The Islamist daily Vakit interviewed Mullah Dadullah, the former Defense Minister of the Taliban government who now conducts the Taliban's attacks in Southern Afghanistan. Vakit’s front page headlines read "Victory is Near," and "Bin Laden is Alive."

A Vakit reporter characterized the Taliban as "resistance fighters," their attacks on NATO soldiers as "effective resistence," and praised Dadullah for being a cultured man. Dadullah said in the interview that he had met with Osama bin Laden and that the claims about bin Laden's sickness were nothing but false rumors spread by the cowardly Westerners. Asked about whether destroying the Budha statues was a mistake, Dadullah said, "by doing that we executed our Prophet's sunna. He too had destroyed the infidel's idols when he entered Mecca."

Dadullah said to Vakit that once they re-conquered all of Afghanistan, they would impose the shari'a laws as they had done before.

In an interview with PBS, when asked about what conditions would lead to a Turkish military operation into Iraq, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that if the U.S. and Turkey's appointed coordinators in the struggle against the terrorist PKK in Northern Iraq don’t bring about any results – and soon, Ankara's patience will run out. He said that the retired U.S. Gen. Joseph Ralston and the retired Turkish Gen. Edip Baser were working, but that they did not have unlimited time to produce results. Erdogan also reiterated Turkey's demand for a special status for the Northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk .

Erdogan defined the sitation in Iraq as a civil war that no one had the right to ignore, and said that the U.S. should prepare a timetable for troop withdrawal. He emphasized the importance of a unified Iraq for Turkey , Iran, and Syria, and said that the U.S. should conduct bilateral or trilateral talks with these countries. He also supported the idea of an international conference on Iraq .

In a press conference in New York, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for calling early elections and said it was a very negative approach. He blasted the West for isolating and economically squeezing the Hamas government with embargos, which he said were anti-democratic. Erdogan said that those in the West who disrespected and denied the election results in Palestine must know that they cannot change the will of the Palestinian people. Erdogan said that if those in the West think that the next elections will bear different results, they are mistaken and will be proven wrong.

The Turkish daily Aksam reported that there was a tense atmosphere during Turkish PM Erdogan’s meeting in New York with 17 representatives of the American Jewish organizations. Harold Tanner who headed the delegation of the American Jewish organizations told Erdogan that Hamas was recognized as a terrorist party, that it does not recognize the State of Israel, and is involved in terrorist activities. Tanner said that because of these reasons Turkey should not conduct relations with Hamas. PM Erdogan lashed out and said: "This is your view [of Hamas]. Our view is different. For us, Hamas is an elected party and everybody must respect the results of the Palestinian elections."

According to the Turkish daily Zaman, "The Turkish Telecommunication Agency will set up an Internet Monitor Center to detect Internet abuses. Once the system is set up, both service providers and users will face heavy penalties if found guilty for inappropriate Internet activity."

According to the Turkish daily Zaman, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be having dinner with former U.S. president Bill Clinton and it will reportedly take place at Clinton’s house.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will also meet with the Turkish prime minister.

Erdogan, co-president of the Alliance of the Civilizations, along with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, will not meet with U.S. President George W. Bush during the visit.

On December 12, 2006 Turkish columnist Cuneyt Ulsever, of the mainstream wide circulation Hurriyet, wrote that the Hizbullah movement is rooting itself in Southeast Turkey and wins the hearts and the minds of the poor by providing them with food, health services, and education, while instilling in them the love and longing for sharia and martyrdom. Ulsever quotes some Turks from the region, who express readiness and desire to die for Sharia . He warns the government of the dangers of the widening network he calls “Hizbullah- a-la-Turca” and asks “who is financing Hizbullah’s activities in Turkey’s [impoverished] Southeast?”