Turkey

28 Dec 2019; MEMO: Turkey unveiled its first fully domestically-produced car on Friday, saying it aimed to eventually produce up to 175,000 a year of the electric vehicle in a project expected to cost 22 billion lira ($3.7 billion) over 13 years, Reuters reports.

The project has been a long-time goal of President Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party as a demonstration of the country’s growing economic power.

ANKARA, Dec 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan paid a surprise visit to Tunisia on Wednesday to discuss cooperation for a possible ceasefire in neighboring Libya, where Ankara supports the internationally recognized government.

Erdogan, speaking at a joint news conference with Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, also reaffirmed Ankara’s willingness to send troops to Libya if it received such a request.

Ankara, Dec 26 (AFP/PTI) The Turkish parliament will in January vote on a motion to send troops to Libya to support the UN-backed government in Tripoli, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

"We will present the motion to send troops (to Libya) as soon as parliament resumes" on January 7, Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

"God willing, we will pass it in parliament on January 8-9 and thus respond to an invitation" from the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), he said.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will send troops to Libya at the request of Tripoli as soon as next month, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, putting the north African country’s conflict at the center of wider regional frictions.

Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) has been fending off a months-long offensive by General Khalifa Haftar’s forces in eastern Libya, which have been supported by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A boat carrying migrants capsized in a lake in eastern Turkey on Thursday, killing seven people on board, officials said. At least 64 migrants were rescued.

The boat sank in Lake Van as it approached the town of Adilcevaz in Bitlis province, the provincial governor’s office said in a statement. It was carrying migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Five of the migrants were found dead in the lake while two others died in a hospital, the statement said.

Turkey is a main crossing point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

LONDON/ANKARA/ATHENS (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan paid a surprise visit to Tunisia on Wednesday to discuss cooperation for a possible ceasefire in neighboring Libya, where Ankara supports the internationally recognized government.

The visit comes after Turkey signed an accord with Libya’s internationally recognized government last month that seeks to create an exclusive economic zone from Turkey’s southern Mediterranean shore to Libya’s northeast coast.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president has met with Tunisia’s president in a surprise visit to Tunis to discuss the conflict in neighboring Libya.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Wednesday he and President Kais Saied discussed steps for a ceasefire in Libya and a return to political dialogue.

The fighting in Libya has threatened to plunge the North African country into violence rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

ANKARA, Dec 25 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey is discussing with Russia, reaching a new truce in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, Turkish Presidential Spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said.

The negotiation aims to put an end to the increased violence in the region, Kalin said, during a televised news conference. “These attacks must come to an end immediately, under a new cease-fire,” he said.

“We are now waiting for Russia to begin efforts in the coming 24 hours, for an end to the attacks in Idlib,” he added.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Tuesday it would keep pushing for accountability “regardless of how high it goes” over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, after what it called a “sham trial” of 11 people.

Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, to obtain documents for his planned wedding. His body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building, and his remains have not been found.

SILIVRI, Turkey (Reuters) - A Turkish court ruled on Tuesday that businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala should be kept in jail despite a call for his release by the European Court of Human Rights, as a trial over his involvement in 2013 protests continued.

Kavala has been in custody for more than two years, charged with attempting to overthrow the government by organizing and funding protests against then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan which started in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and spread nationwide.