Turkey

In blow to terrorist PKK, Turkish military seizes thousands of weapons, pieces of ammunition

Turkish security forces capture weapons and ammunition belonging to terrorist group PKK in search and sweep operation ISTANBUL A large cache of weapons and ammunition belonging to the terrorist group PKK was seized across the border at hideouts in northern Iraq, Türkiye’s National Defense Ministry announced on Friday. In a …

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Saudi Arabia agrees to produce Turkey’s Baykar drones

Riyadh wants to boost its military might, especially with the prospect of its main rival Iran developing its nuclear enrichment capabilities. Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with Turkish defense firm Baykar to localize the manufacturing of its popular drones in the kingdom, state-owned Saudi Arabia Military Industries (SAMI) said …

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Russia benefits from Turkey’s tiff with UN, NATO allies over Cyprus village

The UN Security Council will discuss an incident in the Cypriot border village of Pyla, where Turkish Cypriot security forces are accused of manhandling UN peacekeepers over a controversial road project. The UN Security Council was due to convene today to discuss developments in Pyla, an ethnically mixed village on …

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Syria Today – Protests Spread to Aleppo; Turkish Strike on Northeast

Protests have emerged in Syria due to the deteriorating economic conditions in areas controlled by the government. The city of Aleppo has also seen an expansion of these protests on Thursday. Simultaneously, a car was targeted by a Turkish drone strike in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern region of Syria on Wednesday. …

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Turkey’s FM tackles long-held disputes with Iraq in first official visit

Hakan Fidan chose Iraq for his first official visit as Turkey’s new foreign minister, but the visit appeared to yield little progress on long-standing disputes between Ankara and Baghdad. During his first official visit to Iraq as Turkey’s new foreign minister, Hakan Fidan on Wednesday called on Baghdad to list …

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Economics, geopolitics force ‘Sultan’ Erdogan to reach out to Gulf ‘hat in hand’

Changing allegiances, regional ambitions, and ideological disputes have long shaped geopolitics in the Middle East. Woven into the fabric of the complex chronicles of the regional state of affairs is the tension between the Gulf States and Egypt on one side and Turkey on the other. Historically, however, these countries …

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Kurds suffer as Iraq, Turkey fail to restart oil flow ahead of Turkish FM’s Baghdad visit

As Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to meet in Baghdad with Iraqi leaders, disrupted oil flows, water and cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party are expected to top the agenda. Iraq and Turkey failed to agree on the resumption of oil exports via the southern Mediterranean port …

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US officials challenge Turkey’s claim to have killed Islamic State leader

US officials suggest that the Syrian jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham really was behind the death of Islamic State leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi. The Islamic State confirmed the death of its most recent leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi, on Aug. 3. The jihadist group said its self-styled “caliph” had …

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Turkey Seeks Economic Stability – OpEd

Turkey’s economy is in a bad way. In June the budget deficit, seven times higher than a year earlier, reached 219.6 billion lira ($8.37 billion). The forecast for July shows it widening still further. On July 16 Turkey raised the tax on gasoline, adding to the recent two percent increase …

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US sanctions Turkey-backed Syrian militias over rights abuses in Afrin

Washington has accused the Suleiman Shah Brigade, the Hamza Division and their leadership of committing serious rights abuses in the Kurdish-majority enclave of Afrin. The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions Thursday on two Turkey-backed Syrian militias accused of forcibly displacing and oppressing the local Kurdish population in northern Syria’s Afrin …

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