Turkey

03 March 2022; MEMO: Turkey's drone shipments to Ukraine are not military aid but rather private sales, a deputy Turkish Foreign Minister was quoted as saying on Thursday, underscoring Ankara's effort to avoid offending Moscow, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

ANKARA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkey eased several COVID-19 restrictions in public spaces as the country has entered a new phase in the fight against the pandemic, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Wednesday.

"I would like to emphasize that the pandemic currently affects our social life much less than before," the minister told reporters at a press conference in the capital Ankara.

The fight against the coronavirus will rely especially on vaccines, Koca said after a meeting of Turkey's COVID-19 science board.

28 Feb 2022; MEMO: Turkey has warned both Black Sea and non-Black Sea countries not to pass warships through its Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits, Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, was reported as saying on Monday, and Reuters reports.

The 1936 Montreux Convention allows Turkey to limit naval transit of its Straits during wartime, but has a clause exempting ships returning to their registered base.

28 Feb 2022; MEMO: President Tayyip Erdogan, on Monday, repeated that Turkey could not abandon its ties with Russia or Ukraine, amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, adding Ankara would implement a pact on passage from its straits to prevent an escalation of the war, Reuters reports.

ANKARA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Turkey warned on Monday warships of both Black Sea and non-Black Sea countries not to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in line with the Montreux Convention.

"We have alerted all riparian and non-riparian countries against having their warships pass through the straits," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"We implemented what Montreux says, and we will do so from now on. There has been no passage or a request for passage through the straits until today," he said.

28 Feb 2022; MEMO: Ukraine's Ambassador to Ankara, Vasyl Bodnar, said yesterday that Turkish Bayraktar drones were very efficient in the country's battle against Russian forces, Reuters reported.

Turkiye sold Kyiv several Bayraktar TB2 drones, which it had in the past deployed against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

On Saturday, videos showed a Russian military convoy destroyed by the Turkish made Bayraktar drones in the city of Kherson.

ISTANBUL, Feb 27 (Reuters) - NATO member Turkey changed its rhetoric to call Russia's assault on Ukraine a "war" on Sunday and pledged to implement parts of an international pact that would potentially limit the transit of Russian warships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

Kyiv had appealed to Ankara to block any more Russian ships from entering the Black Sea, from which Moscow launched an incursion on Ukraine's southern coast. At least six Russian warships and a submarine transited Turkey's straits this month.

25 Feb 2022; MEMO: A third "charity train" carrying 994 tons of emergency relief aid to Afghanistan, under the coordination of Turkiye's government, departed from the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Bound for a journey of 4,168 kilometres (3,590 miles), the latest shipment is carrying aid from 16 humanitarian groups in its 62 wagons, coordinated by the state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

25 Feb 2022; MEMO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said, on Friday, that reaction from NATO and Western countries to Russia's assault on Ukraine had not been decisive, adding he hoped a NATO Summit on Friday would lead to a more determined approach from the alliance, Reuters reports.

NATO member, Turkey, borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has called on Russia to end its attack and voiced support for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

24 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Turkish government is implementing a plan to restrict the foreign population in districts throughout the country to a maximum of 25 per cent, with Syrians reportedly being the primary target of the scheme.