Author: Cemil Aydin

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has highlighted the rising levels of xenophobia and racism in Europe, expressing concern over what he described as “an epidemic of attacks against our holy book.” Fidan addressed the press on Saturday at the Turkish House in New York after the 78th UN General Assembly. Saying that the world is witnessing lasting change in a way that peace, stability and consciousness dominate, the Turkish top diplomat pointed out that the Muslim world’s unity should be strengthened to ensure this change. “A visionary initiative like the Alliance of Civilization should be maintained without losing its function,”…

The imprisoned former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) has said it was the “wrong choice” to back Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Turkey’s presidential elections. Figen Yuksekdag made the comments in a letter to Middle East Eye from her cell in Kandira Prison. She has spent more than six years in jail on terrorism and incitement charges after being arrested along with her HDP co-leader and former presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas. In last month’s presidential elections, her party threw its weight behind Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), instead of fielding their own candidate. Although Kilicdaroglu kept the…

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ersin Tatar, said Saturday that the new process on Cyprus will “only continue at a level accepted by both parties.” He said his government “will not compromise on the principle of sovereignty.” Tatar made the comments to the media at the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York, after meeting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Speaking after his meeting with Guterres, Tatar said that he conveyed to the Secretary-General the demands of “the parties on the island to take into account the equal two-state structure and sovereignty wishes of the TRNC…

Archaeologists in the ancient city of Aizanoi in Türkiye’s Kutahya province have uncovered remnants of cosmetic products, including jewelry items and makeup materials, used by Roman women more than 2,000 years ago. Aizanoi is renowned for its well-preserved Temple of Zeus in Anatolia, listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2012. Gokhan Coskun, an archaeologist at Dumlupinar University and head of the excavation, said on Saturday that the majority of the work took place in the agora (marketplace) to the east of the Temple of Zeus. Coskun said his team reached the 2,000-year-old shops in the marketplace. “Our…

Turkish security forces have “neutralised” 605 terrorists so far as part of Operation Claw-Lock in northern Iraq, National Defence Ministry sources said. The sources added that 670 caves and shelters used by the terrorist organisation were rendered unusable, seizing a total of 1,343 weapons and 706,650 ammunition. In addition, 2,284 mines and handmade explosives set by terrorists in the region were destroyed. The ministry also said on Sunday that Turkish security forces neutralised eight terrorists in cross-border operations in northern Syria and northern Iraq. In a statement on X, the ministry said five PKK terrorists were “neutralised” in an air…

When Khaled Ahmed* went to Istanbul’s Presidency for Migration Management to update his address, he had no idea the routine visit would escalate to where it did. A verbal altercation ensued between him and a government employee, resulting in him being handcuffed, arrested and taken to a prison in another part of the country. After spending nearly a month in detention in the southern Turkish city of Kilis, where the 53-year-old claims he was “beaten on the face and the legs by a young Turkish policeman,” he was reportedly forced to sign a document consenting to his “voluntary” return to northwest Syria. Now…

Türkiye’s Ali Cengiz has bagged the gold medal at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. On Sunday, Cengiz, 27, defeated David Losonczi from Hungary 8-7 in the men’s 87kg Greco-Roman category. The championship concluded after the final and quota matches on Sunday. The Turkish National Wrestling Team, consisting of a total of 30 athletes in Greco-Roman style (10), freestyle for women (10), and men (10), left Belgrade with two gold, one silver, and four bronze medals. Ali Cengiz, who shared third place at the World Wrestling Championship, faced his Hungarian opponent, David Losonczi, in the final.…

Maritime traffic from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara has been suspended due to the ongoing forest fire in the Turkish northwestern province of Canakkale, the transport ministry and a shipping agency said on Tuesday. “The traffic at Dardanelles was suspended for both directions on Tuesday at 18:45 (1545 GMT) hours due to the aircraft intervening in the forest fire in the region by safely taking water from the sea,” Tribeca shipping agency said. The Dardanelles Strait, a narrow and historically significant passage connecting the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, serves as a vital shipping route for vessels traveling between Europe and Asia.…

Hydrogen and renewable energy are promising areas for bilateral cooperation between Türkiye and Japan, the ambassador of Japan to Ankara, Takahiko Katsumata, has told Anadolu in an exclusive interview. Japan is one of the nations considered for the initiative to build Türkiye’s second nuclear power station in Sinop, a province near the Black Sea. In addition to potential collaboration on a large-scale nuclear power project, both nations are also anticipated to work together on smaller-scale clean energy projects. Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Nishimura Yasutoshi, met in Istanbul…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Azerbaijan’s autonomous Nakhchivan exclave upon the invitation of his counterpart Ilham Aliyev. Aliyev welcomed Erdogan on Monday with an official ceremony before holding one-on-one talks to discuss bilateral relations, as well as regional and global issues, particularly the recent developments in Karabakh. They will later hold a joint news conference. The leaders will also attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Igdir-Nakhchivan natural gas pipeline and inaugurate the modernised Nakhchivan military complex. Ankara and Baku agreed in 2020, in a memorandum of understanding, to supply natural gas from Türkiye to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous…