Turkey

Number of passengers carried by national flag carrier up 13.1 pct year-on-year in first 8 months of 2018, says airline Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines carried 50.7 million passengers from January to August, the company announced Friday. The total number of passengers carried by the airline rose 13.1 percent year-on-year in the eight-month period, the airline said in a statement. Turkish Airlines noted that the increase in number of domestic and international passengers is Read More

Both countries aim for closer ties while drifting away from EU, says Turkish academic As the U.K. government has proven to be unprepared for Brexit, this could serve as a vast opportunity for developing relations with non-EU states like Turkey, experts said. According to Seckin Baris Gulmez, an assistant professor of international relations at Izmir Katip Celebi University, Turkey and the U.K. have been experiencing parallel situations in their relations with the EU, despite technically Read More

Five senior operatives of terrorist group among ‘neutralized’ terrorists, says Interior Ministry At least 26 PKK terrorists were “neutralized” in counterterrorism operations across Turkey over the past week, according to the Interior Ministry on Monday. Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured. In a statement, the ministry said the Turkish Armed Forces carried out 2,156 operations on Aug. Read More

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader on Thursday criticized the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on two Turkish ministers, terming the move “not right”. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Kilicdaroglu called for talks with the U.S. to resolve issues, reminding that Turkey and the U.S. were allies. He urged “healthy discussions” to resolve bilateral issues. He also said Turkey sees Fetullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the U.S., as the mastermind of Read More

Foreign Ministry says London report confirms Turkey’s ‘power of humanitarian policy’ Turkey topped the 2017 list of countries delivering humanitarian assistance with $8.07 billion, according to the report by the Global Humanitarian Assistance Programme of “Development Initiatives” of London. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry hailed the report with a written statement on Thursday, saying that “the power of Turkey’s humanitarian diplomacy, implemented without discrimination, is once again confirmed globally”. The June 19 report said the U.S. ($6.68 Read More

NATO welcomes Turkey’s “transparency” in its ongoing Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria, the alliance chief said on Monday. “[Foreign] Minister Cavusoglu briefed me on Operation Olive Branch, and I am grateful for Turkey’s continued transparency on this,” Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in capital Ankara. Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to clear the terrorist groups YPG/PKK and Daesh from Afrin, northwestern Syria amid growing Read More

Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkish Jews community is ‘inseparable part of our society’ President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has released a congratulatory message for Jewish community on the eve of the Passover (Pesach) holiday. In the message, Erdogan emphasized that Turkey gives great importance to the freedom of all citizens to live their own culture, religion, and customs. “We regard Turkish Jewish community as an inseparable part of our society,” the president added. Passover, which commemorates Read More

3,171 terrorists ‘neutralized’ since start of Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin, says Turkish president President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey-backed troops had surrounded Afrin city center in northwestern Syria and were ready to enter at any moment as part of Operation Olive Branch. “Right now, Afrin city center is surrounded,” said Erdogan at the inauguration of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s Politics Academy in capital Ankara. He added that Read More

NATO’s Turkey parliamentary assembly head on Sunday marked 66 years of being part of the military alliance. Ahmet Berat Conkar said it was important to develop “dialogue and co-operation in order to eliminate threats and turn challenges into opportunities”. “We need to work harder than ever to equip NATO with the right perspective and adequate capability that its global duties require,” he added in a statement. Conkar called on NATO and its allies to support Read More

Suspects are accused of planning terrorist attacks Security forces on Saturday arrested 48 foreigners in Istanbul and capital Ankara over their suspected links to the Daesh terrorist organization. Istanbul Police Department’s Anti-Terrorism Branch launched an operation to nab the suspects who were allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks. Thirty-one suspects were arrested in three districts of Istanbul, while separately in Ankara, 17 Daesh terrorists were also detained during simultaneous operations, a security source, who Read More