Türkiye affirms support for Venezuelans amid Maduro crisis

Türkiye will continue to support the people of Venezuela, respecting their will and rights, in light of the ongoing crisis in the Bolivarian Republic, Turkish Vice President, Cevdet Yilmaz, wrote on X.

Likewise, he commented on the detention and extradition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the United States, per Caliber.Az.

He emphasised that Türkiye supports adherence to international law.

“We will continue to advocate for stability and dialogue between all parties,” Yilmaz stated.

The ongoing crisis in Venezuela escalated dramatically on January 3, 2026, when U.S. Special Forces conducted a military raid in Caracas, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a nighttime operation involving airstrikes on military targets, radar jamming, and the overwhelming of Venezuelan air defenses.

Maduro, who has led Venezuela since 2013 as the successor to Hugo Chávez, was transported via the USS Iwo Jima to Guantanamo Bay and then flown to New York, where he arrived at Stewart Air National Guard Base before being processed by the DEA in Manhattan and held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

He faces a 2020 U.S. indictment (unsealed further in 2026) in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation, and weapons charges, alleging he headed the "Cartel de los Soles"—a network purportedly shipping up to 250 tons of cocaine annually to the U.S. via alliances with groups like Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas, FARC, and Tren de Aragua.

By Khagan Isayev