Tag Archives: Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday meets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and a key weapons deal, hoping to strengthen an increasingly active relationship that has troubled the West. Despite a regional rivalry that goes back to the Ottoman Empire and …

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Thursday held talks in Turkey with the emirate’s chief ally President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his first visit abroad since the start of a diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia. Erdogan hosted the emir for the talks at his …

Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | Turkish government warnings to its citizens in Germany to be “cautious” and avoid political gatherings during election season are a “bad joke”, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s most senior aide said Sunday. “Turkey’s travel warning against Germany is a bad joke!”, Peter Altmaier, head of Merkel’s …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkey and Russia are inching towards an accord for the first major Turkish weapons purchase from Moscow, troubling Ankara’s allies in NATO even though the deal may not ultimately materialise. According to Turkish and Russian officials, all preparations have been made for the purchase of a …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Tresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday warned a top Turkish general who played a key role in defeating last year’s failed coup and led a cross-border operation in Syria that he must accept a surprise demotion without rancour. In a rare show of tension between the …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she was glad a Spanish court had ordered the conditional release of a Turkish-German writer wanted by Ankara and warned Turkey not to “misuse” Interpol to pursue its critics. “That’s not on. We must not misuse international organisations such as Interpol” …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday urged ethnic Turks in Germany to reject its main parties in upcoming elections, prompting a sharp warning from Berlin to stop the “unprecedented” meddling. Erdogan called on ethnic Turks to ignore Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkey and its main regional ally Qatar on Tuesday launched military exercises in the emirate that will involve some 250 Turkish troops and 30 armoured vehicles, reports said. The exercises come as Ankara presses on with its unequivocal backing of Doha in the crisis triggered by …

Sincan, Turkey | AFP | Nearly 500 people appeared in court Tuesday in the biggest trial yet of suspects from Turkey’s failed coup, facing charges of conspiring to oust the government from an air base seen as the plotters’ hub. Forty-one of those held were marched into the court outside Ankara …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | The Turkish government on Sunday strongly defended a plan to let state-approved clerics conduct marriage ceremonies, rejecting fierce criticism that this would undermine the modern republic’s secular foundations. Turkey is mainly Muslim but officially is a secular state. Under its current laws, even religiously observant couples …