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Erdogan Vows Victory over ‘Imperialists’ on Türkiye's Centenary

People pass under the Turkish Flag on Istiklal Street, Istanbul, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP)
People pass under the Turkish Flag on Istiklal Street, Istanbul, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP)
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Erdogan Vows Victory over ‘Imperialists’ on Türkiye's Centenary

People pass under the Turkish Flag on Istiklal Street, Istanbul, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP)
People pass under the Turkish Flag on Istiklal Street, Istanbul, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP)

President Recep Tayyip vowed on Sunday to stand up to "imperialist" forces as he led Turkish centenary celebrations in the shadow of Israel's escalating war with Hamas militants in Gaza.  

Erdogan took center stage during day-long events that both honored the republic's secular founder and played up the achievement of his Islamic-rooted party that has run Türkiye since 2002.  

"Our country is in safe hands, you may rest in peace," Erdogan said after laying a wreath at the mausoleum of military commander and statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

"We will be successful and victorious. No imperialist power can prevent this," Erdogan added in an evening address in Istanbul.

Ataturk is lionized across Turkish society for driving out invading forces and building a brand new nation out of the fallen Ottoman Empire's ruins in the wake of World War I.

He formed as a Westward-facing nation that stripped religion from its state institutions and tried to forge a modern new identity out of its myriad ethnic groups.  

It eventually became a proud member of the US-led NATO defense alliance.

"We are Ataturk's daughters, we are the children of the republic," pensioner Nerguzel Asik said after watching a military parade in Istanbul.  

"We feel 'Turkishness' in every way," student Selin Gunes agreed.  

Social transformation  

But Ataturk's social and geopolitical transformation of the overwhelmingly Muslim nation created divisions that weigh on Turkish politics to this day.  

Erdogan tapped into these as he led his conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power over the leftist Republican People's Party (CHP) formed by Ataturk.  

He has spent much of the past decade testing the limits of Türkiye's secular traditions, as well as its ties with the West.

These competing forces were on full display as Erdogan moved from honoring Türkiye's past to celebrating his own government's achievements while he was prime minister and president.

Erdogan ended the day by overseeing 100 navy ships pass through the Bosphorus while screaming fighter jets performed aerobatics overhead.  

" Türkiye is a country that helps those who have no one, from the Balkans to the Caucasus, from Palestine to wherever there is a need," Erdogan told the nation.  

"The Palestinian rally (in Istanbul) was a part of this."  

Palestinian cause  

Sunday's celebrations have been partially eclipsed by Erdogan's increasingly fierce attacks against Israel over its response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.  

The militants indiscriminately killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor rave party, and took 220 hostages in a surprise raid that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the worst "since the Holocaust".  

Israel has retaliated with relentless air strikes and an unfolding ground offensive that the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says has claimed more than 8,000 lives, most of them civilians.

Turkish state television has also scrapped the broadcast of concerts and other festivities because of the "alarming human tragedy in Gaza".  

Erdogan announced that 1.5 million people had come out for a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul on Saturday that ended up drowning out national television coverage of the centenary.  

Erdogan accused the Israeli government of behaving like a "war criminal" and trying to "eradicate" Palestinians.  

His remarks prompted Israel to announce the withdrawal of all diplomatic staff for a "re-evaluation" of relations.  

Turbulent spell  

The emerging diplomatic crisis further pulled attention away from Türkiye's birthday party and onto Erdogan's handling of global affairs.  

Türkiye has suffered a turbulent spell of relations with Western allies since Erdogan survived a failed coup attempt in 2016 that he blamed on a US-based Muslim preacher.

Some analysts saw Saturday's pro-Palestinian rally as part of Erdogan's tacit effort to undermine Ataturk's secular vision.  

But one survey suggested that Erdogan's comments play to his conservative core of supporters and not the public at large.  

The Metropoll survey showed just 11.3 percent of the respondents saying they "back Hamas" while more than half preferring to see Türkiye either stay "neutral" or mediate.

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Nuclear Neighbors India and Pakistan are a Step Closer To War. Here’s a Timeline of How It Happened

An Indian police personnel stands outside a house that was damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Jammu on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Rakesh BAKSHI / AFP)
An Indian police personnel stands outside a house that was damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Jammu on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Rakesh BAKSHI / AFP)
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Nuclear Neighbors India and Pakistan are a Step Closer To War. Here’s a Timeline of How It Happened

An Indian police personnel stands outside a house that was damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Jammu on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Rakesh BAKSHI / AFP)
An Indian police personnel stands outside a house that was damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Jammu on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Rakesh BAKSHI / AFP)

