Turkey

30 Nov 2020; AA:  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday received Ukraine’s prime minister in the Turkish capital Ankara, according to the presidency.

Erdogan received Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the presidential complex, said the presidency.

“Happy to meet with President @RTErdogan, Turkey is one of Ukraine’s key partners and plays an important role in maintaining stability and security in the Black Sea region,” Shmyhal said on Twitter after the meeting.

01 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The Turkish Armed Forces will support Azerbaijan's army in clearing mines in the Azerbaijani territories liberated from the Armenian occupation, according to Turkey's National Defense Ministry.

The ministry in a statement on Monday announced that the armed forces will also provide a military training for the Azerbaijani army.

01 Dec 2020; AA:  Discussions on technical details about the establishment and responsibilities of the Turkish-Russian Joint Center were completed and an agreement was signed, said Turkey's National Defense Ministry on Tuesday.

The ministry said on Twitter that necessary work is underway to make the center operate as soon as possible, reminding that on Nov. 11, a memorandum of understanding had been signed via video conference by Turkish and Russian defense ministers, Hulusi Akar and Sergey Shoigu.

30 Nov 2020; Turkey will impose a weekday curfew and a full lockdown at weekends to combat the spread of the coronavirus, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, after new cases and deaths hit record highs.

Citizens will not be allowed to leave home between 9 pm and 5 am on weekdays or at all at weekends, Erdogan said.

Some sectors, including supply chains and production, will be exempt from the measures which will begin on Tuesday, he said.

ANKARA, December 1. /TASS/: Turkey and Russia have concluded an agreement to set up a joint center for monitoring ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Negotiations have been completed on the technical details concerning the basics and principles of operation of a joint Turkish-Russian center. An agreement has been signed. The necessary work is underway for the center to go operational as soon as possible," the communique says.

The Turkish side did not disclose any details of the concluded agreement.

30 Nov 2020; AA: Turkey's exports rose 5.6% to reach $17.33 billion in October, on a yearly basis, the country's statistical authority announced on Monday.

The country's imports also posted an increase of 8.4% to reach $19.7 billion in the same month versus October 2019.

Meanwhile, the foreign trade deficit was at $2.37 billion, up 34.4% annually.

The export-import coverage ratio was 88% in October, down from 90.3% in the same month in 2019.

29 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkey's state aid agency on Sunday finished handing out blankets to 5,000 Rohingya families in Bangladesh's refugee camps on the eve of the arrival of winter, Anadolu Agency reports.

28 Nov 2020; MEMO: Ankara rejected on Friday a "non-binding" resolution by the European Union (EU) parliament to impose sanctions on Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on the Maras and Cyprus issues, news agencies reported.

"We completely reject the non-binding resolution adopted by the MEPs on our country and the TRNC," Spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hami Aksoy announced in a statement.

28 Nov 2020; MEMO: Decrying rising Islamophobia in Western countries, the Turkish president said Saturday that insulting people's beliefs has nothing to do with freedom, reports Anadolu Agency. 

"You have been closely following the meanness in France towards the Prophet [Muhammad] under the label of 'freedom of thought'," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a video message to the 23rd annual convention of the Muslim American Society.

28 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkey on Saturday condemned the killing of Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Anadolu Agency reports.

"We regret that the Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh lost his life as a result of an armed attack in Tehran. We condemn this heinous murder and extend our condolences to the government of Iran and the family of the deceased," said the nation's Foreign Ministry.