Politics
Zelenskyy touts Türkiye’s peace efforts, honors its top diplomat
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday praised Türkiye’s ongoing mediation efforts, expressing gratitude to Ankara for its diplomatic work to broker negotiations with Russia to help end the war, now in its fifth year.
Zelenskyy’s remarks came after he met in Kyiv with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whom he awarded the Order of Merit, Second Class.
“I am grateful to Türkiye and to the Minister personally for the efforts to bring peace closer,” the president wrote on the social media platform X.
“Today, we discussed the diplomatic situation and the steps that could reinvigorate efforts to achieve peace.”
NATO member Türkiye has sought to maintain good relations with its warring Black Sea neighbors, pitching itself as a key go-between and possible peacemaker between the two.
It has played a role in brokering several prisoner swap deals between Russia and Ukraine and helped put in place a deal in 2022 to ensure grain could be shipped safely from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. The accord remained in effect for a year.
Istanbul was the venue of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the early weeks of the conflict four years ago.
Ukraine is in its best battlefield position since late 2022, gaining new battlefield momentum while striking Russia’s oil sector and military logistics in drone and missile attacks.
Despite those gains, Kyiv’s forces still face grinding Russian advances in the east amid a critical shortage of ground troops, as well as a lack of air defenses as Moscow steps up strikes with ballistic missiles.
Throughout the conflict, Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly struck each other’s ships in the Black Sea, a key shipping route for both countries’ exports as well as Türkiye’s.
Zelenskyy said he and Fidan discussed the situation on the battlefield, as well as Ankara’s diplomatic contacts at various levels.
Earlier on Thursday, Fidan said the “Istanbul format” of peace negotiations between its Black Sea neighbors should continue.
He also said Türkiye did not want to see the war spread further into the Black Sea, adding that Ankara is exploring new strategic approaches to break the current deadlock in the conflict.
“There is simply no explanation for a war in Europe to continue for five years in the 21st century. We need peace more than ever,” Fidan said at a news conference alongside his Ukrainian counterpart.
Fidan, who met President Vladimir Putin in Russia last month, said Türkiye was ready to host future talks.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Zelenskyy would be ready to meet Putin in Türkiye.
The Kremlin chief has repeatedly rejected meeting Zelenskyy until a deal is agreed to end the war.
U.S.-led talks have also stalled and the two sides remain far apart in their terms for peace.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Parliament ratified the free trade agreement (FTA) with Türkiye on Tuesday.
The deal was signed during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Ukraine in February 2022. It completed Türkiye’s ratification process in 2024.
Zelenskyy said talks with Fidan, among others, also focused on the implementation of the trade pact.
“We expect trade between our countries to keep growing,” he wrote.
Responding to speculations that S-400 missile defense systems would be sold to a third country, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday that “multilateral work” was underway and the public would be informed “once concrete steps are taken.”
This month’s NATO summit and U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to sell F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye led to rumors that Ankara may give up the missile system it acquired from Russia in 2019. The acquisition led the U.S. to speed up the sanctions process against the country it is allied with in NATO. On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Trump has also signaled an end to Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions against Türkiye. Turkish media outlets have claimed that the Russian system would be sold to either Qatar or the United Arab Emirates (UAE), two countries that have faced the risk of spillover of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran since February.
Speaking alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex after arriving in Ankara for the NATO leaders summit, Trump said the time had come to remove sanctions that have strained relations between the two NATO allies.
“We’re going to lift the sanctions,” Trump said. “We don’t want to sanction our friends. I don’t want to choke my friend with sanctions.”
Calling Türkiye a militarily powerful country under Erdoğan’s leadership, Trump remarked that relations between Washington and Ankara were at their strongest point in years.
“I have great respect for President Erdoğan,” he said. “This is truly in the interest of both countries. I can say that our relationship with Türkiye is better now than it has ever been.”
Cyprus dispute
The ministry also commented on the European Parliament’s recent approval of a controversial report regarding Cyprus. The report claimed Turkish troops who were deployed to the island for the 1974 Peace Operation to save Turkish Cypriots from massacres by Greek Cypriot gangs were involved in sex crimes against Greek Cypriots. The ministry said the allegations in the report were baseless and heinous.
In a statement, the ministry said the report also chose to ignore massacres of Turkish Cypriots in the divided island, and this alone was the indicator of a biased approach of the European Parliament, which based its report on Greek Cypriot propaganda.
The ministry noted that Türkiye ended attacks on the existence of Turkish Cypriots through its peace operation, which was based on Türkiye’s legitimate rights and authority cemented in international agreements.
