Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office announced on Sunday that an investigation had been launched into alleged wrongdoing by Mustafa Erdem, a lawmaker for the main opposition New Party (YP).

Erdem’s name came up in digital correspondence involving a suspect captured during a counternarcotics operation in the capital earlier this week.

Authorities said Erdem would be investigated for bribery. The correspondence, allegedly between the drug operation suspect and Erdem, indicates that the lawmaker had a $5 million (TL 244.71 million) deal with the man, reportedly over a forensic report intended to help arrested Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek. Erdem left the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), of which Böcek is also a member, after the YP was founded in July by the CHP’s former chair, Özgür Özel. Erdem’s constituency is based in Antalya, where Böcek was arrested last year on charges of widespread corruption. Earlier, Böcek had admitted to secretly sending a substantial amount of cash to CHP headquarters and Özel as a bribe to secure his candidacy in the previous municipal elections.

The correspondence, purportedly between Erdem and A.B., who had links to organized crime, according to Turkish media, shows A.B. swearing at the lawmaker and claiming that Erdem had “defrauded” him by failing to pay a “promised” bribe. In a statement Saturday, Erdem acknowledged that he had corresponded with A.B. as well as M.E., another suspect in the case, but said he had only sought legal counsel to see whether Böcek’s imprisonment could be converted to house arrest due to the mayor’s health problems. He denied offering money to either man and claimed he was threatened by people he did not know after his contact with M.E.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday, his second visit to the country since March. Turkish diplomatic sources said his talks would focus on several issues and Ankara would “confirm its full solidarity with the UAE, one of the countries most affected by the war in the Gulf.” Fidan and Emirati officials will also review preparations for the second upcoming meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council.

Sources said Fidan would emphasize how outside intervention has worsened conflicts in the region and underline the need to strengthen “regional ownership” in his talks in the UAE. “Regional ownership” often comes up in Fidan’s talks regarding the region, which has been fragmented and driven into conflicts for decades due to the intervention of what Türkiye calls “imperialist powers,” namely European countries.

Fidan is expected to emphasize the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for regional and global stability, and to stress that a united Yemen that has achieved peace and stability is also critical to security in the Middle East.

Sources said Fidan was also expected to say that the second phase of the Peace Plan for Gaza should begin without delay, humanitarian conditions should be improved, and reconstruction efforts should be launched. In this context, he is anticipated to hold consultations on the work of the Board of Peace, of which both countries are founding members.

Separately, the minister will emphasize the importance of the international community taking a determined and united stance to preserve and make permanent the ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon in the face of attacks by “occupier Israel,” sources said.

Türkiye and the UAE have maintained a strategic partnership since 2023. The first meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council, established between the two countries in 2023, was held at the leaders’ level in Ankara on July 16, 2025. The UAE is the Gulf country with the largest investments in Türkiye and Türkiye’s largest trading partner in the Gulf. Trade volume between the two countries stood at $19.346 billion in 2025.

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Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz offered condolences Friday for soldiers who lost their lives during a military exercise in the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan.

In a message posted on social media, Yılmaz said he shared the grief over the deaths of the soldiers during the exercise in “friendly and brotherly Kazakhstan.”

“I extend God’s mercy to the soldiers who lost their lives and offer my condolences and patience to their families, loved ones and the people of brotherly Kazakhstan,” he said.

Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran also expressed condolences to Kazakhstan over the deaths of 12 soldiers in the accident during the military exercise.

“I was deeply saddened by the loss of soldiers in the tragic accident that occurred during a military exercise in the Caspian Sea in brotherly Kazakhstan,” Duran said in a social media post.

“I ask God to have mercy on the fallen soldiers and extend my condolences and patience to their grieving families and the people of brotherly Kazakhstan. On this painful day, we stand with our friend and brother Kazakhstan. May they rest in peace,” he added.

Ömer Çelik, deputy chairman and spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), also issued a condolence message for the soldiers who died during Thursday’s exercise in the Caspian Sea.

Çelik said they had learned with deep sorrow of the accident during the military exercise.

“We extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of the soldiers who lost their lives, as well as to the people of our friend and brother Kazakhstan,” Çelik said.

He added that he shared Kazakhstan’s grief on its day of national mourning and expressed hope for positive news from the search and rescue efforts.

The death toll rose to 14 after soldiers were swept into the sea during a military exercise in Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea.

The accident occurred Thursday off the coast of Aktau during a training exercise involving naval units.

Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry said rescue teams recovered the bodies of Sgt. Mansur Gumarov and private Miras Turdibekuly during search and rescue operations, bringing the number of fatalities to 14.

The ministry said the search and rescue operation had been concluded.

Authorities had initially reported that 19 soldiers were swept into the sea during the exercise on Sept. 24 after weather conditions suddenly deteriorated and winds intensified. Three soldiers were initially reported to have been rescued, while the Defense Ministry later revised the number of soldiers swept into the sea to 17.

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Türkiye’s Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu met his Pakistani and Saudi counterparts in Riyadh as the three countries moved forward with cooperation under the recently signed Mecca Joint Defense Agreement.

