Author: Adem Safet

Hungary now remains the only NATO ally not to have ratified Sweden’s accession. Turkey’s parliament endorsed Sweden’s accession in a vote Tuesday. The ruling party said the Nordic country’s tougher stance on Kurdish militants was key to winning approval. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also has linked the ratification to Turkey’s desire to buy fighter jets from the United States. NATO-member Turkey had delayed Sweden’s membership for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as security threats. It sought concessions from Stockholm, including moves to counter militants. Turkey also had been angered by a series of demonstrations by…

Senate Republicans have blocked a move to pass an aid bill for Ukraine after failing to secure border compromises they sought in exchange. The $110bn (£87.3bn) package included $61bn for Ukraine, as well as funds for Israel and aid for Gaza. The White House has warned that US funds for Ukraine could soon run out. A Ukrainian official said that failure to secure more US aid would mean a “very high possibility” that the war will be lost to Russia. While Republican members are generally in favour of aid to Ukraine, some have sought to use the issue as a…

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a speech on human rights Saturday to accuse the West of “barbarism” for its stance on the Israel-Hamas war and what he alleged was its toleration of Islamophobia. “Israel has carried out atrocities and massacres that will shame the whole of humanity,” Erdogan told a packed hall in Istanbul the day before the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “All the values relating to humanity are being murdered in Gaza. In the face of such brutality, international institutions and human rights organizations are not taking any concrete steps to prevent such violations,”…

Belarus has been collaborating with Moscow in the forcible transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied Ukraine in a programme “directly overseen” by the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko, according to research from Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL). The report (PDF), released on Thursday, said at least 2,442 children aged between six and 17 years old had been taken to 13 facilities across Belarus since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022 until the end of October this year. “Russia and Belarus are targeting children for removal from Ukraine, coordinating their transport from occupied Ukraine…

Scores of domestic violence cases shelved. Hundreds of cases of domestic violence reported to the justice system are shelved for indefinite periods of time because the law in force to date stipulates that complaints made to the prosecutor about incidents of beatings, threats and violent behavior must, before they reach the court, be put through mediation, which is carried out by the competent state body, the National Center for Social Solidarity (EKKA). However, the body can only handle around 100 cases a year, while the Athens Prosecutor’s Office receives about 200 complaints a month – which means more than 2,000…

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat attended Thursday the opening of the four-day 9th World Halal Summit and 10th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Halal Expo held in Istanbul, highlighting the increasing share of trade with Islamic countries and the significance of the halal sector. “The share of our trade with Islamic countries in our total trade 20 years ago stood at 11%. Last year, we increased this figure to 26%. Our goal is to raise this ratio to 35% by 2028,” the minister said. Reflecting on the years when halal initiatives began, Bolat emphasized the importance of organizing the halal fair…

More than 46,000 permanent houses built in 11 cities affected by the Feb. 6 earthquakes will be handed over to their rightful owners by the beginning of 2024. The construction of 680,000 permanent houses has begun in 11 provinces affected by the earthquake. By the end of 2023, 41,000 houses in provincial and district centers and 5,000 village houses in rural areas will be given to earthquake victims. Permanent housing construction continues in the region, where 216,881 people have applied for the reconstruction of their homes to date. The rubble of the buildings that collapsed in the earthquake and those…

BERLIN (AP) — Roared on by huge support in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, Turkey came from behind to beat Germany 3-2 in a friendly that seemed more like a home game for the visitors on Saturday. Foreign-born players scored all three goals for Turkey. The French-born Yusuf Sari got the winner from the penalty spot in the 71st minute, after German-born Kenan Yildiz and Dutch-born Ferdi Kadıoğlu had scored before the break. Supporters carrying Turkey’s distinctive red flag outnumbered their German counterparts in a city that’s home to a large community of people with Turkish roots. Most are descendants of Turkish “guest…

‘Buy-one-get-one-free’ promotions usually hide increases by suppliers and supermarkets. Washing detergents, liquid soap and other products are often old in “buy one, get one free” offers at supermarkets. Consumers choose them instead of the bigger containers, believing they are saving money by buying at a discount, though the actual cost per measure or unit may be higher. The higher price on the product will appear at some point at their regular supermarket – usually offers per code have a duration of 15 days – so they will need to go from chain to chain to find it at a lower…

The European Union’s new pact on migration and asylum needs to be finalized as soon as possible, in anticipation of fresh pressure from the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed on Tuesday, following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. Speaking at a joint press conference after their meeting, Mitsotakis noted that “it is very likely that front-line countries like Greece will face new, strong pressure at its borders” from a fresh influx of refugees fleeing the war in Gaza. “The new European agreement on migration and asylum must be completed soon…