion of links to the group. Suspects are also accused of secretly hiring people under investigation for FETÖ links through secret partnership programs, in a bid to deliver cash to them.
In a nationwide crackdown in February, authorities detained dozens of suspects in connection with a döner kebab franchise, Maydonoz Döner, used to raise money for FETÖ activity. The initial findings of that investigation showed that the franchise gave illegitimate partnerships to people linked to FETÖ for a certain sum and refused to award shares to people not referred by the terrorist group. The franchise called its scheme “Reference-Based Growth” and based it on organizational trust without any official documentation. Authorities have said earlier that all branches of the chain were used to create jobs for FETÖ-linked people and funnel funds to the group, including “himmet” rates. “Himmet” is the name FETÖ gave to donations to the group or cash obtained through extortion.
In order to avoid tracking, illegal shareholders passed the money through FETÖ-linked shops such as jewelry stores via a consignment method. The franchise firm grew its business abroad with new branches, which eased the transfer of money to FETÖ members outside Türkiye. Authorities have since assigned a trustee to Maydonoz Döner following the operations.
FETÖ has faced increased scrutiny following the coup attempt that killed 251 people and injured nearly 2,200 others. Tens of thousands of people were detained, arrested or dismissed from public sector jobs following the attempt under a state of emergency.
The terrorist group faces operations almost daily as investigators still try to unravel their massive network of infiltrators everywhere, but an unknown number of FETÖ members, mostly high-ranking figures, fled Türkiye when the coup attempt was thwarted.
FETÖ still has backers in the army and civil institutions, but as operations and investigations since the coup attempt have indicated, they have managed to disguise their loyalty. FETÖ is also implicated in a string of cases related to its alleged plots to imprison its critics, money laundering, fraud and forgery.
In 2023, Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) found that over 3,000 infiltrators of FETÖ were still active within the Turkish National Police after spending more than six years to decipher an encrypted database seized from a top FETÖ member code-named “Garson” (“Waiter”), who was behind the group’s July 2016 coup.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday to attend a two-day NATO summit in The Hague, where leaders will address key strategic threats facing the Euro-Atlantic region.
Erdoğan landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and was greeted by Dutch officials, Türkiye’s Ambassador to NATO Basat Öztürk, and Turkish Ambassador to The Hague Selçuk Ünal. He then traveled to The Hague, where the summit is taking place.
The Turkish president is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump later Tuesday at a royal dinner hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima for heads of state and government and their spouses.
Accompanying Erdoğan are First Lady Emine Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief İbrahim Kalın, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, and Erdoğan’s top foreign policy and security adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç.
The royal dinner took place at the Royal Palace in The Hague, with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima welcoming the leaders and posing for official photos before the event began.
Erdoğan is expected to hold several bilateral meetings with world leaders during the summit, which concludes Wednesday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday will join fellow NATO leaders at a critical summit in The Hague as the Israel-Iran conflict looms over the meeting.
“Tomorrow I am traveling to The Hague to attend to NATO summit. We have mobilized all means to prevent irreparable pains,” he said Monday at an event in Ankara, referring to Israel’s attacks against Iran, which have killed more than 400 people in the past 11 days.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday dismissed suggestions that the war in the Middle East would deflect attention from the summit of the 32 NATO leaders starting on Tuesday.
He stressed that Tehran should not be allowed to have a nuclear bomb, as Israel and Iran exchanged fresh strikes.
“When it comes to NATO’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program, (the) allies have long agreed that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon,” said Rutte ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague.
Rutte also noted that Iran was “heavily involved” in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Iranian drones are killing innocent Ukrainians every day in cities, in communities without any respect for life,” said Rutte.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump claimed U.S. warplanes had used “bunker buster” bombs that had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Other officials said it was too soon to assess the true impact on Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat.
Iran has warned that the U.S. bombing would “pave the way for the extension of war in the region” and threatened “serious, unpredictable consequences.”
