Author: Erkin Akkoyun

The Kremlin on Nov. 18 dismissed a peace plan for Ukraine reportedly to be put forward by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, describing it as “unacceptable.” Erdogan’s proposal would include Ukraine abstaining from joining NATO for at least 10 years, freezing the current front line, providing Ukraine with weapons, and deploying international troops to a demilitarized buffer zone in the country’s east, Bloomberg reported. The news outlet also said Erdogan would propose the plan during G20 talks commencing on Nov. 18. Reacting to the reports, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the proposal. “The option of freezing the line of military conflict is unacceptable…

Ukraine lost more than 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it captured in a surprise offensive in August with the Russians launching multiple counter-attacks, a senior source in Kyiv’s army said. While the Kursk invasion caught Moscow unprepared, Russian forces are still steadily advancing in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said. The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to…

ISTANBUL Star Wars: A New Hope, the very first movie in the famed series, from 1977, got special big-screen showings in Istanbul to mark May 4, the “May the Fourth Be With You” annual event. Some 4,000 people watched Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert in two separate screenings at Istanbul’s Zorlu Performing Arts Center, the venue said in a statement. The Istanbul Film Orchestra, under the direction of master composer John Williams, who composed the music for the original film and many others, and won the Oscar for Best Original Score, accompanied the special screening. Along with its…

Turkish security forces “neutralised” 16 PKK terrorists, including a number of terrorist ringleaders, in northern Iraq, an area near the Turkish border, the country’s National Defence Ministry has announced. The terrorists were neutralised in an air operation conducted in the Hakurk, Metina, and Gara regions of northern Iraq, the ministry announced on X on Monday. The ministry reiterated its resolve “to eradicate terrorism and rescue our nation from this scourge.” PKK in northern Iraq “Our determination to obliterate terrorist nests continues with growing impact and intense pressure,” it added. Turkish authorities use the term “neutralise” to imply the terrorists in…

ALBAWABA – Turkey’s decision to cut off all commerce with Israel has significantly worsened the continuing crisis in the area and brought numerous sectors of the Israeli economy dangerously close to collapse. Israel’s construction sector now faces an unprecedented danger of collapse, with contractors fearing impending insolvency amid the intensifying war, according to reports from aksam.com.tr, cited from The Jerusalem Post. The economic analysts in Israel unanimously estimate that Turkey’s ban on trade with Tel Aviv would hurt the occupied state’s economy and commerce. About $5 billion in raw materials and merchandise are imported from Turkey yearly. Metals, equipment, vehicles,…

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani reiterated Monday his government’s commitment to protecting diplomatic missions in the country. He made the remarks in a phone call from David Cameron, British secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, said a statement by the Iraqi prime minister’s media office. The two officials reviewed “the security and political situation in the region, including the latest developments in the Palestinian issue,” it added. Al-Sudani confirmed “Iraq’s commitment to protecting advisors and diplomatic missions operating in Iraq, as required by norms, laws, and international agreements,” stressing Iraq’s rejection of any violation of its…

Commercial activities in cities ceased, along with a complete shutdown of schools and universities, while transportation between Palestinian cities and villages also came to a halt. The strike even affected bakeries, which closed their doors in compliance with calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. Some users of social media platforms have been calling for days under the hashtag “Strike for Gaza” a global comprehensive strike demanding an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Wassel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Xinhua that the strike sends a message to the international community,…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza during a telephone conversation on Sunday, the Kremlin said in a statement. “The discussion focused on the critical situation in the Palestine-Israel conflict zone, in particular, the disastrous humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,” the Kremlin said. Putin reaffirmed his principled position of rejecting and condemning terrorism in all its manifestations, deeming it essential to avoid such grave consequences for the civilian population while countering terrorist threats. Russia is ready to provide all possible assistance to alleviate the suffering of civilians and de-escalate the…

Latest Developments The third-most senior Hamas figure, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed on January 2 in a Beirut blast that Lebanese authorities blamed on Israel. Arouri was among at least four people who died in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas media office in the southern Dahiyeh suburb of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold, authorities said. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. After Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, Arouri was the top-ranked Hamas official. He pursued an especially aggressive Palestinian terrorism strategy, with a focus on the West Bank, where he ordered the 2014 abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, sparking a…

An American court found that Mukhtar Ablyazov stole money from BTA Bank and laundered it in the United States. This is stated in a statement published on the official website of BTA Bank. On July 31, 2023, Judge John G. Költle, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, reportedly ruled in favor of BTA Bank JSC against Triadou SPV SA for over $193 million. The court’s decision follows a December 2022 jury verdict that held Triadou liable for embezzlement and illicit enrichment. “In addition to the jury’s verdict, the judge, after studying the case…