Bayraktaroğlu attended the meeting in the Saudi capital alongside Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and Saudi Chief of General Staff Gen. Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, the Defense Ministry said.

The talks were held within the framework of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement signed between Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The meeting brought together the three countries’ senior military commanders as Ankara, Islamabad and Riyadh continue efforts to deepen defense coordination under the agreement.

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The United Nations General Assembly hosted a diverse array of leaders from around a fragmented world mired in conflict. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were high-profile figures in the Turkish delegation to the assembly. Speaking to journalists after his busy week, Fidan said Türkiye championed dialogue over conflict, diplomacy over crisis, and cooperation over division during the event in New York.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Fidan said he had taken part in more than 40 bilateral meetings and multilateral gatherings, with Palestine remaining a central issue on Türkiye’s diplomatic agenda.

He stressed Ankara’s commitment to resolving regional and global challenges through diplomacy.

Fidan said the Turkish delegation brought up Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza and its occupation and annexation activities at every meeting it attended.

He noted that in his 16th address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Erdoğan once again drew international attention to the plight of the Palestinian people.

The president also held 16 bilateral meetings, attended a high-level event on climate action and a just transition, and took part in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders on regional issues. He also met Turkish citizens living in the U.S., Turkish and American businesspeople, and representatives of U.S. think tanks.

Fidan described Erdoğan’s address to the General Assembly as a manifesto setting out Türkiye’s global vision.

Fidan said he met with his counterparts from Indonesia, Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in an eight-country format to discuss Palestine. He also took part in meetings addressing last year’s New York Declaration and comprehensive peace plan. In addition, he held four-way talks with the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as trilateral discussions with his Syrian and Saudi counterparts.

Fidan said he also met the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia under the Mecca alliance framework for comprehensive consultations.

As chair of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers, he presided over its annual coordination meeting in New York.

Türkiye also co-hosted a meeting with the U.S. titled “International Support for Peace, Unity and Prosperity in Libya,” he added.

Fidan said regional and global developments were discussed at an informal meeting of the Organization of Turkic States’ (OTS) Council of Foreign Ministers.

He also attended the 30th MIKTA foreign ministers’ meeting ahead of Türkiye assuming the group’s chairmanship in 2027.

U.N. reforms

Fidan said that during the high-level week, Türkiye contributed to U.N. efforts on migration, development, humanitarian assistance, dealing with climate change and food security. Turkish officials also took part in meetings on the Rohingya issue, the Alliance of Civilizations and Crimea, while Türkiye hosted a meeting of the Group of Friends of Mediation. He stressed the need for the international community to develop common solutions to shared challenges, reiterating Ankara’s position that regional problems should be addressed through regional ownership rather than seeking solutions elsewhere.

Fidan said Türkiye also reaffirmed its long-standing support for reforming the U.N. system.

Erdoğan has long pushed for reforms to the U.N., often using the slogan, “The world is bigger than five,” which refers to the Security Council’s unrepresentative membership.

In his address to the General Assembly earlier, Erdoğan argued that the current system gives disproportionate power to its five permanent members. “A system in which the will of more than 190 countries is subject to the whims of five countries is neither fair nor capable of fully inspiring trust,” Erdoğan said. He said the Security Council “must be reformed” in accordance with his longstanding principle that “the world is bigger than five.” Erdoğan outlined several principles for a fairer international system, including applying international law equally to powerful and weaker states, strengthening regional ownership of crises, and putting cooperation and open diplomacy at the center of interstate relations.

During the high-level week, Türkiye also outlined its priorities and initiatives for the COP31 U.N. Climate Change Conference, which it will chair and host this November, Fidan added.

Isolating Israel

Fidan said Israel is facing growing international isolation as diplomatic efforts increasingly translated international opposition to its actions into concrete measures and policies.

“Thanks to diplomatic efforts, Israel’s oppression and massacres no longer go unanswered to the same extent as before. It now has to pay a very heavy price for every action it takes,” he said.

He pointed to legal proceedings involving the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court as examples of the rising pressure on Israel.

On Erdoğan’s meeting with Trump and Gulf leaders, Fidan said the discussions focused on challenges facing the Gaza peace plan launched last year, including Israel flouting its provisions, as well as ongoing tensions in the Gulf.

Erdoğan also presented Türkiye’s proposals for regional peace, addressing the situation in Gaza, the threat posed by Israeli expansionism, and efforts to resolve the impasse over the Strait of Hormuz, he added.

Mecca alliance

Fidan said Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are continuing efforts to establish the institutional structure of the landmark Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, with the aim of appointing a secretary-general within two weeks.

Pakistan has proposed a candidate who is likely to be accepted by the other member states, he said, adding that further appointments will follow once the secretary-general takes office.

Fidan said the three countries also discussed military threats facing Saudi Arabia, including attacks by the Houthis from the south and other attacks from the north.

He said a military-technical assessment meeting had been held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday with the participation of Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu.

Fidan said he had spoken with Bayraktaroğlu to coordinate military assessments with the political approach and had also briefed Erdoğan.

