A coal mine collapse in Soma, Manisa province, killed five miners and injured two on October 1, in the same district that endured Türkiye's deadliest mining disaster in 2014. President Erdoğan, speaking at a technology festival in Şanlıurfa on October 3, pledged that “anyone found to have been negligent or guilty will certainly be held accountable.” The energy ministry and the local prosecutor have opened separate inquiries, and nine people, including mine company officials, are in custody for questioning.
Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan opened their first trilateral military exercise on October 2, deploying more than 3,500 troops across Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, Nakhchivan and the Caspian Sea. The drills, named Power of Unity, rehearsed defence against drone swarms, cyberattacks and border incursions, and were watched by observers from Iran, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia. Türkiye's defence minister said the three countries will prepare in the best possible way, adding “we will live in peace,” and framing the show of force as deterrence rather than preparation for war.
Source:
Euronews · Saturday, 3 October 2026
Fourteen boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla, damaged in an Israeli attack in international waters, are being repaired in the Turkish port of Antalya, with broken masts, disabled engines and slashed sails among the damage. Two repaired boats have already sailed on to Italy ahead of another attempt to reach Gaza by sea. “We are repairing these boats so they can sail to Gaza again,” flotilla board member Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu said. “If the enemy does not give up, we cannot give up.”
