20.10.2026 21:00
Minister of Interior Mustafa Çiftçi and Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek attended the Trilateral Ministers Meeting held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Çiftçi, saying "No country should allow its territory to become a safe haven for terrorist organizations operating against another country," noted that Belgium is being used almost as a refuge by FETÖ and called for the closure of organizations linked to the PKK and FETÖ and for the extradition requests to be met.
Minister of Interior Mustafa Çiftçi and Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek attended the “Trilateral Ministers Meeting” held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, with the participation of the foreign, justice, and interior ministers of Türkiye and Belgium.
In the meeting, the Turkish delegation included Çiftçi and Gürlek as well as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, while the Belgian delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation Maxime Prevot, Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden, Minister of Security and Interior Bernard Quintin, and Minister of Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt.
MINISTER ÇİFTÇİ: NO COUNTRY SHOULD ALLOW ITS TERRITORY TO BECOME A SAFE HAVEN FOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS Drawing attention to the importance of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism at the meeting, Minister Çiftçi said, “Our expectation from the international community and our friends is that no distinction is made between terrorist organizations and that none of them is tolerated. For this reason, no country should allow its territory to become a safe haven for terrorist organizations operating against another country.”
Minister Çiftçi expressed the view, “Thanks to our years-long determined struggle, the PKK has decided to lay down its arms and dissolve itself. With the law adopted in our Parliament, the Terror-Free Türkiye process has begun. However, lasting success in the fight against terrorism can only be achieved through strong international cooperation.”
“WE SEE THAT FETÖ HAS UNFORTUNATELY USED BELGIUM AS ALMOST A SAFE HAVEN” Touching on the activities of terrorist organizations in Belgium, Minister Çiftçi emphasized the importance of not repeating the negative events of the past.
Çiftçi, stating that they expect concrete steps from Belgium in the fight against terrorism, said, “In particular, we request the closure of organizations that support and are affiliated with the PKK and FETÖ and that our extradition requests be answered positively.”
Speaking about the fight against FETÖ, Çiftçi continued as follows: “We see that this structure has unfortunately used Belgium as almost a safe haven. We believe that if the organization's schools and NGOs are closely monitored, many crimes such as fraud, bribery, and rigging tenders will come to light. We also expect the prevention of FETÖ members abusing the asylum system with false information and documents.”
Çiftçi also touched on the fight against DAESH, saying, “The repatriation of foreign terrorist fighters to their source countries is important so that DAESH does not regain ground in the region. We are ready to support our counterparts on this issue.”
“WE BELIEVE THERE MUST BE COOPERATION ON THE EXTRADITION OF CRIMINALS” Touching on the fight against new-generation criminal organizations and organized crime, Minister Çiftçi said that criminal organizations that effectively use the virtual world pose a major threat to international security.
Emphasizing the importance of judicial cooperation in the fight against organized criminal organizations, Minister Çiftçi stated: “Together with our Ministry of Justice, we can carry out similar versions of the successful operations we have conducted in Türkiye by establishing cooperation with our Belgian counterparts. To achieve a successful result in the fight against these organizations, we believe there must be close cooperation between our Ministries of Justice and our Interpol units on the extradition of criminals.”
Minister Çiftçi also raised the requests for the capture and extradition to Türkiye of the leaders and members of organized criminal organizations assessed to be in Belgium.
“PREVENTING IRREGULAR MIGRATION AT ITS SOURCE” Çiftçi, conveying that comprehensive efforts are being carried out to prevent irregular migration at its source and neutralize migrant smuggling networks, stated that irregular migration flows have been largely prevented through measures taken on land and at sea, and that Türkiye has made significant progress toward ceasing to be a target and transit country.
Drawing attention to the importance of international cooperation and fair burden-sharing in the fight, Çiftçi emphasized the need to increase cooperation with European Union countries, support voluntary returns, and raise resettlement quotas.
