Politics
Pope’s 1st foreign trip highlights Türkiye’s rising role in peace
Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign visit, a six-day trip to Türkiye and Lebanon from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2, is drawing attention from Vatican experts who say the pontiff aims to strengthen dialogue with the Islamic world and spotlight diplomatic paths to resolving Middle East tensions. Analysts note that beginning his international outreach in Türkiye underscores Ankara’s growing weight as a regional mediator.
Giorgio Del Zanna, an associate professor at Milan’s Sacro Cuore Catholic University who specializes in contemporary and Turkish history, said the decision to start the papacy’s foreign travels in Türkiye reflects both symbolic and strategic priorities.
“Relations with Türkiye are very important for Pope Leo XIV because they have many meanings,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA), noting the country’s central place in Muslim-Christian engagement and its influence across multiple regional crises.
Del Zanna said the trip aligns with the broader outreach initiated under Pope Leo XIV’s predecessor, Pope Francis, who signed the “Universal Human Fraternity Document” with Muslim authorities in 2019.
He argued that Pope Leo XIV’s stop in Türkiye continues that approach by encouraging partnership between the Catholic Church and the Islamic world on issues of peace and coexistence. “Türkiye is a Muslim country, and relations with Muslims and Islam are very important for building peace,” he said.
Beyond symbolism, analysts point to Türkiye’s diplomatic initiatives, from the Russia-Ukraine grain deal efforts to dialogue channels in Syria, as key reasons the pontiff is giving Ankara three full days on his schedule.
Del Zanna stressed that Türkiye’s posture against military escalation and its attempts to prevent regional crises from widening make it a valuable interlocutor for the Vatican.
“Above all, Türkiye is playing a very important mediator role today,” he said. “This demonstrates the importance he places on Türkiye.”
Italian journalist Cristiana Caricato, a veteran Vatican correspondent who has covered papal trips for decades, said the pairing of Türkiye and Lebanon in one journey reflects the pope’s desire to approach the Middle East with heightened sensitivity. She recalled that Pope Leo XIV emphasized disarmament and peace in his first public message after his election in May.
According to Caricato, the visit allows the pontiff to address issues tied to the Holy Land and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with diplomatic balance while advancing his broader message.
“He will carry the message of disarmament and peace he delivered on his first day of election,” she said. The trip, she added, demonstrates a commitment to dialogue, friendship and mutual respect at a time when the region is grappling with overlapping crises.
Experts also note that Pope Leo XIV’s visit places Türkiye once again at the center of a historic relationship between Ankara and the Vatican. The pope will become the fifth pontiff to visit the country, following trips by Pope Francis in 2014, Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, Pope John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Paul VI in 1967.
The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has alleged that vehicles, equipment and other assets worth more than TL 250 million (approximately $5.1 million) were reported to have been removed or gone missing from its provincial and district offices during the formation of the New Party (YP).
The alleged losses followed a court ruling declaring the CHP’s leadership election legally invalid, triggering a period of internal turmoil and disputes over party property.
According to findings cited by CHP officials, the vehicles and equipment were allegedly taken from party offices across Türkiye’s 81 provinces, Sabah newspaper reported.
Individual criminal complaints have been filed with prosecutors under the coordination of CHP Deputy Chair Tahsin Tarhan, seeking investigations into the missing assets.
The allegations also involve seven district headquarters previously rented by the CHP. Rental agreements were reportedly changed following arrangements with property owners, allowing the buildings to be transferred to the New Party without the CHP leadership’s knowledge.
The affected districts reportedly include Akyurt and Altındağ in Ankara.
A court ruling in a case concerning alleged irregularities at the CHP’s November 2023 convention declared the congress null and void and reinstated Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the previous party administration.
In late July, following escalating tensions within the party, Özel and 90 lawmakers resigned from the CHP and established the New Party.
Meanwhile, several missing CHP vehicles were reportedly located in industrial repair facilities and scrapyards. Party officials alleged that many returned vehicles had been deliberately damaged, potentially requiring millions of liras in repairs.
