Sorted by date Results 1 - 24 of 24
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia agreed Wednesday to rejoin a wartime agreement that allows Ukrainian grain and other commodities to be shipped to world markets. The U.N.'s refugee chief, meanwhile, put the number of Ukrainians driven from their homes since the Russian invasion eight months ago at around 14 million. It is "the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades," said Filippo Grandi, who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In announcing that Russia would rejoin the grain pact, President Vladimir Putin said M...
ISTANBUL (AP) — Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, described Joe Biden's decision to visit Saudi Arabia as "heartbreaking," accusing the U.S. president of backing down from his pledge of prioritizing human rights. In an interview with The Associated Press in Istanbul a day before Biden travels to Saudi Arabia on Friday to meet with the crown prince, Cengiz said Biden should press Saudi Arabia — a country that she described as a "terrible ally" — to embrace a human rights agenda. She also wants Biden to se...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday the discovery of a large natural gas reserve off the Black Sea coast that will help ease the country's dependence on imports. Erdogan said the amount of gas discovered is 320 billion cubic meters, a sum industry analysts said was notable but not a "game-changer" that might turn the country into a regional energy hub or materially alter its financial fortunes. Turkey hopes to start extracting and using the gas by 2023, when Turkey marks the centenary of the f...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Two more Turkish soldiers were killed Wednesday in a Syrian government attack in Syria's northwest, the country's Defense Ministry said, as steady clashes between the two national armies continued to rack up casualties. Turkey has sent thousands of troops into the area to support Syrian insurgents holed up there, but hasn't been able to stop a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to retake the Idlib province. A Syrian opposition war monitor said nine Syrian soldiers were also killed in Turkish drone attacks in the no...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked a sparsely-populated part of eastern Turkey on Friday, killing at least 18 people, injuring more than 500 and leaving some 30 trapped in the wreckage of toppled buildings, Turkish officials said. Rescue teams from neighboring provinces were dispatched to the affected areas, working in the dark with floodlights in the freezing cold, and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said troops were on standby to help. Hundreds of residents were left homeless or with damaged homes. TV footage showed r...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his country is determined to destroy what he called a "terror corridor" in northern Syria — regardless of whether or not Turkey and the United States agree on the establishment of a so-called "safe zone" there. U.S. and Turkish officials have been holding talks on creating a safe zone east of the Euphrates River to address Turkey's security concerns stemming from the presence of Syrian Kurdish fighters in the region. Turkey views the Kurdish fighters — who have battl...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Wednesday to coordinate their moves in Syria as their governments bargain over zones of influence in the war-torn country. The leaders share strong opposition to the U.S. military presence in Syria, seeing it as an obstacle to their clout in the country. The Kremlin meeting marked their first encounter since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the pullout of American troops in a Dec. 19 tweet. "If such plans are implemented, it will mark a p...
ISTANBUL (AP) — Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated killing, and his body was dismembered before it was removed, a top Turkish prosecutor said Wednesday. Chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan's office also said in a statement that discussions with Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb over the killing yielded "no concrete result" despite Turkey's "good-intentioned efforts to reveal the truth." The statement was the first public confirmation by a Turkish o...
ISTANBUL (AP) — Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a "fistfight" in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the kingdom said early Saturday, acknowledging the writer's death for the first time. Authorities said 18 Saudi suspects were in custody for his slaying and intelligence officials had been fired. The overnight announcements in Saudi state media came more than two weeks after Khashoggi, 59, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul for paperwork required to marry his Turkish fiancée, and never came out. Since his disappearance, the ki...
ISTANBUL (AP) — A man who previously traveled with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage to the United States entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul just before writer Jamal Khashoggi vanished there, according to images published Thursday by a pro-government Turkish newspaper. The Sabah newspaper's report showed the man also later outside the Saudi consul general's home, checking out of a Turkish hotel as a large suitcase stood by his side, and leaving Turkey on Oct. 2. The report came as Turkish crime-scene investigators f...
