Bilal Erdoğan, in his speech at the “Common Mind Meeting” program organized by the Union of International Democrats (UID) in Aleppo, said that Syria becoming a strong country and Türkiye’s brotherly neighbor country would be an achievement not only of Syria but also of the conscience of humanity. Stating that they have been working with the understanding of “What can we do for Syria” since December 8, 2025, and that this visit will enable Türkiye’s hand of friendship to reach Aleppo faster and do better things, Erdoğan said:

“Our brotherhood with Syria is unlike anything else. We are not talking about brotherhood in words, protocol or diplomacy. We truly feel at home here. We feel like we are in a town as close as if we left Istanbul to Bursa. We feel the same feeling when we leave Istanbul and go to Skopje. We feel it when we leave Istanbul and go to Sarajevo. We leave Istanbul to Konya, from Istanbul to Samarkand, Bukhara, We feel it when we go to Baku. Because we have a geography of hearts that others cannot understand. That’s why we want to know whether a world war will break out today. Where else will genocide continue? We believe that in this dark world, where the ongoing wars, the ongoing persecutions, the ongoing genocides will end, it is still possible, and that humanity will prevail with God’s grace.” Stating that the International Democratic Union is a union of people who keep the torch of hearts and the light of conversation bright, Erdoğan stated that Türkiye is one of the central countries of the world.

Emphasizing that Türkiye is one of the countries that left their mark on the 21st century, Erdogan continued as follows: “If there is to be a transfer of civilizational watch while these great power rivalries continue in the world, where Türkiye stands will play a very important role in this transformation, this important transformation. Therefore, Turkey has to work not only to strengthen itself, but also to ensure that all the members of our heartland, along with Turkey, of all brother countries that are members of this alliance of human conscience, are prosperous, stable, peaceful and strong. For this reason, the International Democratic Union is only about the Turks in the world.” It is not an organization of the diaspora. It is also the only non-governmental organization in the world that will stand by our entire heartland, encourage them, organize, support and encourage them to get better education, to be more effective in business and to rise to higher positions in the politics of the countries they live in. Therefore, the International Democratic Union has a very big mission. This mission does not only concern Türkiye. “It concerns.”

Erdoğan, who is in Kazakhstan to attend the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council Meeting and the Unofficial Summit of the Organization of Turkic States, continues his contacts.

HE INSPECTED THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTER

President Erdoğan inspected the Alem.AI Artificial Intelligence Center after the Türkiye-Kazakhstan Business Forum.

Erdoğan received information about the center from Kazakhstan President Tokayev and other officials who accompanied him, and watched the video about Türkiye projected on the screens.

During his visit, President Erdoğan was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, AK Party Deputy Chairman Ömer İleri, President of the Organization of Turkish States (TDT) Aksakals Council Binali Yıldırım, Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, Presidential Foreign Policy and Security Chief Advisor Akif Çağatay Kılıç and Presidential Private Secretary Hasan Doğan.

Minister Çiftçi visited AK Party Erzurum Provincial Headquarters and met with Provincial Chairman İbrahim Küçükoğlu and members of the organization. Minister Çiftçi said that Erzurum has been one of the cities that has embraced the national will most strongly for centuries, with its heart climate kneaded with faith, the spirit of brotherhood and the love of the nation.

Stating that the AK Party, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is not just a political movement, but a great cause movement born from the heart of the nation, Minister Çiftçi said: “Our Erzurum organizations have always demonstrated the strongest will in our fight shoulder to shoulder with our nation against tutelage focuses, dark calculations and circles that want to set up a game on Turkey. With God’s permission, the vision of the Turkish Century rising under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” “In line with this, we will continue to carry our country to a stronger future in every field, without deviating from the policy of work and service.”

Minister Çiftçi said, “Each member of our organization, who works day and night, assumes a great responsibility for Türkiye to reach a stronger future. May God always preserve our unity, solidarity and belief in our cause.”

Accordingly, the letter of the General Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Justice dated 13 May regarding the proposal to determine the judicial districts of the newly established Sandıklı, Serik, Suşehri and Ortaca High Criminal Courts was discussed by the General Assembly of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors.

