Janet Savage went into cardiac arrest after injury to abdominal aorta during operation in August last year
A woman died during an operation after travelling to Turkey for slimming surgery, an inquest heard.
Janet Savage, 54, was undergoing a gastric “stomach sleeve” operation but never came around from the procedure.
Continue reading...Mubi cancels four-day event in protest as local government blocks screening of Luca Guadagnino-directed movie Queer
Organisers of an Istanbul film festival announced its cancellation on Thursday to protest against a local authority ban on the screening of Queer, a drama starring Daniel Craig.
The arthouse film streaming platform Mubi said it was cancelling the entire four-day festival just hours before it was set to open in Kadikoy, on the Asian side of Istanbul.
Continue reading...Airstrikes launched against suspected Kurdish militant targets after PKK blamed for Tusaş attack
Turkey has launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq after blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for a deadly attack on the headquarters of the Turkish national aerospace company on Wednesday that killed five people.
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization said it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Continue reading...Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemns ‘heinous’ attack after explosion and reports of gunfire at Tusaş HQ near Ankara
Turkey’s interior minister has blamed a “terrorist attack” for an explosion and assault at the headquarters of the national aerospace company, Tusaş, outside Ankara that has killed five people and wounded 22 others.
The large blast happened outside the building at 4pm on Wednesday, and there were reports that gunfire was also heard in the vicinity.
Continue reading...Grieving family push for accountability after Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi killed by Israeli sniper at anti-settler West Bank protest
The shooting of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi is still recent enough that her family slip into the present tense when they talk about her.
Her husband Hamid Ali smiles as he describes their third wedding anniversary just a few months ago, when the young couple took a boat trip in Seattle and ate Vietnamese food. Eygi’s sister Özden Bennett speaks about her younger sibling with tears in her eyes.
Continue reading...António Guterres says violence puts region at risk as Hezbollah and Israel seem unwilling to dial down fighting
The UN secretary general has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding that the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”.
António Guterres made his warning as diplomats meeting in New York for the UN general assembly battled to impose a ceasefire in Lebanon and to hold Israel back from a possible ground invasion.
Continue reading...Family members and political leaders gather in Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim to mourn activist slain by IDF
Hundreds of people waving Turkish and Palestinian flags gathered on Saturday for the funeral of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Cevdet Yılmaz, Turkey’s vice-president; Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister; Numan Kurtulmuş, the parliament speaker; and Özgür Özel, the main opposition leader from the Republican People’s party (CHP) were among mourners at the ceremony in the Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim.
Continue reading...A new bill forcing local authorities to remove homeless animals from city streets has led to a furious backlash
Next to the network of the highways that crisscross Turkey, among the lush forests or mountain peaks that dot the country, large stray dogs are a common sight. Most are pale white Akbaş dogs or Kangal shepherds, with their distinctive dark muzzle, pale golden coat and large bodies designed to herd livestock, although on the streets of Istanbul they are more commonly found lazing outside coffee shops, rotund and docile from a lifetime of treats.
In cities at least, the stray dogs are popular enough to be seen as part of the architecture. One particularly large and sleepy example that dozes outside an ice-cream shop on Istanbul’s main shopping street has become a local celebrity nicknamed “The Boulder”, complete with a string of rave reviews left by delighted tourists. The dog is marked as an Istanbul tourist attraction on Google Maps, which features a recommendation to avoid petting him.
Continue reading...Second autopsy to be performed on Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi before funeral in her family’s home town
The body of the slain Turkish-American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi has landed in Istanbul to continue to its final resting place in her family’s home town on the Aegean coast, with the coffin carried by a procession of Turkish honour guard soldiers.
An autopsy report conducted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Nablus lists Eygi’s cause of death as a brain haemorrhage after a bullet penetrated her skull, as the 26-year-old attended a pro-Palestine protest in nearby Beita.
Continue reading...Protests in West Bank village had subsided half an hour before IDF shot Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, says report
Israeli security forces mischaracterised the events that led up to the fatal shooting of a Turkish-American protester in the West Bank, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed that their soldiers were targeting the leader of a violent protest when they shot Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old member of the International Solidarity Movement who had come from her native Washington state to Israel to protest against settlements in the West Bank.
