Turkey

4 Mar 2023; MEMO: The selection of a candidate to face Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the elections scheduled for 14 May has led to a divide in the ranks of the main opposition alliance consisting of six parties on Friday.

3 Mar 2023; MEMO: A volunteer graffiti artist at a tent city in Turkiye's quake-hit Gaziantep province is healing the traumas of children through art and other activities, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Senol Karakaya spends time daily with about 50 children at the tent city in Islahiye after the 6 February earthquakes in Turkiye.

ANKARA, March 3 (Reuters) - A Turkish opposition leader threw an opposition alliance against President Tayyip Erdogan into turmoil on Friday when she withdrew her party from the bloc due to disagreement over who should run for president in elections scheduled in two months.

The public split, following months of simmering discord, came after Erdogan said this week the elections would be held on May 14, despite criticism of his government's response to last month's devastating earthquakes in southeast Turkey.

2 Mar 2023; MEMO: After the deadliest earthquake in its modern history, Turkiye faces the daunting task of disposing of hundreds of millions of tonnes of rubble, some of it potentially harmful, Reuters reports.

The 6 February earthquake and aftershocks left at least 156,000 buildings either completely collapsed, or damaged to the point where they require demolition, Turkish authorities said, with whole areas of cities reduced to shattered concrete and steel.

2 Mar 2023; MEMO: Over 1,500 pets have been rescued, so far, since the twin earthquakes hit southern Turkiye, a non-profit organisation said Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"More than three weeks after the deadly earthquake in Turkiye, the animal rescue team from Humane Society International is still finding dogs and cats alive in abandoned apartments, damaged buildings or wandering the streets," the Humane Society International (HSI) said in a statement.

2 Mar 2023; MEMO: Lawmakers from Turkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have prevented the approval of a draft resolution proposed by two opposition parties which sought to deport Syrian refugees from the country immediately.

1 Mar 2023; MEMO: Turkish authorities have fined TikTok 1.75 million liras ($93,000) for not taking sufficient measures to protect users from unlawful processing of their data, the Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK) said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

1 Mar 2023; MEMO: Supplies of Russian flagship, Urals crude oil, to Turkiye reached a four-month high in February after STAR refinery, owned by Azerbaijan's oil firm, SOCAR, resumed purchases of the blend, data showed and four industry sources said on Wednesday.

Sea-borne Russian oil supplies are subject to an embargo by the European Union and the price is capped by the West to $60 per barrel over Moscow's actions in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

28 Feb 2023; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologised on Monday for the delayed official response to the major earthquakes that hit south-east Turkiye earlier this month and killed over 40,000 people.

28 Feb 2023; MEMO: Around 42,000 Syrians in Turkiye have returned to their home country across the border since the 6 February earthquakes centred in Turkiye's southern region, the Turkish National Defence Minister said on Tuesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking in the quake-hit Hatay province, Hulusi Akar rebuffed claims that there has been an influx of Syrian refugees to Turkiye via its southern border, calling them "untrue".