The Youth Leadership Training Program organized by the Turkish Youth NGOs Platform continues in Antalya. Meeting with young people within the scope of the program, Bilal Erdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Knowledge Dissemination Foundation, made statements about income inequality in the world, global balance of power, wars and Türkiye’s position in recent years.

“THE WORLD’S WEALTH HAS CONCENTRATED IN THE HANDS OF A FUNNY PEOPLE”

Stating that one of the most distorted periods in history is experienced in income distribution throughout the world, Erdoğan said, “The place where the wealth in the world is concentrated is in the hands of a handful of people. Currently, the richest man in the world has reached a fortune of 650 billion dollars in the blink of an eye and is arguing in American courts why it is necessary to reach 1 trillion dollars. He says, ‘I must take the world to Mars, I must give humanity technologies that it has never seen before.’ But when you get to know this profile, you do not see a picture that thinks about the good of humanity.”

Stating that life in big cities is becoming more difficult day by day, Erdoğan said that the perception of prosperity presented on social media does not reflect the truth and said, “People are supposedly saved from village life, but they still have a hard time getting by in the cities. If they cannot make a living in Istanbul, they cannot make a living in New York, and it is also difficult in London. They are given a life on YouTube; they say they earn 5 thousand dollars a month. But if you touch the microphone, you hear a thousand sighs.”

“THERE WAS A DESTRUCTION UNPRECEDENTED IN HISTORY IN GAZA”

Touching on wars in his speech, Bilal Erdoğan emphasized that especially what happened in Gaza left a black mark on human history as follows:

“Currently, the war in Ukraine has gone down in history as the war that has cost the most lives since the Second World War. It has surpassed the genocide in Rwanda. But the genocide in Gaza took place before the eyes of the world for three years, a destruction and massacre that has never occurred in history. Such death has never been rained down on people squeezed into a city. But it happened before our eyes, all the dominant powers of the world aided and abetted it.”

Bilal Erdoğan, in his assessment of how some globally wealthy figures use power and wealth, said, “We see the rich, we see it in the Epstein events, we also see it in some events in Türkiye. After experiencing certain satisfactions, these people come to the point of ‘what else can I do, what can I do that no one else can do, what can I experience that no one else has experienced?'” and pointed out that the issue is a deeper mentality problem.

“THE GROWTH IN THE LAST 23 YEARS IS NOT IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC”

Referring to the economic acceleration that Türkiye has achieved in the last 23 years, Erdoğan said, “The growth in the last 23 years does not exist in the history of the Republic. It does not even exist in the history of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire could not catch up with the growth achieved after the industrial revolution, we missed them. But we caught those missed brakes in the last 23 years. The economic size of the country increased 8 times, the national income per capita grew 6 times.”

“Türkiye IS NOW A COUNTRY THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD AGENDA”

Bilal Erdoğan stated that they saw that the view on Türkiye has changed seriously during his contacts abroad and said that the country is now an effective actor on a global scale and said, “We see how they look at Türkiye. They see how powerful a country we are and that we are a country that can change the world agenda.”

“WE HAVE A LEADER WHO SAYS THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN FIVE”

In the last part of his speech, Bilal Erdoğan emphasized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s stance against the global system and made the following call to young people:

“We have a leader who has been consistently opposing this unfair system for 23 years and who has survived despite the blows. Today, it is clear to everyone that our president is not a man of any focus. While we have a leader who says ‘The world is bigger than five’, let’s all oppose this rotten order together.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to Cairo, the capital of Egypt, as part of his official visit. Following the agreements signed between the two countries, the two leaders made important statements at the press conference.

