Politics
Syria appoints envoy to oversee deal with US-backed YPG
A general was appointed on Saturday as Syria’s presidential envoy to oversee the implementation of the Jan. 29 deal with the U.S.-backed YPG terrorist group, according to state media.
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), citing the Presidency’s media directorate, said Brig. Gen. Ziad al-Ayesh has been assigned to follow up on the accord and facilitate integration under the authority of the Syrian state.
The Presidency said the appointment is intended to enhance the presence of state institutions, remove administrative obstacles, and activate public services in areas covered by the agreement.
Al-Ayesh hails from the village of Arjah al-Jawalah in the countryside of Hassakeh province in northeastern Syria, according to Syrian media outlets. He holds a degree in Sharia from Al-Ouzai University in Lebanon and a master’s degree in business administration from Idlib University in northwestern Syria.
Prior to the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, 2024, al-Ayesh headed civil affairs at the Interior Ministry of the Salvation Government in Idlib.
On Jan. 30, the Syrian government announced that it had reached a “comprehensive agreement” with the YPG aimed at ending division in the country and launching a new phase of integration. It said the deal covering the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli and the integration of military forces complements a previous agreement signed on Jan. 18.
The latest agreement followed a military operation by the Syrian Army in which it regained large areas in eastern and northeastern Syria after repeated YPG violations of a March 2025 accord.
Syrian authorities have taken over management of Qamishli airport as part of an ongoing process to integrate YPG and institutions into the national government, state media reported Saturday.
The SANA news agency, citing the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, said officials had toured the facility on Saturday after assuming control and “discussed mechanisms to restart its operations.”
The head of the authority, Omar al-Husari, said on X that taking over the airport was “an important institutional step in the process of unifying the management of airports under the umbrella of the state.”
YPG had taken over the airport following the fall of longtime dictator Bashar Assad just over a year ago.
While it was not open to civilian flights, Russia had used part of the facility as a base before withdrawing last month.
Qamishli is the only airport in northeastern Syria, and for years served as a lifeline for the region’s residents, particularly during nearly 14 years of civil war beginning in 2011, during which there were regular flights between it and Damascus.
The airport had remained under the government’s control during the war, and continued to receive flights up until Assad’s overthrow.
In November 2019, Russian forces turned the airport into a military base to oversee the implementation of an agreement that followed Türkiye’s large-scale cross-border operations in Syria to drive out the YPG from areas it occupied near the Turkish border.
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said Thursday that proposed legislation under the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative would pave the way for “a new era of brotherhood,” while reiterating that the measure would not amount to a general amnesty.
Speaking at a ceremony at the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM), Kurtulmuş said the initiative had reached a critical stage following months of work by Parliament’s National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, which brought together representatives from nearly all political parties.
“Our goal is to build a terror-free Türkiye,” Kurtulmuş said, describing terrorism as a decades-long burden that had cost the country thousands of lives and significant economic losses.
He said the proposed legislation would not constitute either a general or personal amnesty and would apply only after authorities verify that the terrorist group has laid down its arms, dissolved its organizational structure and permanently ended its activities.
“This law will by no means create a general amnesty in Türkiye,” Kurtulmuş underlined. “What matters is opening the doors to a new era.”
Implementation of the legislation will be conditional on the verification and confirmation that the terrorist group has laid down its arms. A commission will be established to oversee this process. Developments on the ground will be reported to Parliament every six months.
The legislation will apply to members of the terrorist group PKK who have laid down their arms and have not been involved in criminal acts, including those currently in prison or residing in European countries. Eligible individuals will be released under a three-year probation period. If they commit another offense during that period, they will be prosecuted under existing laws.
Senior leaders of the terrorist group, as well as members responsible for bombings, armed attacks, killings and other violent crimes, will be excluded from the legislation.
Kurtulmuş said the process had been carried out with great care and through cooperation among state institutions and political actors. He described the initiative as the result of what he called the convergence of “state wisdom and the nation’s collective conscience.”
He also said Türkiye had an opportunity to leave behind decades of violence and painful memories, arguing that the country was entering a new phase focused on national unity, democratic consensus and social cohesion.
