Turkey

ANKARA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Ukraine will sign a free trade agreement during the Turkish president's visit on Thursday in a bid to meet the target of 10-billion-U.S.-dollar trade between the two countries, the Turkish trade minister said.

"We are taking a very important step in our trade relations with Ukraine in order to reach the 10-billion-dollar trade target set by the presidents of the two countries. Tomorrow, we will sign a new free trade agreement with Ukraine," Trade Minister Mehmet Mus said Wednesday at a press conference in the capital Ankara.

01 Feb 2022; MEMO: Turkiye (Turkey) is ready to undertake infrastructure projects, including rebuilding the Port of Beirut, the Turkish President said, Tuesday, at a news conference with the Lebanese Premier, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Najib Mikati in the Turkish capital of Ankara and held a joint news conference after a one-on-one talk and delegation-level discussions.

ANKARA, Jan 31 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey’s security forces killed four members of Syria’s Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, the Turkish Defence Ministry said, yesterday.

The Turkish forces “neutralised” the YPG fighters after they attempted to attack Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring” zone in Syria, the ministry tweeted.

Three Turkish soldiers were killed on Jan 8, when an improvised explosive device exploded on Turkey’s border with Syria.

29 Jan 2022; MEMO: Proposals to Russia by the United States and NATO regarding the Black Sea do not violate Turkey's maritime rights, Turkish sources have confirmed.

Earlier this week, Russia released a series of security demands to NATO in continued negotiations over the Ukraine crisis. Those demands included guarantees that the alliance will never admit Kyiv and other former Soviet member states into NATO and that the deployment of western troops in those Eastern European counties will be withdrawn.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president has fired the head of the Turkish Statistical Institute, which is responsible for posting official inflation statistics among other data.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decisions were announced on the Official Gazette early Saturday. He replaced Sait Erdal Dincer, less than a year after his appointment, with Erhan Cetinkaya, who served as vice president of Turkey’s banking regulation agency. The reason for the move was unclear.

26 Jan 2022; MEMO: Turkish industry has been hit by power cut due to energy crisis between Iran and Turkey, Financial Times reports on Wednesday.

According to the report, the Turkish government said it would impose three days of power cuts on heavy industrial users this week.

Last week, it was announced by Turkish media that gas flow from Iran to Turkey had stopped due to technical problem.

24 Jan 2022; MEMO: Heavy snowfall hit Turkey's largest city, Istanbul on Monday, shutting shopping malls, disrupting traffic, and closing a mega-airport, Anadolu News Agency reports.

After landing in the city early in the morning, heavy snowfall caused traffic jams in the city's working-class districts of Zeytinburnu, Bahcelievler, Sariyer and Kagithane on the European side.

Some passengers, as well as vehicles, were stuck due to heavy snow.

A ship spotter in Istanbul says Russia's possible war in Ukraine would be reflected in fewer ships going south through the Bosphorus, Al Jazeera reports.

"Every day, I follow any military ships going to Ukraine, to see who is sending what message," geopolitical analyst and ship spotter, Yoruk Isik said.

According to the report, Istanbul ship-spotter, at the age of 50, monitors moves for war.

25 Jan 2022; MEMO: Some Turkish manufacturing companies have halted production temporarily after Iran cut gas flows last week for up to 10 days due to a technical problem, Reuters reports.

Companies affected include car parts maker Ege Endustri, cardboard manufacturer Kartonsan and defence and automotive parts maker, Katmerciler.

18 Jan 2022; MEMO: Officials want to rebrand the country, "Türkiye" as it is the best way to represent the nation, Erdogan says and Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the report, President Erdogan said the Turkish government is planning to change its internationally recognised official name in English to Türkiye, by registering it at the United Nations in the coming weeks.

The government wants to register the name with the letter "Ü", which is not in the nominal Latin alphabet, and could be a problem.