Author: Akpulat Erentoz

Forced to abandon their hometown 40 years ago due to PKK attacks, five families have returned to their village in the southeastern province of Şırnak after it was cleared of terrorism within the scope of the Interior Ministry’s “Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project.” Many citizens in the region had to leave their homeland due to terrorist attacks that started in the 1980s, while some of the residents of the Mağara Village, where mostly Yazidis lived, immigrated to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. With several regions in Şırnak being cleared of terrorism, the ministry and the governor’s office contacted the residents of…

Iran said on Wednesday that it has been investigating the January deadly attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran in hopes that the embassy will resume its operations soon, the official news agency IRNA reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. Aliyev hoped that the perpetrators behind the embassy attack would receive “appropriate” punishment. They also shared views on the growing dynamism of the Baku-Tehran economic and trade relations, including…

The tourism sector in Türkiye witnessed a notable resurgence in demand as the number of tourists visiting the country during the first six months of 2023 increased by an impressive 17 percent, surpassing the 22 million mark, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced. Tourism income also experienced a substantial boost, rising by 27 percent during the same period, amounting to a staggering $21.7 billion, Ersoy revealed during a press conference in Istanbul on July 31. The minister attributed the positive growth to the country’s efforts to improve per capita nightly income, which had previously declined to $62. He emphasized that these efforts resulted…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has voiced concern over the recent attacks on Islam’s holy book of Quran in Denmark and Sweden, stating that the Nordic countries are now “beginning to grasp the potential harms and threats posed by such actions.” “The fact that both countries are making statements at the government level shows that they understand the potential harms and threats posed by this issue,” Fidan said during a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ceyhun Bayramov, in Ankara on July 31. Fidan emphasized the need to prevent provocations on such a sensitive issue within their own countries. “Our talks on the attacks last. Our…

The race for the Istanbul provincial chair in the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has emerged as a critical test for the party’s leadership aspirations, with the city’s current head, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, ineligible to run again due to a political ban. The contest to determine the new Istanbul head commenced, setting the stage for what is believed to be a prelude to a leadership struggle within the party. The race has seen intense competition between the camps of Kılıçdaroğlu and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who reportedly leads the intra-party opposition following the electoral defeat of the larger opposition bloc. The process began with…

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that Saudi Arabia will soon reopen its embassy in Iran’s capital Tehran, according to the official news agency IRNA. Speaking at a weekly press conference in Tehran, Kanaani did not give a specific date for the reopening of the Saudi embassy. He noted that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will take a trip to Saudi Arabia to boost bilateral relations, the date of which he said is yet to be decided. In early June, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh as well as its consulate general and representative office to the Organisation…

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday condemned Israel’s latest large-scale military raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin. At a weekly press conference, Nasser Kanaani said the Israeli military offensive, which involved airstrikes and ground operations, is a “criminal move,” Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported. Kanaani said the raid was a “bitter event,” because the Palestinians had committed no crime and were merely defending their natural rights. At least eight Palestinians have so far been killed and 50 others injured in the raid, according to the latest figures released by the Palestinian Health Ministry. Palestinian eyewitnesses…

The Defense Ministry on July 30 reported that 12 PKK/YPG terrorists have been neutralized in northern Syria during a military operation in the region. According to the statement released by the ministry, the operation was launched in response to harassment fire from the terrorists in the Operation Euphrates Shield region. The term “neutralize” is commonly used by Turkish military and officials to indicate that the terrorists either surrendered, were killed or captured. “Heroic Mehmetçik [Turkish soldiers] continues its fight against terrorists in Syria’s north effectively and resolutely,” the ministry tweeted. In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a…

Nine universities in Türkiye have made it to the top 500 in global university rankings, Middle East Technical University (METU) University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) Laboratory’s 2022 report has shown. URAP Research Laboratory has evaluated 206 Turkish universities according to their academic performance in 2022, using several international resources along with other data published by the country’s Higher Education Board (YÖK). The top nine universities in the country that have made remarkable success in various international university rankings prepared by evaluating certain criteria were announced as METU, Hacettepe University, Istanbul University, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Bilkent University, Boğaziçi University, Koç University, Sabancı University and Çankaya…

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday strongly condemned Sweden for permitting the burning of Quran that desecrated the Islamic holy book. The move authorized by a Swedish court is “provocative, unwise and unacceptable,” especially during the Hajj pilgrimage and Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, Nasser Kanaani said in a statement published on the ministry’s website. He called on the Swedish government to prevent the recurrence of such events, noting insulting holy books is an instance of inciting violence and hatemongering and contradicts the original human rights values. In Sweden’s capital Stockholm on Wednesday, a person said to be an Iraqi…