“The Turkish military presence on the island has safeguarded peace, security and stability on the island for more than half a century. The Republic of Türkiye, as a guarantor state, will continue protecting the Turkish Cypriot people’s rights, interests and security. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are determined to respond to any hostile acts targeting the security of Turkish Cypriot people,” the statement said.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will mark another milestone in its political journey that began on Aug. 14, 2001. The People’s Garden in Ankara, an example of the AK Party government’s brainchild to expand public parks, will host the celebrations for the party’s 25th anniversary.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who helmed the party throughout the stormy times to the successive victories, will join the celebration.
The celebration will also mark the start of the party’s campaign for the 2028 elections. Thousands of AK Party supporters are expected to turn out for the event.
Evolved from a modest gathering of experienced politicians and newcomers calling themselves the “Movement of the Virtuous,” the party went on a streak of successive election victories for two decades. It is credited with transforming Türkiye in the first two decades of the 2000s, from education and health care to the arts, democracy, human rights, the defense industry and energy.
Nowadays, the party, under the leadership of Erdoğan, is working toward achieving the ambitious “Century of Türkiye” vision, a new set of reforms aimed at enhancing Türkiye’s standing in the world and improving the lives of the Turkish nation in all fields.
Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş stressed that a new draft bill on juvenile crime primarily aims to prevent children from being dragged into a life of crime.
Göktaş was speaking to broadcaster NTV on Thursday on the bill announced earlier this week by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
The bill is one of the most comprehensive ones on children involved in crime, but its highlight has been the introduction of life sentences for convicts at the age of 15, though it would be at the discretion of the court.
Göktaş underlined that the proposed bill would strengthen the mechanism to protect children and prevent crime.
“Our goal is to identify, minimize and eliminate the risks children face before they are drawn into crime. For children who do enter the judicial process, we aim to establish an effective coordination mechanism from the very beginning, working in close cooperation with the judiciary and all relevant institutions,” she said.
She stated that all protective measures for children will be consolidated under a single framework. She explained that once a child becomes involved in the judicial process, the relevant institutions will be notified simultaneously so that protective measures can be implemented without delay. She added that, under the ministry’s coordination, all relevant institutions will be integrated into the process. At the local level, commissions established within provincial governorates will monitor child protection measures on a case-by-case basis.
As Türkiye still waits for the next stage of the terror-free Türkiye initiative for the disarmament of the PKK terrorist group, two key actors of the process met on Thursday.
Government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who informally launched the initiative two years ago, met a delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which has intricate links to the terrorist group.
DEM Party lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar and lawyer Faik Özgür Erol visited Bahçeli at his office in the Turkish Parliament. The trio is also part of a delegation that regularly visits the PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, on the island prison near Istanbul where he is incarcerated. The initiative moved forward with the DEM Party relaying Öcalan’s message to the PKK in which he called for the dissolution of the terrorist group.
Neither Bahçeli nor the DEM Party delegation, who met before as part of the initiative, commented on their meeting, which lasted for about 40 minutes. The delegation has held talks with ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) officials on Wednesday.
Media outlets reported that the talks focused on a “framework law,” which is expected to follow the confirmation of the PKK’s full disarmament. The law will cover a reduction in prison terms for a limited group of PKK members and regulations to facilitate the process. Öcalan and other PKK figures already sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment will be exempt from any leniency, according to the media reports.
Turkish authorities detained six suspects Thursday in a second wave of an investigation into alleged bribery and extortion at Istanbul’s Beykoz Municipality, prosecutors said.
The Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for eight suspects as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of bribery and extortion linked to the tenure of former Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, who was previously suspended from office.
According to prosecutors, the latest operation was launched based on evidence collected during the investigation, statements from complainants and testimony provided by suspects under Türkiye’s effective remorse provisions.
The suspects include businesspeople, a Beykoz municipal council member and former municipal employees who are alleged to have participated in the offenses under investigation.
Six suspects were detained during coordinated police raids, while efforts to locate and apprehend the remaining two suspects are ongoing.
The investigation remains underway.
Earlier this month, former Beykoz Mayor Köseler was arrested as part of the investigation into alleged bribery, extortion and zoning-related corruption. Prosecutors said the case was supported by witness testimony and statements given under Türkiye’s effective remorse provisions.
Dozens of mayors and municipal bureaucrats from Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) were detained or arrested in the past two years in investigations focusing on corruption. The majority of allegations involve bribery in return for construction permits, which are otherwise subject to strict regulations, and rigging the lucrative tenders of municipalities.
