Turkey

28 July 2020; MEMO: Turkey’s ruling party AK Party  submitted draft legislation to parliament that would enable the government to tighten its grip on social media, an official said today.

The submitted nine-article draft legislation will force social media companies with more than one million daily users in Turkey to establish a formal presence or assign a representative in Turkey.

ISTANBUL, July 28 (NNN-ANADOLU) – The Turkish coast guard captured 23 illegal immigrants, off Turkey’s Aegean coast, a local media outlet reported Monday.

The Turkish coast guard stopped 23 Afghan migrants, off the Didim district, in the western province of Aydin, who were allegedly intending to sneak into Greece in two boats, the Haberturk daily said, on its web site.

26 July 2020; MEMO: The Turkish Coast Guard rescued more than 900 asylum seekers in the recent month who were pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean, reports Anadolu Agency. 

Asylum seekers were seeking to cross to Europe with rubber boats to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

25 July 2020; MEMO: The signing of a military agreement with Niger, a neighbouring country of Libya, reflects Turkey’s interest to have a foothold in a country adjacent to Libya, The New Khalij reported on Friday.

The agreement was reached during last week’s tour by the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu of Africa, as Niger was among the African countries he visited.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and Greece exchanged harsh words on Saturday over the conversion of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque, a day after Islamic prayers were held at the ancient site for the first time in nine decades.

Greek criticism of the move to convert the site from a museum has been scathing, underlining tense ties between Greece and Turkey. Church bells tolled in mourning across Greece on Friday as Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan joined prayers at the building.

24 July 2020; MEMO: After 86 years of operating as a museum, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia today reopened as a mosque, a move that has become a cause of celebration for Muslims not only in Turkey but the world over.

The re-opening of the mosque began at 08:00 GMT with Quran recitations and remembrance of God.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday appointed appointed three imams for Hagia Sophia, one of them a professor of religious studies, as the nation prepares for the first Muslim prayers in the Istanbul landmark in 86 years following its conversion back into a mosque.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to join hundreds of worshipers Friday for prayers inside the former Byzantine cathedral that became a mosque with the 1453 Muslim conquest of Istanbul and then a museum in 1934 after Turkey became a secular republic.

ANKARA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish troops would remain in Syria until "the Syrians can live in peace and safety," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"We will continue to stay in this country until the Syrian people, our thousand-year-old neighbor and our brothers, achieve freedom, peace and safety," he said while speaking at a presidential meeting in capital Ankara.

The Turkish army has launched operations in northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units and the Islamic State elements in the region.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Wednesday rejected claims by Greece that its oil-and-gas research vessels were encroaching on Greek waters in the eastern Mediterranean and said it would continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the region.

A Foreign Ministry statement, however, also renewed a call by Ankara for dialogue to resolve the dispute between the two NATO allies.

20 July 2020; MEMO: Turkey has suspended flights to Iran and Afghanistan as part of measures against the coronavirus outbreak, the Transport Ministry said on Sunday.