Turkey - Page 43

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main rival Muharrem Ince on Saturday traded blows in mass rallies on the final day of campaigning for Turkey’s most fiercely contested elections in years.

Christians gathered in front of the White House on Wednesday to show support for Andrew Brunson, the American-born pastor who is jailed in Turkey on charges that he helped terrorists.

The first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for Turkey will emerge from Lockheed Martin headquarters in a ceremony on Thursday despite congressional action to block delivery of the advanced warplanes.

Animal cruelty has become a central campaign issue in next week’s Turkish presidential election as concerns grow about animal welfare following a spate of attacks against strays.

The second-in-command for Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) told Kurdish news outlet Rudaw on Tuesday that the group would likely offer the country’s deputy presidency to a Kurd.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed this week that about 30,000 Syrians are eligible to vote in the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Turkish military announced Monday that Turkish soldiers, accompanied by American counterparts, began “independent patrols” in Manbij, Syrian Kurdistan, where Ankara spent months threatening an invasion against local Kurdish forces.

In the lead-up to June 24 Turkish elections, the Erdoğan government is reportedly sending busloads of Bulgarian Turks to Bulgaria to vote as ex-pats, raising suspicions of voter fraud through double voting.

A report published Thursday alleges that Turkey-backed fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seizing, looting, and destroying property in the predominantly Kurdish region of Afrin, further fueling fears that Ankara is quietly forcing a demographic change along its border with Syria.

Turkey has claimed to have sent “thousands” of Islamic scholars and teachers to Europe to influence Turkish-background children to remain loyal to the near-east country, according to a letter sent to school children in Austria.

Turkey’s defense minister reportedly claimed Tuesday that Iran supports a new phase in Ankara’s operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) that would see Turkish troops combat the Kurds in their northern Iraq-based stronghold.

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Austria’s impending closure of mosques and consequent expulsion of Turkish-funded imams, saying the move is anti-Islamic while promising a response.

The most prominent media watchdog group in Turkey reportedly slapped unprecedented fines this week on Turkish music channels for playing songs by Barbadian pop star Rihanna, branding her music “inappropriate.”

Jailed pro-Kurdish presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas delivered a campaign speech from his cell in Turkey on Wednesday, following Ankara’s rejection of a request to free him to allow him to campaign. He delivered the speech via a telephone call to his wife.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has suspended a bilateral agreement with Greece allowing Athens to return migrants to Turkey, in retaliation for Greece’s failure to extradite eight Turkish officers who fled to Greece after Turkey’s failed 2016 military coup.

Contents: Turkey and Greece tensions rise with warplane dogfights over Aegean Sea; Deep millennia-old issues separate Turkey and Greece

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) confirmed on Tuesday that it reached an agreement with Turkey to pull the American-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), deemed “terrorists’ by Ankara, from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, arguing that the move will “reduce tensions.”

Turkey has launched a major military surge against the terrorist Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, where Ankara has already set up 11 regional bases and doubled its military footprint, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim declared over the weekend.

The Trump administration this week refuted news reports claiming the U.S. had reached an agreement with Turkey on a plan for the withdrawal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Syria’s Manbij.

The Foreign Ministry of Turkey condemned Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad Wednesday for what it labeled a “clear violation” of international law in recognizing the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two Georgian breakaway regions invaded by Russia in 2008.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian customs officials say they have seized 191 kilograms (420 pounds) of heroin found in a truck entering Bulgaria from Turkey.

Syrian state media and a military media unit run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said early on Thursday that the U.S.-led coalition targeted Syrian army positions in Syria’s desert, but U.S. military officials denied any knowledge of the strikes.

An Ankara court turned down an appeal this week from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to release its jailed presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtaş, in time for Turkey’s snap elections in June.

The BBC has discovered it is possible for illegal migrants to acquire EU travel documents within just a few hours — badly undermining border controls and endangering British and European security.

Sixteen  years ago, Erdogan launched Turkey on a trajectory that is implacably hostile and antithetical to the very notion of a Turkish-U.S. alliance, let alone to continued Turkish membership in NATO.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag said on Tuesday that it is “completely inconceivable to return Afrin back to the control of the Syrian regime” after Turkey invaded the northern border region in January.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari on Wednesday decried several “treacherous” regional countries for their silence and inaction against Israel in the aftermath of the deaths of nearly 60 Palestinians on the Gaza border on Monday.

Lawyers of the imprisoned presidential candidate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, appealed to an Ankara court this week for his release in time for the June 24 elections.

After Turkey recalled its ambassadors to Israel and the United States on Monday to protest the Israeli response to riots along the Gaza border fence, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a “terror state” and denounced its actions as “genocide.”

Turkey has called on all Islamic countries to review their ties with “terror state” Israel ahead of an extraordinary summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic body to protest Israel’s actions in defending itself against deadly Gaza riots.

Turkey and South Africa announced that they will withdraw their ambassadors from Israel, and Turkey from the U.S., on Monday as Hamas claims dozens of deaths following riots on the Gaza-Israel border.

Turkey banned universities in the country from accepting new students in their French language departments in response to a letter from prominent French personalities urging the Muslim world to abandon the violent passages that remain in the Quran, a Turkish official confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started a three-day visit to Britain by praising the country Sunday as “an ally and a strategic partner, but also a real friend.”

In an extensive interview published Thursday covering his ties to Iran, accusations of chemical weapons use, and a potential meeting with President Donald Trump, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad referred to the U.S. military as “terrorists,” alongside the Turkish and Saudi armies.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad said in an interview Thursday with Greek newspaper Kathimerini that he is not interested in meeting President Donald Trump to discuss an end to the civil war in his country because Trump has no real power in the United States.

Contents: Turkey tightens grip on Syria’s Afrin, and continues to threaten Manbij; Israel-Iran missile barrages in Syria take a pause on Thursday