Turkey – FOX News Point

Heavy Rain Floods Emergency Tents in Turkish Disaster Area: Disaster Still Continues

14Mar

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Heavy Rain Floods Emergency Tents in Turkish Disaster Area: Disaster Still Continues

Heavy rains in southeastern Turkey, where tens of thousands of people died after major earthquakes last month, are now causing inconvenience to survivors. Water has entered tents assigned to displaced people in Iskenderun, Hatay province. The DHA news agency reports this. Opposition politician Canan Kaftancioglu shared a video on Twitter showing a woman crying with a floor squeegee, trying to get the water out of her tent. Kaftancioglu denounces that people are still not housed in containers more than a month after the earthquake. She also said that there are still those who do not have tents. “After the disaster, the disaster continues,” she wrote. Five weeks ago, earthquakes in the Syrian-Turkish border area killed more than 48,000 people in Turkey alone. As a result, hundr...

Fewer Waiting Oil Tankers at Turkish Strait Bosphorus

12Dec

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Business, News, Turkey

Fewer Waiting Oil Tankers at Turkish Strait Bosphorus

The congestion of waiting for oil tankers at the important Turkish strait Bosphorus is easing. Due to stricter requirements from Turkey for ships carrying oil from the Black Sea through its waters, many tankers were previously blocked at the Bosphorus. According to the Turkish shipping agency Tribeca, thirteen tankers are now waiting for permission to pass through the Bosphorus. That was seventeen on Sunday. That day, four ships with about 475,000 tons of crude oil passed through the route after showing the necessary insurance papers to the Turkish authorities. On Monday, five tankers would then go south through the Bosphorus. For over a week now, tankers carrying oil from Russia and Kazakhstan through Turkish waters have been required to show additional proof for insurance a...

Erdogan and Putin May be in Talks About Ukraine in Kazakhstan

10Oct

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Kazakhstan, News, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine

Erdogan and Putin May be in Talks About Ukraine in Kazakhstan

According to the Kremlin, President Putin may talk with his Turkish counterpart Erdogan at a summit in Kazakhstan this week about a Turkish proposal to mediate between Russia and the West again. Erdogan is the leader of a NATO member state and has been trying to mediate between Ukraine and Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started. However, unlike many Western countries, Turkey has not declared any sanctions against Russia. Erdogan maintains good relations with both belligerent countries and has managed to keep the shipment of food products from Ukrainian ports out of the fray. In addition, a temporary agreement was signed between Russia, Ukraine and the UN in July. According to the UN, that agreement is likely to be extended in November. An Asian CICA summit will ...

Turkish Inflation Rises Above 80 Percent

5Sep

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Business, News, Turkey

Turkish Inflation Rises Above 80 Percent

Inflation in Turkey passed the 80 percent mark in August. According to figures from the Turkish statistical office on Monday, consumer prices were 80.21 percent higher than a year earlier. That is the highest level since 1998. In July, inflation was 79.6 percent. Inflation in Turkey is driven by several factors. Much of the explanation lies in the weakening of the currency, the lira. It has lost more than half its value against the US dollar in a year. In addition, price increases in energy and raw materials also play a role, as elsewhere in Europe, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite sky-high inflation, the Turkish economy grew strongly in the second quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 7.6 percent year-on-year. Unlike many other central banks, the Tur...

Putin in Tehran for Summit with Counterparts from Iran and Turkey

19Jul

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Iran, News, Russia, Turkey

Putin in Tehran for Summit with Counterparts from Iran and Turkey

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Tehran for a summit with his counterparts from Iran and Turkey, Ebrahim Raisi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is Putin's first foreign trip outside the former Soviet Union since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The summit is held to discuss the struggle in Syria, but the war in Ukraine and frictions between Iran and Arab countries are also emerging as topics of discussion. Erdogan is talking with Putin about the possibility of safely transporting Ukrainian grain from Odesa, in particular, across the Black Sea to the world market. Putin also visits Iran's most powerful man, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Both leaders want to strengthen ties. Iranian leaders see the Kremlin as an ally against US influence in the Middle East. US President J...

