Turkey

26 July 2022; MEMO: The rights of the Turkish minority have recently been deliberately eroded by Greece, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.

Speaking on the 99th anniversary of the Lausanne Peace Treaty,  Erdogan said: "The rights of the Turkish minority remaining in Greece were secured, and the non-military status of the Greek islands close to our coasts was confirmed via this treaty."

ANKARA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian officials had told Ankara that Russia had "nothing to do" with the attacks on Ukraine's key Black Sea port of Odessa, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday.

"In our contact with Russia, the Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with these attacks and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail," Akar told Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency.

"The fact that such an incident happened right after the agreement we made yesterday regarding the grain shipment worried us," he said.

ANKARA, July 23 (Reuters) - Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Swedish charges d'affaires in Ankara to convey its "strong reaction" to what it called "terrorist propaganda" during a Kurdish group's protest in Stockholm, diplomatic sources said.

Finland and Sweden have applied for NATO membership in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but were faced with opposition from Turkey, which accused them of supporting groups it deems terrorists.

ANKARA, July 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's defence minister said on Saturday Russian officials had told Ankara that Moscow had "nothing to do" with strikes on Ukraine's Odesa port.

"In our contact with Russia, the Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack, and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail," Defence Minister Hulusai Akar said in a statement.

"The fact that such an incident took place right after the agreement we made yesterday really worried us," he added.

ISTANBUL, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish law enforcement agents in Istanbul have detained 10 individuals suspected of being active members of the Islamic State (IS), the local Demiroren News Agency (DHA) reported on Friday.

Special Operations forces raided 10 different locations in the city in the early morning, capturing the suspects, operational files and digital material that could give clues about other IS cells within the region.

Suspects were active operatives and could have been in preparation for an attack inside Türkiye, reported DHA.

22 July 2022; MEMO: Scientists in Turkiye have started to observe data on particulates in the atmosphere above Antarctica, collected via satellite and ground-based systems, one expert said on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

23 July 2022; MEMO: The UK government on Friday hailed a landmark grain deal signed by Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations (UN) and Türkiye to resume grain exports through the Black Sea, Anadolu Agency reported.

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine has meant some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world are at risk of having nothing to eat," UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

ANKARA, July 22. /TASS/: An agreement on creating a grain corridor to export agricultural produce from Ukraine via the Black Sea was signed by representatives of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the UN in Istanbul on Friday.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu signed the agreement on behalf of Russia, and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar inked the deal on Turkey’s behalf.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Russia and Ukraine were expected to sign separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations on Friday that would allow Ukraine to resume grain shipments to world markets and Russia to export grain and fertilizers, ending a standoff that threatened world food security amid the war in Ukraine.

ISTANBUL, July 21 (Reuters) - Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will gather on Friday to sign a deal proposed by the United Nations to free up grain exports from Ukraine's besieged Black Sea ports, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's office said on Thursday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who earlier announced that he was heading to Istanbul on Thursday, will attend the event along with Erdogan at the Dolmabahce Palace offices at 1330 GMT, the statement said.