The whereabouts of office furniture, computers, sound systems and air conditioning units remain unknown.
CHP officials further alleged that equipment belonging to the party had been transferred to newly established New Party offices.
Turkish defense companies showcased advanced underwater systems, sonar technologies and unmanned maritime platforms in the western province of Izmir as part of the Türkiye-hosted Nusret-2026 Invitation Exercise.
The exhibition at the Port of Alsancak brought together 16 defense companies presenting technologies for underwater operations and mine countermeasures to Turkish and foreign military representatives participating in the exercise.
The Nusret-2026 Invitation Exercise is being held from Oct. 6-16 in the Gulf of Izmir and off the coast of Karadeniz Ereğli. Alongside Turkish forces, the exercise includes units from NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) and the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Group (MCM Black Sea).
Havelsan presented a remotely operated underwater vehicle developed with the company’s own resources that can operate at depths of up to 300 meters (985 feet).
Zekiye Bilinç Serintuna, Havelsan’s underwater systems group leader, said the platform is equipped with sensors and systems enabling navigation and precise positioning. It can be used for military and civilian missions, including search and rescue, mine countermeasures, pipeline monitoring and ship hull inspections.
Meteksan Defense also showcased underwater acoustic technologies, including sonar systems developed for ships and submarines.
The company introduced two new products at Nusret-2026: the Submarine and Underwater Vehicle Detection System (SUVDES) and the National Synthetic Aperture Sonar System (MİLSAS).
SUVDES is designed for tasks including harbor security, protection of critical facilities and the detection of unmanned maritime vehicles.
State-owned defense manufacturer MKE, meanwhile, displayed several systems developed for naval warfare.
They included the Denizhan national naval gun, the Pirana kamikaze unmanned surface vehicle and the Malaman smart bottom mine, alongside infantry rifles used by naval forces.
A total of 20 ships, five aircraft and various unmanned systems are taking part in the exercise, which focuses on mine countermeasures and maritime operations.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi will be in Athens on Thursday. Ministry sources said Wednesday that the purpose of the visit was “cooperation in fighting against transboundary crime, terrorist groups and next-generation criminal gangs.”
He is scheduled to meet Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum Thanos Plevris and Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis. Çiftçi’s talks will focus on joint steps in the above-mentioned areas.
The Turkish and Greek officials will discuss extradition of members of criminal gangs and how to enhance cooperation in this area, ministry sources also said.
Çiftçi stepped up Türkiye’s contacts with neighboring countries in the joint fight against transboundary crimes and recently paid visits to Bulgaria and Georgia to this end.
The minister last visited Athens in April for a trilateral meeting with Plevris and Bulgarian Interior Minister Emil Dechev on security-related issues affecting the three neighboring countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that any confrontation between Türkiye and Greece over the Aegean Sea or the island of Cyprus would benefit neither country nor the U.S., stressing Washington’s commitment to preventing tensions between the two NATO allies.
Speaking in an interview with Greek newspaper Kathimerini during a visit to Athens, Rubio dismissed the prospect of a conflict between Ankara and Athens, describing such a scenario as unthinkable.
“It wouldn’t be good for anybody. It wouldn’t be good for Greece. It wouldn’t be good for Türkiye. It wouldn’t be good for the United States,” Rubio underlined, adding that Washington would not allow such a situation to develop.
Rubio also addressed the proposed Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) electricity project linking Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration and Israel, acknowledging potential obstacles and emphasizing the importance of diplomatic engagement.
He said Washington intended to use diplomatic channels to encourage solutions, arguing that sensitive disagreements were best addressed through private negotiations.
Highlighting Türkiye’s strategic importance, Rubio noted that Ankara had previously hosted negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and maintained cooperation with Washington on several regional issues.
On Türkiye’s efforts to acquire U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, Rubio reiterated that President Donald Trump supported a potential sale but acknowledged that existing U.S. legislation remained a significant obstacle.
He said restrictions tied to Türkiye’s acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems must be resolved before Washington could legally proceed with the transfer.
“The issue is the S-400 system,” Rubio said, adding that the matter remained unresolved despite possible diplomatic solutions.
