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Erdogan Declares Readiness to Intervene to Prevent Syria's Division

This is Beirut, 06/01 19:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey Syrian Democratic Forces

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he would order an intervention to prevent any splintering of Syria, a warning aimed particularly at the country's Kurdish forces. "We can not accept under any pretext that Syria be divided and if we notice the slightest risk we will take the necessary measures," the Turkish head of ...

Syrian Ministers Arrive on First Visit to Qatar

This is Beirut, 05/01 11:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Gulf Turkey United Arab Emirates

Ministers from Syria's transitional government arrived in Qatar on Sunday for their first visit to the Gulf state since the toppling of president Bashar al-Assad last month, officials and news agency SANA said. The interim foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, was accompanied by defence minister Morhaf Abu Kasra and the new head of intelligence, ...

Turkish Pro-Kurdish Party Meets Leaders Amid Renewed Dialogue Efforts with PKK

This is Beirut, 02/01 12:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Abdullah Ocalan Turkey Erdogan PKK

A delegation from Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party said it would meet Thursday with the parliamentary speaker and far-right MHP leader amid tentative efforts to resume dialogue between Ankara and the banned PKK militant group. In a statement, DEM said its three-person delegation would meet with Speaker Numan Kurtulmus at 1:30 pm (1030 ...

Syria: 31 Dead in Clashes Between Kurdish and Pro-Turkish Forces

This is Beirut, 2024-12-30 12:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey USA Washington

A Syria war monitor said 31 combatants had been killed since Sunday in ongoing battles between Turkey-backed groups and Kurdish-led forces. Swathes of northern Syria are controlled by a Kurdish-led administration whose de facto army, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded the fight that helped defeat the Islamic State group in the ...

Jailed PKK Leader Says Strengthening Turk-Kurd Brotherhood ‘Historical Responsibility'

This is Beirut, 2024-12-29 11:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Kurds

Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan told a rare visiting delegation from Turkey's pro-Kurdish party that bolstering Turkish-Kurdish ties is vital and that he is ready to contribute to the process. "Re-strengthening the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also... an urgency for all peoples," Ocalan said according ...

Turkey's Top Diplomat Tells Blinken Kurdish Fighters 'Cannot Be Allowed' in Syria

This is Beirut, 2024-12-28 17:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey USA Kurds Syria

Turkey's top diplomat on Saturday said Syrian Kurdish fighters essential for the United States in the fight against Islamic State (IS) extremists cannot be sheltered in Syria, in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Blinken that "the PKK/YPG terrorist organization cannot be allowed to take ...

Turkey's Energy Ministry Sends Delegation to Damascus

This is Beirut, 2024-12-28 16:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Turkey energy Syria

A delegation from Turkey's energy ministry headed to Syria on Saturday to help Syrians obtain access to essential services after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "A team from our energy ministry is on the way to Damascus," Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a meeting of the ruling AKP party in the central Anatolian province of Nevsehir. "We ...

UNHCR: 58 000 People Have Returned to Syria since the Fall of the Assad Regime

This is Beirut, 2024-12-27 23:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

UNHCR Turkey Syria

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in a report Friday that some 58 000 people have returned to Syria since December 8, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. “Refugees have returned from Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, with the main destinations being the governorates of Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and Daraa, ...

Over 30,000 Syrians Returned Home Through Turkey in 17 Days

This is Beirut, 2024-12-27 19:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Turkey Refugees Ankara

Nearly 31,000 Syrians have returned home since the fall of strongman Bashar al-Assad, Turkey's interior minister said Friday, the figure rising by about 5,000 in just three days. "The number of people who went back is 30,663," interior minister Ali Yerlikaya told the TGRT news channel, saying "30 percent" of them had been ...

Turkey Lowers Interest Rate for First Time in Two Years

This is Beirut, 2024-12-26 15:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Interest rate

Turkey’s central bank lowered its key interest rate on Thursday for the first time since February 2023, cutting it by 2.5 percentage points to 47.5%. This move comes in response to a slowdown in inflation, which remains above 47% year-on-year. The rate had been held steady at 50% since March as part of efforts to curb inflation. The central ...

Turkey: The Arabs... Pawns Caught in Power Play

Marc Saikali, 2024-12-26 08:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Hamas Hezbollah Israel Palestine Tehran Turkey

Erdogan seems to be indomitable and relentless in pursuing his ambitions. He just pulled off a remarkable masterstroke: toppling the Assad regime, with an American green light and a tacit Russian approval. Once shunned and labeled the gravedigger of Ataturk’s secular legacy – not to mention contested in the ballot box – he has now staged a ...

Erdogan Warns Kurdish Militia in Syria to Lay Down Arms

This is Beirut, 2024-12-25 18:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan Syria Syrian Democratic Forces

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Wednesday that Kurdish militants in Syria must either surrender their weapons or “be buried,” amid ongoing hostilities between Turkey-backed Syrian fighters and Kurdish militants following the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month, according to a report on Reuters. Since Assad's departure, Ankara ...

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