This is Beirut, 01/07 10:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Turkish police have arrested more than 120 city hall members in the opposition bastion of Izmir, local media and the CHP opposition party said on Tuesday. The arrests, on charges of alleged corruption, came after a similar operation in opposition-run Istanbul on March 19 that saw the arrest of its popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political ...
This is Beirut, 30/06 22:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Militants from the PKK will begin laying down their weapons at a disarmament ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan in early July, the Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported on Monday. The move comes just six weeks after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced it was ending more than four decades of guerrilla warfare in a conflict that claimed over ...
This is Beirut, 30/06 18:57 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Rescuers in Turkey have evacuated more than 50,000 people, mostly from the western province of Izmir, as firefighters battled a string of wildfires, the AFAD disaster agency said Monday. The worst blaze began Sunday in Seferihisar, a forested area 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the resort city of Izmir, spreading rapidly with winds of up ...
This is Beirut, 29/06 20:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Gaza Turkey talks Hamas Israel
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met senior Hamas leaders on Sunday for talks on Gaza's humanitarian tragedy and efforts to reach a ceasefire, state news agency Anadolu reported. Kalin held talks with Mohammad Darwish, head of the political council of Hamas that rules Gaza, and his delegation at an undisclosed location, Anadolu said, ...
Sarah Martin, 26/06 21:20 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
European Union Turkey Armenia church Azerbaijan
A political bombshell in an already turbulent Armenia. On June 26, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, a rising figure in the opposition, was placed in pre-trial detention in Yerevan. As leader of the Srbazan Paykar (“Sacred Struggle”) movement, he stands accused of plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government by force. ...
This is Beirut, 25/06 20:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Hezbollah Turkey United States USA Syria lebanon Tom Barrack
According to MTV, United States Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack informed Lebanese officials, during his visit to Beirut on June 19, that a government’s public commitment to disarming Hezbollah would significantly advance the issue of Israeli withdrawal from the five hills at the border. This effort, he asserted, would ...
This is Beirut, 25/06 13:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Israel Turkey Donald Trump Middle East Iran
As the fragile Iran-Israel truce took hold, there was no letup in Turkey's diplomatic efforts Wednesday to prevent any return to a conflict fraught with risk for Ankara's domestic and regional policies. Hours after US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met him for talks on the sidelines of a ...
This is Beirut, 23/06 13:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Lebanon Israel Iran Beirut Turkey Tourism
The disruption or cancellation of Beirut-bound regular flights, which had stranded hundreds of Lebanese in Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh resort due to the escalating confrontation between Iran and Israel, discouraged many from taking summer breaks outside Lebanon. Travel agencies are bracing for significant losses with the increasing number of ...
This is Beirut, 23/06 11:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Turkey Erdogan Syria Christians ISIS Damascus
The suicide bombing of a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus during Sunday mass, killing at least 20 people, drew strong international condemnations. The attack was the first known suicide bombing in the Syrian capital since December, when a rebel coalition ousted Syria’s autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad. EU The EU on Monday condemned as ...
Sarah Martin, 22/06 16:40 - Reading : 7 minute(s)
United Nations Damascus Europe Middle East Turkey
From Berlin, 28-year-old Jarjoura logs into his Aramaic class every week. “It’s the language my grandparents spoke in Maaloula, but my parents stopped using it after moving to Germany. Thanks to the Yawna association, I’m reconnecting with my roots,” he says. Founded by linguist Rimon Wehbi, the program offers structured lessons in ...
This is Beirut, 20/06 23:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Istanbul late Friday to discuss the escalating war between Iran and Israel, Turkish state news agency Anadolu said, quoting diplomatic sources. The ministers were in Turkey's largest city on the eve of weekend gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was also slated to discuss the ...
This is Beirut, 20/06 23:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Turkey Erdogan Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he held "in-depth" talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on a rare visit to arch-foe Turkey Friday, which Yerevan described as a "historic" step toward regional peace. The talks between the two leaders -- whose nations have never established formal diplomatic ties ...