Ankara – News Agency nabakhabar

Türkiye ready to host Ukraine-Russia peace summit — Erdogan

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 03:14:05 +0000

Turkish president ensures that Ankara will continue to endeavour to end the war with fair peace based on negotiations and strongly support the reconstruction of the war-torn Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Ankara will continue its efforts for “fair peace” between Russia and Ukraine.

“While we continue our solidarity with Ukraine, we will continue to endeavour to end the war with fair peace based on negotiations,” Erdogan said on Friday at a joint news conference with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymr Zelenskyy in Istanbul.

“Türkiye is ready to host a peace summit in which Russia will also be present,” he added.

He expressed that Türkiye will “strongly” support the reconstruction of the war-torn Ukraine.

Erdogan said the Black Sea Grain Initiative allowed nearly 33 million tons of grain to reach those in need, preventing a global food crisis, adding:

“We are pleased that our bilateral trade remains stable despite the war,”

“The entry into force of the free trade agreement (with Ukraine) as soon as possible will undoubtedly give a new impetus to our relations,” the Turkish president stated.

During the press conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Türkiye and the Turkish people for their support for Kiev’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, saying that they achieved “serious humanitarian results.”

Black Sea shipping corridor

Before the joint conference, the two leaders met at the Dolmabahce Office in Istanbul.

Zelenskyy said in a statement at the start of the meeting that he was grateful for Türkiye’s support.

He said he was interested in strengthening bilateral cooperation, protecting navigation in the vital Black Sea shipping corridor, and having Ukraine work with Turkish defence companies.

He added that they also require Türkiye’s assistance in releasing Ukrainian prisoners of war and “all of our people, including Crimean Tatars, held captive by Russia.”

In Istanbul, Zelenskyy also was to visit shipyards where Turkish companies are building two corvettes for the Ukrainian navy, according to his office.

The post Türkiye ready to host Ukraine-Russia peace summit — Erdogan appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Ankara ready to continue dialogue with Greece: Turkish FM

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 11:34:21 +0000

Ankara is ready to continue dialogue with its neighbor Greece “without preconditions,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, addressing a news conference alongside his Greek counterpart George Gerapetritis.

“We are ready to continue the dialogue with our neighbor Greece without preconditions and to develop our relations on the basis of common interests in all areas,” Fidan said on Tuesday in the Turkish capital Ankara.

“We can solve our problems on the basis of international law, respecting mutual rights and interests,” he added.

Türkiye has entered a “positive new” era in its relations with Greece, he said.

Gerapetritis, for his part, said, confidence-building measures and talks between Türkiye and Greece will start soon.

“We agreed to continue the positive agenda,” said Gerapetritis, who is paying a one-day working visit to the Turkish capital.

Cooperation council meeting

Fidan said that while Ankara and Athens have differences of opinion in the Aegean and Mediterranean, they “agreed to bring new approaches to solving problems.”

He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

The two countries are expected to hold a high-level cooperation council meeting before the end of 2023, the first such meeting in seven years, Gerapetritis said.

The last High-Level Cooperation Council meeting between Türkiye and Greece took place in Türkiye’s Aegean province of Izmir in March 2016.

“Regarding developments in our region, we are actually in favor of peace in our region. These initiatives of ours will also contribute to the development of our bilateral relations,” the Greek foreign minister added.

Türkiye and Greece are two neighbors that for various reasons, have had bumpy relations for decades. Despite witnessing some improvement in ties in 2021, various issues persist.

Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has protested repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent years, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under longstanding treaties, saying such moves frustrate its good faith efforts towards peace.

The post Ankara ready to continue dialogue with Greece: Turkish FM appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Türkiye hopeful of reviving Black Sea grain deal at Erdogan’s Russia visit

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 17:24:14 +0000

Ankara is hopeful that upcoming talks between the leaders of Türkiye and Russia on restoring the Black Sea grain deal will prove fruitful, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief adviser has said.

“The latest situation will be discussed at the summit to be held on Monday. We’re cautious, but we hope we’ll achieve success because this is necessary for the whole world,” Akif Cagatay Kilic told Turkish news broadcaster A Haber on Friday.

His remarks came ahead of Erdogan’s visit to the Russian coastal city of Sochi to meet with his counterpart Vladimir Putin and discuss the key deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports until Moscow pulled out of it in July.

Türkiye says that there is no alternative to the initiative, which it brokered.

“After the announcement of Russia’s withdrawal from this agreement, food prices in the world immediately began to rise,” Kilic said.

Türkiye continues its efforts, he added. “We are seeing intense support from all over the world for the grain corridor’s revival … We hope this issue will be finalized in Erdogan’s meeting with Putin.”

Russian grain exports

Ankara has been carrying out intense efforts for the restoration of the July 2022 deal and has also called on Kyiv and Moscow to end the war through negotiations.

On July 17, Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea grain deal to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that were paused after the Ukraine war started in February 2022.

Moscow has repeatedly complained that the West has not met its obligations regarding Russia’s own grain exports. It says restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance have been a barrier to its shipments.

The post Türkiye hopeful of reviving Black Sea grain deal at Erdogan’s Russia visit appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Ankara cancels Swedish defence chief’s visit over Quran burning

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 08:42:07 +0000

Ankara has cancelled Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson’s upcoming visit to Türkiye in response to Sweden’s permission for a planned burning of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

“We regretfully witnessed that no measures were taken as a result of these vile and heinous acts against Türkiye and our President (Recep Tayyip Erdogan). Therefore, at this point, the visit of Swedish Defence Minister Jonson to Türkiye on January 27 has become meaningless. So we cancelled the visit,” Turkish National Defence Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters on Friday after a NATO meeting at Ramstein air base in Germany.