“The doors to a new era will be opened with the adoption of this law,” Kurtulmuş said. “Türkiye will begin a completely new period of brotherhood.”
He added that strengthening national solidarity, democracy and social unity would reinforce Türkiye’s position and ensure that no external force would be able to hinder the country’s progress.
Türkiye should develop its own technopolitical doctrine that combines strategic capability, secure artificial intelligence design and public legitimacy as AI reshapes global power, according to a report published Friday by the National Intelligence Academy (MIA).
The report, titled “Technopolitical Order Debates in World Politics and Türkiye,” argues that artificial intelligence has evolved beyond a technological innovation into a strategic asset that influences state capacity, economic competitiveness, social trust and the balance of power in international politics.
The publication comes as governments around the world compete to secure leadership in AI, semiconductor production, critical minerals, energy resources and data infrastructure, areas increasingly viewed as central to national security and geopolitical influence.
In the report’s foreword, MIA President Prof. Dr. Talha Köse said future international competition would be shaped not only by AI technologies but also by advanced chips, critical minerals, energy supplies, data infrastructure and robotic systems that enable them.
Köse said debates over technology policy are becoming the defining framework for global politics, economics and society, adding that Türkiye must become an active participant in the emerging technological order to avoid strategic surprises and capitalize on new opportunities.
The report describes AI as one of the primary determinants of strategic capacity, arguing that competition now extends beyond technological superiority to include governments’ ability to make data-driven decisions, the growing influence of private technology companies over public life, the preservation of democratic legitimacy and the role of human agency in an increasingly automated environment.
Researchers identify three major schools of thought shaping the emerging technopolitical order.
The technorealist approach views AI primarily as a source of geopolitical and military advantage for states. The technopragmatist perspective emphasizes secure, reliable and governable AI systems. The technohumanist approach prioritizes human dignity, individual freedoms and social justice in technological development.
Rather than adopting a single framework, the report argues that Türkiye should combine the strengths of all three approaches to build a balanced and realistic national strategy.
According to the study, Türkiye already possesses several advantages, including experience gained through its defense industry, AI-assisted decision-making capabilities, operational expertise and accumulated data resources. Cooperation between public institutions and the private sector, along with a growing pool of qualified professionals, was also identified as a competitive asset.
At the same time, the report points to structural challenges, including fragmented data governance, inconsistent standards among institutions, uneven data quality and the need for greater transparency and accountability. It says technological capabilities should be reinforced through stronger institutional governance.
The report argues that Türkiye’s long-term position in the AI era will depend on developing an original technopolitical model that integrates strategic capacity, secure system design and social legitimacy within a single institutional framework.
It also warns that treating AI solely as an instrument of technological superiority could reinforce new forms of global hierarchy. Instead, the report says Türkiye’s civilizational heritage and human-centered approach could enable it to offer an alternative governance model while evolving from a country that primarily adopts AI technologies into one that shapes its own doctrine and governance framework.
Among its policy recommendations, the academy calls for strengthening Türkiye’s national AI infrastructure, improving data governance, expanding interdisciplinary education and increasing the country’s technopolitical diplomatic capacity. It also recommends adopting a risk-based AI governance model, establishing common standards across public institutions, reducing technological dependence on foreign suppliers, playing a more active role in international technology governance and transferring innovations developed in the defense sector into civilian applications.
The report concludes that the technopolitical transformation driven by artificial intelligence extends far beyond technological advancement, affecting national strategy, economic resilience, social structures and international influence. It says Türkiye’s long-term strategic interests will depend on becoming one of the countries helping shape the emerging global AI order rather than simply adapting to it.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said on Thursday it would not recognize or engage with the EU’s “special representative for Cyprus,” stressing that the appointment carries no legitimacy because it was made without their consent.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry of the TRNC said the EU’s decision to appoint Raffaele Fitto, an executive vice president of the European Commission responsible for cohesion and reforms, as its representative was made at the request of the Greek Cypriot administration.
The ministry described the move as another attempt by the bloc to interfere in the decades-old dispute.
The statement came ahead of Fitto’s planned trip to the island and after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare, two-day visit earlier this week.