As the world awaited Iran’s response, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the bombing campaign Israel launched on June 13 “a big mistake.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said Türkiye will not allow terrorists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability following a suicide attack that killed 22 people at a church in Damascus.
“We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria … to be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations,” he said.
Erdoğan extended condolences to the families of those killed, the Syrian government and the people of Syria.
“I wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” he added.
Erdoğan also stressed that the attack was aimed at destabilizing the peace, security and coexistence in Syria and the broader region.
“In the face of this vile terrorist act targeting Syria’s peace, internal stability and culture of living together, we stand with the Syrian people and government,” he emphasized.
“Türkiye will continue to support the Syrian government’s fight against terrorism,” he said.
A suicide bomber from the Daesh terror group opened fire Sunday inside the church in the east of Damascus before blowing himself up, killing at least 20 people and injuring 52 others, said the Syrian Health Ministry.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondents saw first responders transporting people from the Orthodox church as security forces cordoned off the area.
The church itself was strewn with wood from fittings and pews, with fallen icons and pools of blood on the floor.
“A suicide attacker affiliated with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group entered the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa area… opened fire, then blew himself up with an explosive belt,” an Interior Ministry statement said.
It cast the attack as a bid to “undermine national coexistence and to destabilise the country”, which only began emerging from the post-civil war chaos after Assad’s ouster six months ago.
The international community condemned the attack, the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since December.
The blast sparked panic and fear in the church, which had been full of worshippers, including children and the elderly, eyewitnesses said. Families were still searching desperately for missing loved ones.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was the first suicide attack inside a church in Syria since war erupted in 2011. Other churches had been damaged or seen attacks in their vicinity during the conflict, but none had been so directly targeted.
The incident also comes just weeks after Syria’s Interior Ministry announced the uncovering of Daesh cells in rural Damascus on May 26. During the raid, authorities said they seized light- and medium-sized weapons.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria’s security services have continued to pursue individuals accused of involvement in crimes, human rights violations and terrorism-related activities.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said that specialized teams had begun investigating the church attack.
“These terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace,” Khattab said, according to a statement.
In an interview earlier this month, Khattab said that Daesh had shifted “to studied attacks on strategic targets” and had attempted “to carry out attacks against the Christian and Shiite community” that the authorities had thwarted.
Authorities said they had arrested members of a Daesh cell near Damascus, accusing them of preparing attacks.
Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of the civil war, declaring a cross-border “caliphate” in 2014 before being territorially defeated in 2019.
Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in January.
Ankara, which has cordial ties with the new government, has repeatedly offered Damascus its operational and military to fight Daesh and other terrorist threats.
Mandating visas from Turkish citizens is unacceptable and shameful, according to the head of the European Union delegation to Türkiye.
“Citizens of Colombia, which has a drug problem, or Georgia, which has troubled ties with the EU and even Venezuela, can travel to the EU without a visa,” said Ambassador Hans Ossowski in an interview with Turkish journalists in Brussels on Monday.
“In Türkiye, people wait for months, sometimes a year, to find a visa appointment,” he said.
“We must restart the visa liberalization process,” Ossowski said, adding, “We have made an honest offer to the Turkish government.”
Türkiye has been a candidate for EU membership for over two decades, but talks stalled in 2016 over what Ankara says is the bloc’s “insistence on politicizing the issue.”
Türkiye suggests it has fulfilled most of the criteria for membership. Though the accession process stalled, the country has remained a key economic and defense partner for the 27-member bloc.
“Türkiye has fulfilled 66 out of 74 criteria,” Ossowski echoed. “Let’s work on the remaining six criteria.”
The European Commission’s enlargement and Türkiye reports for 2024 marked Ankara’s progress in certain areas of its membership criteria and key developments in bilateral ties.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was invited to the Gymnich meeting after five years, earlier this year, which conveyed to Brussels Ankara’s determination on membership and capabilities for cooperation with the EU on foreign policy, security, and defense.
Turkish officials say EU membership is strategic for Türkiye, which expects the EU to lift restrictions, revive high-level dialogue, update the customs union and facilitate the visa process until full visa liberalization.
