Region

Turkey and the Levant

Stories under this heading cover Turkey as well as the Levant – a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia, consisting of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

Saudi Arabia and Syria discuss resuming consular services

Saudi Arabia and Syria are in talks to resume consular services between the two countries, the Saudi outlet Al-Ekhbariya TV said on Thursday (23 March).

Citing a Saudi Foreign Ministry official, the TV channel said, "within the framework of the Kingdom’s keenness to facilitate the provision of necessary consular services between the two nations, discussions are underway with officials in Syria to resume consular services."

The statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry followed reports in international media earlier on Thursday.

patrickn97 Fri, 03/24/2023 - 10:51 Organization of Turkic States convenes in Ankara to discuss disaster preparation and humanitarian relief
Today on Thursday (16 March), the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) will meet in the Turkish capital of Ankara to discuss regional disaster preparation, joint humanitarian relief, and the interoperability of Turkic State disaster responses. The meeting comes some six weeks after a devasting earthquake in Turkey and Syria that has killed over 50,000 people. Established in 2009 as the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, the OTS is an intergovernmental organisation that has as its "overarching aim" the promotion of "comprehensive cooperation among Turkic States". It has five member states - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan - as well as three observer states, namely Turkmenistan, Hungary and the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyrpus. The precise theme of Thursday's extraordinary summit is "Disaster-Emergency Management and Humanitarian Assistance". Among those attending the summit are President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
patrickn97 Thu, 03/16/2023 - 09:43

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Lebanon is still without a president

Lebanon is still without a president

Lebanese MPs failed for a sixth time on Thursday to elect a president to fill the vacancy left by Michel Aoun whose term expired last month. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced that a seventh vote would be held next Thursday. A total of 112 MPs cast ballots on Thursday, from a total of 128. Independent MP Michel Mouawad received 43  votes and academic Issam Khalifeh received seven. One vote was cast for former MP and presidential candidate Sleiman Frangieh.  Ziad Baroud, a former minister, received three. MP Michel Daher, a non-Maronite who did not submit his candidacy, received one vote, and two ballots were canceled. However, 46 blank votes were cast by Hezbollah. Parliament is split between supporters of Hezbollah and its opponents. 
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Terrorism strikes at the heart of Turkey

Terrorism strikes at the heart of Turkey

Terrorism struck at the heart of Turkey on Sunday afternoon (13 November) At least six people were killed and 81 others injured, two seriously, when an explosion hit Istanbul’s iconic pedestrian street, Istiklal Cadesi, just off the city's Taksim Square. At all times of the day and night crowds congregate in the street. to shop, eat and drink, and often just to watch other people. The street attracts both local people as well as visitors from other parts of Turkey and from across the world, and for many Istiqlal Caddesi represents Istanbul and Turkey's vibrant diversity. An attack on Istiqlal Caddesi is indeed an attack on the heart of Turkey. Turkey has blamed the outlawed Kurdish organisation PKK for the attack.  Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said early Monday that the suspect who had carried out the attack had been captured He said 21 others linked to the bomber were also detained, adding the existing findings showed it was an attack perpetrated by the PKK/YPG terrorist group, referring to a branch of the PKK group in Syria's north. "We have evaluated that the instruction for the attack came from Kobani," Soylu told reporters, adding that the bomber had "passed through Afrin in northern Syria." Turkey has imposed a ban on reporting of the incident, but various sources say that the bomber was a woman.
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Greek and Turkish defence ministers met in Brussels

Greek and Turkish defence ministers met in Brussels

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, met on Thursday (13 October) on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels, amid ongoing tensions between their two countries. The meeting between the two ministers comes as the two countries amid ongoing disagreements between Athens and Ankara on a range of issues, including the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, migrant pushbacks and more. Both ministers were in Brussels to attend the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence. The two uneasy NATO neighbors have long-standing sea and air boundary disputes which lead to near-daily air force patrols and interception missions mostly around Greek islands near Turkey's coastline. The situation exacerbated recently as both sides started deploying troops on small islands in the Aegean that up to now have been largely demilitarised.
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Monday Commentary: Success in Prague

Monday Commentary: Success in Prague

On 6 October in Prague, the leaders of 44 European countries gathered in the historic settings of Prague Castle for the first meeting of the European Political Community (EPC). Such an initiative was needed. The war in Ukraine, Russia’s bellicose postures, and the threat of an energy crisis caused by the disruption of Russian energy supplies have helped focus the minds of European leaders. Prague offered an opportunity to discuss and analyse and approximate positions. Important discussions on the margins of the main event, such as the quadripartite meeting with Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Turkey-Armenia leaders meeting, contributed to the process of resolving some of the more intractable problems of the last decades. The work of the European Political Community needs now to be taken forward. In future, the biggest task of the EPC will be to engage Russia. But not yet. For the moment the Community has done what is needed, which is to contribute to build a united front against Russian aggression in Ukraine. It must continue to do so until Russian aggression ends.
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Leaders gather in Prague for first summit of European Political Community

Leaders gather in Prague for first summit of European Political Community

Leaders from across Europe have gathered at Prague Castle for the launch of the European Political Community. Apart from the leaders of the 27 EU member states, leaders from non EU member states are also attending, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom An unusual scene, even before the summit had started was of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recip Tayip Erdogan meeting informally before the opening of the summit. This story will be updated throughout the day.