Turkey - Page 12

A brawl broke out inside Turkey’s parliament this week after members of opposing political parties hurled insults at one another during a budget debate and the spat escalated into a melee, the Middle East Monitor reported Friday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named China the world’s worst jailer of journalists on Thursday, the third year in a row that the host of the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics has taken the title.

(AFP) — Only a few times a year Ninos Josephides, a Greek Cypriot, is allowed to visit his home village in the Turkish-occupied part of divided Cyprus. But he can’t visit his house. It was destroyed long ago.

The Cypriot ambassador to the Holy See, George Poulides, said this week the highlight of Pope Francis’ visit to the island nation of Cyprus next week will be his meeting with migrants and refugees.

Drones are the hot new item in the Middle East’s perpetual warfare, deployed by national armies, militias, and terrorist groups with increasing confidence and proficiency. 

A bus carrying North Macedonians home from a tourist trip to Istanbul crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday.

Operation Turkey Houston is gearing up to prepare and deliver more than 8,300 Thanksgiving feasts to Texas families in need.

Greek authorities say seven migrants have been killed and eight others injured after the vehicle they were traveling in lost control.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has affirmed his support for Turkey becoming a member state of the European Union.

An Israeli couple who were detained eight days ago in Turkey on suspicion of espionage after being caught taking photographs of the Istanbul palace of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were freed Thursday morning in what is being hailed as a “Hanukkah miracle.”

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that his country hopes to increase defense cooperation with NATO ally Spain through the purchase of a second aircraft carrier and possibly a submarine.

Turkish authorities detained Samir Handal, a “person of great interest” for his alleged connection to the July 7 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, on Sunday at Istanbul Airport, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported Tuesday.

A Turkish court has extended custody of an Israeli couple who were detained Friday on suspicion of espionage after being caught taking photographs of the Istanbul palace of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, deemed an illegal act.

A four-eared, four-month-old kitten named Midas, who is best of friends with two golden retrievers, is making waves on social media.

Belarusian state-owned airline Belavia has announced it will no longer accept Iraqi, Syrian, or Yemeni nationals aboard flights to Belarus after the European Union threatened the airline with sanctions.

A study shows the cost of ingredients to make a batch of Christmas cookies this holiday season could run Americans anywhere from $2.23 to $12.40 depending on where they live, as food prices have risen substantially at grocery stores across the nation. 

Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter continued his campaign against the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, debuting sneakers emblazoned with the flag of Taiwan and asserting, “Taiwan will never surrender to the EVIL Chinese Communist Party.”

Nicosia – Six people will stand trial in Cyprus on December 6 for allegedly plotting to attack Israeli businesspeople on the Mediterranean island, police said.

Syrian nationals were picked up off the coast of the French island of Corsica late Tuesday night and into early Wednesday morning after setting off from Turkey to reach Europe.

A 30-year-old Turkish national has been accused of deliberately running down a group of German schoolchildren in Hesse, leaving an eight-year-old girl dead and two other girls seriously injured.

The government of Bulgaria has announced that it will be sending 350 troops to the border with Turkey, as the number of mostly Afghan migrants crossing illegally has tripled this year.

Turkey’s migration authority said Friday it planned to deport 11 Syrian suspects recently arrested and charged with “inciting hatred” and “insulting Turkish people” by participating in social media videos in which they “provocatively” ate bananas.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry declared last week that Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter’s call to denounce genocide and slavery in China was “not worth refuting.”

The leaders of Russia and China aren’t coming. Turkey nearly set off a diplomatic incident on the eve of the meeting. And the United States, Australia and France will be at the same table for the first time since Washington pulled the rug out from under Paris’ $66 billion submarine deal Down Under.

The Turkish lira fell 1.6  percent to a record low against the dollar on Monday, causing fresh anxiety for nervous investors. The Turkish currency hit a few record lows last week, but plunged again to an all-time rock bottom after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his intention to expel the ambassadors of the United States, France, Germany, and seven other Western nations.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a four-day tour of Africa this week, trashing the former colonial powers of Europe and presenting Turkey as a more loyal and understanding development partner for Africans.

Boston Celtics star Enes Kanter published a video Wednesday evening condemning China and dictator Xi Jinping by name for the decades-long brutal repression of Tibet, potentially jeopardizing the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) lucrative business ties with the regime.

Greece´s lawmakers were debating and voting Thursday on a broad five-year mutual defense pact signed last week with France.

Azerbaijan began joint military exercises with Turkey on Tuesday, a week after Iran held its own border exercises and accused the Azeris of joining Israel’s “Zionist regime.” Azerbaijan also pushed back by shuttering a mosque linked to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A 40-year-old Turkish man arrested last month is being investigated on suspicion he may be a Turkish government assassin tasked with murdering opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Iran held military drills near its border with Azerbaijan on Tuesday, dismissing complaints from its neighbor by invoking Iranian “sovereignty” and declaring it “will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near our borders.” Azerbaijan is a majority-Muslim nation that has warm relations with Israel, which evidently makes it part of the “Zionist regime” in the eyes of Iran.

A recent article from Wired outlines how tech giants including Google and Apple are finding themselves increasingly under the scrutiny of global antitrust regulators. When countries like South Korea force tech giants to change policies within the country such as easing their stranglehold over app developers, the changes often occur on a global level.

The Taliban terror group recently asked Turkey to operate Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, though Ankara has yet to decide if it will comply with the request, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday talks are ongoing with the Taliban over a request for support to run Kabul airport once foreign forces have left the country.

Some Afghan refugees piled up at the Pakistani border – which has been covered much less than the deadly airport chaos in Kabul, but is also crowded and dangerous – said on Thursday they may return home to live under Taliban rule.