The General Assembly decided to remove the Sandıklı district from the judicial district of the Afyonkarahisar High Criminal Court and determine the judicial district of the Sandıklı High Criminal Court as “Sandıklı, Hocalar and Kızılören districts”, to remove the Serik district from the judicial district of the Manavgat High Criminal Court and to designate the judicial district of the Serik High Criminal Court as “Serik district”, to remove the Suşehri district from the judicial district of the Şebinkarahisar High Criminal Court and to determine the judicial district of the Suşehri High Criminal Court. It was decided that the judicial district of Ortaca High Criminal Court will be determined as “Ortaca, Dalaman and Köyceğiz districts”, and that Ortaca district will be removed from the jurisdiction of Fethiye High Criminal Court.

The decision will be implemented as of the date the specified courts become operational.

In the indictment prepared by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Aziz İhsan Aktaş, Gürkan Dölekli, Özer Ayık, Hakan Bahçetepe, Seza Büyükçulha, Baki Aydöner, Erdal Celal Aksoy, Gözde Bahçetepe and Aziz Lal were listed as “suspects”.

While the indictment included 2 separate actions, in the evaluation of the first action, it was stated that the suspects Seza Büyükçulha and Baki Aydöner were included as defendants in the “Ekrem İmamoğlu profit-oriented criminal organization” case.

Looking at the crimes charged against Aydöner in this case and the actions the suspect was involved in, it is stated in the indictment that he used his power to gain unfair advantage by using his closeness to İmamoğlu, even though he did not have a position in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and that he met with contractors and had their receivables collected from the municipality, and in return he obtained financial benefits.

In the indictment, it is stated that the suspect used a vehicle registered in the name of Aziz İhsan Aktaş’s company for nothing, that Aktaş gave him 100 thousand dollars after meeting the suspect and made a kind of gesture. “It was put forward in the case where ‘Ekrem İmamoğlu profit-oriented criminal organization’ is being tried.” statements were included.

In the indictment, it was stated that Aktaş met people named Baki Aydöner and Ertan Yıldız through Burak Korzay, and that he aimed to solve their business and problems by meeting the financial demands of these people.

In the indictment, the suspect Aydöner stated in his defense that he had rented the vehicle, but that there was no invoice etc. Although he stated that he returned the vehicle because it was not given to him, it was stated that in addition to his CHP political identity, he also had a tradesman identity from his family, and that he was in a position to know the procedures of renting a car, like everyone else.

In the prepared indictment, the following was noted:

“Therefore, his statements about the unfair benefits he received from Aziz İhsan Aktaş were not taken into account, it was understood that the suspect acted with the aim of solving problems in CHP municipalities and making money from people and contractors who requested the municipality, and that the suspect Seza Büyükçulha gained influence by using his close friendship with İmamoğlu, and tried to meet the demands and solve the affairs of people who made demands from CHP municipalities. Therefore, although the suspects Baki Aydöner and Seza Büyükçulha were involved in the excavation “Although they do not have the direct authority to issue permits and business licenses, it has been observed that they have the influence to obtain these permits.”

BRIBERY, FORGERY IN OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, FORGERY IN PRIVATE DOCUMENTS…

In the indictment, which states that the suspect Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who is tried for the crimes of “establishing a criminal organization for profit purposes”, “rigging a tender”, “rigging the execution of an act”, “bribery”, “forgery of official documents”, “forgery of private documents”, “laundering of assets resulting from crime”, “opposition to the tax procedure law”, made sincere statements by showing active remorse during the investigation phase, the mayors and mayors who demanded money from him. It was noted that he shared what he knew about the people in contact with these people with the chief prosecutor’s office, tried to concretize the acts of giving money with receipts and dates, and that the statement taken in this context was seen to be compatible with the determined issues.

In the indictment, it was stated that it was not unusual for Aktaş to accuse himself and his partner, the suspect Gürkan Dölekli, regarding the excavation permit received from the Gaziosmanpaşa Municipality and the process of opening a business and working license obtained from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality of the commercial enterprise of which he is a partner, and added: “Considering the communication and base records before the dates when both permits were given, the suspects Aziz İhsan Aktaş and Gürkan Dölekli were accused of the work carried out on their behalf by Bedaş in the Gaziosmanpaşa Municipality, which was kept on hold.” It was evaluated that “they gave 200 thousand dollars to the suspects Hakan Bahçetepe, through the suspects Seza Büyükçulha and Baki Aydöner, for the excavation permit and the business opening and working license held in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and the suspects Baki Aydöner and Hakan Bahçetepe gave a base in Gaziosmanpaşa district on May 8, 2024, 1 day before the excavation permit was given.”

