“WE ALSO COMPREHENSIVELY EVALUATED REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ISSUES”

Reminding that they will attend the Unofficial Summit of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT) to be held tomorrow in Turkestan, the spiritual capital of the Turkish world, Erdogan continued as follows:

“I would like to state that we are grateful for the valuable contributions of Kazakhstan to the integration of the Turkish World from the very beginning. We are pleased that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will be represented as an observer at our summit tomorrow. Today, we also comprehensively evaluated regional and international issues with Mr. President. I would like to thank my dear brother, President Mr. Tokayev and his delegation, once again, for the exceptional hospitality they have shown. With these thoughts, I hope our Council meeting will be beneficial. Kazakh “I send my wishes for health, well-being and prosperity to our brothers and sisters.”

President Erdoğan concluded his speech with the words “köp mercy”, which means “much mercy” in Kazakh.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was presented with the “Khoja Ahmet Yesevi Order” by Kazakhstan President Kasım Cömert Tokayev. Erdoğan and Tokayev had a private meeting at the Independence Palace and attended the Sixth Meeting of the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

After the meeting, Tokayev bestowed the “Hoca Ahmet Yesevi Order” on Erdoğan. In his speech at the ceremony, Erdoğan stated that he was very pleased that the distinguished medal created in the name of Hodja Ahmet Yesevi was presented to him for the first time and said:

“I see and accept this engagement as a high favor to the Republic of Turkey and our nation. On this occasion, I would like to thank you, my dear brother, for the leadership you have shown in reaching the current level of brotherhood between our countries. May God perpetuate our brotherhood and love.”

On the other hand, the two leaders opened the “Hoca Ahmet Yesevi Primary School”, which was built by Kazakhstan in the Nurdağı district of Gaziantep after the February 6 earthquakes.

ERDOĞAN WAS THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT GRANTED NAME

“Khoja Ahmet Yesevi Order” was announced by Kazakhstan President Tokayev in a statement made on April 10, 2026.

At today’s ceremony, Erdoğan became the first person to be presented with the “Hoca Ahmet Yesevi Order”.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues his contacts in Kazakhstan, where he came after a two-year break. President Erdoğan was welcomed with an official ceremony by the President of Kazakhstan Kasım Cömert Tokayev at the Independence Palace in the capital Astana, where he came to attend the Unofficial Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT). At the ceremony, after President Erdoğan greeted the welcoming guard, the national anthems of the two countries were read. President Erdoğan and Kazakhstan President Tokayev had a bilateral meeting after the official ceremony.

SIXTH MEETING OF THE HIGH-LEVEL STRATEGIC COOPERATION COUNCIL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed by Kazakhstan President Kasım Cömert Tokayev with an official ceremony at the Independence Palace. After his one-on-one meeting with Tokayev, Erdoğan chaired the Sixth Meeting of the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

President Erdoğan’s statements are as follows:

I congratulate the brotherly Kazakh people on the occasion of Defenders of the Homeland Day and Victory Day, which you have recently observed. I sincerely hope that the new constitution, which received great support from the public in the referendum on March 15, will bring good things to Kazakhstan.

EMPHASIS ON THE TURKISH WORLD CENTURY

Türkiye-Kazakhstan relations continue to progress in all areas within the framework of an enhanced strategic partnership. During our meeting with my dear brother, we had a productive exchange of views on many issues, from trade to energy, from defense industry cooperation to transportation and global issues. We agree with my dear brother on providing opportunities that will strengthen our organization institutionally.

I hope we will make the next period the century of the Turkish World.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Director of Communications Burhanettin Duran, AK Party Deputy Chairman Kürşat Zorlu and Binali Yıldırım also took part in the meeting.

