Category Archives: Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Seven more people rescued in Turkey eight days after earthquake

Posted on by

The survivors, including two teenagers, saved as rescue teams look to next phase of aid

Seven more people have been rescued eight days after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, but hopes of finding further survivors of what the World Health Organization called the worst natural disaster in 100 years in its 53-country Europe region are dwindling.

As a UN aid convoy entered stricken north-west Syria through a new crossing, the combined death toll rose to nearly 38,000, including 31,974 in Turkey and at least 5,714 in rebel-held and government-controlled Syria – a figure that is expected to continue to increase.

Continue reading...

Turkey arrests building contractors as earthquake death toll mounts

Posted on by

Warnings current toll of 33,000 from earthquake that struck parts of Turkey and Syria could double

Turkish authorities have issued more than 100 arrest warrants over collapsed buildings, amid warnings that the death toll from the earthquake that struck parts of Turkey and Syria could double from the current tally of 33,000.

State media reported that at least 12 people were in custody, including contractors, architects and engineers connected to some of the tens of thousands of buildings destroyed or seriously damaged in Monday’s 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude quakes.

Continue reading...

Survivors pulled from rubble 100 hours after quake as toll passes 23,000

Posted on by

Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless in often sub-zero winter conditions

A second convoy of aid trucks has crossed into stricken north-western Syria from Turkey, as rescuers continued to pull survivors – including a newborn baby – from the rubble 100 hours after an earthquake that has killed more than 23,000 people.

Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless and short of food in often sub-zero winter conditions after 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude quakes struck within hours of each other on Monday. Dozens of countries have pledged help and sent emergency teams.

Continue reading...

Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll passes 15,000 as Erdoğan defends response

Posted on by

Turkish president rejects growing criticism as rescuers continue to pull survivors from freezing rubble

Turkey’s president has rejected growing criticism of the authorities’ response to Monday’s huge earthquakes, as the death toll passed 15,000 across Turkey and Syria and rescuers continued to pull survivors from the freezing rubble.

Making his first visit to Turkey’s worst-affected region since the 7.8- and 7.5-magnitude quakes hit within hours of each other, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan acknowledged early problems with Turkey’s response but said it was now working well.

Continue reading...

Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll rises above 9,500 as Erdoğan plans visit

Posted on by

Turkish president will travel to epicentre amid mounting criticism of authorities’ response

The official death toll from the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria has risen to more than 9,500, with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announcing plans to travel to the epicentre.

Amid mounting criticism of the authorities’ response to Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake and calls for the government to send more help to the disaster zone, Erdoğan was due to travel to town of Pazarcık and the worst-hit province of Hatay.

Continue reading...

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria kills thousands and devastates cities

Posted on by

7.8-magnitude tremor hit early on Monday, with second major quake mid-morning hampering rescue efforts

More than 2,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck central Turkey and north-west Syria, in one of the most powerful quakes in the region in at least a century, while a second powerful tremor hours later threatened to overwhelm rescue efforts.

Thousands more were injured as the quake wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria.

Continue reading...

Erdoğan says Turkey may accept Finland into Nato without Sweden

Posted on by

Turkish president’s comments come amid tensions with Stockholm and threaten to derail the alliance’s hopes of expanding to 32 countries

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said for the first time that Ankara could accept Finland into Nato without its Nordic neighbour Sweden.

Erdoğan’s comments during a televised meeting with younger voters came days after Ankara suspended Nato accession talks with the two countries.

Continue reading...

Turkey summons Swedish ambassador over Erdoğan effigy

Posted on by

Swedish government distances itself from hanging of presidential dummy in Stockholm stunt by Kurdish group

Turkey has summoned the Swedish ambassador after a Kurdish group hung an effigy of the Turkish president in Stockholm, in a stunt that has inflamed tensions between the two countries over Sweden’s bid to join Nato.

Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said his government strongly distanced itself from “threats and hatred against political representatives”. Without naming any specific country, he added: “Portraying a popularly elected president as being executed outside City Hall is abhorrent.”

Continue reading...

Istanbul bombing: 46 detained as Turkey minister blames Kurdish separatists

Posted on by

Six people died and 81 were injured when Istanbul’s popular pedestrian thoroughfare İstiklal Avenue was hit by a bomb attack

Turkey’s interior minister has accused Kurdish militants in northern Syria of responsibility for a bombing in a busy Istanbul shopping thoroughfare that killed six people, and said that a suspect had been arrested.

Six people died and 81 were injured when a bomb struck Istanbul’s popular pedestrian thoroughfare İstiklal Avenue, timed to strike when it was most crowded. Turkey’s justice minister, Bekir Bozdağ, said that “a woman sat on a bench there for 45 minutes”, and that the explosion occurred moments after she left.

Continue reading...

Grain deal U-turn offers lesson in calling Vladimir Putin’s bluff

Posted on by

Russian leader has backed down in face of defiance, and move also shows Turkey’s growing influence

In the end, Vladimir Putin backed down. Faced with blocking ships carrying grain from Ukraine or tacitly admitting that his threats to do so had been a bluff, the Kremlin leader opted not to rekindle a global food crisis.

Russia’s exit from the deal that allowed exports of grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea was weeks in the making. Russia had threatened to do so after an explosion rocked the Crimea Bridge in October, and again after the drone attack on its Black Sea fleet last week.

Continue reading...