In the indictment, which stated that the suspects Bahçetepe and Özer Ayık had common base information on May 1, 2024 and May 3, 2024, it was stated that they had base information in close proximity on the date the excavation permit was given.

In the indictment, it was stated that they gave a bribe of 300 thousand dollars to Erdal Celal Aksoy, and the person who delivered the money to the suspect Bahçetepe was the suspect Özer Ayık.

In the indictment, which stated that the bribery agreement with Aksoy was made through the suspect Büyükçulha, it was stated that Aksoy made a joint decision with Büyükçulha on September 3, 2024, and with Dölekli on September 7, 2024.

In the indictment, when the base records of the suspect Dölekli are examined, it is stated that he met with the suspect Erdal Celal Aksoy shortly before and shortly after the license permit, and considering that the suspect Dölekli had contact with the other suspects Bahçetepe, Aydöner and Büyükçulha, the statements of the suspect Aktaş were consistent and the defenses of the other suspects were aimed at avoiding the accusations.

In Action 2, the indictment stated that Hakan Bahçetepe, after being elected Mayor of Gaziosmanpaşa in the 2024 local elections, abused his position and made unfair profits, and in this context, he bought a vehicle for 3 million 70 thousand liras on June 28, 2024, approximately 2 months after he became mayor.

In the indictment, it was stated that it was understood that the suspect bought it on behalf of his wife’s father, the suspect Aziz Lal, because he was a public official, he was obliged to declare his property, and it was possible to determine whether the criminal goods were subject to registry.

Although the suspect Aziz Lal stated that he paid for the vehicle with the dollars he had at home, the indictment stated that it was not unusual for him to keep around 100 thousand dollars of money at home. “Considering the financial data of the person, the vehicles used by Hakan Bahçetepe before becoming the mayor were very old model, cheap vehicles, the fact that it was not unusual for him to keep money in foreign currency at home due to his location and the job he did, and the fact that the suspects Hakan and Gözde Bahçetepe used the vehicle, Hakan Bahçetepe’s ill-gotten income and his wife It was stated that “in order to cut the causal link between the vehicle that was the subject of the crime that he bought for Gözde, he registered the vehicle in the name of the suspect Aziz Lal, and in this way, the suspects, as a participant, committed the crime of laundering the assets resulting from the crime.”

In the indictment, it was stated that after becoming the mayor of Bahçetepe, he acquired a vehicle worth 3 million 70 thousand liras, that the suspect’s MASAK data was examined, that there were very low amounts of money movements in his account before he became mayor, that the money paid for the vehicle was not obtained with the earnings of his own work and effort, and that his action constituted the crime of “unfair acquisition of property”, since it was not determined that it was acquired within the scope of “bribery” or “extortion”.

REQUEST FOR UP TO 24 YEARS OF PRISON AGAINST HAKAN BAHÇETEPE

In the indictment, Hakan Bahçetepe was asked to be sentenced to imprisonment from 10 to 24 years for the crimes of “illegal acquisition of property”, “laundering of criminal assets” and “taking bribes”.

Other suspects, Gürkan Dölekli, Baki Ayöner, Özer Ayık, Seza Büyükçulha, Erdal Aksoy, Gözde Bahçetepe and Aziz Lal, were requested to be sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 3 to 24 years for crimes such as “taking bribes”, “giving bribes”, “intermediating bribes”, “laundering assets resulting from crime”.

The indictment also states, “Since the suspect Aziz İhsan Aktaş reported and informed our Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office about the acts of bribery to both Hakan Bahçetepe and Erdal Celal Aksoy before the investigation began, it is requested to decide that there is no need to apply the provisions of Article 254/2 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 on the suspect Aziz İhsan Aktaş and to impose a penalty on the suspect.” It was said.

The investigation of the indictment by the Istanbul 35th High Criminal Court continues.

Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu made statements about the health agenda in a live broadcast on a television channel. Minister Memişoğlu said, “Everyone should know that there is no risk of such an epidemic regarding hantavirus at the moment. Our society should be reassured in this regard. The statements of our Ministry of Health should be taken into consideration, not speculations. Turkey is a country that has proven to the world the resilience and capacity of its health system in the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been one of the countries that manage this in the best way. We are currently capable of preventing and monitoring all kinds of epidemics with our health system and manpower. We are prepared together with our stakeholders against such risks.”

