Published December 18,2025

Subscribe

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday will attend a meeting focusing on Gaza in Miami, US, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Our minister will attend the Gaza-focused meeting tomorrow (Dec.19) in Miami, with officials participating from the US, Egypt and Qatar,” the statement said.

“Discussions will also be held on other regional issues,” the ministry added.

Earlier, a White House official told Anadolu that special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Turkish, Qatari and Egyptian representatives to discuss the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The meeting comes nearly two months after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect. The first phase of the deal included a halt to hostilities, partial Israeli withdrawal, hostage-prisoner exchanges, and the entry of full humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

The second phase, as envisioned in US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, requires the deployment of an international stabilization force (ISF), disarmament of Hamas, full Israeli withdrawal, and the formation of a “technocratic” Palestinian committee to temporarily rule Gaza.

Palestinians have accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire, which halted the two-year war that has killed over 70,000 people-mostly women and children-and injured over 170,000 others since October 2023.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 395 Palestinians have been killed and 1,088 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the truce took effect.

Published December 18,2025

Subscribe

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Thursday met with Maria Angela Holguín Cuellar, the UN secretary-general’s personal envoy on Cyprus, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

The meeting took place in Ankara, the ministry said on Turkish social media platform NSosyal.

No further details were immediately available.

Published December 18,2025

Subscribe

Türkiye’s defense and aerospace industry exports reached $8.5 billion this year, the country’s defense industries chief announced Thursday.

Türkiye’s Defense Industries Secretary Haluk Gorgun spoke at the 7th Defense Industry Meetings, organized by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) and SAHA Istanbul to contribute to the national and domestic structure of Türkiye’s defense industry, bringing together different segments of the sector.

This year’s summit addressed the topics of “Supply Chain and Sustainability.”

Turkish defense giant Roketsan’s CEO Murat Ikinci stated that the external dependence rate of Turkish defense industry fell to 20%, from around 80%.

Responding to a question about the export target for the defense sector next year, Murat Ikinci said, “I think it would be accurate to say that it will exceed $10 billion. It’s constantly increasing. This year it increased by over 30%, and we frankly want to maintain a similar rate next year as well.”

Published December 15,2025

Subscribe

Making the remarks following the Cabinet Meeting held at the Presidential Complex on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underlined that Türkiye has taught the world a “lesson in human rights” through its pursuit of peace and justice in conflict zones like Gaza, Syria, Somalia, and Libya.

Key points from President Erdoğan’s statements are as follows:

Our compliance rate with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings is 90 percent, far exceeding that of many member states of the Council of Europe. We see that those who harshly criticize Türkiye on this issue remain silent about numerous countries that fail to implement ECHR decisions.

These same circles do not object to Israel— which has killed 270 journalists in the Gaza genocide—being ranked ahead of Türkiye and Palestine in so-called press freedom indices, nor do they see any problem in this distorted picture. When it comes to Türkiye, fairness disappears and objectivity collapses. We will, of course, not pay heed to this.

When we look at the conflicts that have erupted in our region in recent years, we see that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, foremost the right to life, has been trampled underfoot. Israel’s genocidal crimes in Gaza are the clearest evidence of this.

In neighboring Syria, the Baath regime violated every norm and value related to human rights for 13.5 years, from chemical attacks to torture. The international community and institutions failed to prevent these violations and merely stood by instead of resolving the problems. Türkiye has taught the world a lesson in human rights through its peace- and justice-focused efforts in blood- and tear-soaked regions such as Gaza, Syria, Somalia, and Libya.