Türkiye was removed from the multinational F-35 program in 2019 after acquiring Russia’s S-400 air defense system, prompting U.S. sanctions despite Ankara’s role as a production partner in the fighter jet program.
The U.S. and Greece announced $4 billion (TL 196.86 billion) in military sales under the Foreign Military Sales program to support Athens’ long-term defense plans, as the two countries pledged Wednesday to strengthen security and economic cooperation.
The announcement followed the sixth round of the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue in Athens, co-chaired by Rubio and Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, according to a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department.
Both sides said the sales would bolster Greece’s defense capabilities and improve military interoperability, while also pledging to explore further cooperation between their defense industries, particularly in emerging and innovative technologies.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) admitted Cemil Tugay, mayor of Türkiye’s third-largest city, Izmir, on Wednesday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented Tugay with the party’s badge at an official ceremony in Ankara, at the party’s congress center of the party.
Tugay has recently resigned from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and met Erdoğan at the presidential complex last month. His switch marks a major turning point for the opposition, which lost a large number of mayors to the AK Party since the 2024 election. This will be the first time the AK Party will run the municipality of Izmir, a traditional stronghold of CHP, which itself lost substantial power when former chair Özgür Özel resigned and founded New Party (YP) in July.
The event Tugay attended was originally a gathering to mark the start of the new legislative year, which began last week. However, the mayor was the highlight of the event attended by a large crowd of supporters, as well as several ministers. Tugay’s switch was not fully official before the AK Party’s social media account released a video on Tuesday evening, showing flowers blossoming over a mountain of garbage, in reference to an old anthem about Izmir dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first president of the Republic of Türkiye and founder of the CHP.
Tugay, elected mayor in 2024 as a CHP candidate, left the opposition party in June, one month after a bitter split among supporters of reinstated chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Özgür Özel, who was ousted after a court verdict annulling his chairmanship on charges of vote-buying in a 2023 intra-party election. Despite consecutive wins in most provinces and districts in the past two decades, where it dominated the political landscape, the AK Party found little support in the city, which is viewed as the heartland of CHP voters. The opposition supporters staged a rally against the switch on Tuesday in Izmir. Tugay has defeated AK Party lawmaker Hamza Dağ in the 2024 vote, winning 48% of the vote against Dağ’s 37%. CHP has also won 28 of Izmir’s 30 district municipalities in the same election.
CHP suffered losses of mayors since the 2024 elections as criminal investigations uncovered a vast network of corruption in most municipalities in what the AK Party called “tentacles of an octopus.” Tugay’s predecessor Tunç Soyer is also in custody in a similar investigation into corruption.
A total of 108 mayors joined the AK Party from other parties in the past two years and most are from CHP. Metropolitan municipalities of Ankara and Istanbul remained CHP domains until Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş resigned from the party in September, while Istanbul is governed by Nuri Aslan, an acting mayor who succeeded Ekrem Imamoğlu, the first metropolitan municipality mayor of the opposition party to be arrested on charges of corruption in 2025. Imamoğlu’s conviction may prompt a new election at the municipality. Both Yavaş and Imamoğlu were viewed as future presidential contenders of CHP. Imamoğlu was officially declared such after his arrest. Özgür Özel, who nominated Tugay in the 2024 election, claimed on Tuesday that Tugay was forced to defect to the AK Party while accusing him of treason in the same statement.
‘Here to win hearts’
Speaking at the ceremony, Tugay, accompanied by his wife Öznur on the stage, said he joined the AK Party “to be a friend of those devoted to this cause for a strong Türkiye under the leadership of our president.” “I came here with faith and trust,” he told the applause of AK Party supporters. He recalled his upbringing in Izmir as the child of a modest family and how he served his country for about 30 years as a doctor. “Then, someone I respected told me that the best way to serve the nation is through politics and I took upon this advice.” He mentioned his past as mayor of Izmir’s Karşıyaka district and how he provided services for “all residents of Izmir without discrimination.” “All residents have been a family to me,” he added. He pointed out that Izmir was a precious city of patriotic people. “It is an honor to serve this city,” he said.