“TEST RESULTS OF 5 CITIZENS ARE NEGATIVE”

Announcing that the test results of 5 citizens who were tested for Hantavirus were negative, Memişoğlu said, “Two of our citizens had left the ship before, and we quarantined them. We took our three citizens in isolation from the moment they got off the ship with our own plane. The Hantavirus tests of these five people were negative, and the 42-day quarantine period continues.”

“WE HAVE EXPERIENCED AN INCREDIBLE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN THE FIELD OF HEALTH WITH THE HEALTH TRANSFORMATION PROJECT”

Stating that Türkiye is one of the countries that provide the best health services in the world with its health system, Memişoğlu said, “Our ancestors and civilization have always prioritized the health system. Now, under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, since 2002, we have experienced an incredible development process in the field of health with the Health Transformation Project. Turkey has become one of the countries that provide the best health services in the world with its health system.”

“TÜSEB HAS TAKEN IMPORTANT STEPS IN THE LAST 10-15 YEARS WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF USHAŞ”

Stating that TÜSEB has supported 2 thousand projects in the last year, Minister Memişoğlu said, “Turkey has taken important steps in terms of producing in the field of health in the last 10-15 years with the establishment of TÜSEB and USHAŞ. These studies began to intensify a year and a half ago when our President put forward his vision of the ‘Healthy Turkey Century’ with the ‘Health that Protects, Develops and Produces’ model. We are ‘Producing “We put the Turkish Health Institutes Presidency at the center of the ‘health’ model. TÜSEB supported 2 thousand projects in the last year.”

Emphasizing that the applications in CAR-T cell therapy have been carried out since December, Minister Memişoğlu said:

“We have created the Producer Health Portal. Through this portal, we bring together the idea, finance and manufacturer under the Presidency of the Turkish Health Institute. In fact, what we do is to take the idea and knowledge of the scientist and the idea person, bring them together with the finance and the manufacturer and turn it into a commercial product. Starting from the commercial product stage, we are trying to create a large health production system and ecosystem with the support of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry and Technology. About a week ago, we started working on the production and development processes of the domestic color Doppler ultrasonography device. “We have signed the agreement. Thus, Turkey will be able to produce its own Doppler ultrasonography device in two years. We have supported 4-5 places regarding hematological cancer and blood cancer treatments through TÜSEB. We carried out our first production and application in local CAR-T cell treatment in December in our Ankara Etlik City Hospital, and we have successfully applied it to many of our patients.

“WE HAVE MADE AN ARRANGEMENT TO MEET THE SOCIAL SECURITY INSTITUTION”

Stating that Türkiye’s contribution to domestic manufacturers and scientists is high, Minister Memişoğlu said, “There are 985 very comprehensive clinical studies in Türkiye, 10 of which were produced with domestic ideas. We want to increase this number. If we, as the Ministry of Health and TÜSEB, carry out clinical studies of a domestic idea that will benefit Türkiye together, we have made an arrangement so that the Social Security Institution will cover the costs of our patients in these clinical studies. This has a great contribution to Türkiye’s domestic producers and scientists.”

“OUR TARGET IS TO EXPORT 10 BILLION DOLLARS IN 5 YEARS AND 50 BILLION DOLLARS IN 10 YEARS”

Minister Memişoğlu said that a “Domestic Vaccine Call” was made for 8 vaccines through TÜSEB and that the Hepatitis A vaccine was produced domestically, and that the Hepatitis A vaccine was given to hospitals. Stating that only a few countries in the world can produce the swallowable tablet-shaped endoscopy device, Minister Memişoğlu announced that Türkiye has carried out its preclinical study. Minister Memişoğlu said, “We produced the domestic heart-lung machine together with ASELSAN. We delivered it to Bilkent Hospital for the first time. We will use it for the first time in the coming days. We support all kinds of initiatives and technological investments that are produced locally and say new things with their truly national values. Thus, Turkey has actually started to make new progress in terms of health. Turkey has a great potential as a health sector with its infrastructure, including health tourism, including the pharmaceutical industry, including material and device manufacturers. I always express this; our “Our goal is to export 10 billion dollars in 5 years and 50 billion dollars in 10 years,” he said.