Minister Çiftçi noted that lasting success in the fight against terrorism, organized crime, and irregular migration can only be achieved through sincere solidarity and cooperation among countries.
MINISTER GÜRLEK: THE FIGHT AGAINST FETÖ IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE FOR THE PROTECTION OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY Speaking at the meeting, Minister Gürlek emphasized that the fight against FETÖ is of vital importance for the protection of Türkiye's national security, democratic order, and rule of law.
Drawing attention to the need not to allow FETÖ to continue its organizational activities in Belgium, Gürlek stated: “The fight against FETÖ is of vital importance for Türkiye in terms of protecting our national security, our democratic order, and our rule of law. This organization, which targeted our nation's will and our constitutional order on July 15, 2016, poses a serious threat with its closed and hierarchical structure, its methods of infiltrating state institutions, and its capacity to use legal-looking structures for organizational purposes. That night, 253 of our citizens were martyred and thousands of our citizens were injured. Türkiye's experience has revealed that FETÖ is a structure that must be handled more carefully not only with respect to our country but also with respect to other countries where it operates. Therefore, we expect the allied country Belgium to take concrete and effective measures, especially against FETÖ's structure in its own country. FETÖ-linked formations operating in Belgium under associations, educational institutions, and civil-society-looking structures must be closely examined by the relevant Ministers. The legal status of these structures must not be allowed to turn into a basis that enables them to continue their organizational activities or provide financing. As the Ministry of Justice, our specific expectation is that the extradition of members of the FETÖ terrorist organization to our country be ensured and that our judicial assistance requests within this scope be handled effectively and in a timely manner.”
“LASTING AND EFFECTIVE RESULTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH COOPERATION” Explaining that it is important to increase the current level of judicial cooperation with Belgium, Gürlek stated that they also focused on this issue in his bilateral meeting with Belgian Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden.
Gürlek emphasized that the extradition of persons sought for terrorism offenses, the effective fulfillment of judicial assistance requests, and the timely provision of information and evidence required for investigations and prosecutions are the fundamental elements of cooperation.
Pointing to the importance of being informed in a timely manner about important developments in extradition processes and of swiftly notifying Türkiye of additional information, documents and assurances needed, Gürlek stated that overcoming difficulties encountered in judicial cooperation through direct dialogue and regularly following up on files would contribute to achieving concrete progress.
Minister Gürlek said, “Ensuring continuity in contacts between ministries and enabling cooperation to acquire a more effective and result-oriented structure, particularly in the fight against terrorism and transnational organized crime, is our fundamental expectation.”
Noting that terrorism is one of the common threats facing international peace and security, Gürlek shared the view, “Considering their transnational structures, financing networks and capacity to operate in different countries, I believe that permanent and effective results in the fight against terrorism can only be achieved through strong international cooperation.”
“OUR EXTRADITION REQUESTS CONCERNING TERRORISM-RELATED CRIMES BEING BROUGHT TO A CONCLUSION WILL, GOD WILLING, BE THE MOST CONCRETE INDICATION OF COOPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES” Emphasizing that Türkiye fights on a legal basis against all terrorist organizations without distinction among them and advocates that the same determination be demonstrated at the international level, Gürlek made the following statements: “In the fight against terrorism, international law offers states a broad basis for cooperation and numerous legal instruments. In addition to extradition and mutual legal assistance conventions, it is of great importance that international mechanisms for preventing terrorism and combating the financing of terrorism be used effectively in practice. In the coming period, bringing our extradition and mutual legal assistance requests, particularly those concerning terrorism-related crimes, to a conclusion without delay and in accordance with the spirit of the conventions to which we are party will, God willing, be the most concrete indication of cooperation between the two countries.”
The first “Trilateral Ministers Meeting” established between Türkiye and Belgium in the context of the fight against terrorism was held in Istanbul in October 2008, the second in Brussels in January 2013, and the third in Ankara on March 9, 2016.
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