A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Afghanistan to Greece
Continue reading...Category Archives: Turkey
Cyprus: row erupts as passports of Turkish Cypriot officials rescinded
Head of Turkish-controlled north, Ersin Tatar, calls move by Greek Cypriot government ‘racist’ and ‘anachronistic’
A war of words has erupted on Cyprus as the divided island’s two ethnic communities exchange barbs over the decision by the Greek Cypriot government to rescind the passports of senior Turkish Cypriot officials.
Ersin Tatar, who heads the Turkish-controlled north and is among those affected, described the policy as “an assault” on attempts to find a solution to the country’s partition. Previously he had called the move “racist” and “anachronistic”.
Continue reading...Greece will not be ‘gateway’ to Europe for Afghans fleeing Taliban, say officials
Athens calls for a united response, as refugees already in Lesbos hope their asylum claims will now be reconsidered
Greek officials have said that Greece will not become a “gateway” to Europe for Afghan asylum seekers and have called for a united response to predictions of an increase in refugee arrivals to the country.
Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has spoken to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, about the developing situation in Afghanistan this week. Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi last week said: “We cannot have millions of people leaving Afghanistan and coming to the European Union … and certainly not through Greece.” The country has just completed a 25-mile (40km) wall along its land border with Turkey and installed an automated surveillance system with cameras, radars and drones.
Continue reading...Flooding death toll passes 57 in Turkey’s Black Sea region
People thought to be trapped in collapsed buildings in Bozkurt as rescuers search for survivors
Families of those missing after Turkey’s worst floods in years anxiously watched rescue teams search buildings on Saturday, fearing the death toll from the raging torrents could rise further.
At least 57 people have died from the floods in the northern Black Sea region, the second natural disaster to strike the country this month.
Continue reading...Turkey flooding death toll reaches 38 as Erdoğan tours disaster zone
Rescuers sift through rubble for victims and survivors as country reels from floods and wildfires
The death toll from Turkey’s flash floods has risen to 38 as emergency crews searched for more victims and survivors in the devastated Black Sea region just as the country was gaining control over hundreds of wildfires.
The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, announced on Twitter late on Friday that 32 people died in Kastamonu province, along the Black Sea, and six in the neighbouring area of Sinop. The toll was also reported by the government’s disaster agency AFAD.
Continue reading...Turkey flood deaths rise as fresh fires erupt on Greek island of Evia
Twenty-seven killed in Turkish flash flooding, with southern Europe bracing for more extreme weather
The death toll from flash floods in Turkey has reached 27 and fresh wildfires erupted on the ravaged Greek island of Evia, as southern Europe braces for more extreme weather events caused by human-made climate change.
Record Mediterranean heatwaves fuelled blazes that have devastated parts of Italy, Turkey and Algeria, with Spain and Portugal on high alert, while Turkey’s Black Sea region has been hit by some of the worst floods in living memory.
Continue reading...Drone footage shows devastation following floods in Turkey – video
Heavy rains have triggered severe floods and mudslides in northern Turkey, killing at least one person and leaving others missing or injured. Turkey has been grappling with drought and a rapid succession of natural disasters that scientists believe are becoming more frequent and violent because of the climate crisis. The floods hit the Black Sea coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun
Continue reading...Turkey floods: Heavy rains sweep away cars and leave villages without power
Floods caused by heavy rainfall hit Turkey's northern coast on Wednesday, sweeping away cars and leaving villages without power. State broadcaster TRT Haber reported one person died in the Bartin province. The flooding comes as areas in the country's south have battled wildfires for two weeks
Continue reading...Turkey floods kill 17 as country battles fresh disaster
Heavy rains and mudslides in northern regions come after devastating wildfires ravaged the south of the country
Heavy rains have triggered severe floods and mudslides in northern Turkey, killing at least 17 people and forcing thousands to leave their homes and shelter in student dormitories.
Rescue efforts continued on Thursday after torrential rain hit the Black Sea coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun.
Continue reading...Drone footage shows devastating aftermath of wildfires – video
Devastating wildfires have ravaged large areas in southern Europe as the region endures its most extreme heatwave in three decades. Several people have died in Greece, Turkey and Italy, with many more injured. Huge fires also have been burning across Peru as well as northern Russia, with smoke from forest fires in Siberia reaching the north pole
- Firefighters battling wildfires to save homes on Greek island of Evia
- Yes, the climate crisis is terrifying. But I refuse to abandon hope
Thousands flee Greek island as wildfires raze forest and homes
Firefighters tackle blazes on two fronts on Evia as heatwave-driven devastation across southern Europe continues
Thousands of people have fled wildfires that are destroying vast swathes of pine forest and razing homes on Greece’s second-largest island, Evia, as devastating summer blazes rage from southern Europe to Siberia.
