Middle East & North Africa

15 July 2019; DW: Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has urged the Greek Cypriot government to accept a cooperation plan on drilling. The discovery of gas in the eastern Mediterranean has complicated attempts to reunify the divided island.

Turkey is determined to continue drilling for gas in waters off Cyprus despite opposition from the Greek Cypriot government and the European Union, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday.

15 July 2019; DW: Three years ago, a failed coup in Turkey led to a media crackdown. Since then, journalists have banded together to document the cases of reporters imprisoned or changed with crimes against the state.

15 July 2019; DW: Germany, France and Britain have called for "responsible" action to reduce tensions between Tehran and the United States. Iran has breached the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal by raising limits on uranium enrichment.

Three key European powers on Sunday called for ways to stop the escalation of tensions and to resume dialogue over Iran's nuclear program.

SANAA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The manufacture of agate in Yemen is a centuried handicraft which has been inherited from generation to generation.

However, this profession has declined radically because of the war that devastated Yemen's economy and deterred tourists.

Additionally, the costs of extraction and manufacture of agate have doubled, while its export has almost halted because of the blockade imposed on Yemen.

Mujahid al-Ansi, a gemstone expert, craftsman, and trainer in manufacturing agate, said the work on agate in Yemen is no longer feasible.

ISTANBUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday by purchasing the Russian-made S-400 air defense system Turkey is trying to guarantee peace and its national security, local media reported.

"By getting the S-400 missiles Turkey is not getting ready for war," the state-run Anadolu agency quoted Erdogan as saying in a meeting with media representatives in Istanbul.

Erdogan said Turkey's other efforts in its defense industry are also the result of its desire to bolster peace and security, Anadolu noted.

TEHRAN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran is ready to hold negotiations with the United States if Washington lifts sanctions against Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

"We are always ready for negotiation. I tell you this hour and this moment to abandon bullying and lift the sanctions and return to logic and wisdom. We are ready," the Iranian Mehr News Agency quoted Rouhani as saying.

ANKARA, July 14. /TASS/: The seventh Russian aircraft with another batch of components for S-400 missile systems has arrived in Turkey, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense reported on Sunday.

"The deliveries of S-400 air defense systems continue. In view of that, the seventh plane has landed at Murted Air Base [in the Ankara province]," the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on Sunday, the fifth and sixth planes carrying S-400 components landed there.

Tehran, July 14, IRNA – Army commander says Iran has never been after war, but the country will give devastating response to any attack.

Iran will discourage the aggressors with destructive response if they attack Iran, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said at a local ceremony held Sunday in Tabriz, the capital city of northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan.

At the ceremony, the commander said the today conditions of both the world and region are in dire need to get prepared militarily more than before.

14 July 2019; MEMO: Israel’s Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi yesterday said that Israel is preparing for a “possible” military confrontation with Iran and its military wings in the next two years.

Speaking to Israel Hayom, Hanegbi – who is also a member of Israel’s security cabinet – said “the possibility that there will be a military confrontation with Iran or its military arms is more likely than the possibility there will not be a war”.

14 July 2019; MEMO: The Greek Orthodox Church will next week petition against a final ruling of Israel’s Supreme Court which approved the sale of church property in East Jerusalem’s Old City to pro-settlement group Ateret Cohanim.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the petition will argue that the sale of the property was based on bribery and the church figures who signed the deal were corrupt, immediately fleeing the country after signing the deal.