Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey, Sept 1 (NNN-ANADOLU) – The number of companies established by Syrians in Turkey has increased to 10,000, since 2011, when the Syrian civil war started.

Syrian entrepreneurs made a contribution to Turkey’s economy, by feeding at least seven percent of all the Syrians in Turkey, according to a study released by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, an Ankara-based think tank.

Recognising the Syrians’ entrepreneurship, the report said, 59.4 percent of the Syrian business owners have been successful.

ANKARA, Turkey, Sept 1 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey will proceed with its own plan of action, if Turkish soldiers do not take control of the safe zone in northeastern Syria soon, said Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Turkey is running out of time and patience, on the safe zone deal with the United States. It wants the safe zone to be built on the east of the Euphrates, as soon as possible,” Erdogan stressed.

DAMASCUS, Aug 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) - The US military posted photographs it said showed SDF forces destroying fortifications.

The Kurdish-led authorities in north-eastern Syria say a US-backed Kurdish militia has begun withdrawing from territory along the border with Turkey.

The “first practical steps” came on the weekend, when the People’s Protection Units (YPG) pulled out some fighters and weaponry from two areas.

The move is part of a deal with Turkey and the US, which has forces there.

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested his country may buy Russian-made Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets instead of US-made F-35 fighters as the dispute between the NATO allies shows no sign of abating.

Erdogan said Turkey was weighing the Russian aircraft purchase amid an ongoing spat with Washington after Ankara bought a controversial missile defence system from Moscow.

29 Aug 2019; MEMO: President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s deal with the United States to set up a “safe zone” in northeast Syria was a correct step and that Ankara would not let Washington delay the plan, CNN Turk and Reuters reported on Thursday.

Ankara revealed last weekend that a joint operations centre for the proposed zone along Syria’s northeastern border is now fully operational.

ANKARA, Turkey, Aug 28 (NNN-ANADOLU) – A Turkish senior trade official, announced that, Turkey and Mexico have agreed to restart negotiations on Free Trade Agreement.

A bilateral meeting, recently held with Luz Maria de la Mora, the undersecretary for Foreign Trade of Mexico, has been “very fruitful,” said Gonca Yilmaz Batur, Turkey’s deputy minister of trade, at the Turkey-Mexico Trade and Investment Seminar.

26 Aug 2019; MEMO: Turkish land troops are expected to enter east of the Euphrates River very soon, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday, Anadolu reports.

Erdogan said, speaking at an event in the eastern city of Mus to mark the 948th anniversary of Battle of Malazgirt.

Erdogan also warned of any stalling east of the Euphrates River, saying that Turkey is “fully prepared to realize its plans”.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is to accept delivery of a second battery of Russian S-400 missile defenses beginning on Tuesday, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday according to state-owned Anadolu news agency.

The initial parts of the system, which Washington says are not compatible with NATO defenses, were delivered to Ankara in July despite warnings about possible U.S. sanctions over the purchase.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An Iranian tanker at the center of a confrontation between Washington and Tehran is no longer recorded as heading for Turkey, Refinitiv Eikon shipping data showed on Monday, having switched to a Turkish destination at the weekend.

The vessel, fully laden with oil, had previously been heading to the port of Kalamata in southern Greece but Greece had said it would not offer any facilities to the tanker.

Shipping data on Saturday had then indicated the vessel was to dock at the southern Turkish port of Mersin on Aug. 31.

25 Aug 2019; MEMO: US and Turkish leaders conducted the first US-Turkey reconnaissance flight, the Pentagon said Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Spokesman Sean Robertson told Anadolu Agency that two generals, one from each country, flew on the same helicopter on Saturday.

This “milestone” followed establishment of the joint coordination center earlier this week, Robertson said in an emailed statement.