Published December 11,2025

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The Take Off Istanbul 2025 entrepreneurship summit, organized by the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) with the Ministry of Industry and Technology and the Presidential Investment and Finance Office, has officially begun at Istanbul Expo Center.

Now in its 8th year, the summit brings together over 500 startups from 40 countries and more than 250 investors, making it the region’s most comprehensive entrepreneurship event. The opening speech was delivered by Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır.

Steve Nouri, CEO of GenAI Works, presented “LLMs Alone Are Not Enough: New Rules for Competitive Advantage,” highlighting 2024 as an exciting year for AI innovation. He noted the rapid rise of multi-tasking AI systems generating text, video, and images, and emphasized the decreasing cost and increased accessibility of AI models worldwide. Nouri also highlighted Google’s comeback in generative AI with Gemini’s new version.

Another session, “From QR Codes to AI: The Global Journey of FinTech,” was moderated by Dündar Özdemir, CEO of DSM Payment and Electronic Money Services, with Alex Jin from Ant International. Jin discussed how AliPay+ enables 1.8 billion users and over 150 million merchants across 100+ markets to connect through digital wallets and cross-border payment solutions.

Since its first edition in 2018, the summit has hosted nearly 1,000 startups, providing $1.8 million in investment support. This year, Take Off Istanbul features 80 partners, 13 sponsors, and international pavilions from Spain, Bangladesh, North Macedonia, and Uzbekistan.

Special programs like the “Entrepreneurial Event” and “International Investor Meeting” offer networking and investment opportunities. Main stage topics include generative AI, deep tech, FinTech innovations, global investment trends, and sustainability. Student-focused educational sessions are also provided to support young talent.

Published December 11,2025

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US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said Türkiye should be included in an international stabilization force for Gaza, citing Ankara’s military capacity and its channels of dialogue with the Palestinian group Hamas, according to comments he made at the Jerusalem Post’s Washington Conference.

In remarks posted Thursday by Israeli journalist Amichai Stein through US social media company X, Barrack said Türkiye’s participation would strengthen the proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is part of the post-war mechanism laid out under the ceasefire plan.

“Our suggestion was that since the Turks have the largest and most effective ground troop operation in the region, and since they have a dialogue with Hamas, perhaps that would be beneficial as part of the force to cool the temperature,” Barrack said.

The ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Oct. 10 under US President Donald Trump’s plan, halting two years of Israeli attacks that have killed more than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured nearly 171,000 others since October 2023.

Phase one of the deal includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

UN Resolution 2803 established the framework for Gaza’s transition, including the creation of a Board of Peace, the ISF, and a new administrative committee for the enclave.

Türkiye has signaled readiness to take part in the force. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said last week that Ankara is prepared to “do whatever it takes” to support the peace process. Speaking at the Doha Forum, Fidan noted that several countries want Türkiye involved because it “can play a leading role” and help secure broader public legitimacy for the mission.

Fidan said Ankara is coordinating with Indonesia, Azerbaijan, and other Muslim and Arab partners on post-war arrangements for Gaza. Türkiye is open to contributing troops, Fidan stressed, adding that participation will depend on the positions and consensus of all relevant parties.

Published December 10,2025

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Türkiye’s electric vehicle (EV) brand Togg was the top seller in January-November EV sales in the Turkish auto market, with 31,715 units sold, beating out both Tesla (29,955) and BYD (17,639), according to new data.

Car sales in Türkiye rose 10.96% year-on-year in the first 11 months of the year, reaching 938,177 units, while light commercial vehicle sales climbed 7.13% to 238,603, according to data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD).

Sales of gasoline-powered cars fell 15.5% to 442,650 units, while hybrid cars surged 71.3% to 251,992. Diesel cars declined 18.8% to 69,740 units, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered car sales rose 33.9% to 7,399.

EV sales, including extended-range models, surged 111.4% to 166,665 units in the first 11 months, achieving a market share of 17.8%.

While Tesla continued its presence with Model Y, and BYD brought a total of seven fully electric models into the country, Türkiye’s Togg topped EV sales with its T10X and T10F models.

