New Party Chair Özgür Özel on Thursday dismissed speculation of a political reconciliation with Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, saying their recent handshakes were merely acts of courtesy and that there was “not even a pinhead-sized place” left for Kılıçdaroğlu in his heart.

Özel, speaking in an interview with Sözcü TV, said the encounters were a matter of courtesy and that his political differences with Kılıçdaroğlu remained unchanged.

The two politicians were seen shaking hands twice within a week, first at the funeral ceremony for former CHP senior official and lawmaker Cevdet Selvi at Parliament in Ankara on Aug. 31 and later at a ceremony marking the opening of the 2026-2027 judicial year.

The encounters drew attention because relations between the two have remained strained since Özel and his supporters left the CHP and established the New Party following a court ruling that reinstated Kılıçdaroğlu and the party’s previous leadership.

Özel said refusing to shake Kılıçdaroğlu’s hand at a funeral would have been disrespectful to the family.

“Reflecting a political tension onto a funeral would be disrespectful to the funeral and the bereaved family,” Özel noted. “If someone extends his hand, leaving it hanging is something I could never accept.”

He gave a similar explanation for their second encounter at the judicial year ceremony, saying Kılıçdaroğlu approached him and extended his hand in front of other senior officials.

“Not returning a greeting or leaving an extended hand unanswered is simply not in my nature,” Özel said.

But he rejected suggestions that the exchanges indicated an easing of their political dispute.

“There is not even a pinhead-sized place left for Kemal Bey in my heart,” Özel said, accusing Kılıçdaroğlu of dividing and damaging the CHP after returning to its leadership.

“You came and ruined the party. You divided it, expelled our colleagues and removed provincial chairs,” Özel said.

A court ruling in a case concerning alleged irregularities at the CHP’s November 2023 convention declared the congress null and void and reinstated Kılıçdaroğlu and the previous party administration.

Özel and his supporters initially rejected the ruling and said they would remain in the CHP. Following escalating tensions within the party, Özel and 91 lawmakers resigned and established the New Party.

Özel also addressed Türkiye’s ongoing “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, saying the process must succeed while avoiding steps that could offend the families of fallen soldiers or veterans.

“Everyone needs to do more than their part,” he said, calling for greater tolerance and an easing of social tensions surrounding the process.

On the other hand, according to a report by the Sabah newspaper, the CHP has accused members of the New Party of taking party property, damaging vehicles and transferring leases on local offices following the split in the main opposition party, with local CHP organizations filing criminal complaints over the allegations.

The accusations follow earlier disputes over control of the CHP’s social media accounts and funds belonging to its parliamentary group after a group of lawmakers and officials left the party to establish the New Party.

According to the CHP, furniture, computers, sound systems, air conditioners and other equipment belonging to its provincial and district organizations remain unaccounted for. Party officials allege that property worth millions of Turkish liras was removed from CHP offices and transferred to newly established New Party provincial and district headquarters.

The CHP has also raised allegations concerning hundreds of party-owned vehicles that had been allocated to local organizations across Türkiye.

Some of the vehicles were allegedly deliberately damaged before being returned or transferred following the party split. The CHP claims sugar was poured into the engines of some vehicles, while others had their undercarriages damaged or electrical cables cut. Batteries were also allegedly removed from several vehicles.

According to the party, individuals who later joined the New Party reached agreements with some property owners to change rental contracts without informing the CHP leadership, effectively transferring control of the premises to the New Party.

Local CHP representatives have filed criminal complaints with prosecutors across Türkiye over the alleged removal and damage of party property, according to party officials.

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Türkiye’s Defense Ministry on Thursday criticized Israel for its military activities in the region, accusing the Israeli government of pursuing “expansionist and aggressive” policies that threaten regional and global stability.

The ministry’s weekly press briefing was held at Baykar’s Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Center in Istanbul, highlighting Türkiye’s growing defense and aerospace capabilities alongside developments in counterterrorism, border security and international military cooperation. Defense Ministry spokesperson Zeki Aktürk made the remarks during the ministry’s weekly press briefing.

Aktürk said the Israeli government was continuing what he described as an effort to turn the entire Middle East into an area of conflict.

He accused Israel of violating the territorial integrity of Syria and Lebanon through its military activities while encouraging what he called “illegal settler terrorism” in Palestine.

