Turkey
What to know about the big quake that hit Turkey, Syria
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday devastated wide swaths of Turkey and Syria, killing thousands of people.
The quake hit at depth of 11 miles (18 kilometres) and was centred in southern Turkey, near the northern border of Syria, according to the US Geological Survey.
Many aftershocks have rocked the area since the initial quake. In the first 11 hours, the region had felt 13 significant aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5, said Alex Hatem, a USGS research geologist.
Scientists are studying whether a magnitude 7.5 quake that hit nine hours after the main shock is an aftershock. Hatem said it appears to be the case.
"More aftershocks are certainly expected, given the size of the main shock," Hatem said. "We expect aftershocks to continue in the coming days, weeks and months."
Researchers said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally, instead of moving up and down.
In this case, one block moved west while the other moved east – grinding past each other to create the quake, Hatem said.
The quake occurred in a seismically active area known as the East Anatolian fault zone, which has produced damaging earthquakes in the past.
Turkey had another major earthquake in January 2020 – a magnitude 6.7 that caused significant damage.
The earthquake was powerful – one of the biggest strike-slip earthquakes that has hit on land, Hatem said.
"On top of that, it's located near populated areas," she said.
Building collapses were reported in cities, including Diyarbakir, Turkey, and Aleppo, Syria.
Rescue efforts were also hampered by freezing temperatures and traffic jams from residents trying to leave quake-stricken areas.
Read more: Powerful quake rocks Turkey and Syria, kills more than 2,300
Earthquake death toll crosses 5,000 as Turkey, Syria seek survivors
Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, with the discovery of more bodies raising the death toll to more than 5,000.
Countries around the world dispatched teams to assist in the rescue efforts, and Turkey's disaster management agency said more than 24,400 emergency personnel were now on the ground. But with such a wide swath of territory hit by Monday’s earthquake and nearly 6,000 buildings confirmed to have collapsed in Turkey alone, their efforts were spread thin.
Attempts to reach survivors were also impeded by temperatures below freezing and close to 200 aftershocks, which made the search through unstable structures perilous.
Nurgul Atay told The Associated Press she could hear her mother's voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the city of Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, but that her and others efforts to get into the ruins had been futile without any rescue crews and heavy equipment to help.
“If only we could lift the concrete slab we'd be able to reach her,” she said. “My mother is 70-years-old, she won't be able to withstand this for long.”
Across Hatay province, just southwest of the earthquake's epicenter, officials say as many as 1,500 buildings were destroyed and many people reported relatives being trapped under the rubble with no aid or rescue teams arriving.
In areas where teams worked, occasional cheers broke out through the night as survivors were brought out of the rubble.
The quake, which was centered in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo.
Sebastien Gay, the head of mission in Syria for Doctors Without Borders, said health facilities in northern Syria were overwhelmed with medical personnel working around “around the clock to respond to the huge numbers of wounded.”
In Turkey's Hatay province, thousands of people sheltered in sports centers or fair halls, while others spent the night outside, huddled in blankets around fires.
Turkey has large numbers of troops in the border region with Syria and has tasked the military to aid in the rescue efforts, including setting up tents for the homeless and a field hospital in Hatay province. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said a humanitarian aid brigade based in Ankara and eight military search and rescue teams had also been deployed.
A navy ship docked on Tuesday at the province's port of Iskenderun, where a hospital collapsed, to transport survivors in need of medical care to the nearby city of Mersin. Thick, black smoke rose from another area of the port, where firefighters have not yet been able to douse a fire that broke out among shipping containers that were toppled by the earthquake.
In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a provincial capital about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from the epicenter, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers.
Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said the total number of deaths in Turkey had risen to 3,419, with another 20,534 people injured.
The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 812 people, with some 1,450 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In the country’s rebel-held northwest, the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, or White Helmets, the paramedic group leading rescue operations, said that at least 790 were killed and more than 2,200 injured.
That brought the overall total to 5,021.
Authorities fear the death toll will keep climbing as the rescuers look for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.