Efforts for Hormuz

On tensions between the U.S. and Iran, Fidan said he had discussed Tehran’s latest proposal with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, including Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

He said he had also received initial impressions of the U.S. response to the proposal but stressed that diplomatic efforts have yet to produce a breakthrough.

“The positive thing is that efforts are continuing. The negative aspect is that they have not yet yielded any results,” he said.

Citing a telephone call between Erdoğan and Trump, Fidan said Türkiye wants diplomatic efforts to continue without a renewed outbreak of hostilities.

He added that Türkiye’s Gulf partners, who have been directly affected by the crisis both economically and militarily, share Ankara’s preference for a diplomatic solution.

Turkish-Iraqi ties

Fidan also spoke about Turkish-Iraqi relations, especially in light of the terror-free Türkiye initiative, which aims to disarm the terrorist group PKK. The PKK, which has killed tens of thousands of people in Türkiye since the 1980s, has its senior leadership holed up in northern Iraq, in a mountainous territory known as Qandil. The group obeyed the instructions of its jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan last year and started the disarmament process. Iraq also started the process of disarming all armed groups in the country outside the security forces, something that also covers powerful Iran-linked militias.

Fidan said Baghdad had adopted a policy aimed at disarming all armed groups in the country, including the PKK and affiliated groups operating in the Sinjar region.

He said the issue had been discussed during Erdoğan’s meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaydi at the Turkish House in New York.

“We are very pleased to see that the Iraqi side has set a political objective of disarming all armed groups in the country. This is a vision we support,” Fidan said.

Türkiye also maintains a military presence in Iraq in its bid to eliminate the PKK, against which the Turkish army has launched multiple cross-border operations in the past.

Fidan noted that Türkiye’s military presence in Iraq, particularly at the Bashiqa base, had originally been established for counterterrorism purposes in cooperation with Iraqi authorities. As Baghdad implements its road map to eliminate terrorism and disarm armed groups, Türkiye could gradually reduce and eventually end its military presence at Bashiqa, he said.

Türkiye’s Chief of General Staff Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend a meeting of military chiefs under the Mecca defense alliance, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

“Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu will travel to Saudi Arabia today to attend the Mecca Defense Alliance Chiefs of General Staff Meeting,” the ministry said in a statement.

The meeting comes as Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan continue efforts to institutionalize cooperation under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed by the three countries in August.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also discussed Thursday the process with his Saudi and Pakistani counterparts during a meeting held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Fidan met Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar as part of the Mecca Agreement for Joint Defense Foreign Ministers Meeting.

According to a statement published by Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry, the ministers reviewed progress made toward establishing a general secretariat, committees and working groups under the agreement, as well as preparations for the commencement of their work.

The ministers condemned in the strongest terms the heinous attacks targeting the holy city of Mecca and civilian and economic facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, the ministers further discussed the current situation in the region, underscoring the importance of upholding the principles of international law, good neighborliness, mutual respect for the sovereignty of states and non-interference in their internal affairs, as well as ensuring the security and freedom of navigation. They reiterated their determination to work together toward achieving sustainable peace and stability in the region, support efforts towards de-escalation and encourage peaceful resolution to crises.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan previously rejected criticism of a newly established defense pact between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Speaking at a panel in New York on Türkiye-U.S. relations, he said it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement by its response to the long-running conflict in Yemen.

Türkiye’s top diplomat pointed to NATO, noting that Article 5, the alliance’s collective defense provision, has been formally invoked only once since NATO was established in 1949, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

“This is not fair,” Fidan said in response to criticism describing the new pact as a “paper tiger.” He said NATO was not subjected to the same criticism despite its decades-long history and argued that the newly established Mecca framework should not be judged against a crisis in Yemen that has lasted about a decade.

“We have just started,” he stated.

Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia held the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee established under the agreement in Istanbul on Aug. 31. At that meeting, the three countries agreed to take further steps to institutionalize cooperation and establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia headed initially by a Pakistani secretary-general for a three-year term.

They also agreed to pursue cooperation in the defense industry, joint technology development and production, as well as efforts to improve interoperability among their armed forces.

The military chiefs of Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan planned an urgent meeting under their joint defense pact to discuss ways to support Riyadh following attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group, the Saudi Foreign Ministry also announced.

The meeting comes after Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted six ballistic missiles launched by the Iran-aligned Houthis toward Taif and Yanbu. The Houthis said they targeted what they described as a sensitive site in Riyadh and Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu with missiles and drones.

Saudi civil defense authorities also issued warnings over potential threats to Mecca, Jeddah, Taif, Yanbu and Tabuk, urging residents to follow official instructions and stay away from gathering areas. Authorities later said the threat had ended.

Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said all six ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis were intercepted and destroyed, including missiles targeting Taif and Yanbu.

Fighting between Yemen’s government forces and the Houthis has intensified in recent months, while the group has carried out missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia.

The military talks come as Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan continue efforts to establish the institutional structure of their new defense framework.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that retired Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood had been appointed the first secretary-general of the Mecca defense alliance.

Mahmood will head the alliance’s general secretariat in Riyadh for a three-year term.

The three countries previously agreed that the secretary-general position would rotate among members, with Pakistan holding the post first.

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