Making a statement at the weekly press briefing held at the Ministry, Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk, Press and Public Relations Advisor of the Ministry of National Defense, stated that the Turkish Armed Forces continue their fight against threats to the security of the country within and beyond the border. Referring to the activities regarding border security, Aktürk said, “Within the scope of search-scanning and border security activities carried out throughout the week in order to establish permanent security, caves, bunkers and shelters, mines and hand-made explosive detection and destruction activities were carried out effectively in the operation areas.”
Giving information about the data of the last week at the borders, Aktürk said, “258 people, including 1 member of a terrorist organization, were caught at our borders, and the number of people caught trying to cross our borders illegally from January 1 to today is 2 thousand 944. With 1,344 people blocked, the number of people blocked this year has reached 29 thousand 194.”

SHIPS WILL BE OPENED TO THE PUBLIC ON MAY 19
“We are already celebrating our 19 May Commemoration of Atatürk and Youth and Sports Day,” said Aktürk, adding that within the scope of the celebrations, the Naval Forces Command will visit 22 ports with 30 ships and the ships will be opened to the public. Aktürk also said that demonstration flights will be performed by Turkish Stars in Çorum on May 16, and by SOLOTÜRK and Turkish Stars in Samsun on May 19.
In the statement made by the Ministry of National Defense, it was stated that the studies on the Maritime Jurisdiction Areas Law are a framework regulation that will determine the responsibilities in the maritime jurisdictions and eliminate the deficiencies in the domestic law legislation, and that the final studies on the text of the law are continuing. The statement said, “The study of the Maritime Jurisdiction Areas Law is a framework law that will determine the responsibilities in our maritime jurisdictions and eliminate the deficiencies in our domestic legal legislation.”
In the statement, which stated that the Ministry contributed to the said studies at different levels, it was said: “Our Ministry has participated in the said law studies at the military, technical, academic and legal levels, and our contributions have been conveyed to the relevant institutions. The final studies on the text of the law in question are being carried out by the relevant institutions of our country. Our Turkish Armed Forces will continue to protect the rights and interests of our country in the maritime jurisdiction areas with determination, as always.”

The indictment has been completed in the corruption, bribery and extortion investigation carried out against 19 suspects, 7 of whom are detained, including former Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan and Deputy Mayor Süleyman Can.
In the 178-page indictment, a prison sentence of 90 years and 3 months to 263 years and 6 months was requested for Özcan for qualified fraud, alleging that 845 thousand liras of sacrificial donations collected from 34 citizens through the BOLSEV Foundation were used without making any cuts.
The indictment also alleged that advertising contracts were made with markets, pressure was applied to chain markets that did not accept them, and irregularities were made in the licensing processes.
It was stated that Özcan and Süleyman Can demanded 2 million 500 thousand liras from a contractor in return for the license process, and 1 million 500 thousand liras were planned to be in cash and 1 million 500 thousand liras in cheque. It was requested that Süleyman Can be sentenced to 27 years and 6 months to 64 years in prison.
It was also claimed that a 35-minute audio recording was included in the file within the scope of the investigation and that some payments were sent back as “refunds”. Özcan denied the accusations and claimed that he had no intention of fraud.

Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD) Health Sector Board Chairman İhsan Şahin announced that they will open a hospital in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, next month with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey has also taken the great transformation experienced in the field of health to the African and Central Asian countries with which it has close ties. Explaining that Türkiye has built turnkey hospitals in more than 20 countries, Şahin said, “We have no competitors in this field. We can deliver a functioning system by installing the automation systems in it. Public officials from Central Asian and African countries come and see the hospitals in Türkiye and are very impressed. We go and do the same in their countries. Now we will start to establish consumable factories abroad in the same way. The hospital in Senegal will be the newest hospital in West Africa equipped with the latest technology.”

TURKISH HOSPITALS IN 22 COUNTRIES
The hospital that Türkiye plans to open in Senegal will have a closed area of ​​20 thousand square meters. The hospital, built by the Turkish company Sıla Group, was designed with a capacity of 100 beds. To date, Turkey has completed many turnkey hospitals in African and Central Asian countries such as Iraq, Libya, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Senegal, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Burkino Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Libya, Comoros, Algeria and Nigeria.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN HOSPITAL BECAME SOMALIA’S HEALTH CENTRAL BASE
While Türkiye’s health investments in Africa emerged as a humanitarian aid-oriented approach, one of the most concrete examples of this transformation was the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Training and Research Hospital operating in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