The ministry also criticized Israel over what he described as provocative actions in Jerusalem that violate the historical and legal status of Muslim holy sites.

“Israel’s actions, which harm not only regional stability and security but also global stability and security, are increasingly undermining the region’s faith in international law,” Aktürk said.

He said Türkiye would continue its efforts to promote peace and stability in the region and press the international community to take action.

“We will continue to remind the international community that it has a shared responsibility to take concrete and effective measures against Israel’s expansionist and genocidal approach,” Aktürk stressed.

Meanwhile, an analysis published by Israel’s Channel 12 (N12) highlighted Türkiye’s growing influence in the Middle East and internationally, warning that treating Ankara as a military threat could amount to a “serious strategic mistake” for Israel.

The analysis, citing assessments by former Israeli Military Intelligence chief TamirHayman, examined Türkiye’s expanding military and political influence across the Middle East and Africa.

It said Türkiye currently maintains a military presence in at least 13 countries, operates more than 100 military facilities across the Middle East and is also active in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

According to Hayman, Israel risks making a mistake by viewing Türkiye’s growing power primarily through the lens of a direct military threat or hostility.

He warned that applying Israel’s security doctrine, which places military power at the center of foreign policy, to its approach toward Türkiye could have potentially dangerous consequences.

Hayman argued that Türkiye should not be incorporated into Israel’s threat assessment or effectively turned into an enemy state.

Doing so, he said, would constitute a “serious strategic mistake” for Israel.

YPG claims denied

On Syria, the Defense Ministry said it is closely following the dissolution of the YPG terrorist group as part of efforts to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and strengthen the principle of “one state, one army.”

It specifically rejected reports claiming that foreign elements affiliated with the YPG would leave Syria and that some would travel to Türkiye, calling the allegations untrue and urging the public to rely only on official statements concerning the process.

“Claims that foreign members of the YPG will leave Syria and that some of them will come to Türkiye do not reflect the truth,” the ministry underlined.

Mecca Defense Alliance

The ministry also provided details on the Mecca Defense Alliance established between Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, saying the three countries are moving to give the cooperation a more institutional structure.

Defense and foreign ministers, as well as chiefs of general staff from the three countries, met in Istanbul on Aug. 31 under the alliance framework. During the meeting, the parties discussed steps to institutionalize cooperation and agreed to establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia under a secretary general.

The secretary-general position will rotate among the three countries, with Pakistan set to provide the first secretary-general for a three-year term, according to the ministry.

The agreement aims to increase interoperability through joint military planning, training and exercises, while strengthening cooperation in the defense industry through joint production, technology development and the sharing of expertise.

The ministry stated that the mechanisms are expected to strengthen the alliance’s defense capacity and deterrence while also contributing to regional peace and stability.

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Türkiye on Thursday strongly condemned a recommendation by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality to allocate funds in the 2027 EU budget for a monument planned by the Greek Cypriot administration aimed at defaming the Turkish Armed Forces.

The proposed funding, embedded in the committee’s budget opinion, backs a project designed to target Turkish forces who intervened on the island more than five decades ago to stop the systematic persecution of Turkish Cypriots.

“The Turkish Armed Forces prevented the destruction of the Turkish Cypriot people through the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation and brought peace to the entire island, which has endured for over half a century,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, emphasizing that Greek Cypriot claims distort historical facts and weaponize memory for political gain.

Ankara cautioned European leadership against acting as an instrument for factions intent on alienating Türkiye from the bloc, warning that taking sides undermines stability in the region.

“Instead of contributing to a resolution on the Cyprus issue, EU institutions are compromising principles of neutrality and fairness by turning into tools for Greek Cypriot propaganda, which further damages trust between the two communities,” the statement added.

Türkiye has long maintained that a durable settlement on the divided island can only be built on the basis of political equality and the acknowledgment of two distinct sovereign states.

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The Sivas Congress was the path to the liberation of a nation, according to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Türkiye. Some 107 years later, the convention is remembered as one of the key events leading to the foundation of the republic.

The central Turkish city that lent its name to the congress has hosted several events since Aug. 31 and was scheduled to host more on Thursday to mark the 1919 congress, which was part of the National Struggle led by Atatürk and embraced by the nation seeking to repel invaders in post-World War I Türkiye. Atatürk’s arrival in the city more than a century ago was re-enacted on Wednesday, while the courtyard of the building where the congress was held hosted a fashion event showcasing traditional dresses dating from the Seljuk period to the Republican era.