In the latest pledges of international help, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he was preparing to swiftly dispatch a 60-person search and rescue team as well as medical supplies and 50 soldiers. Pakistan's government sent a flight carrying relief supplies and a 50-member search and rescue team early Tuesday, and said there will be daily aid flights to Syria and Turkey from Wednesday. India said it would send two search and rescue teams, including specially trained dogs and medical personnel.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Ankara Wednesday to express his condolences and solidarity, according to a statement from Islamabad.
U.S. President Joe Biden called Erdogan to express condolences and offer assistance to the NATO ally. The White House said it was sending search-and-rescue teams to support Turkey’s efforts.
The quake piled more misery on a region that has seen tremendous suffering over the past decade. On the Syrian side, the affected area is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the Syrian civil war.
In the rebel-held enclave, hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organization known as the White Helmets said in a statement. The area is packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war. Many live in buildings that are were already damaged by military bombardments.
Strained medical centers quickly filled with injured people, rescue workers said. Some facilities had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organization.
More than 7,800 people were rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority.
The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometers (11 miles). Hours later, another quake, likely triggered by the first, struck more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away with 7.5 magnitude.
The second jolt caused a multistory apartment building in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to topple onto the street in a cloud of dust as bystanders screamed, according to video of the scene.
Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast.
Turkey condemns Sweden protests, cancels ministers' meeting
Turkey on Saturday canceled a planned visit by Sweden’s defense minister in response to anti-Turkish protests that increased tension between the two countries as Sweden seeks Turkey's approval to join NATO.
A far-right activist from Denmark received permission from police to stage a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm where he burned the Quran, Islam’s holy book. A separate pro-Kurdish demonstration was held later Saturday in the Swedish capital.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the scheduled Jan. 27 visit by his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson no longer held “any importance or point,” because Sweden continued to allow “disgusting” demonstrations against Turkey.
Jonson tweeted that he had met Akar on Friday in Ramstein, Germany, where they “agreed to postpone” the meeting in Ankara.
Read more: PM seeks cooperation from Turkey in defence sector
“Relations with Turkey are very important for Sweden and we look forward to continuing the dialogue on common security and defense issues at a later date,” he wrote.
The bid by historically nonaligned Sweden and Finland to join NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been held up by Ankara, which has accused Sweden in particular of being soft on Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey considers security threats.
The Swedish government's efforts to improve relations with Turkey have been complicated by demonstrations by pro-Kurdish activists, which have infuriated Turkey's government. On Saturday, anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan added to the tensions by staging a Quran-burning protest outside the Turkish Embassy.
Surrounded by police, Paludan carried out his protest while making disparaging remarks about immigrants and Islam. About 100 people gathered nearby for a peaceful counterdemonstration.
In a separate protest later Saturday, a few hundred pro-Kurdish and anti-NATO activists marched through downtown Stockholm. Demonstrators waved flags of various Kurdish groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. The PKK is considered a terrorist group in Turkey, the European Union and the United States, but its symbols aren't banned in Sweden.
The protesters also held up flags with the face of imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and walked over a photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Swedish officials have stressed that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Swedish Constitution and gives people extensive rights to express their views publicly, though incitement to violence or hate speech isn't allowed. Demonstrators must apply to police for a permit for a public gathering. Police can deny such permits only on exceptional grounds, such as risks to public safety.
Turkish officials condemned the Quran-burning protest and Swedish authorities for allowing it.
“Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of ‘freedom of expression’ is completely unacceptable. This is an outright hate crime,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In another statement, following the pro-Kurdish protest, Ankara said that Sweden was in “clear violation” of the joint memorandum signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland in June by not preventing “terror organization propaganda."
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Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s spokesman, called the Quran-burning a hateful crime against humanity, while Erdogan’s nationalist ally, Devlet Bahceli, said parliament wouldn’t ratify Sweden’s NATO membership “under these conditions.”
“Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish Government, or myself, support the opinions expressed,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billström tweeted.
About 100 people gathered outside the Swedish Consulate in Istanbul on Saturday night, where demonstrators burned a Swedish flag and shouted slogans like “hands raised against the Quran will be broken.” A small group also gathered outside the Swedish Embassy in Ankara.