However, the rejection rates for Turkish applicants have steadily increased since 2014, when the average rejection rate for Türkiye was 4.4%. By 2021, the rejection rate reached 16.9% during the pandemic, higher than the global average of 13.4%. In 2022, the rejection rate for Turkish applicants was 15.7%, compared to 17.9% globally.
In 2023, the number of Turkish citizens applying for Schengen visas reached over 1 million, with more than 48,000 applications being rejected. In 2024, denials stood at 14.5%, indicating a limited but measurable improvement.
Ankara believes the rejections are due to a shortage of staff in European consulates and the rising political tensions toward immigrants in Western countries, particularly in light of growing concerns about migration issues in the EU.
Despite the challenges, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that the visa issue is part of a broader political and diplomatic situation between Türkiye and EU member states.
“This is not just an issue between Türkiye and the EU. It’s a broader trend seen globally, and we are investigating if this is a case of special treatment toward us or just part of the general policy toward all countries,” Fidan said last November.
The call for visa liberalization and customs union updates remains central to Türkiye’s foreign policy objectives. The government hopes that through continued diplomatic engagement, it will be able to secure better conditions for its citizens who wish to travel, study and work in Europe.
Despite the lack of recent progress on visa liberalization and customs union agreement, the EU and Türkiye have maintained their strategic partnership, particularly in trade, security and defense.
Türkiye’s customs union with the EU, which came into force in 1995, is the only agreement between the EU and a non-member country. However, it is currently limited to industrial goods and processed agricultural products.
The customs union has significantly boosted trade between the two sides, raising the bilateral trade volume from $30 billion in 1995 to nearly $200 billion in 2022. However, Türkiye has pushed for an updated agreement that includes services, agricultural goods and public procurement.
The Turkish government is also eager to improve its relations with the EU in light of the broader geopolitical challenges in the region.
Devlet Bahçeli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and ally to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has slammed the United States as the “architect of atrocity” after the U.S. inserted itself into Israel’s war by attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.
“The United States is the bully and architect of atrocity that tramples over global conscience, stokes calamity, silently watches genocide unfold and threatens the Muslim world with weapons every time,” Bahçeli said in a statement released on Monday.
He accused U.S. President Donald Trump, who campaigned with the promise of ending wars, of being “contradictory and politically inconsistent, as well as fraudulent and insincere.”
“It’s the American people who can make the fairest and righteous intervention against this unreliable, faulty political attitude,” Bahçeli said.
“Israeli Prime Minister’s (Benjamin Netanyahu) statement that they launched an attack with the aim of ‘ending Iran’s nuclear appetite’ is nothing more than the mental eclipse of this era’s genocidal leader and the cunningness of producing a justification to defend the wrong while floundering in contradiction,” he added.
Iran’s neighbor, Türkiye, has condemned unprecedented U.S. strikes on Iranian soil, warning against the risk of escalating the conflict and destabilizing the entire Middle East. It also called on all parties involved to “act responsibly, mutually cease attacks immediately and avoid steps that could lead to further loss of life and destruction.”
It said only diplomatic negotiations could resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and urged the international community to support efforts for a diplomatic solution.
Although it is not party to the dispute between Iran and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program, nor to the Iranian-Israeli conflict that continues after U.S. strikes, Türkiye has a lot at stake as a regional power and a neighbor of Iran. Unlike its allies in the West, it has defended Iran’s right to self-defense and slammed Israel’s policy of expansionism that now has its sights on Iran.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly warned that Israel’s next target may be Türkiye if its regional aggression is not stopped. Indeed, Israel views Türkiye as an opponent and occasionally issues veiled threats to Turkish leadership for its unwavering support to Palestinians suffering under the Israeli attacks since 2023.
Türkiye also maintains close ties with its NATO ally, the United States.
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said in a social media post on Sunday that worst-case scenarios can be triggered if conflicts spread across the region. “The danger of expansion of conflicts in our region emerged after U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he warned.
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