Turkey

07 June 2021; MEMO: Turkey's environment minister pledged on Sunday to defeat a plague of "sea snot" threatening the Sea of Marmara with a disaster management plan he said would secure its future, reports Reuters.

A thick slimy layer of organic matter, known as marine mucilage, has spread through the sea south of Istanbul, posing a threat to marine life and the fishing industry.

ANKARA, Jun 5 (NNN-ANADOLU) – A Turkish soldier was killed and another was injured, in a rocket attack by “terrorists” in northern Syria, Turkey’s defence ministry said yesterday.

The attack happened in the Operation Olive Branch region, on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement.

The region is neighbouring the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The Turkish army and the YPG members often clash in the region, as Turkey sees the group as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

(Reuters) --- A Turkish air strike killed at least three people and injured others on Saturday at a camp for displaced people in northern Iraq, said Rashad Kelani, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party official.

The strike on the camp housing thousands of Kurdish refugees from Turkey took place three days after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan warned Iraq that Turkey would "clean up" a refugee camp which it says provides a haven for Kurdish militants.

04 June 2021; MEMO: Turkey today rescued 32 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea after they were pushed back by Greek coastal authorities into Turkish territorial waters, an official said, Anadolu Agency reports.

They were rescued from rubber boats by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Cesme district in western Izmir province, said a coast guard statement.

After routine checks, they were referred to the provincial migration authority.

03 June 2021; MEMO: Turkey is working to repair its ties with Egypt and some Gulf States and seeks cooperation on a "win-win basis", President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"Our desire is to use these opportunities for cooperation at the maximum level and improve our ties on a win-win basis … The same situation is valid for all Gulf countries too," Reuters reported Erdogan telling state broadcaster TRT Haber.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Three Uyghurs who fled from China to Turkey have described forced abortions and torture by Chinese authorities in China’s far western Xinjiang region, ahead of giving testimony to a people’s tribunal in London that is investigating if Beijing’s actions against ethnic Uyghurs amount to genocide.

01 June 2021; MEMO: Turkish intelligence agents have captured the nephew of Fethullah Gulen and brought him to Turkey to face prosecution, almost five years after the failed coup attempt which Ankara accuses the cleric of masterminding.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish agents have captured a nephew of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen in an overseas operation and have brought him to Turkey where he faces prosecution, Turkey’s state-run news agency said Monday.

Selahaddin Gulen, who was wanted in Turkey on charges of membership in a terror organization, was seized in an operation by Turkey’s national spy agency MIT, the Anadolu Agency reported.

The report did not say where he was seized or when he was returned to Turkey. Gulen’s nephew however, was believed to be residing in Kenya.

28 May 2021; MEMO: Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan visited a recycling bazaar organized by a Turkish NGO in order to raise funds for Palestinian children living in East Jerusalem under Israeli occupation, Anadolu Agency reports.

The event, which was organized by Social Development Centre Education and Social Solidarity Association (TOGEM-DER) in Baglarbasi Congress and Culture Center in Istanbul, aimed at "utilizing unused items to support Zero Waste Project."

28 May 2021; MEMO: The US deputy secretary of state today appreciated Turkey's continued support to refugees.

Describing her meeting with Turkey's deputy foreign minister, Sedat Onal, in Ankara productive, Wendy Sherman on Twitter said: "We appreciate Turkey's continued support to over 4 million refugees."

The importance of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law as well as Afghanistan, Syria and regional issues were also discussed in the meeting, Sherman noted.