“WE HAVE A HEALTH TOURISM CAPACITY BETWEEN 2-3 BILLION DOLLARS”

Minister Memişoğlu said, “Turkey is a country that has the infrastructure and manpower to achieve this export target, plus the capacity to do this now. We have 1,700 of our own healthcare producers. We have 800 pharmaceutical factories, 200 of which produce their own medicine. When you look at these, we have the capacity to easily achieve this with the support of scientists, city hospitals, and TÜSEB. But when you look at the moment, we have a pharmaceutical export of approximately 2 billion dollars, 2-3 billion. “We have a health tourism capacity of 100.000 USD, but this is not enough for us anymore. We have the infrastructure to go much higher than this,” he said.

“Türkiye IS NOW A PARTNER IN HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTION”

Stating that SMA drugs are produced by Turkey, Minister Memişoğlu said, “Let our scientists, engineers and health producers produce them. We, as the Ministry of Health, are ready to use them in our health system. As long as they produce them. When you look at it, we support 2,000 projects. We are now producing our SMA drug ourselves. Clinical studies have started. The SMA drug has reached the final stage of the preclinical study licensed by TITCK, with the support of the private sector and TÜSEB. “We produce our own SMA medicine that we provide for use. I say this internationally as well; we say that Turkey should no longer be seen as just a market in health. Turkey is now a partner in technology and production, and plays a role.”

“WE CARRY OUT CANCER SCREENING IN FAMILY PHYSICIANS AND HEALTHY LIFE CENTERS”

Talking about the work carried out within the scope of ‘Preventive Health’, Memişoğlu said, “Within the scope of ‘Preventive Health’, we provide cancer screening to people of a certain age group, free of charge, in Family Physicians and Healthy Life Centers. In fact, we need to prioritize prevention before treatment. We have screened 7 million people in the last year. We followed up 276 thousand of them at secondary and tertiary levels by making an appointment at our hospital with the suspicion of cancer. And by supporting them with advanced examinations, we diagnosed 28 thousand people with early cancer. Thus, we both cured cancer and restored people’s lives. We say, ‘Don’t be afraid of cancer, be afraid of being late.’ We want our society to have these early screenings and free screenings, especially in Family Physicians and Healthy Life Centers.”

Speaking about cesarean section surgery, Minister Memişoğlu said:

“We want our citizens to benefit from health services to stay healthy. They should not receive services from us only for illnesses. In order to stay healthy and live a healthy life, we invite them to Smoking Cessation Clinics, Healthy Life Centers, Family Health Centers. I am the Minister of Health. I am obliged to tell people about being healthy and how to stay healthy. Just as I say not to smoke, if I say that smoking is harmful to health, if I say that smoking kills people, causes lung cancer, increases the risk of heart attack, and causes vascular diseases; “I say that cesarean section is also a form of surgery, that cesarean section should not be performed unless it is necessary, that what is physiological, that is, natural, is normal birth, vaginal birth, and what is normal in terms of both mother’s health and child health is natural birth.”

” FOR THE FIRST TIME IN Türkiye, THE C-ESAREA RATE TENDED TO DECLINE LAST YEAR”

Stating that the caesarean section rate in Türkiye tended to decrease for the first time last year, Minister Memişoğlu used the following statements:

“When is this type of surgery (cesarean section) necessary? At most, one and a half out of 10 births; that is, between 1 and 1.5. But we currently perform cesarean section in 6 out of 10 births in Türkiye, more than half of them. Our current cesarean rate is 59.7 percent. Our cesarean rate in the first birth is 30.4 percent, that is, 1 in 3 births. However, the World Health Organization medically states that 1 in 10 births requires cesarean section. “If you have 6 out of 10 births, you have at least 4 elective cesareans. We have appointed coordinator midwives in every hospital. We have created the infrastructure for midwives to attend and coordinate birth. Our midwives will accompany expectant mothers in the last three months of their pregnancy. We have created a phone application called ‘Motherhood Journey’ in our hospitals, family physicians and healthy life centers.” “I want to make our cesarean section rates healthy together with our expectant mothers and doctors. Last year, for the first time in Türkiye, the cesarean section rate started to decrease after many years. We will reduce this even further together.”