Turkey

29 June 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the United States for delaying the sales of F-16 fighter jets and for its continued support to the YPG in northern Syria, vowing that he will bring these issues to the attention of US President Joe Biden when they meet in Madrid on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Biden and Erdogan discussed bilateral issues and some regional matters, including F-16 jets.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Turkey has detected its first case of monkeypox in a 37-year-old patient who is in isolation, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said today, Reuters reports.

The virus has been identified in more than 50 new countries outside the countries in Africa where it is endemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says cases are also rising in those countries, calling for testing to be ramped up.

ISTANBUL, June 29 (Reuters) - Pro-government Turkish media lauded a deal to allow Finland and Sweden to join NATO as a triumph for President Tayyip Erdogan, saying on Wednesday he had wrested concrete gains from the West in the country's fight against terrorism.

The 11th hour agreement on Tuesday, which caught many by surprise, lifted Ankara's veto over the Nordic states' membership bids. It ended a weeks-long dispute that tested the defence alliance's unity against Russia's invasion of Ukraine ahead of this week's NATO summit in Madrid.

ISTANBUL, June 27 (Reuters) - Turkish defence firm Baykar said on Monday it would donate three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Ukraine, after a crowdfunding campaign there raised enough funds to buy "several" of the Bayraktar TB2 model.

The TB2 has been hugely popular in Ukraine, where it helped destroy Russian artillery systems and armoured vehicles. It even became the subject of a patriotic expletive-strewn hit song in Ukraine that mocked Russian troops, with the chorus "Bayraktar, Bayraktar".

ANKARA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, discussing the agenda of the upcoming NATO summit, Turkey's presidency said.

The two leaders also discussed bilateral issues and some regional matters, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.

ANKARA, June 27 (Reuters) - A NATO summit this week is unlikely to see a breakthrough to overcome Turkey's opposition to Sweden and Finland's membership bids as Ankara takes an unrushed approach to negotiations, according to Turkish officials and Western diplomats.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in what would be a historic enlargement of the Western defence pact. But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan surprised allies by opposing it in May over what he called the Nordic countries' support for terrorist groups.

26 June 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed a range of issues over the phone on Saturday, including bilateral relations and the enlargement of NATO, Anadolu Agency reports.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last month, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine that began on February 24.

26 June 2022; MEMO: Iran and Turkiye have agreed to enhance tourism cooperation following a meeting yesterday between officials of both countries.

The Director-General of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Tehran province, Parham Janfshan announced yesterday the holding of a meeting to develop tourism ties with Turkiye's Batman province.

26 June 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has lifted its unofficial boycott of goods and products from Turkiye, after the two countries and their leaders reconciled following years of deteriorated diplomatic ties.

ANKARA, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkey seems determined to block Sweden and Finland's NATO memberships in the alliance's upcoming summit as long as they do not address Turkey's security concerns, although the NATO chief has vowed "a common way forward" on the issue at stake, experts said.

Ankara has said it will not prepare to rush through the NATO accession process of the two Nordic countries unless there are "satisfactory assurances" that they would cut support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other groups outlawed by Turkey.