Middle East & North Africa

08 June 2024; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday that there is no doubt those who perpetrated the massacre in Gaza will eventually be held accountable, Anadolu Agency reports.

Speaking at the opening of the Extraordinary Meeting of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers in Istanbul, Fidan said those who stand for peace in Palestine will prevail.

The meeting was hosted by Turkiye at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul to discuss the situation in Gaza.

08 June 2024; MEMO: The head of Hamas’ Political Bureau reaffirmed Saturday that resistance forces would continue to defend Palestinian rights against Israel after attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

In a statement, Ismail Haniyeh asserted that Israel “continues to massacre Palestinian children and women in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp and Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.”

09 June 2024; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a meeting Sunday in Qatar with the head of the Palestinian group Hamas’ Political Bureau, Anadolu Agency reports..

“Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan met with Ismail Haniyeh, Head of Hamas Political Bureau, on the margins of the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of Türkiye-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) High Level Strategic Dialogue, in Doha,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on X after the meeting in the Gulf nation.

09 June 2024; MEMO: Israel’s leadership is pushing the allegations that Hamas fighters raped Israeli women during the October 7 attacks for its own political objectives while the government’s ongoing refusal to allow the United Nations to conduct a full investigation into the matter threatens to hinder any evidence, advocates have warned.

GAZA, Jun 9 (NNN-WAFA) – During its operation to release four hostages in the central Gaza Strip, the Zionist army had killed several other hostages, held there, Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades said, yesterday.

In a statement, Al-Qassam denounced the Israeli military operation in the Nuseirat area, in central Gaza as “a complex war crime,” saying, “the first to be harmed by it” were the Israeli hostages.

30 May 2024; MEMO: Turkiye announced the suspension of an agreement with Afghanistan for visa exemption to holders of diplomatic passports, Daily Sabah reports.

According to the report, the presidential office said the agreement on mutual removal of visas with Afghanistan for diplomatic passport holders, which was approved by the Turkish government in 2008, would be suspended starting on 1 June.

30 May 2024; MEMO: The military wing of the Islamic Jihad, Al-Quds Brigades, released a video, Thursday, that features an Israeli hostage who accuses the government of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of preferring to recover prisoners in the Gaza Strip as corpses, Anadolu Agency reports.

“I am in good condition, despite the Israeli army trying to kill me several times,” Alexander Turfanov said in the video.

30 May 2024; MEMO: Turkiye has begun mass producing its first domestically-manufactured battle tank, in the latest boost to the country’s defence industry.

According to the head of the Turkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), Haluk Gorgun, who spoke to the channel, TRT Haber, “we have started the mass production of our national tank. There are countries that want to work with us on this internationally, and we are continuing our negotiations with them”.

31 May 2024; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the Biden administration’s recent announcement that it wouldn’t support sanctions being imposed against the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its top prosecutor asked the tribunal to issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials including the PM.

03 June 2024; MEMO: Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guards commander, announced on Monday that he will run for president to succeed Ebrahim Raisi who died last month in a helicopter crash, state media have reported.