The Sivas Congress was among a chain of events initiated by Atatürk, who secretly left occupied Istanbul in 1919 under the guise of inspecting Ottoman troops in Anatolia. Planning to mobilize the country to expel the Allied forces, Atatürk, then known as Ottoman commander Mustafa Kemal, advanced this goal with the Sivas Congress, the first public gathering that served as a kind of precursor to the republic’s Parliament by giving the people of Anatolia a say in the future of a country that was in tatters as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing. A Council of Representatives was elected at the congress and served as the top body overseeing the struggle for liberation. It gave legitimacy to the national anti-occupation movement, which would later be based in present-day capital Ankara, where the republic was declared four years later.

Atatürk first arrived in Sivas on June 27, 1919, to organize mobilization for the National Struggle before leaving for the eastern city of Erzurum. He returned on Sept. 2, 1919, and stayed in Sivas, which he described as one of the “safe cities” during the occupation, until Dec. 18, 1919. The congress officially began in a building that now serves as a museum on Sept. 4, 1919. The congress lasted seven days, during which Atatürk, fellow soldiers, and public figures discussed various pressing issues in an effort to realize the goal of liberating the country. It hosted heated debates, including over a proposal that the nation should accept a foreign mandate or protectorate under the control of the occupying powers.

Ultimately, participants rejected any notion of a mandate or protectorate. On Sept. 12, 1919, Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha as he was known at the time, announced the decisions made at the congress. The most important among them was the rejection of a mandate.

This was perhaps best embodied in an exchange between Atatürk and a medical student identified only as “Hikmet” in official records. During the Sept. 8 session of the congress, Hikmet told Atatürk that they should not accept a mandate.

“My fellow students sent me here to represent their efforts for our cause of independence. If anyone here accepts a mandate, we will strictly oppose them. Even if it is you, Mr. Pasha, we will reject and condemn you,” he said.

The words moved Mustafa Kemal, who told the congress to pay attention to the example set by the youth.

“This is the expression of the Turkish nation’s noble blood. So, rest assured. I am proud of the youth, and I want them to know that we will not accept a mandate even if we are to remain in the minority. Our goal will not change: it is either independence or death,” Atatürk said.

Serap Bozpolat Ayan, a lecturer at the Department of Atatürk’s Principles and History of the Turkish Revolution at Sivas Cumhuriyet University, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that books would not be enough to fully describe the Sivas Congress.

Emphasizing that the Sivas Congress was where the Turkish nation declared, “I will not surrender,” Ayan said: “At the Sivas Congress, the only concrete option before us appeared to be a mandate or a protectorate. But a Turk cannot live as a captive; a mandate or colonial rule could never be an option for us. Therefore, the Sivas Congress offered a choice between independence and death. In other words, a mandate or protectorate would have been worse than death for us and was not an option. The survival of the Turkish people could only be possible through independence.”

Recalling that Atatürk emphasized that freedom and independence were inherent to the character of the Turkish people, Ayan said: “We were under occupation. Our flag, territorial integrity and independence were under threat, and we were virtually left without a state. We were under serious intervention by the victorious powers. We had entered a period in which they sought to determine our fate. In such an environment, it seemed as though there was a road ahead of us, but it was pitch dark, and we were going through a period in which we could not see our way. Mustafa Kemal’s role was essentially to illuminate that path. The Sivas Congress was one of the most important steps in this process and, in a sense, its beginning.”

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Türkiye will maintain an uncompromising fight against crime and organized criminal groups while expanding programs aimed at rehabilitating inmates and helping them reintegrate into society, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Thursday.

“While maintaining our uncompromising resolve in the fight against crime and criminal organizations, we will never give up on creating the necessary opportunities to reintegrate convicts into society,” Gürlek said.

The minister was speaking at the opening of the Prison Workshops Ankara Products and Handicrafts Fair in the Turkish capital.

Gürlek said Türkiye’s approach to its prison system extends beyond carrying out sentences and emphasizes preparing inmates for their eventual return to society.

“The duty of a state governed by the rule of law is not only to fully enforce a sentence but also to work in a way that prepares the person serving that sentence for reintegration into society,” he said.

He emphasized that inmates should be equipped with vocational knowledge, professional experience and workplace discipline that would enable them to rebuild their lives after release.

