Tag Archives: Turkey

Erdogan Once Boasted Of Letting Builders Evade Rules

NPR reports: As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struggles to defend his response to last Monday’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, videos from a few years back have emerged showing him hailing some of the housing projects that crumbled, killing thousands of people. The videos have fueled public outrage over slow efforts to help residents in the aftermath of the massive …

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WHO Warns Of “Secondary Disaster” After Earthquakes

Politico Europe reports: The death toll from a massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to “double or more” from its current level of 33,000, United Nations relief chief Martin Griffiths told Sky News. “I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble, but I’m sure it will double or more,” said …

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Turkey Detains Over 100 Contractors After Earthquake

The New York Times reports: With anger swelling in Turkey on Saturday over the government’s slow response to Monday’s devastating earthquake and what critics say was shoddy construction, the government began detaining building contractors across the country who it blamed for some of the collapses that have helped drive the death toll above 21,000. More than 100 people were detained …

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Turkish Officials Under Fire Over Lax Building Codes

The Associated Press reports: Turkey has for years tempted fate by not enforcing modern construction codes while allowing — and in some cases, encouraging — a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, experts say. The lax enforcement, which experts in geology and engineering have long warned about, is gaining renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of this week’s devastating earthquakes, which …

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Death Toll In Turkey-Syria Earthquake Passes 11,000

Reuters reports: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited southern Turkey on Wednesday to see first-hand the destruction wrought by a massive earthquake as anger grew among local people over what they said was a slow government response to the rescue and relief effort. The combined confirmed death toll from Monday’s quake, which struck a swathe of southern Turkey and neighbouring Syria, …

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Death Toll In Turkey-Syria Earthquake Passes 5000

The Associated Press reports: Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, with the discovery of more bodies raising the death toll to more than 5,000. Countries around the world dispatched teams to assist in the rescue efforts, …

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Biden Vows Swift Aid To Turkey After Massive Quake

Via press release from the White House: Jill and I were deeply saddened by the news of the devastating earthquakes that have thus far claimed thousands of lives in Turkiye and Syria. My Administration has been working closely with our NATO Ally Turkiye, and I authorized an immediate U.S. response. At my direction, senior American officials reached out immediately to …

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1500+ Dead After Massive Quakes Hit Turkey, Syria

Reuters reports: More than 1,500 people were killed and thousands injured on Monday when a huge earthquake struck central Turkey and northwest Syria, pulversing apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war. The magnitude 7.8 quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was the worst to strike Turkey this …

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US Agrees To Adopt Turkey’s New Preferred Spelling

The Associated Press reports: The State Department said Thursday it has adopted Turkey’s preferred spelling for the name of the country, Turkiye, acceding to a request from the NATO ally after several months of hesitation. The department has instructed that new official documents refer to Turkiye instead of Turkey, although the pronunciation will not change, officials said. The move comes …

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Turkey Presses Countries To Use Its Preferred Name

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 …

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Turkey Agrees To Have Finland And Sweden Join NATO

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 …

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Turkish Police Violently Attack Ankara Pride Event

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. …

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Turkey Formally Changes Its Name To Türkiye [VIDEO]

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 …

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US Confident On Overcoming Turkey’s NATO Objection

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 …

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Erdogan Posts Video On Planned “No” Vote To NATO

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 …

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Turkish President Blocks Start Of NATO Expansion Talks

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 …

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Turkey Hardens Stance Against Expansion Of NATO

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 …

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Turkey May Veto Finland And Sweden Joining NATO

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 …

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Flight Out Of Israel Aborted After Passengers Are Sent Photos Of Plane Crashes Via Apple’s AirDrop Feature

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 …

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Mehmet Oz Voted In Turkey’s 2018 Presidential Election

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 …

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