Turkey

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkish-backed fighters said Monday they are preparing to move into eastern Syria alongside Turkish troops once American forces withdraw and are already massing on the front line of a town held by Kurdish-led forces.

24 Dec 2018; AFP: 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent more troops to Syria's border on Monday ahead of an imminent US withdrawal, as the White House announced he had invited Donald Trump to Ankara.

Unlike several other allies of the United States, Turkey has praised President Trump's decision to withdraw 2,000 of his ground forces from Syria, a country where it will now have a freer rein to target Kurdish fighters.

ISTANBUL; 24 Dec 2018; AA: In a joint operation with local police in Serbia on Monday, Turkish anti-drug teams seized a half-million illegal drug pills thought to be bound for Turkey, according to police sources.

Acting on a tip, Istanbul police acting with with Serbian and Bulgarian police stopped a tractor trailer along the Serbian-Bulgarian border, said the sources, who asked not to be named, due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

ANKARA; 23 Dec 2018; AA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said the Israeli prime minister is heading "state terror", responding to his tweet attacking the Turkish president. 

Speaking at a mass opening ceremony in Istanbul's Arnavutkoy district, Turkish president said: "Erdogan is the voice of oppressed and you [Benjamin Netanyahu] are the voice of oppressors. You are conducting state terror." 

ANKARA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Friday welcomed a decision of United States for pullout of all its troops from Syria and declared that it postponed an already announced operation into the east of Euphrates River in the war-torn country.

Moreover, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a recent deal with his U.S. counterpart for eliminating residues of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria by the Turkish army.

ANKARA, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will continue to stand by Iran despite the "unjust" sanctions that the U.S. imposed on the country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Erdogan made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in the capital Ankara.

"Turkey does not support the U.S. sanctions which put regional stability and security into danger," Erdogan said.

He vowed that Turkey and Iran will join their efforts to end clashes and ensure regional security.

ANKARA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish government has granted citizenship to a total of 72,000 Syrian refugees, Hurriyet daily reported on Monday.

Turkey issued citizenship to 36,000 Syrian adults and 36,000 children, said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu addressing lawmakers at the parliament.

Some 380,000 Syrian refugee babies were born in Turkey, the minister said, expressing his individual wish to issue them citizenship as well.

"That will be the biggest investment in our brothership for another century," he stated.

ISTANBUL, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkish security forces would enter the northern Syrian town of Manbij if the United States doesn't remove the Kurdish militia from the area.

"They promised us that they would remove them to the east of the Euphrates," Erdogan said at a conference in Istanbul.

"If you will not clean the area, we will enter Manbij," he stressed.

Erdogan said that Turkey had lost enough time in intervening in the region, adding "from now it will not tolerate a single day delay."

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A high-speed train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 47 others, officials said.

The 6:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) train from Ankara to the central Turkish city of Konya collided head-on with the engine, which was checking the tracks at the capital’s small Marsandiz station, Transport Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan told reporters after inspecting the site. The high-speed train transits that station without stopping.

5 Dec 2018; AFP: A Turkish prosecutor has demanded that arrest warrants be issued against two Saudi nationals close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Turkish source close to the investigation said Wednesday.

Khashoggi, 59, was killed shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his upcoming marriage.