Author: Adem Safet

The Philippines will reportedly not participate in a US-Japan-Australia joint exercise in the South China Sea this week, a move analysts said on Monday showed that the Philippines is trying to find a balance under US pressure to take advantage of Manila as a foothold in the region against China. The US, Japan and Australia are planning to hold a joint navy drill in the South China Sea off the western Philippines this week, with all three countries deploying aircraft and helicopter carriers, namely the USS America, the JS Izumo and the HMAS Canberra, AP reported on Monday. Commanders of the three countries’ warships…

Turkey expects the government in Iraq to officially recognise the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, as a “terrorist” organisation, mirroring Ankara and its Western allies, its foreign minister says. Turkey’s top diplomat, Hakan Fidan, was in Baghdad on Tuesday on his first official visit since taking office. Fidan, whose visit is also aimed at preparing for an upcoming trip by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – which as yet does not have an official date – described the PKK as a common enemy. “We cannot accept PKK challenging the sovereignty of Iraq,” he told a joint news conference after…

The introduction of the euro in Bulgaria will not lead to serious overall inflationary effects, according to leading economists and financiers from the Council for Economic Analysis, Bulgarian National Radio reported on August 5. This is the conclusion of the team’s analysis of the effects of joining the euro zone, the report said.“The accession of Bulgaria to the euro zone would not represent a serious change for the Bulgarian economy,” the analysts said.The research is based on practical experience from the countries that have already introduced the single European currency. One of its main focuses is inflation, and the recommendation…

Askhat Zhumagali, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Agency, said that Antikor plans to return $300 million to Kazakhstan from abroad, Khabar 24 TV channel reports . The head of Antikora spoke about the agency’s plans to return assets illegally withdrawn from the country in the Interview program. According to Askhat Zhumagali, the money will go to the state treasury in one of the criminal cases. The head of the department noted that through joint efforts, state bodies have already returned more than 850 billion tenge to the budget of the republic. All finances will go to the construction of schools and…

Hulya Yesiloglu gazes just beyond her temporary tent city towards a cemetery and says she often wonders if she would have been better off ending up there rather than surviving Turkey’s twin earthquakes. She stands at the mouth of a wood-burning oven baking flatbread on a sweltering summer day in the southern city of Antakya. Her old stone oven, where she has turned dough to bread for as long as she can remember, is the only part of her home that survived the earthquakes. The ancient city in Hatay province, 20km (12 miles) from the Syrian border, is still in…

Turkey has become the latest country to offer firefighting aircraft to Greece to assist in the battle against wildfires across the country. The neighboring country will provide two amphibious firefighting aircraft and a firefighting helicopter. “On the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, two firefighting planes and one firefighting helicopter … and crews will be sent to Greece,” the Turkish Communications Directorate tweeted on Friday. “Amphibious aircraft with effective maneuverability and a firefighting helicopter produced with indigenous and national resources will be used in Greece to respond to wildfires,” the directorate added. Earlier, Cyprus and Croatia said they would deploy firefighting…

Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority, BTK, on Friday banned Turkish citizens and companies from placings advertisements on Twitter after the social media giant failed to obey a new digital law and appoint an official representative. “It has been decided to prohibit the placing of new advertisements by natural and legal persons on X Corp. (Twitter) formerly known as Twitter, Inc, which failed to fulfil its obligation to designate … representatives,” the BTK wrote in its decision published in the Official Gazette. Turkey’s new digital law, adopted in 2022, was widely condemned by rights groups, experts and the opposition, which said it…

Former Ghana international footballer Christian Atsu has been found dead following the devastating earthquake in Turkey, his agents confirmed Saturday morning. The 31-year-old had been missing since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook southern Turkey and northern Syria in the early hours of February 6. “It is with heavy hearts that I must inform all well-wishers that sadly, Christian Atsu’s body was recovered this morning. My heartfelt condolences go to his family and loved ones. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and support,” said Nana Sechere, one of Atsu’s agents. “Sorry for your loss. The…

Greek government announced an increase in the state budget to address understaffing and shortage of railway equipment. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters hit the streets of several Greek cities. ATHENS, March 8 (Xinhua) — Greek government announced a set of measures aimed to improve the safety of railway system on Wednesday, in the wake of the train collision last week in central Greece that resulted in 57 deaths. Also on Wednesday, thousands of protesters hit the streets of Athens and other cities across the country as labor unions called a 24-hour nationwide strike over the tragedy. “Suffering must be followed by…

ISTANBUL, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Turkey’s economy expanded 5.6% in 2022, official data showed on Tuesday but growth was expected to slow significantly to 2.8% in 2023 after earthquakes this month caused widespread destruction in the south of the country. The economy had started cooling in the second half of 2022 with a decline in domestic and foreign demand, partly due to a slowdown in Turkey’s main trading partners because of the war in Ukraine, which hurt exports. Growth stood at 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022, down from a revised 4% in the third quarter and 7.8% in…