A gun massacre of tourists on April 22 has pushed India and Pakistan a step closer to war, marking the biggest breakdown in relations since 2019.
Conflict between India and Pakistan is not rare, with the two countries having periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British India in 1947.
What’s different about this escalation is the frequency and intensity of strikes and retaliation.
Although the US had said it would not step in, it is now offering assistance in “starting constructive talks” between India and Pakistan to avoid future conflicts. But calls for restraint from the international community have yet to make an impact.
Here’s a timeline of how the latest conflict has unfolded:
April 22 Gunmen shoot and kill at least 26 tourists at a Pahalgam resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a major shift in a regional conflict that has largely spared civilians. The unidentified gunmen also wound 17 other people. A group called Kashmir Resistance, which India accuses Pakistan of backing, claims the attack.
Survivors tell The Associated Press that gunmen asked people if they were Hindu and then opened fire.
April 23 India downgrades diplomatic ties, closes the only functional land border crossing, and suspends a crucial water-sharing treaty that has survived two wars and a major border skirmish between the two countries.
India launches a manhunt for the Pahalgam assailants. Pakistan denies involvement with the attack.
April 24 India and Pakistan cancel visas for each other’s nationals, setting a deadline for them to leave. In retaliation, Pakistan shuts its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspends all trade with India, including to and from any third country.
Government ministers on both sides hint the dispute could escalate to military action.
April 25 India says its troops exchanged fire with Pakistani soldiers at the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing the disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistan warns it could suspend an agreement that established the Line of Control, in what would be a major and worrying step. The United Nations urges both sides to “exercise maximum restraint.”
April 26 Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vows his government will respond “with full force and might” to Indian attempts to stop or divert the flow of water.
Iran offers mediation, while Trump says he expects them to work out their differences. “There’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been,” he tells reporters aboard Air Force One.
April 30 Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir temporarily close dozens of resorts in the scenic Himalayan region after the deadly attack on tourists.
Troops from both countries exchange fire over the Line of Control for a fifth consecutive night.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar says his government has “credible intelligence” that India intends to carry out military action against Pakistan in the next 24 to 36 hours.
May 1 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls senior officials in India and Pakistan in an effort to defuse the crisis. US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says Rubio in his call with India expressed sorrow over the killings in Pahalgam and reaffirmed the US’s “commitment to cooperation with India against terrorism."
Pakistan says Rubio emphasized the need for both sides to “continue working together for peace and stability” in South Asia.
May 3 Pakistan test-fires a ballistic missile with a range of 450 kilometers (about 280 miles). Missiles are not fired toward the border area with India; they are normally fired into the Arabian Sea or the deserts of the southwest Balochistan province.
India suspends the exchange of all mail from Pakistan through air and surface routes and bans the direct and indirect import of goods from its neighbor. It also bars Pakistani-flagged ships from entering its ports and prohibits Indian-flagged vessels from visiting Pakistani ports.
May 7 India fires missiles on Pakistan, which calls the strikes an “act of war” and vows to avenge those who died in the pre-dawn attack.
The missiles kill 31 people, including women and children, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the country’s Punjab province. The strikes targeted at least nine sites “where terrorist attacks against India have been planned,” says India’s Defense Ministry.
Pakistan claims it downed several Indian fighter jets.
May 8 India fires attack drones into Pakistan, killing at least two civilians, the Pakistani military says. India, meanwhile, accuses its neighbor of attempting its own attack and acknowledges targeting its archrival’s air defense system.
India evacuates thousands of people from villages near the highly militarized frontier in the Kashmir region. Flights remain suspended at over two dozen airports across northern and western regions of India.
Pakistan's Punjab province announces the immediate closure of all schools and other educational institutions.
May 9 India suspends its biggest domestic cricket tournament for a week following the escalating military tensions with Pakistan. Pakistan initially says it will move its own domestic T20 tournament to the United Arab Emirates because of the crisis, but then says it will only postpone matches.
Several northern and western Indian states shut schools and other educational institutions.
US Vice President JD Vance says a potential war between India and Pakistan would be “none of our business.”
India's army says drones have been sighted in 26 locations across many areas in Indian states bordering Pakistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir, including the main city of Srinagar. The drones were tracked and engaged, it adds.
The Group of Seven nations, or G7, urge “maximum restraint” from both India and Pakistan, warning that further military escalation poses a serious threat to regional stability.
May 10 Pakistan says India has fired missiles at air bases inside the country and that retaliatory strikes are underway. The Indian missiles targeted Nur Khan air base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, Murid air base in Chakwal city, and Rafiqui air base in the Jhang district of eastern Punjab province, according to the Pakistani army's chief spokesperson.
Pakistan says it has fired missiles at Indian military positions.
Residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir report hearing loud explosions at multiple places in the region, including Srinagar, Jammu, and the garrison town of Udhampur.