Turkey

21 Feb 2021; MEMO: The Turkish president on Saturday said that Ankara is keen to "strengthen" cooperation with Washington following the inauguration of Joe Biden as the new US president, Anadolu Agency reports.

"We want to further strengthen our cooperation with the new US administration on a win-win basis in the long term," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a video message sent to an event which marked the launch of a TV channel by the Turkish American National Steering Committee or TASC.

19 Feb 2021; MEMO: Turkey's defence industry has hired one of the United States' most prestigious law firms in efforts to re-enter into the F-35 fighter jet programme it was kicked out of almost two years ago.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has hired a Washington-based law firm to lobby for its readmission to the U.S. F-35 fighter jet programme after it was suspended over its purchase of Russian air defences, a contract filed with the U.S. Department of Justice showed.

Ankara had ordered more than 100 stealth fighters and has been making parts for their production, but was removed from the programme in 2019 after it bought the Russian S-400 missile defence systems, which Washington says threaten the F-35s.

ANKARA, Feb 18 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey will gradually lift restrictions against COVID-19 on the provincial levels from March, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said yesterday.

“We will start the normalisation process at the beginning of March by dividing our provinces into four groups,” Erdogan said.

The government will lift the restrictions gradually, according to the number of cases, vaccination and other relevant criteria in the provinces, he added.

ISTANBUL, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Wednesday detained 30 suspects here over their alleged link to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016.

Police have launched simultaneous operations in 29 locations as part of an investigation led by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.

They also found more than 17,000 euros (20,527 U.S. dollars) and some organizational materials during the raids, Anadolu said, adding that operations are still going on to capture one missing suspect.

16 Feb 2021; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the US secretary of state on Monday discussed all aspects of bilateral relations, according to diplomatic sources, reports Anadolu Agency.

Cavusoglu congratulated Antony Blinken on his new post, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

They also agreed to discuss in detail all issues on the agenda in the coming days.

ANKARA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticized the United States for "supporting" the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after the group killed 13 Turkish people in northern Iraq.

The president also denounced a U.S. statement that declined to immediately back Turkey's claim of the PKK members executing 13 Turks in Iraq.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Fifteen Turkish sailors kidnapped by pirates last month in the Gulf of Guinea arrived back in Turkey on Sunday and the ship’s captain described how they faced death threats and were held in a forest during their three-week ordeal.

The sailors hugged relatives as they arrived before dawn at Istanbul Airport, where they were greeted by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and other officials, two days after news of their release in Nigeria emerged.

12 Feb 2021; MEMO: Turkish troops stationed in Libya will remain there as long as a bilateral military agreement between Ankara and Tripoli is active and Libya's government requests it, Reuters reported presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin saying yesterday.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey would discuss withdrawing its troops, who Ankara says are providing military training to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) if other foreign powers are withdrawn first.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish opposition politician Enis Berberoglu, stripped of his parliamentary status last year after a conviction for disclosing government secrets, was restored as a member of parliament on Thursday after a constitutional court ruling.

The court ruled last week that the rights of Berberoglu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), had been violated and that the lower court should hold a retrial.

Berberoglu regained his status as a lawmaker when the court decision regarding his case was read out in parliament on Thursday.