Continue reading...Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was killed while protesting against West Bank settlements, though a witness says she posed no threat
For her 26th birthday in July, human rights activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi gathered friends for a bonfire at one of her favorite places, a sandy beach in Seattle where green-and-white ferries cruise across the dark, flat water and ospreys fish overhead.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of people gathered on the same beach in grief, love and anger to mourn her. Eygi was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers last Friday in the occupied West Bank, where she had gone to protest and bear witness to Palestinian suffering.
Continue reading...IDF expresses ‘regret’ over death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi on West Bank while US calls it ‘unprovoked and unjustified’
Israel’s military has said it was highly likely its troops fired the shot that killed Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said her death was unintentional and expressed deep regret.
Continue reading...Fallout from Libyan central bank governor’s dismissal presents immediate challenge for Sisi and Erdoğan
A new alliance between Egypt and Turkey designed to end a long-running dispute over events in the Middle East faces it first major test in the shape of a worsening political crisis in Libya linked to control of its oil wealth.
Egypt and Turkey fell out in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab spring, primarily because of the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s coup against his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi, an ally of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Continue reading...Witnesses say Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was fired at by Israel Defense Forces soldiers positioned in nearby field
An American-Turkish dual national has been shot dead – reportedly by Israeli troops – while participating in a protest against settler expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old volunteer with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement, died in hospital on Friday after being shot in the head during a protest in Beita, near Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Continue reading...Fifteen suspected assailants, members of the Turkey Youth Union, were detained after attack in port city of Izmir
Two US military service members were “physically attacked” in the port city of Izmir in western Turkey on Monday by members of an anti-American youth group, authorities said.
Fifteen suspected assailants were detained in the attack on the two service members, who were dressed in civilian clothing at the time of the incident. Five other US service members joined in the incident after seeing the violent encounter, officials said.
Reuters contributed to this report
Continue reading...Staff were left cleaning bloodstains from the floor after brawl which started when one MP called the ruling majority ‘terrorists’
Dozens of lawmakers became embroiled in a fisticuffs brawl in Turkey’s parliament on Friday as they argued over a jailed opposition deputy stripped of his parliamentary immunity this year.
The 30-minute ruckus, which left at least two lawmakers injured, forced the suspension of the hearing. Deputies eventually returned for a vote that rejected an opposition move to restore the parliamentary mandate of lawyer and rights activist Can Atalay.
Continue reading...If historic waterway settings are the new must-have accessory for Olympic host cities, then Istanbul’s mayor wants the IOC to know his city has one.
If the key to getting the 2036 Summer Games is having hosted world championships in top-tier Olympic sports, then Qatar can point to its track record over the past decade.
Continue reading...Guns, for understandable reasons, should be treated with extreme caution. So it’s a surprise that one of the best marksmen in the world treats the pinnacle of his sport like it’s a casual day at the park.
Rather than the hi-tech gear that many of his fellow Olympians have worn in Paris this year, Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç competed in a baggy T-shirt, with one hand in his pocket and glasses that looked like they were bought on discount at the local opticians.
Continue reading...Animal lovers fear legislation will lead to many of the dogs being killed or ending up in overcrowded shelters
Turkish legislators have approved a law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from the country’s streets that animal lovers fear will lead to many of the dogs being killed or ending up in neglected, overcrowded shelters.
Some critics also say the law will be used to target the opposition, which made huge gains in the latest local elections. The legislation includes penalties for mayors who fail to carry out its provisions and the main opposition party has promised not to implement it.
Continue reading...Greek Cypriots in south wake to air raid sirens reminiscent of invasion while Turkish-occupied north celebrates
Cyprus has marked the landmark anniversary of 50 years of ethnic division amid markedly contrasting scenes: mourning in the south and celebration in the north.
At 5.20am Greek Cypriots in the internationally recognised south awoke to air raid sirens reminding them of the arrival of thousands of invading Turkish troops on the eastern Mediterranean island five decades ago. In the Turkish-occupied north, the milestone event was cause for joy, with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, flying in to attend a military parade and fly-past commemorating the “peace operation”.
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