Turkey

13 Aug 2020; AA: Turkey and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost trade and economic ties, the Turkish trade minister said Thursday.

The deal will lay the groundwork for resolving ongoing issues between Turkish firms and Libyan employers, setting new investments and undertaking new projects, Ruhsar Pekcan said at a meeting held in Turkey's capital Ankara.

13 Aug 2020; AA: Turkey's president on Thursday blamed Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration for increasing tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean by excluding Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Turkey yesterday accused Greece of “systematically closing Turkish minority schools” in the country’s Western Thrace region.

“Athens’ practice of temporary suspending minority schools in Western Thrace – a region where around 150,000 Muslim Turkish minority have resided for the past 25 years is a part of Greece’s assimilation and oppression efforts against Muslims,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hami Aksoy, said in a statement.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will issue seismic exploration and drilling licenses in new areas of the eastern Mediterranean by the end of August and continue its operations in the region, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, amid tensions with Greece.

NATO allies Turkey and Greece are at odds over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey sent its Oruc Reis vessel on Monday to conduct a seismic survey in a disputed area, in a move Greece said was illegal.

ISTANBUL, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey has become the third country to develop vaccines locally against COVID-19 after the United States and China according to the World Health Organization.

"The COVID-19 Turkey Platform, founded by the TUBITAK (the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey,) is currently working on eight different vaccines and 10 different medication projects," Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of the TUBITAK Excellence Centers in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

07 Aug 2020; MEMO: Turkey has criticised and dismissed a maritime agreement between Greece and Egypt for an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean intended to counter Turkey’s own such deal with the Libyan government.

ISTANBUL, Aug 5 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey’s largest restaurant, transformed from an old Airbus, has been put on sale for 10 million Turkish liras or 1.4 million U.S. dollars, a real estate agent said.

The Airbus A340, belonging to Turkey’s national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, was decomposed into eight pieces in Istanbul, after it completed its life in the air in 2016, according to Huseyin Caliskan, the real estate agent.

04 Aug 2020; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday condemned an oil agreement concluded between an US-based company and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the development of oil fields in northeastern Syria, Anadolu reported.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the deal “ignores international law”, adding that Kurds have clearly demonstrated their ambition to secede from Syria by seizing the natural resources of its people.

03 Aug 2020; MEMO: Palestinian authorities on Sunday began distributing meat from livestock sacrificed with donations from Turkey on the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival to hundreds of families in need in the Gaza Strip, reported Anadolu Agency.

During the four-day holiday, the Ministry of Foundations and Religious Affairs aims to provide as many as 4,500 families with meat, Eshref Ismail, the director of the projects department at the ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

29 July 2020; MEMO: Turkey’s parliament has approved a controversial social media regulation bill, in a landmark legal move that many see as a clampdown on freedom of expression within the country. The bill, which was passed by lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), sets a formal and legal precedent for the operation of popular social media sites in Turkey.