Middle East & North Africa

01 June 2023; MEMO: Arab experts have said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's re-election will advance Turkish-Arab relations to greater horizons, Anadolu Agency reports.

Erdogan won last Sunday's runoff vote with 52.16 per cent.

Continuous development

"Prior to the Turkish elections, there was a path of normalisation between Turkiye and Arab countries," Ali Bakir, a Professor of International Relations at the Ibn Khaldun Centre at Qatar University, told Anadolu.

01 June 2023; MEMO: The Sultan of Oman Haitham Bin Tarik yesterday presided over the launch ceremony for a new city bearing his name, which is set to be the sultanate's first smart city.

During the event held at Al-Baraka Palace, themed "Treasure the Future", the sultan was briefed about the project of the planned Sultan Haitham City. A presentation also showcased a model of the city, which will be developed in the wilayat of Seeb, several kilometres northwest of Muscat.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Shamsa Al-Ali, 65, builds tandoors — traditional clay ovens to bake bread — in Syria's northern district of Tal Abyad to look after her six orphan grandchildren, Anadolu Agency reports.

In 2015, Shamsa lost her only son in an airstrike carried out by the US-led forces in the province of Deir Ez-Zor.

Shamsa migrated to Raqqa from Deir Ez-Zor, which was at the centre of the attacks of the YPG/PKK terrorist group and coalition forces.

TEHRAN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister has said that Iran welcomes any initiative aimed at restoring its relations with Egypt in line with the two sides' interests, Iran's IRIB news agency reported on Thursday.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in an interview with the IRIB news agency, which was published on Thursday.

He revealed that Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, during his visit to Iran in late May, informed Iranian officials of his talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi about restoring the Iran-Egypt ties.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Turkish archaeologists in Istanbul unearthed a fragment of the statue of Pan, who is known in ancient Greek mythology as the shepherd and the god of herds, authorities said, Anadolu Agency reports.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are expected to visit Turkiye to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan soon, Turkish media reports.

According to the report, both leaders are expected to visit Erdogan to discuss the situation of the war and the fate of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

On Monday, Russia warned that the grain deal was in danger unless a UN agreement to overcome obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports is fulfilled.

PALMYRA, Syria (AP) — At the height of the Islamic State group’s rampage across Syria, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in the country’s famed Roman ruins in Palmyra.

Eight years later, IS has lost its hold but restoration work on the site has been held up by security issues, leftover IS land mines and lack of funding.

DUBAI, June 1. /TASS/: Iran's accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be completed in July, the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Thursday.

"We will become a full-fledged member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in July, when the next summit of the association is to take place," he said as quoted by the Tasnim news agency saying.

01 June 2023; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Wednesday condemned Israel's transformation of the ancient Palestinian historical site, the Citadel of Jerusalem, into a Jewish museum with the new name of the Tower of David Museum.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Algeria has again raised the issue of compensation for the victims of landmines planted by French colonisation in Algeria, resulting in over 7,000 casualties, including those who suffered permanent disabilities. The situation is the aftermath of one of the most significant colonial crimes, whose impacts have persisted long after Algeria gained independence.