Turkey Will Not Approve NATO Request Sweden and Finland Unless One Condition is Met

18May

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Europe, Finland, News, Sweden, Turkey

Turkey Will Not Approve NATO Request Sweden and Finland Unless One Condition is Met

Turkey blocks the start of accession talks with Finland and Sweden within NATO. This has been heard from NATO circles. According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, both countries "support terrorist organizations and NATO accession are not possible" unless one crucial condition is met. That condition is that Sweden and Finland must return the "terrorists" they harbour to Turkey. "If they don't, the Swedish and Finnish delegations shouldn't bother coming to Ankara to convince us," Erdogan said. According to Ankara, Sweden (and Finland) harbours people associated with groups Turkey considers terrorists. These include members of the militant wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and supporters of Fethullah Gülen. This influential Islamist thinker accuses Ankara of orches...

Erdogan Invites Putin to Turkey Consultations

17Mar

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

News, Russia, Turkey

Erdogan Invites Putin to Turkey Consultations

On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to peace talks in Turkey with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky. In a telephone conversation with Putin, Erdogan said a lasting ceasefire could lead to a longer-term solution. Erdogan's office reported this on Thursday. The Turkish president spoke to Putin earlier and then already suggested that the fight be stopped, and high-level negotiations begin. These had to be about a permanent ceasefire and evacuations of civilians, among other things. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitro Koeleba on Thursday in Lviv in western Ukraine. Cavusoglu said he hoped for a truce at the Russian port city of Mariupol, which was heavily besieged by the R...

Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Comparing Erdogan to Ox

11Mar

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

News, Turkey

Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Comparing Erdogan to Ox

Turkish journalist Sedef Kabas was sentenced Friday to 2 years and 4 months in prison to refer to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for using a proverb. "An ox does not become king when it enters the palace, but the palace becomes a stable," Kabas had said in a TV broadcast and later tweeted. After the verdict, the court ordered her release. "Sedef Kabas is now free," her Twitter account read. By using the proverb, she was found guilty of insulting the president. Nevertheless, she used the proverb on the air in January, and shortly afterwards, she tweeted that proverb again for her 900,000 followers. The TV journalist wanted to denounce the government's crackdown on critics. The proverb may seem like an allusion to Erdogan, but the president or the presidential palace did not explic...

Turkish Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates After Pressure from Erdogan

23Sep

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

Business, News, Turkey

Turkish Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates After Pressure from Erdogan

Turkey's central bank has cut its key interest rate despite rising inflation in the country. The central bank seems to be responding to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He has been pushing for a reduction in borrowing costs for some time now. The interest rate goes from 19 to 18 percent. Analysts hadn't actually expected a rate cut because of the higher prices. Turkish inflation had risen to more than 19 percent last month. The central bank has repeatedly promised that interest rates will always be higher than inflation. But with that, this year's appointed banking governor Şahap Kavcioğlu was on a collision course with Erdoğan. As a result, Kavcioğlu now sidesteps the discussion by focusing on core inflation, excluding food and energy prices. As a result, there would now suddenl...

11 Dead and 1 Missing in Flooding in Northern Turkey

12Aug

By Lucy FraserNo Comments

News, Turkey

11 Dead and 1 Missing in Flooding in Northern Turkey

In northern Turkey, heavy rains and floods have killed 11 people, and one person is missing. The Turkish government has reported this. Several people were also injured. The coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu and Samsun on the Black Sea have been hit by heavy rainfall. The rain caused flooding that completely flooded streets. Cars were dragged and houses destroyed. Several roads were closed, and four bridges collapsed, Turkish disaster relief agency AFAD reported. Dozens of villages are also without electricity. Helicopters rush to evacuate the people who had climbed onto their roofs. The Turkish government has evacuated a total of about 900 people. Less rain is forecast in the coming days. The Turkish Black Sea area is more frequently affected by heavy rainfall and flooding....