Turkey

ISTANBUL, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors issued detention warrants Monday for 36 soldiers over their alleged links to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016.

Police launched simultaneous operations in 32 provinces to catch the suspects upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Balikesir, the state-run Anadolu agency said.

Those targeted in the operations were reportedly soldiers on active duty, retired and dismissed military personnel.

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: After years of disrupted ties, Turkey and Egypt have restarted diplomatic-level talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency and TRT on Thursday.

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: Veysel Eroglu, special envoy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iraq, has announced that his country is ready to lead mediation talks related to the Ethiopian Ennahda Dam, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

In a TV interview, Eroglu told Al-Jazeera Mubasher that Turkey: "Is ready to mediate the issue of the Ennahda Dam on condition of no interference by the Western countries because this would lead to a state of no agreement."

ANKARA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Egypt have launched diplomatic-level contacts years after former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was toppled in 2013, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.

"We have contacts both at the level of intelligence and foreign ministries with Egypt. Diplomatic-level contacts have started," Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency on his flight from Qatar to Turkey.

ANKARA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkey reported on Friday 14,941 new COVID-19 cases, including 834 symptomatic patients, as the total number of positive cases in the country reached 2,850,930, according to its health ministry.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 66 to 29,356, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,670,273 after 11,180 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stands at 3.8 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,349 in the country, said the ministry.

11 Mar 2021; MEMO: Turkey plans to vaccinate 50 million people against COVID-19 by autumn in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Thursday, after the number of daily cases surged to their highest level this year, reported Reuters.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey plans to host Afghanistan peace talks in Istanbul in April, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday, and Ankara will appoint an Afghanistan special envoy.

Cavusoglu’s comments come after the United States shared a draft peace plan calling for replacing Afghanistan’s government with a power-sharing interim administration pending elections under a new constitution.

The U.S. proposal is intended to jump-start stalled talks in Doha between the Taliban and a team including Afghan officials on a political settlement to decades of conflict.

ANKARA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- It has been one year since Turkey announced the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the country on March 11, 2020. The pandemic has so far infected more than 2.8 million Turks and killed over 29,000 others.

Going all the way back to last March, the first reaction of the government to the outbreak of the pandemic was to ban international flights and close land borders with first Iran and then other neighboring countries.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan will attempt on Friday to make good on his pledge of a new economic era for Turkey, with a package of reforms that he says will tackle chronically high inflation, currency depreciation and financial instability.

After 18 years leading a major emerging market prone to booms and busts, Erdogan faces a sceptical audience of local savers, foreign investors and ratings agency analysts who say such market-friendly promises have rung hollow in the past.

06 Mar 2021; MEMO: Turkey is only aiming to protect its rights and territories and does not have any other ulterior motives, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on today, Anadolu Agency reports.

Attending the Blue Homeland 2021 tactical exercise via video link, Erdogan said Turkey is testing its "domestic and national" weapon systems.