Author: Elmas Aslan

Turkey has criticized a European Commission map backing Greece’s maritime claims, calling it an infringement on its territorial rights in the Eastern Mediterranean. The map mirrors the “Seville Map,” which gives Greek islands, including Kastellorizo, more influence, a move Turkey sees as obstructing its access to the Mediterranean. In response, Turkey conducted military exercises near Rhodes and Cyprus, with violations of Greece’s and Cyprus’ airspace, leading to increased tensions. These operations, named “Kaplan Pencesi 2024,” escalated confrontations between the countries. Nationalists, led by Devlet Bahceli, accused the EU of siding with Greece, warning of severe consequences for any challenge to…

ISTANBUL — A Greek Coast Guard boat chased an inflatable dinghy to within a few dozen meters of the Turkish coast Friday, local media reported, threatening a diplomatic incident between the neighbors. Turkish news website Bodrum Kent TV published a video it said showed the Greek vessel chasing the Zodiac-style dinghy — thought to be linked to people trafficking — in Turkish territorial waters at Akcabuk Bay, near Bodrum, southwest Turkey. The inflatable boat, reportedly carrying one person, landed in front of a holiday complex as the Greek boat abruptly gave up its pursuit and sped away from the Turkish shore.…

Women’s clothes are high on the government’s agenda once again in Tajikistan, where authorities and Islamic leaders are working on new guidelines on what women should wear to work and during their leisure time. The new dress code — the second of its kind in six years — is expected to be made public in the coming days, and a special event is reportedly being planned for the capital, Dushanbe, in August to showcase compliant clothes. Sulaimon Davlatzoda, the head of the state Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, told a press briefing in the capital this week that…

With its thousands of islands and islets grouped into archipelagos, Greece is home to some uniquely beautiful destinations. For a week’s getaway or longer, here is our list of the most beautiful Greek islands by archipelago, from the classics of Santorini and Mykonos in the Cyclades to Rhodes and Patmos in the Dodecanese. The Saronic Islands, the archipelago at the doors of Athens Located in the Aegean Sea, between Attica and the Peloponnese, the Saronic Islands are closest to Athens: the nearest is less than 40 minutes from Piraeus by hydrofoil, the furthest 2h30 at most. Hydra, the elegant, arty…

Two Ukrainians who collaborated with Russian authorities have been killed — one in a shooting in a village southwest of Moscow and the other in a car bombing in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Ukrainian law enforcement sources told RFE/RL on December 6 that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) “liquidated” former Ukrainian lawmaker Illya Kyva by shooting him to death in a special operation. Russia’s Investigative Committee later confirmed Kyva’s death and announced that a criminal investigation has been opened.The Investigative Committee said in a statement that an unknown person shot Kyva in the village of Suponevo southwest of…

Inflation in Turkey showed a 62% year-on-year rise in November, according to official data published on Monday. The rate at which prices are increasing fell slightly from 3.43% to 3.28% from October to November, but figures remain high compared to the same period last year. November’s 61.98% year-on-year rise follows a 61.36% annual increase in October, a trend fuelled by the depreciation of the Turkish lira. Whilst these official figures are particularly high, independent economists from the Inflation Research Group (ENAG) say that the true fiscal picture could be even worse. They estimate a 129.27% annual rise in consumer prices…

Turkey’s Ministry of Justice said on Thursday that the parole of Ogun Samast – killer of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 – for “good behaviour”, is legal. “His sentence was executed in accordance with the general provisions of Law No. 5275,” the ministry said in a statement. It underlined that he had requested transfer to an open prison five times and probation two times. Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and a globally known Armenian figure, was shot dead in broad daylight as he left his Istanbul office in January 2007. Samast, a Turkish ultra-nationalist, was only 17 years…

ANKARA — Turkey and Greece on Monday provisionally agreed to implement a series of confidence-building measures, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement. The two NATO allies agreed “to implement or reactivate” a number of confidence-building measures during the course of 2024, the Turkish Defense Ministry stated. The two countries also agreed to set up a direct line between Ankara and Athens in a bid to “remain in contact and facilitate the implementation” of the measures, the statement said. The ministry didn’t elaborate on the nature of the new measures to be implemented, but some of the previously agreed-upon 29 measures…

An emergency weather warning for the weekend was upgraded on Saturday noon from “worsening weather” to “dangerous weather phenomena,” as Storm Oliver (also called Bettina) moves from the Adriatic Sea toward Greece, raising wind velocity to nine and locally to 10 on the Beaufort scale, the National Meteorological Service (EMY) said. EMY said that strong winds will affect nearly all of Greece, while several regions – western and northern Greece, and eastern and southern islands – will experience torrential rain and thunderstorms as of Saturday night, with the rest of the country will experience milder phenomena overnight to Sunday. Higher…

Moscow’s forces in Ukraine have been executing Russian soldiers who disobey orders, according to the U.S. “We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing in Washington on Thursday. “We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire,” he added. “It’s reprehensible to think … that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders,” Kirby said. “And now threatening to execute entire units. It’s barbaric.”…