After his one-on-one meeting with Algerian President Abdülmecid Tebbun at the Presidential Complex and attending the High Level Strategy Council Meeting, President Erdoğan presided over the signing ceremony of agreements in various fields and held a joint press conference. President Erdoğan spoke briefly as follows: We chaired the first meeting of our strategic cooperation council together with President Mr. Abdülmecit Tebbun. We made decisions that will take our brotherhood further. The locomotive of Türkiye-Algeria relations is mutual respect and love stemming from our common history. Today, we see this spirit of solidarity not only in our bilateral relations, but also in the common stance we adopt on many international issues.

10 BILLION DOLLAR TRADE TARGET: Our cooperation with Algeria, one of our largest trade partners in the African continent; We are determined to develop in many strategic areas, especially energy, mining, transportation and agriculture. We have increased our efforts towards our 10 billion dollar trade target that we set for 2023. We have more than 1600 companies in Algeria; With investments worth 8 billion dollars, it undertakes important projects and investments in the fields of industry, mining, agriculture, construction, pharmaceutical industry and infrastructure.

WE WILL ADD NEW COOPERATIONS: Our private sector representatives came together at the business forum held in Ankara and discussed new cooperation opportunities. By working together in the coming period, we will add new mutual investments and private sector collaborations.

WE ARE IMPROVING OUR COOPERATION EVERY DAY: The war in our region, which started with Israel’s provocations and schemes, continues to negatively affect especially the energy markets. As Türkiye, we established and developed reliable, stable and sustainable energy cooperation with Algeria years ago. At this point, we are advancing our long-term cooperation on energy supply security, especially natural gas, day by day. We believe that we should evaluate partnership opportunities in the fields of renewable energy and new technologies. We aim to realize the cooperation potential in the mining sector through joint investments and mutual experience sharing. We also attach great importance to the mutual activation of cultural centers that will strengthen the bonds of brotherhood between us.

TWO-STATE SOLUTION IN PALESTINE: We exchanged ideas with Mr. Tebbun on regional and international issues. I was pleased to see that Algeria and I have similar approaches on fundamental issues concerning Africa and our region. We are among the strongest advocates of the two-state solution in Palestine. As you know, the establishment of the State of Palestine was declared in Algeria on November 15, 1988. We appreciated Algeria’s support for the Palestinian cause during its membership in the United Nations Security Council over the past two years.

RECONSTRUCTION OF SYRIA: We will continue our contributions to the reconstruction of Syria with determination. As Türkiye and Algeria, we have a common stance in ending the spiral of violence that seriously threatens the peace and security of our region.

TEBBUN: WE WILL TAKE CARE OF OUR SHARED HISTORY

Algerian President Abdülmecid Tebbun also said, “We aim to diversify our relations with Turkey in the economic field and protect our common historical heritage. We condemn the Israeli occupation, violation of international humanitarian law, open attacks on Lebanon and brutal practices in the Gaza Strip. At this point, we emphasize once again that these violations must end and efforts must be intensified to establish peace in the region. A just and permanent solution that guarantees all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, especially the right to establish an independent state.” It needs to provide.”

STATE ORDER TO TEBBUN

After the press conference, Erdogan awarded the State Order of the Republic of Türkiye to Abdülmecid Tebbun. Tebbun also presented the “Athir” medal, one of the most prestigious state decorations of Algeria, to President Erdoğan. The Order of Athir is known as one of the highest honors given to statesmen and distinguished individuals who have rendered outstanding services. It means “Very valuable”, “Distinguished” and “Superior” in Arabic. In his speech at the engagement ceremony, President Erdoğan said, “We are fortunate to bestow upon you our State Order, which is the highest decoration of our country. I am sure that you will see and carry our State Order as a strong symbol of the unshakable brotherhood between our countries.”

14 AGREEMENTS WERE SIGNED

Memorandum of understanding in the field of radio.

Memorandum of understanding in the field of television.

Memorandum of understanding in the field of investment promotion cooperation.

Memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of combating media disinformation.

