This Is Beirut, 02/08 11:38 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Turkey on Friday blocked access to the Instagram social media network, the national communications authority said without explanation, following censorship accusations against the US company by a high-ranking Turkish official. The BTK communications authority said in a post on its website that "instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the ...
This Is Beirut, 01/08 19:34 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich and a Russian intelligence colonel jailed for a Berlin murder were among two dozen prisoners freed Thursday in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. The prisoners were flown to Turkey's capital Ankara from Russia, the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus under the ...
This Is Beirut, 21/07 13:16 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Turkey is pushing for diplomatic and economic influence on the world stage – not least in Africa, where it announced plans this week to search for oil and gas off Somalia. Over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two decades in power, Ankara has consolidated its foothold on the continent, quadrupling its number of embassies there. Here are five ...
This Is Beirut, 21/07 11:28 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
With the possibility of normalization between Turkey and Syria on the horizon, a number of problematic issues may block the path, according to analysts. After a long estrangement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad may be edging towards a meeting, but analysts say normalization will likely be gradual ...
This Is Beirut, 20/07 17:27 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Cyprus on Saturday marked 50 years since Turkish troops invaded the Mediterranean island, with comments from the Turkish and Cypriot leaders demonstrating the stark divide that remains. The Greek-Cypriot president of Cyprus, who seeks a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation under a UN framework, said there was no other option but reunification. But ...
This Is Beirut, 10/07 14:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
An Iraqi court has sentenced to death a wife of slain Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on charges of detaining Yazidi women, the judiciary said on Wednesday. The wife of the polygamous Baghdadi was brought back to Iraq after being detained in Turkey, judicial sources told AFP under cover of anonymity because they were not ...
This Is Beirut, 07/07 15:47 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that he might invite his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad to Turkey "at any moment," in a sign of reconciliation after the 2011 war broke ties between Ankara and Damascus. "We may send an invitation (to Assad) at any moment," Erdogan told journalists aboard a plane from Berlin, where he watched Euro ...
This Is Beirut, 28/05 22:48 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
More than 1,000 new homes for displaced people in northern Syria were inaugurated on Tuesday by Qatar's Red Crescent and Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, the Qatari organization said. Mohammad Salah Ibrahim of the Red Crescent said the Qatari-financed village of 1,136 new homes was "the largest village opened to date in ...
This Is Beirut, 16/05 11:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
mercenaries Niger Syria Turkey
Like hundreds of other pro-Turkish fighters, Omar left northern Syria for mineral-rich Niger last year, joining Syrian mercenaries sent to the West African nation by a private Turkish military company. "The main reason I left is because life is hard in Syria," fighter Omar, 24, told AFP on message app WhatsApp from Niger. In northern Syria, ...
This Is Beirut, 15/05 17:12 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday claimed that Israel would "set its sights" on Turkey if it succeeded in defeating Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel's war in the Palestinian territory following Hamas's attack on October 7, has often expressed support for the Palestinian group as defenders of their ...
This Is Beirut, 12/05 19:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be received in Ankara by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, a meeting which both leaders say they expect to see continue the improvement between their countries. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be received Monday in Ankara by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in ...
This Is Beirut, 01/05 19:52 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Turkish police on Wednesday fired tear gas and rubber bullets and detained more than 200 protesters, after authorities banned May 1 rallies at Istanbul's historic Taksim Square. More than 40,000 police were deployed across Istanbul, blocking even small side streets with metal barriers in an attempt to prevent protesters gathering. Police clashed ...