According to the statement made by the Ministry; Under the coordination of the Gendarmerie General Command’s Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime and Cybercrime Departments and the Artvin Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, operations were carried out against the organized crime group in Artvin, Istanbul, Izmir and Erzurum by the Artvin Provincial Gendarmerie Command. In the operations carried out; 35 suspects were caught, who were found to have made unfair profits by defrauding citizens through websites, demanding money from citizens by calling them by phone by introducing themselves as lawyers, and threatening citizens who did not pay. 28 of the suspects were arrested, and judicial control provisions were applied to 7 of them. As a result of the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) investigations, account activity of 510 million TL was detected in the suspects’ accounts. An injunction was imposed on 2 immovable properties, 5 movable assets worth 75 million TL and 333 bank accounts belonging to the suspects. As a result of the operations, a large number of digital materials and documents were seized.

Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek shared a post about the April 27 E-memorandum on his social media account.

Minister Gürlek included the following statements in his post:

“The April 27 E-memorandum was an intervention attempt targeting the elected government and directly against our nation’s right to sovereignty and the rule of law.

“OUR PRESIDENT’S DETERMINED STAND WAS A HISTORICAL TURNING POINT”

The determined stance of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, based on the will of the nation, was a historical turning point and frustrated this initiative. Türkiye today; If it is a state of law whose route is not drawn by declarations, but guided by the nation that reveals its will at the ballot box, this was made possible by the strong leadership displayed by our President on April 27 and the unwavering support given by our beloved nation to this will. This stance went down in history as one of the most important breaking moments in the struggle against the coup and memorandum mentality in Türkiye.

The will put forward on April 27 gained even more strength with the epic resistance of our nation on July 15. As the Ministry of Justice; continues to take national will as a basis and to not allow any shadow of tutelage over our democracy; On the anniversary of the April 27 E-memorandum, we once again emphasize our determination to protect our democracy. On this occasion, we declare that we are against all kinds of anti-democratic initiatives; that we will never compromise on law, justice and national will; “We express in the strongest possible way that the periods of tutelage and coup are now completely behind us.”

The April 27 E-memorandum was an intervention attempt targeting the elected government and directly against our nation’s right to sovereignty and the rule of law. Our President Mr. @RTErdogan’s determined stance based on the will of the nation was a historical turning point and this initiative was thwarted… pic.twitter.com/p9hjz7m9MJ

— Akın Gürlek (@abakingurlek) April 27, 2026

According to the information obtained, a dawn operation was organized against Halfeti Municipality by the Şanlıurfa Provincial Police Department Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Branch Directorate and the Birecik District Police Department teams, under the instructions of the Birecik Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

During the operation, 49 people were detained on the grounds of corruption in tenders during the trustee period and the administration period that continued from the local elections in 2019 until 2024. It was learned that among those detained were the mayor of that period, Şeref Albayrak, deputy mayors, vice mayors, committee members, unit managers, engineers and technical personnel.

While 4 of the detained suspects were released after giving their statements to the prosecutor’s office, 45 suspects were transferred to Şanlıurfa Mehmet Akif İnan Training and Research Hospital for a medical report after their procedures at the police station. After the health checks were completed, the suspects were transferred to Birecik Courthouse under extensive security measures.

AK Party Deputy Chairman and Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik made statements regarding the April 27 e-memorandum, which has passed 19 years.

Emphasizing that military and judicial tutelage fell on Ankara with all its darkness in those days, Çelik said that it may be difficult for someone who did not experience those days to understand those days from today.

Stating that today, Cabinet Meetings are held under the chairmanship of the President, these meetings are at the center of politics and all eyes are on the evaluations and decisions to be made in these meetings, Çelik said, “But it was not like this in those days. The whole center was the National Security Council (MGK) meetings. Because the National Security Council meetings were the area of ​​military tutelage to make politics.” he said.

“WHATEVER DECISION YOU MAKE AS A GOVERNMENT, IT WAS ADJUSTED BY THE MGK”

Ömer Çelik stated that on those dates, the National Security Policy Document was systematically placed on top of the Constitution, and a tutelage presidency was tried to be constructed over the prime minister, and said, “There were policies made in the National Security Council in order to obsolete the vote and political will of the elected government from the citizens. In other words, whatever decision you took as the government, it was somehow adjusted and its direction was changed in the National Security Council. The culmination of this in Türkiye is this memorandum tradition.” he said.

Stating that the governments were left completely politically dysfunctional through the memoranda, that they were turned into a shell, that the will they received from the nation was taken away, Çelik noted that the next stage of this was the coup.

AK Party Spokesperson Çelik continued as follows:

“The military memorandum was another way of saying that if you do not surrender your political will to the tutelage authorities in Türkiye, you will face direct armed intervention. Therefore, the memorandum was unfortunately one of the important instruments of a bad tradition that extremely poisoned, destroyed, destroyed and rendered dysfunctional the democratic life in Türkiye. No government could resist this throughout the history of the Republic. So what is the importance of April 27? For the first time in the history of the Republic, a Prime Minister, our President and the AK Party government are here.” “They resisted the memorandum. Actually, we shouldn’t call it a memorandum, because they wanted to give a memorandum. When the government resisted, it became a piece of paper. In other words, this was something that was not planned and was a first in Turkish political life.”

