Author: Altan Eren

China and Tajikistan on Friday announced the elevation of ties to comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ongoing state visit to Tajikistan, injecting new momentum and opening up a new chapter in bilateral ties and common development of the two countries. The visit, which saw Xi award Tajik President Emomali Rahmon the Friendship Medal of the People’s Republic of China and the issuing of a joint statement detailing the blueprint for bilateral cooperation, is seen as a landmark event, underscoring the high-quality development and the elevation of bilateral ties led by head-of-state diplomacy, analysts said. It showed that the…

Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Tatyana Shevtsova, who officially was dismissed mid-June, fled to France ‘with hundreds of millions of dollars saved in cryptocurrency.’. Tsargrad and other Telegram channels report this with reference to several sources, although confirmation or refutation of this data has not yet been received. If she fled to France, it must be a deal with the French security service, as she is sanctioned in Europe. There is a version that Shevtsova allegedly cooperated with the investigation against the detained generals, trying to avoid her own charges. According to another version, the generals, to reduce their sentences,…

Turkey’s central bank on Thursday hiked its key interest rate by another 250 basis points to 45%. The hike to the benchmark one-week repo rate was in line with economists’ expectations. It comes amid an ongoing battle against double-digit inflation for Turkey’s monetary policymakers, with the rate hike the latest step in that effort. Inflation in Turkey increased to 64.8% year-on-year in December, up from 62% in November, and the country’s currency, the lira, hit a new record low against the U.S. dollar earlier in January, breaking 30 to the greenback for the first time. Analysts predict this will be the last hike for some…

Russia on Thursday set March 17 as the date for a presidential election which is expected to be another shoo-in for Vladimir Putin, who has silenced opposition during over two decades in power. In a meeting broadcast live on Russian television, the upper house of parliament unanimously approved the date of the vote. The decision “practically kicks off the presidential campaign,” according to the head of the chamber, Valentina Matviyenko. Putin, a former KGB agent who has been in power in Russia either as president or prime minister since 1999, has not officially announced if he will stand in the…

Greece and Turkey made significant progress toward mending relations Thursday, as leaders of the neighboring countries agreed to several cooperative measures after years of tension. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the Greek capital of Athens, where he met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The two reached agreements focusing on pursuing good neighborly relations, opening communication, lessening tension through military confidence-building, increasing trade and working to resolve issues in the Aegean Sea, where the two countries share a border. “There is no issue between us that is unsolvable. So long as we focus on the big picture and don’t end…

KYIV, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian soldiers out of positions on the eastern bank of the River Dnipro in the occupied Kherson region and established several bridgeheads, Kyiv’s military said on Friday. Crossing the Dnipro and transporting heavy military equipment and supplies over the river could allow Ukrainian troops to open a new line of attack in the south on the most direct land route to Crimea, which was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014. The Ukrainian Marines said on their Facebook page they had had a series of “successes”, established several bridgeheads and conducted…

Taxpayers are proving to be the best allies of the tax authorities in the effort to limit tax evasion. Therefore through Appodixi, the app that scans receipts issued by retail stores, a particularly interesting case of tampering and illegal software came to light. After a complaint, the auditors started to inspect a restaurant which had tampered with the software of the tax mechanism as follows: The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system – i.e. the tax information application software – gave the order to record only the first item in each order. It would then send a file with other content…

A combination of factors helped Turkey ease its foreign-currency woes during the summer, but the problem could resurge in the coming months as Ankara balks at unpopular measures ahead of local elections in spring.  Decreasing uncertainty after the presidential and parliamentary elections in May laid the ground for foreign-currency assets held abroad or “under the pillow” to flow into the formal economy. That confidence was increased after Mehmet Simsek, an economist highly regarded among international investors, took the reins of the economy in June. According to central bank data, such inflows — recorded under “net errors and omissions” in the balance of payments —…

KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr Ahmad Al-Awadhi and his accompanying delegation, which includes the assistant undersecretary for foreign health services affairs and the assistant undersecretary for medicines and medical equipment, participated in the Ninth Turkish Medical Conference in Istanbul at the invitation of the Turkish minister of health. The three-day conference, attended by over 14 health ministers from various countries, focused on discussions regarding the use of “artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector” and involved numerous bilateral meetings between the participating delegations. Dr Awadhi delivered Kuwait’s speech, emphasizing the close and productive relationship between Turkey and Kuwait in various areas,…

After a hugely successful First Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion in the USA in August 2022, Greek-born adoptees converged on their homeland of Greece for their Second Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion on October 14-19, 2023. The Reunion began and ended in Athens, with stops in Corinth, Patra, Nafpaktos and Delphi in between. And for several adoptees, it was the first time to set foot on Greek soil since being adopted some six decades ago. The event, the first of its kind in Greece specifically for Greek adoptees and Greek biological families, was hosted by The Eftychia Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that…