The move announced by Akar came after Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), was given permission to burn the Quran on Saturday outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said he was concerned that the demonstration risks further delaying Türkiye’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO bid.

However, he added that it would be “very inappropriate” for him to call for a person to not be allowed to carry out a demonstration.

Crime against humanity

Akar said it was unacceptable to remain silent over the incident, adding: “It was necessary to take action and take precautions.”

Stressing Türkiye’s support for NATO’s open door policy, Akar added: “All we want is the fulfilment of the commitments in this memorandum. We expect Sweden and Finland to do their part, their homework.”

Türkiye’s presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin also posted on Twitter that the burning of the Holy Quran in Stockholm is a “hate crime and a crime against humanity”.

“Allowing this action despite all our warnings encourages hate crimes and Islamophobia. The attack on sacred values is not freedom, but modern barbarism,” he added.

The post Ankara cancels Swedish defence chief’s visit over Quran burning appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Iran FM, Turkiye President meet in Ankara

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 15:08:13 +0000

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and Turkiye president Recep Tayyip Erdogan met and held talks in Ankara, Turkiye.

Amirabdollahian has left the capital Tehran for talks with senior Turkish officials, including his counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in Turkiye.

He led a senior delegation of Iranian officials as he departed for Ankara early on Tuesday.

The top Iranian diplomat met and held talks with Erdogan on Tuesday.

FM Amirabdollahian addressed reporters before leaving Tehran for Ankara saying that the developments in the Levant and West Asia are to be discussed in his today’s trip to Turkiye, following negotiations with Syrian and Lebanese officials.

I planned to visit both Moscow and Ankara because of certain regional developments, but the trip to the Russian capital will be made after a while, the top diplomat noted.

On the trip to Ankara, the latest situation of bilateral ties will be reviewed, he said, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi to visit Turkiye, so the initial coordination will be made at a high-ranking level.

Given the speedy developments in the Levant and West Asia, we held talks with the Lebanese high-ranking officials as well as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the last two days, which will be discussed with the Turkish authorities as well, he mentioned.

The Turkish and Iranian sides are going to hold talks on the developments in South Caucasus and other important issues due to their significant role in regional security, he said, adding that the administration of President Raisi attaches importance to neighborhood policy as well as the Look East strategy, which seems to be of great significance in today’s world.

The post Iran FM, Turkiye President meet in Ankara appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Ankara wants ‘results’ not ‘verbiage’ from Sweden, Finland on terror groups

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 18:34:27 +0000

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara is expecting to see action instead of empty words from Sweden and Finland on terror groups.

Erdogan was speaking on Tuesday before his flight to Madrid for a NATO summit that will start with his meeting with the leaders of the two Nordic countries and the Western defense bloc.

“If Sweden and Finland are to become members of NATO, they have to take into account the security concerns of Türkiye, a member of the alliance for 70 years,” said Erdogan.

“We will hold a quadripartite meeting (on Sweden and Finland’s membership bids) and see what point they have reached. We do not want verbiage, but results,” he added.

Erdogan added that Türkiye expects “from our allies not to discriminate between NATO members, and that threat against one should be interpreted as a threat against all.”

The Turkish president also mentioned the prospect of a meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit for talks focused on Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

PKK and FETO terror groups

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO on May 18, a decision spurred by Russian attacks on Ukraine, which began on February 24.

Their accession requires the unanimous approval of all 30 NATO member countries.

But Türkiye, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to their membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups such as the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, EU and NATO – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Türkiye, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

The Turkish government accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

The post Ankara wants ‘results’ not ‘verbiage’ from Sweden, Finland on terror groups appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Erdogan’s press office ditches WhatsApp as Ankara urges Turks to use domestic apps in fight against ‘digital fascism’

News Agency nabakhabar — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 20:57:39 +0000

The media office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reportedly shutting down its WhatsApp groups over privacy concerns. The move comes after Ankara called for a nationwide boycott of the Facebook-owned messaging app.

Starting on Monday, the office is switching over to encrypted messaging app BiP, which is developed by Turkish firm Turkcell, Bloomberg reported, citing internal messages posted to the WhatsApp groups.

The decision comes amid growing consternation over WhatsApp’s plan to begin sharing personal data with its parent company, Facebook. The policy comes into effect on February 8, and users who refuse the new terms will not be able to access their accounts on the messaging platform.

The updated user terms have been met with hostility by the Turkish government, which has used privacy issues to promote homegrown apps and internet services.

Ali Taha Koc, head of the presidency’s Digital Transformation Office, released a statement on Saturday in which he warned that foreign-made applications “contain significant risks to data security.” He urged Turkish citizens to switch over to “local and national software,” claiming the move would help Turkey safeguard its data.

“As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated, let’s stand against digital fascism together!” he concluded.

Sayın Cumhurbaşkanımız @RTErdogan’ın belirttiği gibi dijital faşizme hep birlikte karşı duralım! pic.twitter.com/CCStMzhIeB

— Ali Taha Koç (@AliTahaKoc) January 9, 2021

The message seems to have resonated. Turkcell reported that around one million new users joined BiP Messenger in the past 24 hours. The app has been downloaded more than 53 million times since launching in 2013.

Meanwhile, Turkish media outlets have been highlighting high-profile individuals who have joined the exodus. State-run Anadolu Agency reported that a senior executive at Baykar, a Turkish drone company, announced that he was dropping WhatsApp due to its new data policy and would begin using BiP.

Erdogan has previously warned of “digital fascism,” arguing that the monopolization of data control would spell disaster for the world. In a speech from November, he said that remaining “human” in the digital age would be one of the greatest challenges going forward. However, his own government has been accused of policing social media platforms and websites for political views it deems unsavory.

The post Erdogan’s press office ditches WhatsApp as Ankara urges Turks to use domestic apps in fight against ‘digital fascism’ appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.