Finland and Sweden call on Hungary and Turkey to ratify Nato applications

Posted on by

Erdoğan demands action against ‘terrorist’ Kurdish militants as Nordic pair maintain united front

The prime ministers of Finland and Sweden have urged Hungary and Turkey to approve their countries’ applications to join Nato, but Ankara insisted it would not lift its objections without further extraditions of suspects it considers terrorists.

The two Nordic nations applied to join the US-led defence alliance in May, jettisoning decades of military non-alignment in a historic policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Continue reading...

UN urges investigation after 92 naked migrants ‘sent’ from Turkey into Greece

Posted on by

UNHCR says circumstances of ‘shocking’ discovery unclear amid rising tension between two countries

The UN refugee agency is demanding an urgent investigation into the discovery of 92 naked people on Greece’s land border with Turkey, calling the incident shocking and saying it had been “deeply distressed” by images of the group.

The men, mainly from Afghanistan and Syria, were found close to the frontier after crossing the Evros River in rubber dinghies, according to Greek police. Children were among the group, a UNHCR spokesperson told the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Russia to stage ‘provocation’ at nuclear plant, warns Ukrainian military

Posted on by

UN secretary general calls for urgent withdrawal of Russian forces and equipment from Zaporizhzhia

Ukraine’s military intelligence has warned that Russian forces may be preparing to stage a “provocation” at a nuclear power plant they control, as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called for an urgent withdrawal of military forces and equipment from the site.

Guterres, on his second visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, joined the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for meetings and then a press conference in the western city of Lviv.

Continue reading...

Putin and Erdoğan meet for secretive talks in Sochi

Posted on by

Talks expected to focus on Ukraine and could include Kremlin efforts to circumvent western sanctions

Vladimir Putin has met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for talks expected to focus on Russia’s war in Ukraine and that are being rumoured to include Kremlin efforts to circumvent western sanctions.

Putin welcomed the Turkish president to Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea, by thanking him for his help in securing an international deal that resumed exports of grain from Ukraine that had been disrupted by the Kremlin war machine – as well as Russian foodstuffs and fertilisers – to world markets.

Continue reading...

Erdoğan asks Russia and Iran to back Turkey’s incursion into Syria

Posted on by

Turkish president cites Kurdish forces in north-west Syria as justification for extending zone of control

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has used trilateral talks with his Iranian and Russian counterparts in Tehran to make the case for a further Turkish incursion into north-western Syria.

Erdoğan cited Kurdish forces in Tel Rifaat and Manbij, two towns in north-west Syria where Russian and Iranian forces are present, as justification for Turkey extending its zone of control in the country. “What we expect from Iran and Russia is to support Turkey in its fight against terrorist organisations,” he told a press conference following the meeting.

Continue reading...

Putin endorsed by Iran for invasion of Ukraine but clashes with Turkey at summit

Posted on by

Tehran meeting saw discord over Erdoğan’s plan to intervene in Syria but ‘progress’ on shipping Ukrainian grain

Vladimir Putin ended his first major summit outside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine with an endorsement from Iran for its response to Nato, a clash with Turkey over Syria and signs of progress over the lifting of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain.

The White House said the Tehran summit held between Putin, the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, showed how isolated the Russian leader had become – which was not an observation shared by Moscow, who claimed it showed Russia remained respected in the Middle East.

Continue reading...

Question of what now for Syria remains as vexed as ever

Posted on by

Analysis: while diplomatic efforts continue over Ukraine, Syria risks becoming entrenched as the conflict that was

Before Ukraine there was Syria, a war so vicious and consuming that it was once considered to be the most consequential conflict of the last 50 years.

With more than half a million killed when the counting stopped seven years ago, nearly two-thirds of the country’s prewar population displaced or in exile, and its economy and social fabric in ruins, Syria is a shattered husk, its spoils eagerly eyed by the three leaders who gathered in Tehran on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Erdoğan gains from lifting Sweden and Finland Nato veto with US fighter jet promise

Posted on by

Analysis: deal between Biden and Erdoğan is sealed in Madrid after Nordic countries vow to control support for Kurdish terrorism

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, immediately started to reap the rewards for lifting the block on allowing Sweden and Finland to join Nato when the Biden administration said it backed the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

Speaking at a briefing call on Wednesday, Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary for defence for international security affairs at the Pentagon, told reporters that strong Turkish defence capabilities would reinforce Nato’s defences.

Continue reading...

Why has Erdoğan doubled down on threat to veto Nordic Nato bids?

Posted on by

Analysis: By demanding extradition of alleged PKK members, Turkish president could have one eye on elections

After initial hesitation about the seriousness of Turkey’s objections, its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has doubled down on his threat to veto Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for membership of Nato, saying there is no point in either country sending delegations to Ankara to persuade him otherwise.

On Wednesday, he also extended his demands from the two he outlined on Monday to 10, leading to claims that he is using blackmail.

Continue reading...

Khashoggi row goes unmentioned as Erdoğan seeks to boost Saudi trade ties

Posted on by

Analysis: regional rivals reconcile in Jeddah while reason for three-year rift remains elephant in the room

With awkward embraces and fixed grins, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Mohammed bin Salman struck a pose of reconciliation. For the past three years, the presence of the Turkish leader and the Saudi crown prince in the same room would have been unthinkable, but in a drawing room of a Jeddah palace on Friday, both tried to signal a new beginning.

There was no sign of the acrimony that had set the regional rivals apart and – most definitely – no mention of the reason for the rift: the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Continue reading...