Author: Ilay Esen

Turkish defense industry is on the rise, says Ugandan official on Turkish Victory Day A senior official of the Ugandan armed forces said the Turkish defense industry is on the rise, expressing Uganda’s readiness to further strengthen military relations with Türkiye. Speaking at a ceremony hosted by the Turkish Embassy in Kampala on Friday to celebrate Türkiye’s 102nd anniversary of victory over the occupying Greek army, Uganda’s deputy chief of land forces, Maj. Gen. Francis Takirwa, said Uganda’s troops on a peace mission in Somalia immensely benefited from the Turkish armament. Uganda was the first East African country to deploy…

Washington/Paris/Berlin (12/8 – 28.57). Today is the twenty-anniversary of the sinking of the Kursk. A painful experience. A true shocker. All hands are lost, the shortcomings of the Russian system fully exposed. But today is another experience. Kursk, the region. After ceremonial pageantry by the military commander, it is clear the great Red Army was ambushed. Hoodwinked by the Ukrainians who pulled off a surprise attack, a classic attack which has all the elements of a successful deception operation. Overwhelming strength, speed and first and foremost silence. Deception played a role keeping the Russian pre-occupied. Daily the news a filled…

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany A political party led by Turks in Germany has drawn attention to rising racism and xenophobia in the country. Addressing a news conference, Teyfik Ozcan, the head of DAVA, said: “As the Turkish community in Germany, we are now strong in every field. We are strong in sports, science, economy, and health and have influence there. We need to engage in politics to reduce racism and discrimination. ” He was flanked by DAVA’s parliamentary candidates Fatih Zingal, Ali Ihsan Unlu, and Mustafa Yoldas for the upcoming European Parliament (EP) elections in June. “That’s why we established the DAVA…

Latest Developments The third-most senior Hamas figure, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed on January 2 in a Beirut blast that Lebanese authorities blamed on Israel. Arouri was among at least four people who died in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas media office in the southern Dahiyeh suburb of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold, authorities said. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. After Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, Arouri was the top-ranked Hamas official. He pursued an especially aggressive Palestinian terrorism strategy, with a focus on the West Bank, where he ordered the 2014 abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, sparking a…

Pedestrians and business owners continue to direct outrage at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) for leaving paving stones throughout Ordu Street, a prominent location for domestic and international commerce near the city’s historic peninsula, causing disruptions to daily life. On Nov. 2 of last year, the IBB initiated landscaping and pavement work on Ordu Street in the Laleli district, which receives thousands of visitors daily. The street was closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. During construction, many stone-filled pallets were left scattered throughout the street, creating hazards for both pedestrians and business owners. The obstructions impede foot traffic in…

In an extensive operation conducted across eight provinces in Istanbul, law enforcement apprehended 50 suspects involved in an illegal bootleg liquor ring Wednesday. The operation, orchestrated by the Anti-Smuggling Crimes Branch Directorate of the Istanbul Police Department, aimed to curb the smuggling of alcoholic beverages. Investigators found that the detained individuals, who owned companies operating in the chemical and disinfectant sectors, were selling ethyl alcohol to producers of counterfeit alcohol. The suspects were using containers labeled with “surface cleaner” and “undrinkable” to distribute the ethyl alcohol. Further investigations revealed that these suspects were also manufacturing illicit alcoholic beverages and affixing…

Much like its ideological counterparts at HispanTV (Iranian-owned) and Actualidad RT (Russian-owned), Telesur wraps its incitement into a sophisticated and slick twenty-four-hour news platform through its website, broadcasts, and social media presence. Though it is difficult to gauge its influence, numbers suggest that Telesur’s message is impactful. Telesur has two million followers on its Spanish X account, 117,500 on its English X account, and more than half a million on Instagram. Its YouTube account has over 1.7 million subscribers, with 100,000 new subscribers and almost 7.4 million video views since October 7 (It also posts its videos on the Daily Motion). The network traditionally pushes out conspiracy theories, fake news, “whataboutism,”…

Athens Ohio Roller Derby (AORD) will end their phenomenal season by hosting Rollergeist ‘23 at 1 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St., Athens. The league promises to bring a ghoulish good time at the Halloween-themed event when their well-known A Team, The Appalachian Hell Betties, take on West Virginia’s Chemical Valley Roller Derby. Tickets are available for $10 online or at the door. Children under 10 will be admitted free. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets online to avoid sell out and/or long lines at the door. Beverages will be provided by longtime sponsors…

People residing in summer houses around Türkiye’s Aliaga district in western Izmir province are being evacuated by land and sea after a fire broke out early Monday, the state-run TRT broadcaster reported. “Currently, two summer houses have burned down. Our priority is to prevent fire from reaching residential areas. We are evacuating our citizens by both land and sea. Our citizens living in the affected region’s sites are currently being relocated,” the broadcaster quoted Aliaga District Governor Zekeriya Guney as saying. A total of six helicopters, four planes, 18 water sprinklers, and five construction machines are intervening in the fire,…

Hidden below the surface of the sea are the so-called “blue forests” or posidonia seagrass “meadows” that abound on the seabed, creating one of the most valuable habitats in the Mediterranean. “They are virtually everywhere but they are not seaweed. They are ordinary plants. Marine, flowering plants, just like those we have on the shore. Essentially, they have migrated back to the sea from the shore,” WWF biologist Vaggelis Paravas told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA). As he explained, the meadows of posidonia seagrass constitute a “small miracle” that is not seen in any other place in the world, providing…