Middle East & North Africa

06 Sep 2020; MEMO: Some 52.29 million air passengers -- including transit passengers -- traveled through airports in Turkey in January-August, according to the country’s airport authority.

The eight-month figure decreased 62.9% versus the same period last year, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI) said on Saturday.

The drop stemmed from global coronavirus-related measures.

06 Sep 2020; MEMO: Turkey has the power to discard maps or documents imposed, the country’s president said on Saturday.

"They will understand that Turkey has political, economic, military might needed to cast off immoral maps and documents imposed by others," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Goztepe City Hospital in Istanbul, he underscored the progress Turkey has achieved in production, trade, technology exports and the defense industry.

LONDON (AP) — A man was killed and seven people injured in late-night stabbings in a busy nightlife area of the central England city of Birmingham, police said Sunday.

Police said they were searching for a lone suspect in what appeared to be random attacks.

Chief Superintendent Steve Graham of West Midlands Police said detectives were still investigating the motive but “there is absolutely no suggestion at all that this is terror-related.”

06 Sep 2020; AA: The Turkish foreign minister Saturday criticized Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz for his remarks about Turkey's president. 

"The major threat to the EU and its values is the distorted ideology represented by Sebastian Kurz,"Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

Cavusoglu's remarks came after Kurz's statement, reported by Euronews, claiming that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses the Turks in Europe for his own ends.

BEIRUT (AP) — A month after Beirut’s devastating explosion, Ghassan Toubaji still sits under a gaping hole in his ceiling — he can look up through the dangling plaster, wires and metal struts and the broken brick roof and see a bit of sky.

The 74-year-old survived the Aug. 4 blast with bruises, but his fall from its impact worsened his heart and blood circulation diseases. Between that and Lebanon’s crumbled economy, he can’t go back to work.

06 Sep 2020; MEMO: Schools in Iran re-opened to 15 million students on Saturday after a seven-month closure despite concerns over the increased spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, reports Reuters.

“This year, we shoulder a heavier burden of responsibility toward our students,” said President Hassan Rouhani, who oversaw the opening of schools in a video conference broadcast live on state television.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned Greece to enter talks over disputed eastern Mediterranean territorial claims or face the consequences.

“They’re either going to understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or in the field with painful experiences,” he said at a hospital’s opening ceremony in Istanbul.

Ankara is currently facing off against Greece and Cyprus over oil and gas exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean. All sides have deployed naval and air forces to assert their competing claims in the region.

05 Sep 2020; MEMO: Iran refused on Friday to conduct any negotiations with the US outside of the nuclear agreement framework.

Mahmoud Vaezi, the director of the office of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani revealed this while commenting on the recent proposal of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, regarding his country’s willingness to play a mediating role between Iran and the US for direct negotiations, according to Iranian Tasnim News Agency.

05 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Sudanese government and the People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM) have agreed on Friday to resume negotiations in Juba after a two-week suspension. This came in a statement issued by the media office of the Council of Ministers and signed by both Prime Minister Hamdok and SPLM leader Abdulaziz Al-Hilu, according to Anadolu Agency.

05 Sep 2020; MEMO: Saudi authorities have recently arrested Sheikh Abdullah Basfar, one of the famous Quran reciters across the Islamic world, the Prisoners of Conscience revealed on Twitter on Friday.

The Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account conveyed that the sheikh was arrested in August, without giving more details on how and where he was arrested.