Kemal Kilicdaroglu

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 27  reiterated Turkey's "determination" to realize the Kanal Istanbul project and slammed the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) criticisms.

"They are trying to end the project before it begins, with some claims that have no scientific, logical or reasonable explanation," Erdoğan said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has strongly criticized the government's willingness to send Turkish soldiers to a Libya mission, expressing his party's fierce opposition to any decision that would result in spilling the blood of Turkish soldiers abroad.

Turkey on Dec. 27 commemorated the centenary of the arrival of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, in the capital Ankara.

The commemoration events started at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Atatürk, with the attendance of top officials. Ankara Governor Vasip Sahin laid a wreath on Atatürk's tomb.

A court in İstanbul on Dec. 27 gave seven journalists from Sözcü newspaper prison sentences for aiding FETÖ, the group which orchestrated the July 15, 2016 defeated coup attempt.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has launched disciplinary action against former Ankara deputy Sinan Aygün over his remarks about party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and deputy chair Bülent Kuşoğlu amid bribery allegations by Aygün against Ankara's mayor.

Turkey will hold a tender for Canal Istanbul,  a mega-infrastructure project involving the construction of a 45-kilometer shipping canal in Istanbul parallel to the Bosphorus Strait, in the coming weeks, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced.

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Dec. 19 accused the government of "betraying" the metropolis Istanbul with the planned Canal Istanbul project. He also claimed that the project will not be actualized because there will be "a change of government in the next elections."

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has slammed the arrest and removal of his party's district mayor for the Aegean province of İzmir, over alleged links to the FETÖ, the group behind the defeated coup attempt of 2016.

The main opposition party's leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has urged the Turkish government to take lessons from the Syrian conflict and not to deploy troops to Libya as Ankara and Tripoli have agreed on a comprehensive security and defense deal.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of not returning a letter by U.S. President Donald Trump severely.