Confirmation of the joint declaration on the start of negotiations for the conclusion of a preferential trade agreement.

Plant protection, plant quarantine cooperation agreement.

Memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of standardization education.

Inter-ministerial memorandum of understanding.

Memorandum of understanding in the field of disaster and emergency management.

Agreement on mutual recognition of driving licenses.

Memorandum of understanding on the welfare of independence veterans and martyred beneficiaries.

International passenger goods transportation agreement.

Postal services telecommunications cooperation memorandum of understanding.

The Joint Declaration of the 1st Meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council was signed.

ASSETS WERE CONSIZED

As part of the investigation in Antalya, all the assets of Muhittin Böcek, his son Gökhan Böcek, and his daughter-in-law Zuhal Böcek and her grandson, who were arrested last week within the scope of the investigation in Istanbul, were seized, including their real estate, bank accounts and crypto accounts.

HE WAS ARRESTED IN A BRIBERY INVESTIGATION

An investigation was launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for the crimes of “bribery”, “extortion” and “tender rigging” regarding the allegations of rigging the tenders organized by the Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau by the Uşak Municipality, demanding bribes from tradesmen for some irregular works and transactions, and collecting large amounts of money under the name of aid/donation to Uşakspor.

Within the scope of the investigation, Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, Deputy Mayor Halil Arslan, the municipality’s Accounting and Finance Manager Hüseyin Yaman, Private Secretary Hasan Doğukan Kurnaz, office driver Murat Altınkaya, municipal staff Cihan Aras and İsmail Özçelik, Uşak News Media Company Owner Murat Baş and Mustafa Yalım were arrested.

EXPORTED FROM CHP

CHP’s Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, who was suspended from office, was expelled from his party.

Underlining that they have addressed data-related issues with a holistic perspective under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Yılmaz emphasized that they have implemented incentive mechanisms, strategic investment supports and application-oriented policies in line with the goal of becoming a regional center in terms of data center and cloud computing infrastructures. Yılmaz noted that the Ministry of Industry and Technology offers strategic support to companies operating in the field of cloud computing and artificial intelligence through the “HIT-30 Program”, and that they encourage the internationalization of data center and cloud computing services and increasing the export potential through the “E-Turquality Program”. Stating that they are simultaneously implementing demand-side policies in order to strengthen the investment environment, Yılmaz said, “We foresee the acceleration of private sector investments with public demand by establishing the necessary technical infrastructure, legal framework and administrative mechanisms to popularize the use of cloud computing and artificial intelligence in the public sector. In order to increase the capacity of the domestic ecosystem, we are implementing publicly supported large language model development programs and establishing national artificial intelligence research and excellence centers through university-industry collaborations.” he said.

“WE ALSO CONTINUE OUR LEGISLATIVE PREPARATIONS FOR SECURE CROSS-BORDER DATA TRANSFER MECHANISMS”

Vice President Yılmaz stated that they aim to reduce unit costs and produce more value from data by creating data sets and artificial intelligence infrastructures that can be used jointly by different stakeholders, and said: “In this context, we continue our legislative preparations for secure cross-border data transfer mechanisms. All these steps aim to reduce external dependency in the fields of data center, cloud computing and artificial intelligence and strengthen our country’s digital sovereignty. This cooperation implemented today is one of the strongest responses to this vision in the field. Data with the ‘AI Compute’ approach.” “A model has emerged that will strengthen our country’s position in terms of sovereignty, regulatory compliance and cyber security and set an example for similar initiatives. We consider artificial intelligence as a fundamental lever that strengthens our qualified human resources and increases our production capacity.” Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ömer Fatih Sayan and important names from the business world attended the launch. In the program, Cerebrum Tech Founder and Chairman of the Board Dr. A presentation about their collaboration was made by Erdem Erkul and NGN Chairman of the Board of Directors İnanç Erol. Erkul and Erol signed the cooperation document and presented Vice President Yılmaz with a Turkish flag embroidered with the Conquest Surah in memory of the day.

Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek met with the MPs of the provinces in the Aegean Region at the consultation meeting held in Ankara Judge’s House. Stating that the meetings held with the regional deputies were very useful, Minister Gürlek said, “These meetings benefit us both in terms of understanding the problems of the region and in terms of deficiencies.” Emphasizing that it is important for them to receive the opinions and suggestions of the MPs who follow the region closely in the meetings, Minister Gürlek said, “There is benefit in consultation.”

Underlining that the concordat process is being abused, Minister Gürlek said, “Concordat is actually a step before bankruptcy to give businessmen, factory owners, and the business world a chance to live, but unfortunately this process is being abused.” he said. Stating that they are considering making a regulation regarding concordat, Minister Gürlek said, “In other words, they make a concordat decision with an expert report. After that, they lock the system.” Stating that the concordat decision can only be taken once, Minister Gürlek said, “After one time, if the company can survive again, it will survive; if not, we will decide on the bankruptcy of the company.”

“NOTIFICATION WILL BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE BEEN MADE WITHIN 5 DAYS”

Reminding that the E-Notification law is currently in the Parliament, Minister Gürlek stated that with the new regulation, notification will now be deemed to have been made within 5 days. Referring to the preparations for the 12th Judicial Package, Minister Gürlek said, “Especially in this law package, the needs of the regions and the suggestions of our MPs are very important to us. This issue is not yet at the completion stage.” Minister Gürlek also touched upon the issue of logging into social media with ID and stated that discussions were being held with social media platforms. Minister Gürlek stated that there will be a transition period to logging into social media with ID. Minister Gürlek also stated that they are working to harmonize the ‘Judicial Effectiveness Bureau’ and ‘Alo Justice’.

In the statement made on DMM’s NSosyal account, it was stated that the allegations in some media and social media channels contained disinformation and aimed to mislead the public. In the statement, it was stated that the decisions taken by the Syrian National Committee for Import and Export in 2025 and presented by some circles as if they were new were not an application specific to Türkiye only, but covered imports from all over the world, and the following was noted:

“Contrary to the claims, in the January-April period of 2026, the trade volume between our country and Syria increased by 24 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, exceeding the level of 1 billion 350 million dollars. The figures clearly prove that commercial relations have not been disrupted, on the contrary, they have gained momentum. The First Term Meeting of the Turkey-Syria Economy and Trade Joint Committee (ETOK/JETCO) held in Istanbul on April 7, 2026, and the accompanying Business and Investment Forum. “The two countries’ business world has once again confirmed its determination to further develop the existing potential. The public is kindly requested to be sensitive to perception operations and black propaganda activities targeting our relations with friendly and neighboring countries, and not to give credence to unfounded claims that are incompatible with official data and statements.”

“WE HAVE A COMMON ATTITUDE”

Stating that they exchanged ideas with Tebbun on regional and international issues, President Erdoğan said:

“I am pleased to see that we have similar approaches with Algeria on the fundamental issues that concern Africa and our region. We are among the strongest advocates of the two-state solution in Palestine. As you know, the establishment of the Palestinian state was declared in Algeria on November 15, 1988. We appreciated Algeria’s support for the Palestinian cause during its membership in the United Nations Security Council in the past 2 years. Israeli aggression in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon shows that the real security problem for our region is the expansionism of the current government.” It has once again shown that it has policies that do not respect the law and rules.

In accordance with our understanding of regional ownership, we attach great importance to strengthening Syria’s security and stability. We will continue our contributions to the reconstruction of Syria with determination. As Türkiye and Algeria, we have a common stance in ending the spiral of violence that seriously threatens the peace and security of our region. We will continue to advance our friendship and cooperation with Algeria in every field, within a win-win approach. With these thoughts in mind, I hope that our consultations and the documents we sign will be beneficial for our countries.”

Important statements from President Erdoğan: “The security problem of our region is Israel”

STATE DECORATION FROM PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN TO TEBBUN

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented the State Order to Algerian President Abdülmecid Tebbun.

