Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey wants to improve ties with the European Union on the basis of full membership, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, adding that problems between them could only be solved if the bloc acted with common sense at a summit this week and beyond.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers said Turkey had failed to help resolve a dispute with EU members Greece and Cyprus over natural gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean, but they left any decision on retaliatory sanctions for an EU summit on Thursday.

08 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Turkey's president has warned the EU to "get rid of its strategic blindness" over the issues with Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean, international news agencies reported on Monday. Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the bloc not to be used by Greece and Cyprus to target his country.

07 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Turkey will not compromise its sovereign rights on the island of Meis, or airspace covering 10 nautical miles, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday according to a report by Anadolu Agency.

"No sanctions will ever make Turkey compromise its sovereign rights be in Meis/Kastellorizo or 10 nm airspace," the ministry said on Twitter in response to Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias' article against Turkey.

07 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The Turkish president on Saturday termed a French parliament resolution on Upper Karabakh a "complete disaster."

"The decision taken the previous day in the parliament of France, the co-chair of the [OSCE] Minsk Group, is a complete disaster beyond the scandal," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of a newly built motorway in eastern Turkey via video link.

06 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Once Turkey starts to mass-produce its own turboshaft helicopter engines, it will avert annual hi-tech imports worth $60 million, a senior official in the country said on Saturday, reported by Anadolu Agency.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has entered its first full weekend lockdown since May after coronavirus infections and deaths hit record highs in recent days.

The country of 83 million people on Friday recorded 32,736 new cases, including asymptomatic ones, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

The total death toll rose by 193 on Friday, touching a daily record level seen earlier this week, to 14,509.

05 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has asserted that "no one has the right to question Turkey's membership" in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s lira briefly slipped on Friday after U.S. lawmakers included mandatory Turkish sanctions in a defence spending bill that moves Washington a step closer to punishing its NATO ally for buying Russian S-400 missile defences last year.

The final version of the $740 billion annual U.S. defence spending legislation would oblige the White House to select from a list of sanctions over the S-400s, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO operations.

03 Dec 2020; AA:  Agreements in the fields of education and sports signed between Turkey and Senegal took effect after being published in Turkey's Official Gazette on Thursday.

The accords were signed on Jan. 28, are valid for five years and aim to further strengthen bilateral relations.

In education, Turkey and Senegal agreed to "expansion of cooperation and exchanges."

02 Dec 2020; AA:  The innovation of Turkish overseas logistics centers will ensure the rapid flow of exports and products’ penetration of international supply chains at low cost, thus serving sustainable export growth, according to an expert.

"Logistics centers will also help us boost our capabilities in e-commerce abroad," Turgut Erkeskin, chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board's (DEIK) Logistics Business Council, told Anadolu Agency.