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Turkish Opposition Leaders Meet to Counter Erdogan’s System

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), speaks during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Cagla Gurdogan
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), speaks during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Cagla Gurdogan
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Turkish Opposition Leaders Meet to Counter Erdogan’s System

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), speaks during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Cagla Gurdogan
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), speaks during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Cagla Gurdogan

The leaders of six opposition parties in Turkey met Saturday to strategize about the future of the country’s governing system — a move that aims to unseat the country's longtime ruler.

In a statement following the working dinner, the party leaders said Turkey was experiencing “the deepest political and economic crisis” of its history and blamed it on the executive presidential system. They said their joint goal was to transform Turkey’s governance to a “strengthened parliamentary system.”

They did not mention President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by name, but their clear aim is to find a way to work together to unseat him, according to The Associated Press.

After more than 11 years as Turkey's prime minister, Erdogan was elected president in 2014. At the time, the position was primarily ceremonial, however in 2017 Turkish voters approved an executive presidential system, greatly expanding Erdogan's powers at the expense of those of the prime minister and parliament. Erdogan was re-elected the following year. Critics call the system “one-man rule.”

The leaders at the dinner were Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party; Meral Aksener from the nationalist Good Party; Temel Karamollaoglu from the conservative Felicity Party; Gultekin Uysal from the Democrat Party; Democracy and Progress Party’s Ali Babacan; and Future Party’s Ahmet Davutoglu. They had previously conducted bilateral meetings but Saturday's meeting was their first all together. They are expected to release details of their agreement on Feb. 28.

Davutoglu and Babacan were co-founders of Erdogan’s ruling party and served in top positions but broke away to form their own parties in criticism of Erdogan’s policies.

The second largest opposition party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, was not at the meeting. The government has attacked that party and many of its members, including its former leaders, have been imprisoned over alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants. Erdogan has also accused the Republican People’s Party of siding with “terrorists.”

The next parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled for June 2023.

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Iran's President Delivers Defiant UN Speech

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
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Iran's President Delivers Defiant UN Speech

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered a defiant speech at the United Nations on Wednesday as Tehran downplayed talks with the United States.

He said his country's people had been the “victims of terrorism” by the United States.

Delivering the rare wartime speech at the UN General Assembly, Pezeshkian displayed images of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 150 schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the conflict.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.”

Turning to the United States, Pezeshkian added: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.”

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that President Donald Trump remained open to an agreement “that allows Iran to be what it should be, which is a great and prosperous country.”

Rubio said the prospects for such a deal were hindered by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and “their support of terrorism.” If those policies continued, he said, Trump could exercise “a number of options,” including further military action.

“It must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” Pezeshkian said in his speech.

World

WHO: Congo is Running Short of Health Workers as Ebola Remains Out of Control

Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
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WHO: Congo is Running Short of Health Workers as Ebola Remains Out of Control

Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)

Congo is running short of health workers to staff treatment centers for history's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, particularly in the eastern province of North Kivu where cases have surged 73% over three weeks, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The warning came despite signs of improvement in other provinces, including Ituri, the outbreak’s epicenter. The outbreak has spread to seven provinces, with 7,773 confirmed cases and 3,759 deaths, according to the latest government figures.

Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20, cases fell 26% in Ituri province and 15% in Haut-Uele, said Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO’s regional emergency director for Africa. But transmission patterns vary widely and the outbreak remains uncontrolled, she said.

“While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others,” The Associated Press quoted Belizaire as saying. “The outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area.”

The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said it is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Catherine Smallwood, the WHO’s Ebola incident manager, said cases and deaths had begun declining in North Kivu after several weeks of increases. But although treatment beds are being added daily, facilities still lack enough staff and partners to operate them.

“The human resources gap is one of the biggest gaps,” Smallwood said.

WHO representative in Congo Anne Ancia said one Ebola treatment center requires about 300 health professionals, including anesthetists, hygienists, nurses and general practitioners.

“We are building Ebola treatment centers but do not always have the human resources needed to operate them,” Ancia said. “Those health workers must be paid.”

Frontline workers in Ituri previously went on strike over unpaid wages, worsening access to care.

Health Minister Roger Kamba said in July that the government was verifying payroll lists after the names of people not involved in the response were added. Frontline workers said officials promised to pay the arrears, but some workers received nothing and others only part of what they were owed.

Another major challenge in the response is the fatality rate among children, according to the WHO. Children under five have the highest case fatality rate, more than 60% compared with approximately 40% among adults, Belizaire said.

WHO Ebola Incident Manager Smallwood said detecting cases among children under five is also very difficult because the children can’t necessarily explain their symptoms, and the presentation of symptoms can be confusing.

World

Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Taliban Shelled Pakistani Border. Kabul Denies the Attack

Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
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Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Taliban Shelled Pakistani Border. Kabul Denies the Attack

Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters

Afghanistan's Taliban forces shelled Pakistani border posts overnight after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as a cross-border infiltration attempt by militants, local Pakistani officials said Wednesday.

The spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, Zabiullah Mujahid, denied any attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces, The Associated Press said.

The conflicting statements came just days after Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts, an escalation between Kabul and Islamabad that threatens mediation efforts by regional powers.

Pakistani security forces neutralized two rudimentary drones, which the officials said were launched by the Afghan Taliban, before they could enter the northwestern city of Kohat, the officials said. They said the action underscored Pakistan's round-the-clock vigilance and air-defense systems' readiness to counter emerging aerial threats from Afghanistan.

The airstrikes ended several weeks of relative calm following months of cross-border hostilities. Also, earlier this month, Pakistani security forces killed 15 militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan.

Four local Pakistani officials said Wednesday that militants attempted to infiltrate Pakistan from areas near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces, allegedly with support from the Afghan Taliban forces.

The officials referred to the militants as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term Islamabad uses for the Pakistani Taliban, a group that is separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing militants to operate from its territory and carry out attacks across the border, an accusation that Kabul denies.

After Pakistani troops thwarted the infiltration attempt, Afghan Taliban forces allegedly fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts, the four officials said. Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire, targeting Taliban border posts, mortar sites, and defensive positions.

The officials said Afghan Taliban forces subsequently abandoned several positions and suffered casualties. The four officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media about the latest flare-up.

The accounts could not be independently verified. The latest escalations threaten mediation efforts by China, Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between Kabul and Islamabad.

In Monday's airstrikes, Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died and four others were wounded. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties and Kabul formally protested the attack.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed concern about what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan.

Monday’s Pakistani airstrikes followed a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, that killed six Pakistani security personnel. Days earlier, a suicide bomber struck a mosque inside a police compound in the nearby city of Kohat.

Eight gunmen then stormed the compound, triggering a 20-hour gunbattle that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers. No group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups. The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have stepped up their attacks on Pakistani security forces, boosted by the Afghan Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.