Turkey

ANTALYA, 08 Feb 2019; AA: The UN should set up a commission or initiate investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed in Istanbul last fall, the foreign minister said Friday.

Speaking to reporters in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "We see it improbable, unfortunately, due to the attitude of some countries."

He urged UN chief Antonio Guterres and UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to form a commission to clarify facts.

ANKARA; 06 Feb 2019; AA: Turkey Wednesday strongly condemned French President Emmanuel Macron’s declaration of April 24 as a national day marking the so-called Armenian genocide.

“Allegations of a so-called Armenian genocide are political lies lacking any legal basis, contrary to historical facts. They are null and void for Turkey,” Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesman, said in a statement.

06 Feb 2019; AA: A team of Turkish scientists are developing clothing especially designed to withstand sub-zero weather conditions in Antarctica, the world’s coldest continent.

According to Caner Filiz, an instructor at Turkey’s Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy, the project is being carried out in coordination with Turkey’s Coast Guard Command and with contributions from the Turkish Mountaineering Federation.

ISTANBUL; 05 Feb 2019; AA: Turkey will provide around $5 billion in loans for the reconstruction of Iraq, the foreign minister said on Sunday.

“We made the biggest commitment to Iraq,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told a meeting organized by the Beyoglu Municipality in Istanbul.

“We will provide $5 billion credit,” Cavusoglu said, adding Turkish business people will utilize this loan for their projects in Iraq.

AYDIN, 05 Feb 2019; AA: Turkish coast guard units on Sunday rescued 52 irregular migrants, including 25 children, in the western province of Aydin.

The units sprang to action after learning a rubber boat carrying the migrants was stranded in the Aegean Sea due to engine failure.

The migrants included 45 Afghans, six Iranians, and a Gabonese. They were transferred to the provincial migration office.

DIYARBAKIR, 05 Feb 2019; AA: A Bible thought to be 1,200 years old was found in a police operation in southeastern Turkey, the governor’s office said on Tuesday.

An anti-smuggling team on Monday seized the Bible, said to be only 34 pages long, with gold lettering on leather, in the city of Kayapinar, said the southeastern Diyarbakir governorship in a statement.

ANKARA; 05 Feb 2019; AA: The era of Turkey taking out loans from the IMF is long since gone, said the Turkish president on Tuesday.

"Turkey closed its IMF chapter in May 2013 and, God willing, it will not be re-opened," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the parliamentary group of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

ANKARA; 31 Jan 2019; AA: Istanbul police Thursday seized some 1,350 kilogram (2,976 pounds) of illegal drugs including heroin and skunk weed in separate operations across the city, governor said.

Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said on Twitter that at least five people were arrested during the large-scale bust.

31 Jan 2019; DW: When opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself Venezuela's interim president last week, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one of the few state leaders to call Nicolas Maduro to express his unwavering support for the embattled leader. In a sense, the Turkish president was paying his respects to Maduro, who came out in support Erdogan after the failed coup in Turkey in July 2016.

ISTANBUL; 28 Jan 2019; AA: Turkish opposition party leader strongly on Sunday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's “coup attempt” against Venezuelan president.

“I strongly condemn Trump’s coup attempt against [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro and I hope Venezuela survives this hardship without being dragged into civil war conditions,” Devlet Bahceli, head of opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said at his party’s group dinner in Istanbul.