The ministry said the EU had lost its neutrality on the Cyprus issue when it admitted the Greek Cypriot administration to the bloc in 2004, disregarding the will of the Turkish Cypriot people.
It stressed that the “strategic mistake” further emboldened the Greek Cypriot side’s “uncompromising attitude,” deepened the inequality between the two sides and became one of the main obstacles to reaching a settlement.
The TRNC also said it was unacceptable for the EU to appoint a special representative when the United Nations itself had refrained from appointing a special envoy.
“The appointment of a so-called Cyprus special representative at the request of the Greek Cypriot administration, without the consent of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and while completely disregarding the will of the Turkish Cypriot people, has no legitimacy from our perspective,” the ministry said.
It added that the government would not accept any activities Fitto may carry out in that capacity or any attempt to intervene in any process concerning the island. “There is also no question of engaging with him in any way,” the statement said.
The island has been mired in a decadeslong dispute, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks that began in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at the annexation of Cyprus by Greece led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983. The country is recognized only by Türkiye, which does not recognize the Greek Cypriot administration in the south.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process, but negotiations have been stalled since 2017.
During his visit, U.N.’s Guterres said resolving the island’s division is “absolutely crucial” for stabilizing a turbulent region where persistent conflicts have the potential to escalate.
Guterres, whose term as U.N. chief expires at the end of the year, said he’s prepared to call a meeting of the 5-plus-1 group – the Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman, the Greek Cypriot administration head Nikos Christodoulides, the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Greece, and Britain, plus the U.N. secretary-general – in hopes of resuming full-fledged peace talks.
But Guterres said more preparations are needed to ensure the meeting’s success.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has “cleansed itself,” its chair, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, recently claimed, but the new era of calm within the party may not last long. After losing its status as the main opposition party, the CHP is now bracing for another potential bout of internal strife following the departure of former Chair Özgür Özel, who founded the New Party (YP). Media outlets reported this week that a group of lawmakers plans to challenge Kılıçdaroğlu in a future intra-party election. The move may threaten Kılıçdaroğlu’s efforts to reset the party by unloading those associated with corruption allegations.
Kılıçdaroğlu was reinstated as party chair in May after a court ruling nullified Özel’s chairmanship over allegations of vote-buying in the party’s 2023 leadership election. Before his departure, Özel called on the Kılıçdaroğlu administration to convene another party congress, expressing confidence that he could win the next leadership race. The CHP had earlier announced that preparations for the congress would begin in September, and Kılıçdaroğlu’s challengers are reportedly already working behind the scenes.
One of them is Gürsel Erol, a lawmaker representing Elazığ province, who recently lost the race for the post of CHP parliamentary group chair to Faik Öztrak. Erol won the first two rounds of voting before withdrawing from the third. After the election, he made a pointed statement, claiming there was a “monopoly” within the party without naming anyone directly.
Ali Öztunç, a lawmaker representing Kahramanmaraş province, made similar remarks in an interview with a pro-CHP YouTuber, saying the party is not “anyone’s property.”
“We stayed in the CHP so it would not be shut down, but some people see it as their own property. Now they will face intra-party opposition,” he was quoted as saying.
Öztunç and Erol were among the lawmakers who remained with Kılıçdaroğlu’s CHP, while Özel took nearly 100 lawmakers with him to the YP. Öztunç has emphasized that they will continue pushing for a party congress as soon as possible “to reinvigorate the CHP.”
Media outlets reported that Öztunç, Erol and like-minded lawmakers would try to persuade Kılıçdaroğlu not to seek re-election as party chair. The Turkish service of the BBC reported on Thursday that around 15 of the CHP’s 44 lawmakers, who describe themselves as proponents of a “third way,” would soon release a joint declaration outlining their position. According to the report, they neither support Kılıçdaroğlu’s leadership nor are they willing to join the YP. It added that they could leave the CHP to sit as independents or join the YP if Kılıçdaroğlu refuses to meet their demands.
So far, Kılıçdaroğlu has remained vague about whether he will seek another term as party chair, though he said in a recent interview that he would “consider running” if nominated by other party members.
The New Party (YP), founded by Özgür Özel after his departure from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), began setting up offices across the country last Friday. As the party seeks to attract voters, its chairperson, Özgür Özel, found himself in hot water, at least among some supporters, after a video showing him performing Islamic ablution circulated on social media.