Here are the highlights from President Erdoğan’s speech…

“THE ISSUE IN IRAN SHOULD BE RESOLVED DIPLOMATICLY”

I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings. I would like to thank my Egyptian brothers. I visited Egypt twice on various occasions. The number of mutual visits is approaching 50. I hope we are strengthening the covenant basis of our relations. We welcome the fact that the investments of Turkish companies in Egypt are approaching 4 billion dollars. These relations between the two countries are also reflected in tourism. Egyptian people show great interest in Turkish culture and language. We are two neighboring countries with the longest coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is a fact that despite the ceasefire, the humanitarian tragedy continues. Last week, 30 of our brothers were martyred. We reject these attacks and violations. We are working with Egypt on this issue and will continue to do so. In our meetings today, we discussed regional issues, especially Libya and Sudan. We agree that it is under the leadership and ownership of Libyans. We hope that the ceasefire can be achieved and maintained. We reject Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland. We find the statements regarding the preservation of Syria’s unity sincere and support them. The issue in Iran should be resolved diplomatically.

Sisi: EFFORTS HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED

Cooperation efforts between the two countries were discussed. In Sharm El Sheikh, we discussed what is needed to stop the conflict in Gaza. The establishment of a state with two solutions is important. We also discussed the developments in Sudan. It is important that all institutions of the state there are protected in the same way.

We discussed the developments in Syria. The preservation of these agreements and efforts in Egypt and the developments in Iran were also discussed. Egypt hopes that the nuclear project in Iran will be resolved. President Erdoğan is Egypt’s most cherished guest. I pray to God that our relations will get better.

Details Coming…

Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin made statements about the second semester of the 2025-2026 academic year. Minister Tekin gave messages about the start of the second semester of the 2025-2026 academic year with the theme of “Flag love” for approximately 18 million students studying in pre-school, primary school, secondary school and high school, after a 2-week semester break.

“WE STARTED THE SECOND SEMESTER WITH THE BLESSINGS OF BERAT KANDIL”

Minister Tekin said, “First of all, I hope the two-week holiday was good for our children, young people and teachers. The two weeks were a rest area for them, even if it was a little bit. Now, it is the spring semester again, we have started the second semester. Coincidence; we started the second semester with the blessings of Berat Kandil. We consider the wars that are happening around us, the human rights violations that the world is experiencing, the position that Türkiye has in this tangle of problems that the world is in, taking all these into consideration.” “As citizens of the Republic of Turkey, where Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave the message of ‘Peace at home and in the world’, we wanted our children to experience this pride in this environment we are in, in terms of national unity and solidarity in our country, all the events we should be proud of, in terms of peace in Turkey. And we wanted to remind our flag, our children’s feelings and thoughts about our flag, in an environment of awareness.” he said.

“WE WILL HOLD NICE EVENTS THAT WILL STRENGTHEN OUR NATIONAL UNITY AND COOPERATION”

Stating that the theme of ‘Flag love’ will continue in Ramadan, Minister Tekin said, “We started the academic year with the theme of ‘Flag love’. As of Monday, there were flag-related activities in all our schools in Türkiye. On social media, our teachers and schools shared their flag-related activities and events. We have organized nice events to raise awareness in the best way possible for our children and young people about the Turkish flag, our flag with the crescent and stars, which we are honored to live under, to live in its shadow, to wave over us. I hope this will continue during the term. “We will organize beautiful events that will strengthen our national unity and solidarity. Now the month of Ramadan is approaching and Ramadan is a very important month for us in terms of our national unity and solidarity, and with the same theme, we will strive to create an environment where our children will protect our national unity, traditions, customs and culture.” he said.

Minister of Internal Affairs Ali Yerlikaya, in his statement on his NSosyal account, stated that they caught 90 suspects with a transaction volume of 1.1 billion lira in the operations carried out by the gendarmerie for the crime of “cyber fraud” in 15 provinces in the last 2 weeks.