The EV brands in the top three — namely Togg, Tesla, and BYD — accounted for 47.5% of the electric car market. Togg alone made up around 20% of the EV market in the same period.

Togg in particular topped the Turkish EV market in November, selling 4,235 total units, followed by Tesla with 2,535, BYD with 1,833, KG Mobility with 1,209, and Volvo with 1,189.

In the first 11 months of the year, the share of gasoline-powered cars in Turkish auto sales fell from 62% to 47.2%, and diesel cars from 10.1% to 7.4%, while LPG-powered cars remained at a 0.8% market share.

During the same period, fully electric cars’ share rose from 9.2% to 17.6% and hybrids from 17.4% to 26.9%.

Fully electric, extended-range electric, and hybrid cars accounted for 44.7% of the total Turkish auto market, with sales totaling 418,657 units.

Plug-in hybrids made up 4.6% of the market with 42,857 units sold in January-November, a surge of 658.9% compared to the same period last year.

BYD Seal U was the best-selling hybrid with 23,131 units, followed by Toyota C-HR with 22,181 units, Nissan Qashqai with 17,575 units, Peugeot 3008 with 14,157 units, and Toyota Corolla Cross with 11,072 units, the data showed.

As global warming and industrialization threaten forests worldwide, countries like China, Russia, India, and Türkiye rank among those that have increased their forests the most in the last decade, with Türkiye ranking fourth globally in forested areas.

Some 4.14 billion hectares (10.2 billion acres) of land worldwide are covered by forests, making up 32% of the global land area, according to data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment data, compiled by Anadolu.

The forested area per capita was 0.5 hectares, while tropical regions made up 45% of the world’s forests.

Forested areas in Europe covered 25% of the world’s total, while South America boasted the highest forest density on land.

The report showed that 54% of the world’s forests are in just five countries, namely Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US, and China.

In 1990-2000, the annual net loss of forested areas worldwide reached 10.7 million hectares, declining to 4.12 million hectares in 2015-2025. “The increase in forested areas in Asia slowed over recent years, while forested areas in South America significantly declined.”

A total of 489 million hectares of forest area worldwide had been lost to deforestation by 1990, while the rate of forest expansion declined from an annual average of 9.88 million hectares in 2000-2015 to an average of 6.78 million hectares in 2015-2025, the report showed.

Naturally regenerated forests covered 3.83 billion hectares, making up 92% of the world’s total forest area—this also decreased by 324 million hectares in 1990-2025, with the net loss rate falling from 13.8 million hectares per year in 1990-2000 to 6.97 million hectares per year in 2015-2025.

CHINA LEADS WITH LARGEST FOREST AREA INCREASE

China increased its forested areas by 1.6 million hectares annually over the last 10 years, followed by Russia with 942,000 hectares and India with 191,000 hectares.

At the same time, Türkiye increased its forested areas by 118,000 hectares (or by 0.53%) annually, ranking first in Europe and fourth worldwide.

Australia followed Türkiye with 105,000 hectares, France with 95,900 hectares, Indonesia with 94,100 hectares, South Africa with 87,600 hectares, Canada with 82,500 hectares, and Vietnam with 72,800 hectares.

Meanwhile, Brazil saw the largest forest losses with an average annual loss of 2.9 million hectares in 2015-2025, according to the report.

Following Brazil, Angola lost 510,000 hectares per year, Tanzania 469,000 hectares, Myanmar 290,000 hectares, Congo 283,000 hectares, and Mozambique 267,000 hectares of forest area.

At the same time, Cambodia lost 251,000 hectares, Peru 239,000 hectares, Bolivia 232,000 hectares, and Paraguay 207,000 hectares.

The countries that lost the most forest area worldwide in the last 10 years were in South America and Africa, except for Cambodia.

The FAO report says that wildfires are the most significant factor affecting forests, as 130 million hectares were impacted by fires on average per year in 2007-2019.

In 2020 alone, insects, diseases, and severe weather events impacted 41 million hectares.

The total area of forests in legally protected areas worldwide is estimated to be 813 million hectares, accounting for approximately 20% of total forest area.