Turkey

22 Aug 2020; MEMO: Palestine, Azerbaijan and Ukraine congratulated Turkey on Saturday for its discovery of major natural gas reserves in the Black Sea, Anadolu Agency reports.

Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call, Turkey’s Communications Directorate said in a statement.

He hailed Turkey’s success as Palestine’s success, while Erdogan reiterated Ankara’s support for the Palestinian cause.

22 Aug 2020; MEMO: The Turkish government asked the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to arrest former Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan for running an espionage network in Turkey, TRT reported on Friday.

Dahlan is a security advisor for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed, who announced the normalisation of ties with Israel last week.

22 Aug 2020; MEMO: Turkey criticized Greece on Friday because of a statement by Athens on the conversion of the Chora Museum to mosque.   

"Chora mosque, like Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque and other cultural assets on our lands, belongs to Turkey and it is our property," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement. 

The comment came after Greek counterparts made a statement against the reopening of the sixth-century Chora Museum as a mosque in Istanbul.  

22 Aug 2020; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Friday that the Fatih drilling vessel discovered the country’s largest energy source in its history -- 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Black Sea. 

ISTANBUL, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday announced that his country, which is almost entirely reliant on imports to meet its energy needs, found significant natural gas resources in the Black Sea.

"Our drilling ship has made a substantial natural gas discovery in the Black Sea," he said in a statement broadcasted live by news channels.

He indicated that a reserve as big as 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas in size was discovered and it would be available for use by 2023, the centennial of the Republic of Turkey.

16 Aug 2020; MEMO: President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Turkey will not back down to threats of sanctions nor to incursions on its claimed territory in the Mediterranean Sea, where it is in a standoff with EU-member Greece over oil and gas exploration rights, reports Reuters.

European Union foreign ministers on Friday said Ankara’s actions were antagonistic and dangerous after a meeting requested by Athens.

15 Aug 2020; MEMO: Turkey’s ruling party on Saturday criticized the deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to normalize ties as a "political suicide" against the Palestinian cause.

It is also an attempt to eradicate two-state solution between Israel and Palestine proposed by international community, Omer Celik, spokesman for the Justice and Development (AK) Party said on Twitter.

ANKARA, Aug 15 (NNN-ANKARA) — Welcoming a controversial deal between Israel and the UAE to normalise relations, the European Union (EU) on Friday called for Tel Aviv to abandon plans to annex areas of the West Bank, according to Anadolu Agency. 

“I welcome Israel-UAE normalisation; benefits both and is important for regional stability,” said EU Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Twitter. 

Stressing that suspending the annexation was a positive step, he called Israel to abandon the plans altogether.

ISTANBUL, Aug 15 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkey might suspend its diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), or call back its ambassador, over UAE’s deal with Israel.

“We stand with the Palestinian people. We have not let Palestine be defeated,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul. “I have given the necessary instructions to my foreign minister. We may either suspend diplomatic ties (with UAE) or recall our ambassador.”

13 Aug 2020; AA: Turkey's telecommunications giant Turk Telekom posted net profits of 1.64 billion Turkish liras ($253.6 million) in the first half of 2020, up from 745 million liras ($132.5 million) in the same period last year.

The firm's net sales were 13.27 billion Turkish liras ($2.05 billion) in the January-June period, increasing from 11.16 billion ($1.98 billion) in the first six months of 2019, according to the firm's statement on Thursday.