“WHEN THE GOVERNMENT RESPONDED, THE WHOLE EQUATION WAS REVERSED”

Reminding that the memorandum tradition was interrupted for a long time after the AK Party came to power, Çelik said, “Even some of our journalist friends who called us that night said, ‘The fax machines, which have been silent for a long time under the military tutelage, will start working tonight.’ That’s how we were already informed. We informed our President, then our Prime Minister, in this way. But of course, what was not taken into account was that it was never thought that a government could respond to the memorandum mentality. Therefore, democracy is above the elected will.” “While trying to create a great darkness, the whole equation turned upside down when the government responded and what was designed as a memorandum turned into a piece of paper.” he said.

Reminding that the e-memorandum in question, which was prepared by the then Chief of General Staff and the team around him, contained a wide range of statements, including how the President and the national education policy should be, Çelik made the following statements:

“But the main thing is this, firstly, after that day, the tradition of the memorandum ended never to be revived again. Secondly, military tutelage was something that has always been a foreign-supported fiction in Türkiye, which has governed our democracy as a pattern of destruction. I remember very well, for example, the February 28 period, you can clearly see that external connection during the closure case filed against the AK Party. This was an approach that was also unfair and disrespectful to the Turkish Armed Forces. Therefore, that night, our President, as Prime Minister, “The resistance and the total resistance of the government, the AK Party and the national will, the support of the civil society, and the correct attitude of some political parties, upset the result that was tried to be achieved in the memorandum initiative.”

“THEY BOTH GIVEN A MEMORAND AND THEY AVOID TAKING THE PHONES”

Emphasizing that that night was not as comfortable as he describes today, Çelik said, “In other words, it was a scene in which the most intense darkness fell on Ankara and where the outcome of the situation could not be predicted. But the determination shown that night, that is, the will of our President, the clear attitude of the nation not to surrender its elected will to any tutelage focus, and the picture of being ready to pay it no matter what, revealed this situation. In fact, it was the most revolutionary transformation and positive transformation in favor of democracy and civil politics in Türkiye’s history of democracy, in our political history during the Republic period.” “It is one of the important turning points.” shared his opinion.

Çelik said the following about that night:

“They want to hold those who gave the memorandum accountable that night. In other words, the Prime Ministry is calling to say, ‘How can you give such a memorandum?’ But they both gave the memorandum and are avoiding answering the phone. They had such a situation of running away for 15-16 hours. When it was announced that the government would respond, they tried to come forward. So you see how unqualified, how ugly, how much disrespect to Turkish democracy, unfortunately, a bad tradition has been formed and this has continued for years. “In Türkiye, there was a situation where you came to power with the will of the people and left power with the will of military tutelage. Many examples of this have been seen in the past. That bad tradition, the disrespect that haunted democracy and the national will was ended that night.”

In the 579-page indictment prepared last October 20 against 200 suspects within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office; There are names such as suspended Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çanyaka and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin. The detained defendants, the unarrested defendant Aziz İhsan Aktaş and their lawyers were present at the hearing, which was held in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penitentiary Institution in Silivri.

HE REVEALED THE DIRTY STRUCTURE WITH DOCUMENTS
The Secret Witness who came to the witness stand at the hearing was connected via SEGBIS. He stated that the information given by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who was tried as the leader of the organization, by taking advantage of effective remorse, confirmed the “stinking structure” in the municipalities. The witness said, “The operation of the bribery scheme in my statements that I previously submitted to the prosecutor’s office exactly matches the documents presented by Aktaş.”

“THE WEDDING WAS FINANCED BY THE CONTRACTOR”
Detailing how the bribery system worked, the secret witness said, “Tenders were given to well-known companies through direct procurement, thus earning huge profits. The figures were inflated, exceeding the market value, or irregularities were made by showing high number of pieces, in a method known to everyone in the market. Ali Can Abacı’s wedding was built by a contractor at that time, and Aziz İhsan proved this with his documents.”

The Zero Waste Movement started on September 27, 2017, under the auspices of First Lady Erdoğan. The project, which was carried out under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and turned into a global environmental movement, saved money in many areas from the environment to energy, from greenhouse gas emissions to storage space, and invested in both the economy and the future. Türkiye aims to increase the recovery rate to 60 percent in 2035. The project turned into a global movement with March 30 International Zero Waste Day, which was declared by the UN on December 14, 2022, under the leadership of Türkiye and the support of 105 countries.

ZERO WASTE FORUM
Zero Waste Foundation President Samed Ağırbaş emphasized that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has a special vision for Istanbul and said, “Erdoğan wants to make this city a center of the United Nations (UN). Under the leadership of Emine Erdoğan, we want to follow this vision in the context of zero waste and environment. In this context, we aim for more than 10 international organizations to open their offices in Istanbul, where they will carry out zero waste activities, in the next 5 years.” Ağırbaş said that the Zero Waste Movement has now crossed continents and that they see the positive contribution of this movement to the world in almost every country. “We are organizing the Zero Waste Forum at Atatürk Airport on 5-7 June. More than 150 countries will participate there and we expect more than 5 thousand participants. It is the world’s largest civil environment and zero waste event.” he said. Explaining that as of today, more than 200 mayors from around the world will be at the Zero Waste Forum, Ağırbaş said, “We will talk about zero waste practices with local government and private sector representatives there.” “As a foundation, under the leadership of Emine Erdoğan, we have offered a platform to all environmental organizations in the world where they can discuss freely and express their ideas freely,” he said.