Turkey

ANKARA, Apr 22 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, yesterday summoned the charge d’affaires of the Iraqi embassy, to defend Turkey’s fresh cross-border operation in northern Iraq.

The ministry expressed its “discomfort over the baseless allegations” by the Iraqi authorities against Turkey’s military operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, that targeted the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tanju Bilgic, said in a statement.

21 April 2022; MEMO: Turkiye has sent two more trucks of humanitarian aid to the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, authorities said Thursday, and Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to Turkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the trucks were sent to Lviv, a city near the border with Poland, in western Ukraine.

Under the coordination of AFAD, Turkiye has sent 82 trucks of humanitarian aid and a mobile food truck for the people of Ukraine, it said.

21 April 2022; MEMO: The leader of Turkiye's main opposition party said today that power had been cut at his home, after he refused to pay his bills for two months in protest at steep hikes in subsidised energy prices, Reuters reports.

A currency crisis late last year sent inflation soaring and prompted the government to raise prices of everything from gas and electricity to road tolls, alcohol, bus fares and petrol in January.

21 April 2022; MEMO: Some NATO members want the war in Ukraine to continue for Russia to get weaker, Turkiye's Foreign Minister said Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the report, Turkiye's Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said Turkiye did not think that the Russia-Ukraine war would last that long after the peace talks in Istanbul.

20 April 2022; MEMO: Turkiye suspends the export of butter and cream to meet increased food demand in the summer, a time of increased tourism, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the report, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry suspended the export of butter and cream to avoid shortages.

20 April 2022; MEMO: Children made up 26.9 per cent of Turkiye's population in 2021, down from 27.2 per cent in 2019, official figures showed today.

There were 22.74 million children in Turkiye in 2021, of an overall population of 84.7 million, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

"According to population projections, the proportion of child population was expected to be 26.6% in 2025, 25.6% in 2030, 23.3% in 2040, 20.4% in 2060 and 19% in 2080," it added.

ISTANBUL, April 19 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he told his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog on Tuesday that he had been "very upset" by Palestinians injured or killed in the West Bank and Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In a tweet, Erdogan said the two had discussed the recent events caused by "some radical Israeli groups and security forces" in a phone call that comes amid efforts to normalise ties between the two countries.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has launched a new ground and air cross-border offensive against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, that has left at least 19 suspected Kurdish rebels dead and has wounded at least four Turkish soldiers, Turkey’s defense minister said Monday.

Turkish jets and artillery struck suspected targets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and commando troops — supported by helicopters and drones — then crossed into the region by land or were airlifted by helicopters, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a video posted on the ministry’s website.

17 April 2022; MEMO: A yacht linked to Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska arrived in a bay near the southwestern Turkish resort of Gocek on Saturday, as more Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal RUAL.MM, has been sanctioned by the United States, European Union and Britain. He has previously called for peace.

15 April 2022; AA: Residential property sales in Turkiye surged 20.6% year-on-year in March, according to the latest data released on Friday.

A total of 134,170 houses changed hands last month, up from 111,241 in March 2021, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported.

Mortgaged house sales amounted to 30,271 in March, up 38.8% year-on-year, accounting for 22.6% of all sales.

Sales to foreign buyers jumped by 31% to 5,567 units last month.