58 SUSPECTS WERE ARRESTED

Yerlikaya stated that 58 of the suspects were arrested, judicial control provisions were implemented for 25 of them, and the procedures for the other suspects were continuing, and said:

“We prevented our citizens from suffering material and moral damage due to the crime of ‘cyber fraud’ that could be committed through these people. The suspects caught in operations carried out by our Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices, Gendarmerie Cyber Crimes Department and Provincial Gendarmerie Commands under the coordination of MASAK, centered in Ankara, Antalya, Çanakkale, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmir, Konya, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Ordu, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak, Trabzon and Van. It was determined that they placed illegal bets and acted as intermediaries in the transfer of money obtained from crime, defrauded our citizens with the personal data they obtained, and committed fraud with fake advertisements through their social media accounts.

If you have any suspicions about cybercrime or criminals, call our 112 Emergency Call Center immediately. Let’s do what is necessary. I congratulate those who contributed.”

In the statement made by the Competition Authority, it was stated that within the scope of the findings obtained in the Mobile Ecosystems Sector Review initiated by the Board, concerns emerged that the current contract structure formed between Google and mobile device manufacturers following the Google Android decision dated September 2018 may be in violation of the Law on the Protection of Competition.

ANDROID UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

Pointing out the behaviors of concern, the statement said, “These behaviors include the de facto exclusivity effect regarding the ‘Google Search’ widget, providing a broad default advantage to Google Search through certain services of Google such as ‘Google Chrome’ and ‘Google Voice Assistant’, providing various advantages to the ‘Google Chrome’ browser, prohibiting device manufacturers who license the operating system from developing a new operating system based on the Android open source code or using a third-party operating system based on the Android open source code on their devices.” expressions were used.

INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN STARTED

In the statement, it was stated that in addition to these concerns, which were shaped within the framework of the contractual relationship between the company and device manufacturers, some of Google’s recent policy changes within the scope of the “Android Developer Verification Program” affecting Android application developers were also included in the scope of examination, and the following was noted:

“It has been determined that the changes in question impose certain obligations on developers, and it will be evaluated whether this policy of Google constitutes a violation of competition. In this context, by the decision of the Board, an investigation has been launched into the allegation that Google violates the law through the contracts signed with device manufacturers and the Android Developer Verification Program.”

Some detained defendants and their lawyers attended the hearing, which was held by the Istanbul 1st High Criminal Court in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penal Institution.

Some detained defendants did not come to the hearing due to open views of the detainees and convicts in the prison.

Some of the undetained defendants, including Aziz İhsan Aktaş, as well as CHP executives, party members and relatives of the defendants were also present at the hearing.

The hearing, where intense security measures were taken in and around the hall by gendarmerie personnel, is followed by many members of the press.

The hearing continues with the defense of Kazım Gökhan Yankılıç, one of the detained defendants.

WHAT HAPPENED?

In the 579-page indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Beşiktaş Municipality, Avcılar Municipality, Esenyurt Municipality, Istanbul ASFALT Factories San. and Tic. AŞ and Istanbul Electric Tramway and Tunnel Enterprises General Directorate are listed as “damaged by crime”, 19 people are listed as “victims” and 200 people, 33 of whom are detained, are listed as “suspects”.

In the indictment, Aziz İhsan Aktaş, one of the defendants, was accused of “forming an organization for the purpose of committing a crime”, “rigging a tender” for 42 different acts, “rigging the performance of an act” for 4 different acts, “forgery of official documents” for 5 different acts, “forgery of private documents” for 21 different acts, “fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations”, “giving bribes” for 10 different acts, “causing crime arising from crime”. It is requested that he be sentenced to 187 to 450 years in prison for the crimes of “laundering property values” and “making false invoices” and that the assets he acquired from crime be confiscated.

In the indictment, which requested that Avcılar Mayor defendant Utku Caner Çaykara, who was suspended from his duty after his arrest, be sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for 2 different acts of “tender rigging” and “taking bribes”, Esenyurt Mayor defendant Ahmet Özer, who was suspended from his duty, was sentenced to 3 to 9 years in prison for 2 different acts of “tender rigging” and 2 different acts of “forgery of private documents”. It is requested that he be punished with up to 100,000 years of imprisonment.