Stating that they are pleased to witness the 5-century-old bonds of brotherhood and friendship between Turkey and Algeria increasing day by day, President Erdoğan said, “Our bilateral relations have reached the highest level in the history of the Republic with the sincere support of my dear brother Tebbun. Today, we successfully completed the first meeting of the High Level Cooperation Council mechanism, which we decided to raise to a strategic level during my visit to Algeria in 2023, and we signed various documents that will strengthen our cooperation on the occasion of the meeting.” he said.

“MY LORD MAY PERMANENT OUR BROTHERHOOD AND LOVE”

Stating that he follows Tebbun’s “New Algeria Vision” with interest, Erdoğan said:

“I see that Algeria is shining like a star in its region under the astute leadership of Mr. Tebbun, and I am very pleased about that. My dear brother, you have demonstrated a sincere and determined will to further strengthen the bonds of friendship and brotherhood between us with your exceptional leadership, which paved the way for our relations to reach today’s excellent level. I have the pleasure of awarding you our State Medal, the highest decoration of the Republic of Turkey, for your valuable contributions to our relations with the common interests of our countries and peoples. I am sure that you will see and carry our State Order as a strong symbol of the unshakable brotherhood between our countries. I would like to express my gratitude for the trust shown to me. May God continue our brotherhood and love.

AGREEMENTS WERE SIGNED BETWEEN Türkiye AND ALGERIA

Joint agreements were signed between the two countries in the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Algerian President Abdülmecid Tebbun.

After President Erdoğan and Tebbun had a private meeting and chaired the First Meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, joint agreements between the two countries were signed.

In this context, President Erdoğan and Tebbun signed the “Joint Declaration of the First Meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council”.

AGREEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

The “Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Postal Services and Telecommunications between the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria” between the two countries was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan and Algerian Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, National Communities Abroad and African Affairs Ahmed Attaf.

The “Agreement on International Passenger and Goods Transportation between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria” was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan and Algerian Minister of Internal Affairs, Local Governments and Transport Said Sayoud.

The “Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria on the Welfare of Independence Veterans and Martyrs Beneficiaries” was signed by Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Minister of Family and Social Services, and Ahmed Attaf, Algerian Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, National Communities Abroad and African Affairs.

The “Agreement on Mutual Recognition and Exchange of Driver’s Licenses between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria” was signed by Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi and Algerian Minister of Internal Affairs, Local Governments and Transport Said Sayoud.

The “Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Disaster and Emergency Management between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Local Governments and Transport of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria” was signed by Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi and Algerian Minister of Internal Affairs, Local Governments and Transport Said Sayoud.

Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır and Algerian Minister of Industry Yahia Bachır signed the “Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Industry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria”.

“Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Fields of Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training between the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Industry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria” was signed by Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır and Algerian Minister of Industry Yahia Bachır.

The “Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria” was signed by Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı and Algerian Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries Yasin El Mahdi Oualıd.

Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and Minister of Foreign Trade and Export Promotion of Algeria Kemal Razik signed the “Joint Declaration on the Initiation of Negotiations for the Conclusion of a Preferential Trade Agreement between the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Export Promotion of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria”.

The “Memorandum of Understanding between the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Communications of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria on Cooperation in the Field of Combating Disinformation in the Media” was signed by Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran and Algerian Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, National Communities Abroad and African Affairs Ahmed Attaf.

Ahmet Burak Dağlıoğlu, Head of the Presidential Investment and Finance Office, and Omar Rekkache, General Manager of the Algerian Investment Promotion Agency, signed the “Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Investment Promotion Cooperation Between the Investment and Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and the Investment Promotion Agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Algeria”.

The “Memorandum of Understanding between the Algerian Radio Institution (EPRS) and the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) in the Field of Television” was signed by TRT General Manager Zahid Sobacı and Algerian Ambassador to Turkey Boumediene Guennad.

The “Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Radio between the Algerian Radio Institution (EPRS) and the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT)” was signed by TRT General Manager Zahid Sobacı and Algerian Ambassador to Turkey Boumediene Guennad.