Tag Archives: Turkey

The Wall Street Journal reports: In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the international community to recognize his nation by its traditional name, spelled “Türkiye” and pronounced Tour-key-yeh. His government promoted the shift as an effort to instill national pride—and silence associations with the Thanksgiving bird and pejorative uses of the word “turkey.” An article published by the website …

Sky News reports: Turkey, Sweden and Finland have signed a memorandum for the two Nordic states to join NATO, removing a Turkish block to the accession process. It comes after the leaders of the three nations spoke at a NATO summit in Madrid. The traditionally neutral nations decided to apply for NATO membership following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of …

The New Arab reports: Turkish police violently attacked students during a LGBT Pride march at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (METU) on Friday, according to reports. Multiple videos have surfaced on Twitter showing dozens of police armed with shields and batons entering the university and detaining some of the students. Some tweets said that the police also used tear gas. …

The Guardian reports: Turkey’s government has sent a letter to the United Nations formally requesting that it be referred to as Türkiye, the state-run news agency has reported. The move is seen as part of a push by Ankara to rebrand the country and dissociate it from the bird of the same name and negative connotations associated with it. President …

Reuters reports: Turkey’s approach to the NATO accession process of Sweden and Finland is not a bilateral issue between Washington and Ankara, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, but added that Washington was speaking with Ankara and it remained confident that the dispute would be overcome. While the problem officially is between Sweden, Finland and Turkey, many analysts have …

Reuters reports: Turkey has told allies that it will reject Sweden and Finland’s membership to NATO, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a video posted on his Twitter account on Thursday. Finland and Sweden formally applied on Wednesday to join U.S.-led NATO, a decision spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey’s objections have come as a surprise to the other …

The Washington Post reports: Turkey blocked the start of Finland and Sweden’s accession talks to NATO on Wednesday shortly after the Nordic nations submitted their formal applications, a signal of what could be a bumpy process to expand the alliance and reshape Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture. Turkey’s resistance deprived Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of the consensus he needed to …

The Associated Press reports: Sweden and Finland on Tuesday pushed ahead with their bids to join NATO even as Turkey insisted it won’t let the previously non-aligned Nordic countries into the alliance because of their alleged support for Kurdish militants. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strongly worded objections caught the two applicants and other NATO members off guard, complicating what …

The Associated Press reports: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country is “not favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO, indicating that Turkey could use its status as a member of the Western military alliance to veto moves to admit the two countries. “We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland carefully, but we are not of …

The BBC reports: The captain of a Turkish AnadoluJet flight aborted its take-off at Israel’s main airport after passengers received plane crash images on their phones. Israel’s aviation authority said the aircraft was taxiing at Ben Gurion Airport when the incident happened. Passengers and crew were taken off and the luggage reinspected. Several young Israelis were identified as suspects and …

ABC News reports: As Dr. Mehmet Oz embarks on a bid for the U.S. Senate, the television star has largely shied away from discussing his ties to Turkey, where he maintains citizenship, and dismissed criticism from political opponents that he harbors any so-called “dual loyalties.” But a photograph of Oz casting a ballot in Turkey’s 2018 presidential election is rankling …

Reuters reports: Ukraine and Russia were preparing on Monday for the first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks, with Kyiv insisting it would make no concessions on Ukraine’s territorial integrity as battlefield momentum has shifted in its favour. Ukrainian officials played down the chances of a major breakthrough at the talks, due to be held in Istanbul after …

The Associated Press reports: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for an immediate cease-fire between the Russian and Ukrainian forces. “Our call to both Russia and Ukraine is: let the firing stop as soon as possible, let Russia and Ukraine make a beautiful contribution to peace,” Erdogan said Tuesday during a joint news conference with Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, …

The New York Times reports: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey stepped back on Monday from a threat to expel 10 Western ambassadors, averting a diplomatic storm that analysts and diplomats were warning would bring economic disaster upon Turkey and a lasting rupture in the NATO alliance. In what seemed to be a calculated move, the 10 embassies involved issued …

Euronews reports: A Turkish law banning insults against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court said the law against attacks on the “image” of the head of state was “not in keeping with the spirit of the European Convention”. The ruling followed a case against a young Turkish man who …

The Hill reports: Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Saturday that he had called on his foreign minister to banish 10 ambassadors from Western countries, including the United States, after they called for the “urgent release” of a Turkish philanthropist. “I gave the necessary order to our foreign minister and said what must be done: These 10 ambassadors must be …

The New York Daily News reports: Former President Trump’s web site was briefly hijacked by suspected Turkish hacker who urged readers to “not forget Allah.” RootAyyildiz is taking credit for the hacking of donaldjtrump.com website with the Islamist message on Monday. The message was written in Turkish and translates as: “Do not be like those who forgot Allah, as Allah …

Law & Crime reports: The Turkish government is not immune from a lawsuit brought by protesters suing strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security detail for allegedly assaulting them on the streets of Washington, a federal appeals court has ruled. Issued on Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit’s ruling reanimates one of the most highly publicized scandals in U.S.-Turkish relations during the Donald Trump …

CNBC reports: President Joe Biden is nominating former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona as his ambassador to Turkey, whose alliance with the U.S. has in recent years been marked by major disagreements on key foreign policy issues. “I am honored and humbled by the trust President Biden has placed in me with this ambassadorial nomination,” Flake wrote in a …

Deutsche Welle reports: Riot police in Istanbul fired tear gas and blocked streets during a march in support of LGBT+ rights, detaining 25 people including prominent AFP photographer Bulent Kilic. The march participants comprised several civil society groups that gathered under the motto “the street is ours.” Footage and photos of demonstrators showed some being pushed and dragged by riot …