Turkey - Page 17

BEIRUT (AP) — For the past two weeks, Raffi Ghazarian has been glued to the TV at home and at work watching news about the fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. If it goes on, the 50-year-old Lebanese of Armenian descent says he´s ready to leave everything and volunteer to defend his ancestral land.

Armenian public radio published video footage on Thursday allegedly depicting an imam in Syria recruiting mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan against Armenia in its ongoing conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The U.K. Guardian on Wednesday published the results of a joint investigation with journalism website Bellingcat and the Lighthouse Reports nonprofit group into Libyan arms sales.

Turkish media aligned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan enthusiastically supported Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Thursday, using language about “purges” that would be deeply disturbing to Armenians who fear Turkey might continue the genocide waged against their people by the Ottoman Empire a century ago.

Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, warned his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in a phone call Tuesday to keep “terror groups” out of the nation’s conflict with Armenia, a concern as reports mount of Azeri ally Turkey importing Syrian mercenaries to the battle theater.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad accused Turkey in an interview this week of direct “involvement” in the alleged smuggling of Syrian oil by the Islamic State using “the umbrella of the American Air Forces.”

The Canadian government has suspended the export of target acquisition equipment — used in military drones — to Turkey over reports that Azeri forces fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh used the technology, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Four German NGOs have been accused of using covert methods to mislead Greek and European Union border forces to help smuggle migrants into Greece.

Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will ban homeschooling to ‘protect children from religion’ and ‘separatism’.

Armenia’s prime minister asked the U.S. to address Turkey’s alleged use of American-made F-16 jets in support of Azerbaijan in its recent conflict against Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, a report claimed on Sunday.

Ajlan al-Ajlan, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Chamber of Commerce, declared in a statement this weekend that a full boycott of all Turkish products was “the responsibility of every Saudi.”

Fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region escalated over the weekend, as Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of firing missiles and artillery at civilian infrastructure and launching attacks outside the conflict zone.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned the world Jerusalem “belongs” to Turkey, harking back to the Ottoman Empire’s control over the city for hundreds of years up until it was ejected in 1917.

The Greek City Times (GCT) reported on Thursday that roughly 80 volunteers from Greece are traveling to Armenia to support the country against Turkey and Azerbaijan in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a statement on Thursday that Turkey is attempting “to continue the Armenian Genocide” through its involvement in Yerevan’s dispute with neighboring Azerbaijan.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said on Wednesday that the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Caucasus mountains could become “another Syria” if the international community does not take action.

BBC’s Arabic Service published an interview Wednesday with a man who claimed to be trapped in an Azeri military camp, having agreed to a “guard” job in the country with Syrian rebel groups only to find, to his horror, that he would join the war front in Nagorno-Karabakh against Armenia.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s government is being accused of hiding the true extent of the country’s coronavirus outbreak after the health minister revealed that the daily COVID-19 figures published by his ministry reflect only patients with symptoms and not all positive cases.

Turkish officials and state media outlets have repeatedly accused Armenia this week of recruiting Kurdish fighters from Syria and Iraq to aid in their ongoing military engagement against Azerbaijan, a claim the president of Armenia dismissed as “nonsense” on Wednesday.

The Greek Orthodox Church of the United States petitioned the United Nations on Tuesday to force Turkey into protecting Orthodox Christianity’s cultural heritage following the Turkish government’s unilateral decision to convert Istanbul’s landmark former cathedral Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

The border clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan continued on Monday, with at least 29 more deaths reported as both sides exchanged rocket and artillery fire.

Armenian Ambassador to Moscow Vardan Toganyan accused the government of Turkey on Monday of shipping battle-hardened Syrian jihadis to Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region between Armenia and Azerbaijan where fighting erupted this weekend.

Cumhuriyet, one of Turkey’s oldest and most prestigious newspapers, reported on Monday that growing pressure on businessmen in Saudi Arabia to not engage Turkey has evolved into a formal trade embargo.

ATHENS, Greece — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is due to arrive in Greece on an official visit early Monday, has had a conversation on tensions in the eastern Mediterranean with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Greek Minister of Civil Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis has revealed that another 400 border guards will be recruited to man the border, in addition to the 400 previously announced by the government.

India’s permanent representative to the United Nations (U.N.), T. S. Tirumurti, on Wednesday condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) in which he called for a multilateral resolution to India’s border dispute with Pakistan in Kashmir, labelling Erdogan’s remarks as “gross interference” and “completely unacceptable.”

Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations to establish “International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia” during his speech at the General Assembly on Tuesday, claiming Muslims are the most vulnerable population to “racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and hate speech.”

Greece’s police and fire service have launched an investigation after at least 15 fires broke out in just 48 hours in the Evros border area with Turkey.

France on Friday backed Cyprus’ calls for the European Union to consider imposing tougher sanctions on Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his French counterpart and NATO ally Emmanuel Macron on Saturday “not to mess” with Turkey, as the two continue to spar amid rising tensions in the Mediterranean.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is preparing to outline Saturday the details of a program to boost Greece’s defence capabilities, amid heightened tensions with neighbouring Turkey over rights to resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

Female Swedish Islamic State members have been arrested on the Turkish border after escaping a prison camp for ISIS detainees in northern Syria.

Greek media have published photographs claiming to show Turkish security services at the border helping migrants cross into Greece by watching out for border patrols.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece will bolster its military with new arms, more personnel and by developing the country’s defence industry, the government said Monday, as a tense standoff with neighbouring Turkey has led to concerns of open conflict between the two NATO allies.

Greek Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Giorgos Koumoutsakos has warned that Turkey may unleash another wave of migrants into Greece.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned Greece to enter talks over disputed eastern Mediterranean territorial claims or face the consequences.