Tugay also reasoned his switch to the AK Party with past remarks by Erdoğan, who repeatedly said the AK Party was “friend of the disenfranchised.” “I am engaged in politics to defend the rights of forgotten people living on the periphery of cities, forgotten poor, to defend the rights of farmers and small business owners,” Tugay said. He then quoted Sufi poet and mystic Yunus Emre: “I am not here to fight, I am here for love. Hearts are abode of my friends; I am here to win hearts.” “Under the leadership of our president and valuable support of experienced AK Party family, we embark on a journey to revive Izmir, to resolve its problems,” he said. During long reigns of CHP, Izmir was embattled with a variety of problems, particularly in garbage collection and poor infrastructure.
President Erdoğan said at the ceremony that the AK Party family was growing with new members. “Those who are fed up with the pressure of party barons doing everything in exchange for bribes, those who do not want to be subjected to obscene insults in the middle of the night, and those who seek to serve their cities in peace and harmony see the AK Party as the safest address,” Erdoğan said, in veiled remarks towards Özgür Özel, whose WhatsApp correspondence with a district mayor in Ankara, where he hurled insults over his anticipated switch to the AK Party, was made public. Özel and other top figures of the opposition were also accused of asking for bribes in return for the nomination of mayors, according to the statements of the former mayor of Antalya province, who was arrested earlier on corruption charges.
The president, who made his name in politics after his election as Istanbul mayor in 1994, noted that the AK Party was behind the revolutionary changes in municipal governance with landmark public services. “No one can compete with the AK Party’s approach to municipal governance. No one can compete with the AK Party on finding practical solutions to problems, delivering results quickly, developing projects and setting out a vision for our cities. Municipal governance may be a means of personal benefits for others, but for us, it is solely a means of serving the nation.”
Erdoğan said municipal governance could be a means for others to enrich themselves, their spouses, friends and associates, but for his party it is a position of heavy responsibility that requires serving the nation, making sacrifices and working day and night for the people, referring to the corruption scandals plaguing the opposition.
The president then turned to Tugay and said: “Welcome to the AK Party family; we are delighted to have you with us.” He said they would support Tugay in his efforts to serve Izmir, the “pearl of the Aegean,” and its residents.
Istanbul will host the International Justice Summit on Oct. 8-9, bringing together justice ministers, members of the judiciary and legal experts from more than 70 countries for talks on global justice challenges, including accountability in Gaza, human rights, artificial intelligence and cybercrime.
The two-day summit, hosted by Türkiye’s Justice Ministry at Istanbul’s Çırağan Palace, is expected to draw around 600 participants, the ministry said.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek will deliver the opening address, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to attend the second day of the gathering and address participants.
The summit will feature 40 speakers across eight sessions, along with representatives from 18 national bar associations and more than 30 international organizations. Participating justice ministers are also expected to hold bilateral and diplomatic meetings on the sidelines.
Discussions will cover the implementation of international humanitarian law and accountability, with Gaza serving as a case study, as well as international arbitration, human rights and the future of legal professions.
Other sessions will focus on social media responsibility, migration and burden-sharing, the legal implications of the global energy transition and emerging challenges in the digital sphere.
A panel on international justice in the digital world will address cybercrime and artificial intelligence as well as efforts to establish global norms to respond to rapidly evolving technologies.
In a message published on the summit’s website, Gürlek said challenges ranging from digital threats and energy crises to violations of humanitarian law and income inequality had become major global problems that no country could address alone.
He called for stronger international cooperation and said a broadly accepted international legal framework should be supported by institutions capable of responding to the needs of a changing world.
“Uniting around the universal power of justice and developing international cooperation mechanisms should be our fundamental goal,” Gürlek said.
Gürlek noted the summit would provide a platform for new ideas and discussions on humanitarian law, international arbitration, technological transformation and migration.
He also highlighted Istanbul’s historical position as a crossroads between East and West and a meeting point for different civilizations and legal traditions.
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