Opened by the Erdoğan couple in 2015, the hospital with a capacity of 400 beds serves approximately 1600 patients a day. The Palestine-Türkiye Friendship Hospital, built by TIKA in Gaza, became unusable after Israeli attacks. TİKA established the Turkish-Libyan Friendship Physical Therapy Center for war victims in Misrata, Libya, and opened it in 2021.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed with a magnificent ceremony in Kazakhstan yesterday. At the first stop of his contacts, Erdoğan will meet with Kazakhstan President Kasım Cömert Tokayev at the Independence Palace today. Following the one-on-one meeting between the two leaders, the Turkey-Kazakhstan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council Meeting will be chaired. During the meetings, all aspects of the “enhanced strategic partnership” framework between the two countries will be discussed, and steps towards further strengthening political, economic and regional cooperation will be evaluated.

THE BUSINESS WORLD WILL MEET
One of the most important topics of the visit will be economic relations. The 15 billion dollar trade volume target set between Türkiye and Kazakhstan and joint projects in the field of energy will be on the table. In this context, new agreements and cooperation protocols are expected to be signed in various fields.

In addition, Erdoğan and Tokayev are planned to attend the Turkey-Kazakhstan Business Forum, meet with representatives of the business world and evaluate investment opportunities. Approximately 4 thousand Turkish capital companies operate in Kazakhstan. Erdogan will attend the Unofficial Leaders Summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Turkestan tomorrow.

‘WELCOME TO ATA HOME’
President Erdoğan and his wife Emine Erdoğan were welcomed by Kazakhstan President Kasım Cömert Tokayev at Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev Airport. Erdoğan responded to the children chanting “Welcome to the homeland” with “We welcome you.” Erdoğan and First Lady Erdoğan took a souvenir photo with the children who sang the song “Dombra”. Meanwhile, Erdoğan’s plane was accompanied by Su-34 type warplanes in Kazakhstan airspace.

PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN: TURKISH-KAZAKHS RELATIONS WILL BE STRONGER AND DEEPER
President Erdoğan wrote the foreword to the work titled “Turkey-Kazakhstan Relations on the 35th Anniversary of Independence”: With the astute and visionary leadership of the President of Kazakhstan, Mr. Kasım Comart Tokayev, these relations have gained a different momentum as a result of our mutual efforts.

Addressing these relations, which have a layered structure, within an academic framework is important in terms of identifying new windows of opportunity for the future. We have full faith that the relations between Türkiye and Kazakhstan will become stronger and deeper in the coming period.

“Decolonized Film Days”, organized as part of the side events of the World Decolonization Forum 2026, will be held at Istanbul Atlas Cinema on 13-14 May. The program, in which nine films are presented to moviegoers free of charge, brings a wide range of topics, from the history of colonialism to the search for social justice, to the big screen. Activity; It brings up many critical issues through cinema, from the division in Cyprus to the “Stolen Generation” tragedy in Australia, from indigenous resistance in South America to the genocide in Myanmar. The main aim of the program stands out as building a critical bridge between the colonial practices of the past and today’s digital and cultural power relations.

World-famous Iranian director Majid Majidi and producer Mehmet Bozdağ took part as speakers in the panel titled “Decolonizing the Screen”, moderated by director Faysal Soysal, organized within the scope of the event.
Stating that we need to teach children our history and culture, Majid Majidi said, “Hollywood productions often produce narratives that legitimize the policies of the West. Even superhero movies draw an image of the West that saves the world. Today, they come to us not with bombs or missiles, but by making us forget our culture, values ​​and memory. In the films I made, I tried to explain our own culture and human values ​​and to deal with people from their essence.”

Producer Mehmet Bozdağ drew attention to the standardizing effect of global digital platforms and stated that local stories should not break away from their roots in order to find a universal response: “The one who dominates history continues its colonialism by destroying the historical consciousness. We have to redesign the world with our own identity and spirit. If we do not tell those ‘clean stories’, we will lose ourselves.”