Author: Altan Eren

The US State Department said the US is “deeply concerned” by the Turkish media regulatory body’s decision to block Voice of America’s Turkish service if it fails to apply for a government licence in 72 hours. “We call on Turkey to fulfill its obligations and commitments to respect fundamental freedom of expression,” the State Department told VOA Turkish on Tuesday. The Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, the government agency for monitoring and regulation TV and radio broadcasts, on Tuesday issued a threat to ban VOA Turkish, which is registered with voaturkce.com, formerly known as amerikaninsesi.com, which Turkey had blocked access to…

MOSCOW: Russia said Saturday it scrambled an Su-30 fighter jet to “prevent a violation of the Russian state border” by a US Reaper MQ-9 military drone over the Black Sea. “As the Russian fighter approached, the foreign reconnaissance drone performed a U-turn away from the border,” the Russian defense ministry said. The ministry said the drone belonged to the US Air Force. “The Russian aircraft returned safely to its air base, there was no violation of the border,” it added. Incidents involving Russian and Western aircraft have multiplied over the Black Sea and Baltic Sea in recent months, as Moscow pursues…

If there was ever a tale of two cities it has to be Kaş and Kalkan. Both picturebook pretty, with cobbled streets and bougainvillea-draped old stone houses, the two became hugely popular with holidaying Britons in Antalya when mainstream tourism began to gather pace there in the early 1990s. When I first visited in 1994, Kalkan was still small, and Kaş – half an hour’s drive away along the vertiginously beautiful coastal road – was the bigger, livelier sibling. In those days, Kaş was where you went for a proper night out – inevitably ending in a knuckle-whitening taxi journey…

Frankfurt, Brussels (30/7 – 27) Kenges Rakishev, international entrepreneur, philanthropist and former special envoy of the Kazakh government, is leading the charge for an upcoming Nasdaq listing of Borealis Foods Inc., a fast-growing food tech company imbued with a mission to serve growing consumer needs. Rakishev intends to tackle global food challenges by developing nutritious, sustainable, and affordable ready-to-eat meals. This product is currently on sale in US and Canadian markets, with ambitious, imminent plans for a European market invasion. The Company stands at the forefront of innovation, having pioneered the world’s first plant-based ramen meal on a mass scale,…

MYKOLAIV/NEAR KUPIANSK, Ukraine, July 20 (Reuters) – Russia jolted world grain markets with an escalation in the Black Sea, mounting a third straight night of air strikes on Ukrainian ports and issuing a threat against Ukraine-bound vessels to which Kyiv responded in kind. At least 27 civilians were reported hurt in the air strikes on the ports, which set buildings ablaze and damaged China’s consulate in Odesa. The United States said Russia’s warning to ships indicated Moscow might attack vessels at sea following Moscow’s withdrawal on Monday from a U.N.-brokered deal to let Ukraine export grain. The signal that Russia…

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Turkey later this month to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Netanyahu will be received on July 28, a few days after Abbas, who is expected to visit on July 25, the Turkish presidency said. “President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will welcome the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Turkey in the course of the same week,” the presidency said in a statement. The leaders will discuss “Turkey-Palestine relations and the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as other…

The UAE and Turkey have signed a deal that could see trade between the two nations double to $40bn a year by 2028. Turkey is currently the UAE’s sixth largest trading partner. The agreement strengthens 50 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations and will create more than 25,000 jobs, especially in the skilled labour sectors, in the UAE by 2031. UAE-Turkey trade deal The Ministers of economy and trade in the UAE and Turkey said that the UAE-Turkish Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement heralds a new era of strategic partnership between the two countries that will reflect positively on the Middle…

An Austrian aid worker, named Fayad Mulla, released video footage on Saturday capturing Greek officials mistreating refugees seeking asylum within the country. The New York Times verified the footage with several of the refugees, who have since been relocated to Turkey. The refugees interviewed originated from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. The footage shows refugees–including women and children–being gathered by Greek officials and driven in vans. Greek officials are shown taking possession of the refugee’s items, forcing them onto speed boats and handed off to Greek Coast Guards. From there, videos capture coast guard officials placing the refugees on another boat and floated to the…

Russian tech giant VK has effectively banned employees from working abroad permanently, state news agencies reported Wednesday, citing a company letter to workers. VK, which employs more than 10,000 people, owns the popular Mail.ru email and news services as well as the VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks, among others. Its letter to employees comes as Russian officials weigh tactics for luring back the tens of thousands of skilled IT workers who fled the country last year over the invasion of Ukraine. VK workers must work from Russia in order to “be in the same context with users and understand their…

 At about 1am on February 24 last year, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, received a troubling phone call. After spending months building up a more than 100,000-strong invasion force on the border with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin had given the go-ahead to invade. The decision caught Lavrov completely by surprise. Just days earlier, the Russian president had polled his security council for their opinions on recognising two separatist statelets in the Donbas, an industrial border region in Ukraine, at an excruciatingly awkward televised session — but had left them none the wiser about his true intentions. Keeping Lavrov in the…