“We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night,” Greece’s deputy civil protection minister, Nikos Hardalias, said on Sunday, adding that nearly a week after the blazes started, strong winds were driving two major fire fronts in the north and south of the island.
Continue reading...Eight dead as wildfires continue to rage across southern Europe
Deaths occur in Turkey with Italy and Greece also badly hit and thousands evacuated
Eight people have died and thousands have been evacuated from their homes as extreme wildfires continue to rage in parts of southern Europe.
Related: The photo that has come to define Turkey’s wildfires
Continue reading...The photo that has come to define Turkey’s wildfires
Image of boy watching firefighting plane in smoke-filled skies has been shared widely on Turkish social media
A little boy ready for a swim stops on the edge of the clear water, his gaze distracted by a firefighting plane flying low through a rust-red sky. For many, the photo – apparently taken by a Russian holidaymaker in Antalya last week – has come to symbolise the destruction wreaked by the ferocious wildfires that have consumed Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline over the past eight days.
More than 180 fires have killed eight people, devastated vast swathes of pine forest and agricultural land. On Wednesday fire crept closer to a thermal power plant as international firefighting teams used helicopters and water cannon and dug trenches to slow the spread of the flames.
Continue reading...Fleeing the Taliban: Afghans met with rising anti-refugee hostility in Turkey
As violence causes a fresh wave of desperate journeys, populist politicians claim their country has become a ‘dumping ground’
- Photography by Emre Caylak for the Guardian
It was a journey that had taken weeks, and there were times when the 65-year-old Afghan widow, who walks with the aid of a stick, had to be carried by her son.
Their trek, across 15 canyons she says, left Durdana with badly scarred feet. “I have not had a day of peace in over 40 years. I had to come to Turkey, there was no choice.”
Continue reading...Turkey battles coastal wildfires – in pictures
The country’s most destructive fires in decades have razed forests and farmland across swathes of land next to the Mediterranean and Aegean seas
Continue reading...Turkey appeals for help to fight wildfires as heatwave continues
Wildfires break out across much of southern Europe, with temperature reaching 45C in Greece
Turkey has launched an international appeal for help in taming fires raging across the country that have killed eight people in recent days, as what has been described as one of the worst heatwaves in decades intensifies in south-east Europe.
Following criticism of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after it emerged that Turkey has no firefighting planes, authorities in Istanbul were promised water-dropping planes from the European Union. The country is battling deadly wildfires along its coastline for a sixth day.
Continue reading...Tourists evacuated from Pescara as Italy records more than 800 wildfires
Wildfires burn across Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey in heatwave bringing temperatures above 40C
At least five people have been wounded and holidaymakers evacuated after wildfires devastated a pine wood near a beach in Pescara, Italy, as one of the worst heatwaves in decades swept across south-east Europe.
A five-year-old girl was taken to hospital but her condition is not believed to be life-threatening, according to reports.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on Fortress Europe: a continent losing its moral compass
The increasingly draconian approach to irregular migration betrays the spirit of the 1951 refugee convention
Seventy years ago, the 1951 UN refugee convention established the rights of refugees to seek sanctuary, and the obligations of states to protect them. Increasingly, it seems that much of Europe is choosing to commemorate the anniversary by ripping up some of the convention’s core principles.
So far this year, close to 1,000 migrants have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean, more than four times the death toll for the same period in 2020. Many will have been economic migrants. Others will have been fleeing persecution. Increasingly, Europe does not care. All were “irregular”. And all must be discouraged and deterred through a strategy of cruelty.
Continue reading...Tourists evacuated from burning Med resorts as fires rage across southern Turkey – video report
Holidaymakers have been evacuated from beaches by rescue boats in Turkey after wildfires threatened hotels is several resort towns.
Six people have died and more than 500 needed hospital treatment in Turkey’s Mediterranean towns from fires that have raged across the country since Wednesday
Continue reading...Tourists rescued from burning Med resorts by flotilla of boats
Six dead from wildfires raging across Turkey, Italy and Greece as temperatures hit 40C
Holidaymakers have been evacuated from beaches by rescue boats in Turkey after wildfires threatened hotels in the Aegean resort of Bodrum.
Coastguard vessels were joined by private boats and yachts to bring the tourists to safety, according to Turkish media on Saturday. Videos posted online showed people wheeling their suitcases along the road while smoke from forest fires billowed into the sky.
Continue reading...