FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The interim secretary-general of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkey’s president expressing his “grief and dismay” over Turkey’s decision to change the status of Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.
Turkey will mark the fourth anniversary of a 2016 failed military coup on July 15 with 3,000 mass events in which people will gather in large numbers despite the ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News reported on Friday.
The ancient cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul – the former seat of eastern Christianity – could now be dedicated to use as a mosque after Turkey’s high court on Friday ruled its conversion into a museum in 1934 was unlawful.
Libya’s al-Watiya airbase was hit by airstrikes on Saturday night, drawing condemnation and a promise of retaliation from the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) headquartered in Tripoli.
Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas has come out against the proposal from Turkey to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia back into a mosque, saying such a move would strain relations between Christians and Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged tighter government control over social media on Wednesday after insults were allegedly directed at his daughter and son-in-law when they announced the birth of their child on Twitter this week, Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News reported.
Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer and Integration Minister Susanne Raab have been placed under police protection following death threats from the far-right Turkish Grey Wolves after a series of riots last week in Vienna.
The government of Turkey issued a statement Wednesday saying Ankara was “shocked” at a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
A delegation of Turkish business leaders is scheduled to visit Libya within the next two weeks to evaluate Turkish business opportunities as the civil war that began with former U.S. President Barack Obama’s invasion of Libya winds down.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has accused Turkey of sowing strife in Europe after members of the far-right Turkish Grey Wolves clashed with Kurdish leftists and their Antifa allies in Vienna.
ISTANBUL — In its more than 1,400-year existence, the majestic domed structure of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has served as the Byzantine Empire’s main cathedral, a mosque under the Ottoman Empire and a museum under modern Turkey, attracting millions of tourists each year.
A number of Christian pastors have warned of growing repression of Christianity under the rule of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Deutsche Welle reported Saturday.
Drone strikes of unconfirmed origin killed at least six people in Sulaimani province, northern Iraq, on Thursday, including multiple children. The strike, reportedly targeting members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), occurred near what the Kurdish outlet Rudaw described as a “village resort” popular with families.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been using the nation’s Christians as a “welcome scapegoat” to distract from his political errors in Syria and Libya, asserts prominent religious scholar Alexander Görlach.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi said this week that his government desires peace and stability in neighboring Libya, but might be prepared to intervene with military force to protect Egypt’s western border and thwart the ambitions of Turkey and its militia allies.
The militant separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launched an attack against a Turkish outpost near the Iranian border on Tuesday night, killing at least one Turkish soldier and wounding another.
Members of the few remaining Christian communities of northern Iraq following attempted genocide by the Islamic State told the Kurdish outlet Rudaw this weekend that they are “terrified” as Turkey continues to bomb alleged Kurdish terrorist targets near them.
Turkey may expand the conditions of its security agreement with Libya, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday, Hürriyet Daily News reported.
Eight villages near the border of Iraq’s Kurdistan region have been emptied as residents flee a Turkish military offensive called “Operation Claw-Tiger” directed at positions allegedly held by the PKK, the Kurdish separatist party that has long been engaged in hostilities with the Turkish government.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov encouraged the U.S. to use its “influence” to support efforts toward a ceasefire in Libya on Wednesday, Russia’s state-run broadcaster RT reported.
The government of Turkey announced on Wednesday the launch of Operation Claw-Tiger, a commando ground invasion of northern Iraq to eliminate members and allies of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
A car carrying the PM to Downing Street collided with a support vehicle Wednesday afternoon after a protester jumped in front of the convoy.
The government of Turkey announced “Operation Claw-Eagle” on Monday, a bombing campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
TEL AVIV – Turkey’s top religious official vowed over the weekend to continue Islam’s struggle “until Jerusalem is completely free” and called on the Muslim world to rally against Israel.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is once again exploring ways to convert the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul into a mosque, Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported on Tuesday.
Greece has released footage which they claim shows Turkish coastguard vessels escorting illegal migrant boats as they make their way toward Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
TEL AVIV – Iran, Russia, China, and Turkey are celebrating the “collapse” of the U.S., the Jerusalem Post reported, with the aim of furthering their own economic interests and engaging in an Middle East arms race.
Turkish ambassador to Greece Burak Ozugergin dismissed claims of a Turkish border incursion in the Evros area last week, stating that the issue was simply “technical”.
The Greek Shipowners’ Association has donated ten new Rafnar maritime boats to the Greek coastguard to help the country stop illegal immigration to the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
Migrants who arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos last week after departing turkey have tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus.
Istanbul — Turkish people aged 65 and over on Sunday described their joy after the government allowed them to go outside for the first time in nearly two months in an easing of the coronavirus restrictions.
A shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE) rushed to the UK arrived from Turkey turned out to “not be of the quality that we feel is good enough for our frontline staff”, a minister admitted on Wednesday.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy has played down an incident over the weekend which involved Turkish fighter jets harassing a helicopter containing Greek defence minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos.
The world’s Communist governments and their supporters largely made do on Friday without the lavish parades, violent mobs, and attacks on dissidents that typically embolden International Workers’ Day, or “May Day.”
Greek defence minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos has stated that Greece is on alert for new waves of migrants as the country has called on the European Union to strengthen its border agency Frontex ahead of the summer.
Kurdish governing authorities in Afrin, northeast Syria, condemned the Turkish government on Wednesday for enabling jihadist groups they say are responsible for killing over 40 people in a bomb blast in the city the day before.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threw his weight behind Turkey’s top Muslim cleric, who caused a storm by claiming homosexuality “brings disease and causes this generation to decay.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday decried crimes against “civilisation” and demanded an apology from Turkey as his country marked the 105th anniversary of the WWI-era Armenian genocide.
Istanbul — At the entrance of an Istanbul mosque, the racks usually reserved for the shoes of the faithful are loaded with pasta packages, oil bottles, biscuits — like a supermarket.
The United Kingdom has found herself in the position of having to purchase personal protection equipment (PPE) for frontline medical staff treating coronavirus patients from human rights abusers China and Turkey.