Earlier in January, an effigy of Erdogan was hung from a lamppost during a protest by Kurds. Turkey denounced a decision by a Swedish prosecutor not to investigate and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the protest an act of “sabotage” against Sweden’s bid to join NATO. Turkey summoned the Swedish ambassador earlier this week and canceled a visit by the speaker of the Swedish parliament in reaction to the incident.
All NATO members need to ratify in their parliaments the accession requests by Sweden and Finland, which were made after Russia's war on Ukraine prompted the Nordic countries to drop their longstanding policies of military nonalignment. While Turkey says it has no objection to NATO's growth, it won't ratify the bids until its demands, which include extraditions of alleged terror suspects, are met.
Bangladesh-Turkiye Business Forum launched to usher in new era of economic cooperation
With an aim to promote bilateral relations, the Bangladesh-Türkiye Business Forum (BTBF) was officially launched on Tuesday paving the way for a new era in trade and investment between the two countries.
“This is an important occasion for us because our countries are building another bridge through this business forum,” said outgoing Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan.
Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman spoke at the event as the chief guest which began with brief classical music at the Turkish Embassy in Dhaka.
An hour before the launching event at the Embassy, Ambassador Turan together with the BTBF leaders opened the office of BTBF at “Marina Mansion” at city’s Gulshan-2.
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Honorary Consul General of Türkiye in Chattogram and co-chairman of BTBF Salahuddin Kasem Khan, Managing Director of Mohammadi Group and BTBF chairperson Dr. Rubana Huq and CEO of United AYGAZ LPG Ltd and BTBF Secretary Ercument Polat spoke at the event.
PM seeks cooperation from Turkey in defence sector
Government-sponsored 100 economic zones in Bangladesh are attracting more Turkish investment to come with their new investments, said outgoing Turkish ambassador Mustafa Osman Turan on Tuesday.
He came up with the remark while calling on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in the morning on Tuesday.
PM’s speech writer M Nazrul Islam briefed the reporters after the meeting.
He said that the Turkish Ambassador mentioned that already two companies of his country invested $850 million this year in the economic zones.
“The unprecedented infrastructural development of Bangladesh, especially the establishment of 100 economic zones, is attracting Turkish investors in Bangladesh,” the envoy was quoted as saying by Nazrul.
The Prime Minister requested the outgoing ambassador to encourage more Turkish investment in Bangladesh to further cement the excellent bilateral relations between the two friendly countries.
“We have historical and cultural ties,” she said.
She also said that both countries could establish cooperation in the defence sector apart from economic and social cooperation.
She emphasises on holding the Joint Economic Commission meeting in Bangladesh to hold dialogue about the enhancement of business and trade between the two countries.
The last Commission meeting was held in Istanbul (Turkey) in 2019.
The Turkish envoy mentioned that his country is interested to cooperate in the defence sector.
The Prime Minister requested Turkey to put pressure on Myanmar for taking back Rohingya as more than 1 million Rohingya have become a serious burden for Bangladesh.
In reply, the ambassador assured the PM of his country’s continuous support.
Ambassador at Large M Ziauddin and Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah were present during the meeting.
Hasina said Bangladesh wants more Turkish cooperation including in investment and business areas to face the challenges ahead as the country is in the process of graduating from the LDC status in 2026.
The envoy sought a suitable place in Bangladesh for establishing a super specialised hospital.
In response, the Prime Minister said it could be in Purbachal or somewhere near the Padma Bridge to ensure improved health care services for the people of the country’s southern region.
The Turkish Ambassador highly praised the idea of the Prime Minister on establishing a Smart Bangladesh.
He said that Turkey will extend its cooperation in this regard, and the idea will also be subscribed in Turkey.
He further said that there are more areas like tourism and education where cooperation between Bangladesh and Turkey could be further expanded.
Turan hoped that Hasina will form the government again after being re-elected in the next general election.
Turkish strikes on US Kurd allies resonate in Ukraine war
Biden administration officials are toughening their language toward NATO ally Turkey as they try to talk Turkish President Recep Erdogan out of launching a bloody and destabilizing ground offensive against American-allied Kurdish forces in neighboring Syria.