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish crime-scene investigators searched the home of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul on Wednesday in the disappearance of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, and a pro-government newspaper published a gruesome account of the journalist's alleged slaying. As Saudi Arabia's green national flag flapped overhead, forensics teams entered the residence, only 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the consulate where Khashoggi vanished Oct. 2 while trying to pick up paperwork to get married. It was the second-such extraordinary search of a s...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A detained American pastor has become a symbol of a growing rift between Turkey and the United States, but problems in the Cold War-era alliance as well as Turkey's own financial crisis are unlikely to dissipate even if he is released and Washington eases economic penalties. The fate of Andrew Brunson, charged with terror offenses by a Turkish court, also overshadows the predicament of a Turkish-American scientist from NASA and several Turkish workers for the U.S. diplomatic mission who were arrested in Turkey. Turkey, m...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey said Wednesday it is increasing tariffs on some U.S. products like cars, alcohol, and coal — a move that is unlikely to have much economic impact but highlights the deteriorating relations with the U.S. in a feud that has already helped trigger a currency crisis . The Turkish government said tariffs on American cars will be doubled to 120 percent while those on alcoholic drinks will be hiked by the same rate to 140 percent. Overall, the duties will amount to $533 million, a relatively small sum meant as ret...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's president appeared to escalate a dispute with the United States that has helped foment a Turkish currency crisis, claiming Tuesday that his country will boycott U.S.-made electronic goods. Behind the scenes, however, diplomats resumed contact to ease tensions. Addressing a conference of his ruling party faithful in the capital, Recep Tayyip Erdogan added fuel to the spat with the U.S., even as local business groups called on his government to settle it. Investors seemed to look through the fiery rhetoric, p...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A financial shockwave ripped through Turkey on Friday, when its currency nosedived on concerns about its economic policies and a dispute with the U.S., which President Donald Trump stoked further with a promise to double tariffs on the NATO ally. The lira tumbled 14 percent in one day, to 6.51 per dollar, a massive move for a currency that will make the Turkish poorer and further erode international investors' confidence in the country. The currency's drop — 41 percent so far this year — is a gauge of fear over a count...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — U.S. and Turkish officials met on Friday to discuss impending American sanctions on Iran — an issue that has the potential to cause a new flashpoint in relations between the two NATO allies. U.S. Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea, who met with Turkish treasury and foreign ministry officials, said his talks in Ankara were very "positive" and that there was "no hostility" on either side. He also met with a series of Turkish companies. Turkey's foreign ministry said for its part, that it was...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caught Turkey off guard on Wednesday by calling early elections for June, in a move that could cement his grip on power a year ahead of schedule. Erdogan announced that parliamentary and presidential elections, originally scheduled for November 2019 will now be held June 24, meaning that a new political system that will increase the powers of the president will take effect a year early. Turkey is switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential one, abolishing the office of the p...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that his military "won't stop" trying to oust Syrian Kurdish fighters from northern Syria, as he met with the leaders of Russia and Iran for talks on trying to resolve the conflict. The three countries, which have teamed up to work for a Syria settlement despite their differences, reaffirmed their commitment to Syria's territorial integrity and the continuation of local cease-fires. They called on the international community to provide more aid for war-ravaged Syria. E...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that his country's plan to purchase Russia's long-range missile defense system is a "done deal," brushing aside concerns from some NATO allies. Erdogan appeared at a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in Ankara for his first foreign visit since his March 18 re-election. Both the defense system agreement and Putin's visit underscore the intensifying ties between Turkey and Russia. In December, they finalized a deal for Turkey to p...
BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey said Tuesday its troops and allied Syrian fighters have encircled the Kurdish-held town of Afrin in northern Syria, putting hundreds of thousands of civilians under siege and marking a significant military advance in the seven-week operation. Turkey launched its assault on the border enclave on Jan. 20 to drive out Syrian Kurdish forces that it views as "terrorists" linked to Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey. The Turkish military said the siege of Afrin, the main town in the enclave of the same name, began Monday a...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is set to extend a state of emergency for the sixth time since the failed 2016 coup attempt, worrying both government opponents and allies who fear the special powers are driving Turkey in an increasingly authoritarian direction. The state of emergency, declared five days after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, has allowed a massive government crackdown aimed at suspected supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey says was behind the coup attempt. Gulen denies any involvement. Under the s...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday slammed the conviction in New York of a Turkish banker accused of helping Iran evade sanctions as a "legal disgrace." A day after Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a 47-year-old deputy general manager of state-run Halkbank was found guilty of five counts including bank fraud, Turkey's deputy prime minister, Bekir Bozdag, took to Twitter to describe the trial as a "political conspiracy" of "no legal value to Turkey." The trial of Atilla, which included testimony suggesting high-level corruption in Turkey, has s...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The United States will cut off its supply of arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria, a move by President Donald Trump that is sure to please Turkey but further alienate Syrian Kurds who bore much of the fight against the Islamic State group. In a phone call Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he'd "given clear instructions" that the Kurds will receive no more weapons — "and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago," said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The White House con...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Turkey on Thursday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that focused on the situation in Iraq and Syria along with bilateral trade. Putin's visit came as Turkey and Russia are working to deepen ties in a turnaround for the two nations, which have backed opposing sides in Syria and nearly came to blows over Turkey's downing of a Russian plane in 2015. The two leaders showered one another with praise in statements after their talks in Ankara, hailing a deal to de-escalate fig...