While the CHP is facing internal chaos and a leadership crisis between the former head, Özgür Özel, and CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has seen a stream of new transfers in the past two years.
Since the 2024 elections, 15 mayors have left their parties and joined the AK Party. Most of them were formerly members of the CHP.
Türkiye’s military has strengthened its institutional structure, rebuilt its education system and restored critical personnel capacity in the decade since the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and the head of the National Defense University said.
Speaking to Sabah newspaper, Güler said that the fight against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) was continuing without interruption and with the same determination shown in its immediate aftermath.
He said 24,008 personnel had been dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) while the ranks of 2,198 retired personnel had been revoked as part of investigations into alleged links to the group.
“The most important issue for the Turkish Armed Forces is not the figures, but the uncompromising continuation of the struggle against this treacherous structure that attempted to infiltrate the state,” Güler noted.
He said new information and documents were being evaluated in coordination with relevant institutions and that judicial procedures were being carried out with what he described as great sensitivity.
“Our struggle against those who betrayed our state and nation will continue with the same determination until not a single affiliated member remains,” he stressed.
The minister described July 15 as one of the darkest nights in the country’s history, but also as one of its most significant democratic resistance movements.
He said the attempt was defeated through the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, public resistance and the efforts of members of the security forces and military who remained loyal to the constitutional order.
“The nation showed the entire world that it would never surrender to any center of tutelage or act of betrayal.”
Underlining that the central lesson of the failed coup was the need to preserve national unity and solidarity, Güler added that the military introduced extensive reforms over the past decade in recruitment, professional military education, career planning and internal oversight.
He said a personnel system built around merit, discipline, transparency and the rule of law had helped the armed forces become more effective, respected and capable of deterrence.
FETÖ had sought to weaken the military’s institutional structure, undermine unity of command and damage public confidence in the armed forces, but had failed to achieve those aims, according to him.
He recalled that the military was currently conducting some of the most extensive operations in its history, including border security missions, counterterrorism operations, maritime deployments and international assignments.
Citing domestically produced defense technology, improved training standards and qualified personnel as factors that had increased the military’s operational capacity, Güler said planned recruitment and training programs had largely resolved the shortage and that the air force was now capable of conducting its missions inside Türkiye and across its borders.
Furthermore, National Defense University (MSÜ) Rector Erhan Afyoncu said the military education system had to be effectively rebuilt from the ground up, describing the coup attempt as more than a conventional military takeover, calling it an attempt by an espionage network to occupy Türkiye and provoke civil war.
He noted the group had gradually placed members in military high schools and academies beginning in the 1970s, intensifying those efforts after 1980.
According to Afyoncu, the network recruited children, prepared them for military careers and helped them rise through the ranks, while allegedly forcing out students who were not affiliated with the group.
He said unusually high numbers of dismissals from military schools before 2016 should have raised concerns among senior commanders.
Afyoncu said about 16,000 students were removed from military schools following the coup attempt, leaving the system without a functioning structure.
The National Defense University was established later that month, bringing army, navy and air force education institutions under a single civilian-supervised organization.
Afyoncu said the new structure introduced joint civilian-military administration, revised curricula and courses on democracy, civil society, military history and what he called Turkish war philosophy.
He said the university’s curricula were also aligned with the standards of Türkiye’s Council of Higher Education and pointed out that public interest in military education remained high despite fears that families would be reluctant to send their children to military schools following the coup attempt.
“When we began accepting students only a few months after the coup, people came in large numbers,” he said. “The Turkish nation protected its own military education system.”
The university has since graduated nearly 67,000 officers and noncommissioned officers, he remarked, helping fill much of the personnel gap created by the dismissals.
Afyoncu said the graduates had enabled the military to maintain operations in multiple regions and continue naval and overseas deployments.
“Without those 67,000 graduates, these military operations could not have been carried out,” he said.
Afyoncu also added that Türkiye had expanded military education cooperation with partner countries. Foreign enrollment at the university had risen from students representing 16 countries at the time of its establishment to students from around 50 countries.
Similar military universities had also been established or were being developed in Azerbaijan, Syria and Uzbekistan, he noted.
Both Güler and Afyoncu said reforms were intended to prevent similar networks from infiltrating the military in the future.
Güler said the armed forces would continue to serve under the Constitution and laws, under civilian authority and in the service of the nation.
“We will continue working with the same determination and sacrifice for the security, independence and survival of our country,” he emphasized.
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