Since Nov. 20, after six people died in an Istanbul bombing a week before that Turkey blamed, without evidence, on the U.S. and its Kurdish allies in Syria, Turkey has launched cross-border airstrikes, rockets and shells into U.S.- and Kurdish-patrolled areas of Syria, leaving Kurdish funeral corteges burying scores of dead.
Some criticized the initial muted U.S. response to the near-daily Turkish bombardment — a broad call for “de-escalation” — as a U.S. green light for more. With Erdogan not backing down on his threat to escalate, the U.S. began speaking more forcefully.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday to express “strong opposition” to Turkey launching a new military operation in northern Syria.
And National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday made one of the administration's first specific mentions of the impact of the Turkish strikes on the Kurdish militia, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, that works with the United States against Islamic State militants bottled up in northern Syria.
How successfully the United States manages Erdogan’s threat to send troops in against America's Kurdish partners over coming weeks will affect global security concerns far from that isolated corner of Syria.
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That's especially true for the Ukraine conflict. The Biden administration is eager for Erdogan's cooperation with other NATO partners in countering Russia, particularly when it comes to persuading Turkey to drop its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
But giving Turkey free rein in attacks on the Syrian Kurds in hopes of securing Erdogan's cooperation within NATO would have big security implications of its own.
U.S. forces on Friday stopped joint military patrols with the Kurdish forces in northern Syria to counter Islamic State extremists, as the Kurds concentrate on defending themselves from the Turkish air and artillery attacks and a possible ground invasion.
Since 2015, the Syrian Kurdish forces have worked with the few hundred forces the U.S. has on the ground there, winning back territory from the Islamic State and then detaining thousands of Islamic State fighters and their families and battling remnant Islamic State fighters. On Saturday, the U.S. and Kurds resumed limited patrols at one of the detention camps.
“ISIS is the forgotten story for the world and the United States, because of the focus on Ukraine,” said Omer Taspinar, an expert on Turkey and European security at the Brookings Institution and the National War College. ISIS is one widely used acronym for the Islamic State.
“Tragically, what would revive Western support for the Kurds ... would be another ISIS terrorist attack, God forbid, in Europe or in the United States that will remind people that we actually have not defeated ISIS,” Taspinar said.
Turkey says the Syrian Kurds are allied to a nearly four-decade PKK Kurdish insurgency in southeast Turkey that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people on both sides. The United States' Syrian Kurdish allies deny any attacks in Turkey.
U.S. Central Command, and many in Congress, praise the Syrian Kurds as brave comrades in arms. In July, Central Command angered Turkey by tweeting condolences for a Syrian Kurdish deputy commander and two other female fighters killed by a drone strike blamed on Turkey.
In 2019, a public outcry by his fellow Republicans and many others killed a plan by President Donald Trump, which he announced after a call with Erdogan, to clear U.S. troops out of the way of an expected Turkish attack on the Kurdish allies in Syria.
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Then-presidential contender Joe Biden was among those expressing outrage.
“The Kurds were integral in helping us defeat ISIS — and too many lost their lives. Now, President Trump has abandoned them. It’s shameful,” Biden tweeted at the time.
The measured U.S. response now — even after some Turkish strikes hit near sites that host U.S. forces — reflects the significant strategic role that Turkey, as a NATO member, plays in the alliance's efforts to counter Russia in Europe. The State Department and USAID did not immediately answer questions about whether the Turkish strikes had hindered aid workers and operations that partner with the United States.
Turkey, with strong ties to both Russia and the United States, has contributed to its NATO allies' efforts against Russia in key ways during the Ukraine conflict. That includes supplying armed drones to Ukraine, and helping mediate between Russia and the United States and others.
But Turkey is also seeking to exert leverage within the alliance by blocking Finland and Sweden from joining NATO. Turkey is demanding that Sweden surrender Kurdish exiles that it says are affiliated with the PKK Kurdish insurgents.
Turkey’s state-run news agency reported that Sweden extradited a member of the PKK and he was arrested Saturday upon arrival in Istanbul.
