Turkey

10 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Turkish lira hit a record low of 7.49 against the US dollar yesterday, under the impact of growing risk aversion, which increased selling pressures globally.

The record low brings losses against the US currency this year to nearly 21 per cent, putting it among the world’s worst performers.

Turkey’s Prime Minister has insisted that all of his country’s naval manoeuvres in the Eastern Mediterranean conform to NATO criteria. Mevlut Cavusoglu made his comments during a joint press conference with Congolese Prime Minister John-Claude Gakosso at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara.

Cavusoglu denied the claims of his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, that Turkey has been firing live ammunition during the naval exercises.

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.

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.

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: Russian gas exports to Turkey have declined to the lowest level since the 1990s due to high prices and searching for alternative markets, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

The Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote a report with the headline Expiration of Turkish market, expecting that exports of Russian gas to Turkey could decline to eight or nine billion cubic metres.

05 Sep 2020; MEMO: Head of Turkish National Movement Party Devlet Bahçeli has declared that war with Greece is “just a matter of time”, The New Khaleej reported on Friday.

“It is inconceivable to turn our backs on our historical interests in the Mediterranean and the Aegean,” Bahçeli announced in a statement reported by the Arabic news website.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s foreign minister said on Friday French President Emmanuel Macron had become “hysterical” over developments in the Libyan and Syrian conflicts and a dispute over maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Relations between NATO allies Turkey and France have deteriorated over conflicting policies in Syria, Libya and Turkey’s dispute with Greece over energy resources, and the two sides have traded barbs in recent weeks.

03 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry has described as “fake news” an article published by the German newspaper Die Welt which claimed that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had ordered the Turkish Navy to attack and sink a Greek warship. Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy called it a “product of the imagination.”