Turkey

ANKARA, Apr 12 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey reported 50,678 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,548 symptomatic patients, raising the total number in the country to 3,849,011, according to its health ministry.

The death toll from the virus rose by 237 to 33,939, while the total recoveries climbed to 3,331,411, after 30,194 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stands at 3.1 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 2,824 in the country, said the ministry.

ANKARA, April 11. /TASS/: Three Russian citizens injured in a bus accident in central Turkey on Saturday remain under doctors’ supervision, the Russian Embassy in Ankara said.

As of Sunday morning, all Russian citizens, who were hurt in the traffic accident on the Konya-Aksaray highway, have received medical and psychological assistance.

ISTANBUL, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the "worrying developments" in eastern Ukraine between Kiev and Moscow.

"We believe that the current crisis must be resolved peacefully by diplomatic means in line with the territorial integrity of Ukraine and international laws," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.

10 Apr 2021; MEMO: Turkey's president today extended his condolences to the British Royal Family and the people of the United Kingdom on the loss of Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, Anadolu Agency reports.

"Upon the passing of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, spouse of Queen Elizabeth II, I convey my deepest condolences on behalf of my country and the Turkish nation," Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday, amid tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over a long-running conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.

Kyiv has raised the alarm over a buildup of Russian forces near the border between Ukraine and Russia, and over a rise in violence along the line of contact separating Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Donbass.

ANKARA, April 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — European Council President Charles Michel called on Turkey to keep working to resolve disputes with Greece and Cyprus over gas rights in the Mediterranean as he visited Ankara on Tuesday to discuss trade and refugees with President Tayyip Erdogan.

A row between Turkey and EU members Greece and Cyprus over offshore jurisdiction has strained ties, reaching a peak last summer when Turkish and Greek navy frigates escorted vessels exploring for hydrocarbons in disputed waters.

06 Apr 2021; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Chinese ambassador to Ankara over the Chinese Embassy's social media posts that caused a discomfort, Anadolu Agency reported.

The discomfort caused by the embassy's Twitter posts were conveyed to Chinese Ambassador Liu Shaobin, said an official on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

ANKARA, April 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Union’s top two officials will pay a rare visit on Tuesday to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan aimed at testing his avowed commitment to improve uneasy ties.

Years of disagreements over a growing list of issues threatened to boil over last summer when Turkey sent navy ships to support an energy exploration mission in waters claimed by EU members Cyprus and Greece.

Tensions cooled somewhat when Turkey withdrew the vessels and this year engaged in its first maritime talks with Greece since 2016.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtas, jailed since 2016 despite Western calls for his release, said the Turkish opposition should unite against rising oppression and moves to divide them, including a court case to ban his party.

Demirtas told Reuters that opponents of President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP) and his nationalist allies should agree shared democratic principles and form an alliance now rather than wait until elections scheduled for 2023.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities on Monday detained 10 former admirals after a group of more than 100 retired top navy officers issued a midnight statement that government officials tied to Turkey’s history of military coups.

The 10 retired admirals were detained as part of an investigation, launched by the chief prosecutor in Ankara on Sunday, over suspicions that they had reached “an agreement with the aim of committing a crime against the security of the state and the constitutional order,” the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.