Türkiye’s Prison Workshops Institution operates 378 directorates covering more than 200 professions and sectors, including furniture, textiles, metalworking, food production, agriculture, livestock farming, electronics, construction and handicrafts, Gürlek said.

Participation in employment and on-the-job vocational training programs increased by 32.6% in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to the minister.

More than 77,000 inmates participated in employment and vocational training programs during 2025, while 56,963 inmates had taken part in such activities as of Aug. 31, 2026, Gürlek noted. Some 12,635 personnel are involved in administering the programs.

Türkiye has also increased the number of vocational education centers operating in prisons from 67 to 73 over the past six months.

As of August, 1,539 inmates were studying at the centers, which provide qualifications including journeyman and master craftsman certificates, master instructor qualifications and vocational high school diplomas. More than 25,000 vocational certificates have been issued through the programs to date, Gürlek noted.

‘Iron fist’ against organized crime

Gürlek said the state would continue taking a tough approach toward criminals and organized crime groups while providing opportunities for those who have served their sentences to return to society.

“Our state maintains its iron fist against criminals and organized crime gangs that threaten the peace of our citizens and makes no concessions in this fight,” he remarked.

But Gürlek said a strong state must also prevent former inmates from returning to crime by helping them acquire skills and find employment after their release.

He described rehabilitation programs as the state’s “velvet hand” extended to people seeking to rebuild their lives after serving their sentences.

The Justice Ministry is also working on new models aimed at making it easier for people who have acquired vocational skills and workplace discipline in prison workshops to enter the labor market following their release, he said.

Gürlek said strengthening the rule of law, maintaining public security and improving the prison system were part of the government’s broader “Century of Justice” objective under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “Century of Türkiye” vision.

New constitution

Gürlek also reiterated the government’s call for a new constitution, describing the initiative advocated by Erdoğan as one of the most significant legal objectives of the “Century of Türkiye” vision.

“We regard the goal of a new constitution, which our president has long advocated as civilian, democratic, inclusive and based on the will of the nation, as one of the most important legal steps of the ‘Century of Türkiye,’” Gürlek underlined.

He said Türkiye’s democratic development should be complemented by a civilian constitution that strongly safeguards human dignity and fundamental rights and freedoms while reflecting the common will of the nation.

Gürlek added that the government would continue working to strengthen the rule of law, preserve social peace and improve the criminal justice system as part of its goal of making the “Century of Türkiye” a “Century of Justice.”

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Authorities on Thursday announced that the body of former Minister of Transportation Arif Ahmet Denizolgun was disinterred last month over suspicion of foul play.

Denizolgun, who died in Istanbul in 2016 at the age of 60 from brain haemorrhage, was reportedly killed by his rivals. His nephew Fatih Süleyman Denizolgun pointed fingers at Alihan Kuriş in his death. Denizolgun was the leader of a religious movement known as “Süleymancılar.” The group’s current leader, Kuriş, was arrested last month on charges of corruption, along with other top figures of the group.

Denizolgun’s nephew Fatih Denizolgun long claimed that his uncle was killed by people close to Kuriş who sought to lead the movement inspired by Denizolgun’s ancestor Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan, a renowned Islamic scholar of the 20th century.

Authorities announced that findings from the disinterment were sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute for further examination. Prosecutors tasked with organized crime investigations have launched the probe into allegations of foul play in 2016, but Denizolgun’s nephew has claimed that the case was covered up.

In a statement issued on Aug. 18, the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said a complaint and allegations had been filed claiming that Denizolgun’s death in September 2016 and the autopsy conducted at the time were suspicious.

The statement said an order had been issued to exhume the grave in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure to conduct a renewed examination to determine the actual cause of the deceased’s death.

In line with the order, the deputy chief public prosecutor, a public prosecutor, experts from the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute and crime scene investigation teams arrived at Denizolgun’s grave on Aug. 19. Following the exhumation, pieces of Denizolgun’s remains were taken from the grave and transported to the Forensic Medicine Institute for examination. The samples removed from the grave were returned to the grave on Aug. 20 after the procedures were completed.

In a statement issued on Aug. 26, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said a finding of “suspicious death” had been made during the examination of Denizolgun’s remains and that the investigation into suspects, including Alihan Kuriş, on charges of “murder” was continuing.

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