Turkey

24 Apr 2023; MEMO: Turkiye and seven EU member states will receive more than €106 million (approximately $117 million) from the EU budget to develop emergency medical services, the European Commission announced on Monday.

"The European Commission is allocating over €106 million to seven EU member states and Turkiye" to set up the first pan-European field hospital, Balazs Ujvari, spokesperson for crisis management announced at the EU executive body's daily news briefing.

23 Apr 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's largest warship TCG Anadolu rendered a 21-gun salute in honor of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as it sailed through the Istanbul Strait on Sunday on its way to the Black Sea, Anadolu reports.

The vessel, which is the world's first unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) carrier, departed the port of Sarayburnu and sailed past the Dolmabahce Palace.

April 22 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine. Russia has strongly signalled that it will not allow the deal to continue beyond May 18.

GRAIN DEAL

* The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers called on Sunday for the "extension, full implementation and expansion" of the grain deal.

ANKARA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- A total of 21 "terrorists" were killed by Turkish troops over the past four days in northern Syria and Iraq, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday.

Three of the "terrorists" were killed in Iraq's Zap region, semi-official Anadolu Agency quoted Akar as saying during an event in the Turkish central province of Kayseri.

Calling the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) a "tool in the hands of imperialists" to hinder Türkiye's development, Akar said that the Turkish government is determined to eliminate the PKK.

ANKARA, April 22. /TASS/: More than 50,000 people are listed as dead as a result of earthquakes in Turkey on February 6, the country's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Saturday.

"The death toll from earthquakes with an epicenter in Kahramanmaras has reached 50,783," he told the CNN Turk TV channel.

The earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 occurred on February 6 with nine-hour intervals in Kahramanmaras province in southeastern Turkey. Tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in neighboring countries, of which Syria was the most affected.

21 Apr 2023; MEMO: President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday flicked the switch on Turkey's first delivery of natural gas to an onshore plant from a reserve discovered in the Black Sea and promised to provide free natural gas for households before May 14 elections, reports Reuters.

The ceremony was the government's latest attempt to showcase large energy and infrastructure projects in the run up to the election, which opinion polls show Erdogan could lose after two decades in power.

21 Apr 2023; MEMO: Istanbul's Blue Mosque reopened fully on Friday, the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, following a restoration effort that began in 2018, reports Anadolu Agency.

Attending the mosque's opening ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described it as "one of the most important symbols of Istanbul."

FILYOS, Türkiye, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye on Thursday started the delivery of natural gas from its Black Sea field, as part of its flagship project aiming at reducing the country's dependence on energy imports.

The gas, shipped from a depth of 2,200 meters at the offshore Sakarya field via a 170-kilometer-long subsea pipeline and through various compression plants, was delivered to the newly constructed Filyos land facility located in the northern Zonguldak province.

Istanbul Police, Tuesday, seized unprocessed raw diamonds with a market value of TL 20 million ($1 million), estimated to be 61.38 carats, during an operation in the Grand Bazaar – one of the historical trade centres of Istanbul, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, the Istanbul Police Department and the Department of Combating Financial Crimes received information about the smuggling of diamonds in the historic Grand Bazaar, Istanbul.

They detained four foreign national suspects, the report added.

April 19 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of sabotaging the Black Sea grain deal by demanding bribes from ship owners to register new vessels and carry out inspections under the cover of a deal the United Nations hopes could ease a global food crisis.

There was no immediate comment on the allegation, levelled by Russia's Foreign Ministry, from Ukraine which has blamed Moscow for problems with the agreement. Moscow did not immediately provide documentary evidence to back its assertion.