The video shows the YP chair washing his face, arms, feet and head, following the rules of the Islamic ritual required before performing prayers almost to perfection. Some of Özel’s supporters accused him of resorting to a ploy to attract conservative voters, who have traditionally favored the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) over the CHP, which advocates a more secular ideology and seeks to keep religion out of the public sphere. Before establishing the YP, Özel pledged to adhere to his former party’s ideological principles while also seeking to appeal to a broader cross-section of voters.
Some social media users claimed the video was a public relations stunt, while the YP released a statement saying it had been recorded before the party’s foundation by a supporter during Özel’s visit to the northern city of Kastamonu. The party said it had not approved the video’s release and insisted that Özel was unaware he was being filmed while performing ablution. Özel’s staunch supporters said the video was quite natural and highlighted the everyman image of the chairperson.
Özel was also photographed praying at the tomb of a Muslim mystic in Ankara on the day the party was founded, an image that contrasted with an earlier video showing him drinking rakı beside the grave of a former lawmaker, footage that had angered many pious Turks.
Whether it was a PR stunt or not, Özel will need as much voter support as possible ahead of the 2028 general election, his first major electoral test as leader of the YP and of the country’s main opposition party.
His lieutenants met with journalists on Thursday to discuss the party’s road map. Party Secretary-General Yunus Emre said the party’s headquarters had not yet been fully opened and would be ready within a month. YP Deputy Chair Ensar Aytekin told reporters that branches would be established in 60 provinces and their districts by the end of next week.
The Palestine Convoy, bringing together civil society representatives and volunteers from different countries to draw attention to human rights violations in Palestine and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, entered Türkiye through the Ipsala Border Gate in Edirne after setting off from Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The convoy, which has brought together civil society representatives from more than 20 European countries in solidarity with Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, crossed into Türkiye on Thursday through the Ipsala Border Gate on the Greek border after departing from Srebrenica. The 85 participants, who traveled through Albania and Greece, will cross Iraq and Jordan before reaching the border of the occupied Palestinian territories on Aug. 21, 2026. They were welcomed at the border crossing by civil society organizations from Istanbul carrying Turkish and Palestinian flags.
Speaking at the border crossing, Palestine Convoy spokesperson and Turkish activist Hüseyin Durmaz said the journey began in Srebrenica, where they commemorated the genocide that took place there 31 years ago.
“There, we commemorated the genocide that took place 31 years ago, prayed for those killed and reflected on the fact that evil is a shared responsibility. We believe our silence contributed to the suffering because we could not intervene or reach those in need at the time. That is why we have taken action so as not to remain silent about what is happening today in Gaza, the West Bank and Palestine. It is our duty to stop a genocide taking place in our own lifetime,” he said.
“Our convoy continues its journey with the participation of activists from many countries around the world. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece, it has received tremendous public interest and support across the Balkans,” he said.
Durmaz said the convoy has three main objectives.
“First, we do not want the West Bank to become another Gaza. As you know, Israel is currently pursuing a very serious policy of forced displacement in the West Bank and openly says it intends to turn it into another Gaza. It is our duty to prevent that.
“At a time when Israel should be withdrawing from Gaza following the cease-fire and humanitarian aid should be entering the territory, we see that it is instead expanding its occupation every day and making plans to annex all of Gaza. Humanitarian aid is still not reaching Gaza. Because of the cease-fire, Gaza has also begun to fade from the global agenda, and we want to bring it back into international focus and increase pressure on Israel.”
Durmaz said the convoy has been expanding “like a snowball” by meeting with people and raising awareness of the Palestinian cause.
Durmaz said the convoy’s mission is to help stop what he described as genocide.
“The issue is ending this genocide in our own era. We will continue this journey until it ends. As you know, we have taken part in many global initiatives before, but each time we were only able to go so far. This time we are following a route that has already been tested. We believe the countries along the route will not obstruct our march or our convoy because we are not targeting those countries or their domestic politics. Our only target is Zionism and what we see as its genocidal policies. Our aim is to increase its international isolation and help bring an end to these actions,” he said.
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