Turkey

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Turkish Coast Guard rescued a group of asylum seekers who were abandoned by a Greek Coast Guard boat on an uninhabited Turkish island, said an official statement on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Greek boat dropping off the asylum seekers on the Mediterranean island of Basak, near the coastal town of Kas in the Antalya province, was seen by drones assisting in local firefighting efforts, the National Defense Ministry said.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Search-and-rescue crews in northern Turkey recovered 10 more bodies overnight, raising the death toll from the severe floods and mudslides that struck the region to 27, officials said on Friday. Dozens more people were believed to be missing.

ISTANBUL, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Nine people were killed in flash floods in Kastamonu in Turkey's Black Sea region that sent water and debris gushing through streets and damaged bridges, authorities said on Thursday.

There was also flooding in the Black Sea provinces of Sinop and Bartin, where one person went missing on Wednesday and another died due to a heart attack, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber.

12 Aug 2021; MEMO: A Turkish referee has received death threats on social media by Saudi trolls after he disqualified a Saudi karateka during the men's final event at the Tokyo Olympics last week.

ISTANBUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Floods caused by unusually heavy rainfall struck Turkey's northern coast on Wednesday, tearing down a bridge and leaving villages without power, after some of the biggest wildfires in the country's history ravaged its southwest.

State broadcaster TRT Haber said one person died from a heart attack in the northern province of Bartin, and emergency workers were looking for another person who was missing.

ICMELER, Turkey, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Until devastated by wildfires, hills near the Turkish sea resort of Marmaris were decked in thick green pine forest. Now these same hills form a ghostly, grey-brown landscape topped with blackened tree stumps as though sketched in charcoal.

Drone footage from the small tourist seaside town of Icmeler near Marmaris from before and after what President Tayyip Erdogan has called Turkey's worst wildfires shows the extent of the devastation.

09 Aug 2021; MEMO: New microbialites different in structure and shape compared to previous discoveries have been found on the shore of Turkey’s eastern Lake Van.

The microbialites were photographed by Cumali Birol, head of the culture, art, and tourism association of the town of Adilcevaz, which lies on the edge of Lake Van, and Ali Ethem Keskin, a diver and documentary filmmaker.

09 Aug 2021; AA: Turkey has brought under control all forest fires, except blazes in the Milas and Koycegiz districts of the country’s southwestern Mugla province, said the minister of agriculture and forestry on Monday.

“#ForestHeroes continue their work with great devotion from land and air in Milas and Koycegiz,” Bekir Pakdemirli said on Twitter.

ANKARA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Saturday registered 25,100 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 5,895,841, according to its Health Ministry.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 112 to 52,088, while 6,758 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, said the ministry.

A total of 246,037 tests were conducted over the past day, it said.

Turkey has started mass COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.

07 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Turkish Coast Guard Command rescued 14 asylum seekers on Friday who were pushed back by Greek authorities, Anadolu Agency reported.

According to a Turkish security source, regional Coast Guard Command deployed teams after learning that a boat carrying a group of asylum seekers was sailing off the coast of Didim district in Turkey's Aydin province.