Turkey

ANKARA, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday pledged to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

"There is a wide cooperation potential between Venezuela and Turkey, especially in trade, energy, mining, construction business, health, agriculture and tourism," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Maduro in the capital Ankara.

The two economies are complementary, holding various opportunities for new cooperation and mutual investments, he added.

ISTANBUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police detained a foreign national suspected of planning a suicidal bomber attack in Istanbul for the extremist group Islamic State (IS), local media reported on Tuesday.

The arrest came after a police operation launched upon a tip-off about an IS suicidal bomb attack planned in the country's largest city of over 16 million people, the NTV news website reported.

The suspect, identified as Anas Abbud Alsahi Bnaman, was caught in the Kucukcekmece district on the European side of the city. His nationality was not immediately disclosed.

ANKARA, May 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday Ankara would soon launch new military operations along its southern borders to create 30-km deep safe zones to combat terrorist threats from these regions.

"The main target of these operations will be areas which are centers of attacks to our country and safe zones," Erdogan said, without elaborating.

Erdogan said the operations would be launched as soon as military, intelligence and security forces have completed their preparations.

23 May 2022; MEMO: Finland is ready to assure Turkey that the Nordic state's connections with the PKK Kurdish terror group will be monitored more closely, Anadolu has reported. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto made the announcement on Sunday in an interview on local broadcaster Yle.

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque Marquez on Friday signed a joint declaration on strategic cooperation and partnership.

"We have raised the relations between our countries to the strategic partnership level with this joint declaration," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Duque after the signing ceremony in Istanbul.

20 May 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's fourth drillship, bought last year from a South Korean shipyard, was set to join its three other drillships in less than a week, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Turkiye's national oil and gas company, TPAO, the drillship, called "Cobalt Explorer" has now arrived, as the country is working to develop its extensive gas resources amid a growing need for the security of supply.

20 May 2022; MEMO: The Mayor of the small Turkish city of Bolu has erected banners in both Arabic and Turkish, issuing a "last call" and order for Syrian refugees to return to their country and leave Turkiye.

ANKARA, May 19. /TASS/:  Ankara remains opposed to the idea of Finland’s and Sweden’s admission to NATO, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting with Turkish youth in Ankara on Thursday.

"We have told our friends that we will say ‘NO’ to Finland’s and Sweden’s admission to NATO. We will remain committed to this. We will not tolerate terrorist organizations in NATO. These countries are home to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the People’s Defense Units," Erdogan said.

ANKARA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will not approve Sweden's NATO membership if the country does not extradite "terrorists" upon Turkish request, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

"Supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorist organizations and asking us for support for NATO membership is, to say the least, inconsistent. We asked Sweden to return 30 terrorists, but they refused to do so," Erdogan said while addressing his party's lawmakers.

ANKARA, May 18. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects that NATO will show an understanding about such sensitive for Ankara issues as security and border protection, Erdogan said in the parliament on Wednesday.