Turkey is one of only two of the 30 NATO members not to have signed off yet on the Nordic countries' NATO memberships. Hungary, the other, is expected to do so.
At a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Bucharest, Romania, this past week, NATO diplomats refrained from publicly confronting Turkey, avoiding giving offense that might further set back the cause of Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership.
Turkey's foreign minister made clear to his European counterparts that Turkey had yet to be appeased, when it came to Finland or Sweden hosting Kurdish exiles there.
“We reminded that in the end, it’s the Turkish people and the Turkish parliament that need to be convinced,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on the sidelines.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to talk Thursday with Finland's and Sweden's foreign ministers on dealing with Turkey's objections to their NATO accession.
Experts say the Biden administration has plenty of leverage to wield privately in urging Erdogan to relent in the threatened escalated attack on Syrian Kurds. That includes U.S. F-16 fighter sales that Turkey wants but have been opposed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez and others in Congress.
There's a third big security risk in the U.S. handling of Turkey's invasion threat, along with the possible impact on the Ukraine conflict and on efforts to contain the Islamic State.
That's the risk to Kurds, a stateless people and frequent U.S. ally often abandoned by the U.S. and the West in past conflicts over the past century.
If the U.S. stands by while Turkey escalates attacks on the Syrian Kurds who were instrumental in quelling the Islamic State, “especially in the aftermath of Afghanistan, what message are we sending to the Middle East?" asked Henri J. Barkey, an expert on Kurds and Turkey at the Council on Foreign Relations and at Lehigh University.
“And to all allies in general?" Barkey asked.
An ethnic group of millions at the intersection of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, Kurds lost out on a state of their own as the U.S. and other powers carved up the remnants of the Turkish Ottoman Empire after World War I.
Saddam Hussein and other regional leaders used poison gas, airstrikes and other tools of mass slaughter over the decades to suppress the Kurds. As under U.S. President George H.W. Bush in 1991 after the Gulf War, the United States at times encouraged popular uprisings but stood by as Kurds died in the resulting massacres.
On Nov. 28, hundreds of Syrian Kurds gathered for the victims of one of the Turkish airstrikes — five guards killed securing the al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of family members of Islamic State fighters.
Relatives of one of the Kurdish guards, Saifuddin Mohammed, placed his photo on his grave.
“Of course, we are proud,” said his brother, Abbas Mohammed. “He defended his land and his honor against the Turkish invading forces.”
Higher Study Opportunities in Turkey for International Students: Process, Cost
Nestled on both sides of the famous Bosphorus river dividing Europe and Asia, Turkey is a multicultural seat among countries, just like its geographical position. In addition to its rich history and traditions, the country has some of the most accessible higher education opportunities in the world.
The quality, cultural balance, and global acceptance of degrees have made Turkey a leading study-abroad choice for many international students from different parts of the world. Let’s find out the process of University admission and related costs for an international student in Turkey.
Why Should You Study in Turkey?
The question should be, why not? Europe has long been a study-abroad choice for many students. Needless to say, Turkey is the perfect gateway to that dream. While in recent years, most European countries have increased their cost of education, Tukey’s highly subsidized higher education has not been affected.
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In fact, out of the 200 registered universities in Turkey, most are run by the state, while other receives different funds and grants. This allowed Turkey to build up a student portfolio of over 8 million in 2021, the highest anywhere in the world. Not to mention, foreign students make up a large chunk of that sum.
Of the many universities, 27 are ranked among the top 1000 institutes in the world. This means the quality of education in Turkey is also uncompromised. A foreign student can enjoy scenic beauty, multicultural life, and a deep appreciation for the rich cultural heritage of the Turkish lands. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
How to Get Admission in Turkey at Bachelor, MS or PhD
For ease of understanding, we will break down this part into several sub-points. We will go through right from searching for the perfect stream and course in Turkey to cost, accommodation, and work opportunities as international students.
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Let's get going
Finding the Right Course
The Turkish education ministry has a dedicated website searching for the desired course for incoming international students. The website allows the students to search courses based on streams, MoI, university, and level of education. It’s an all-in-one solution to get a detailed idea about the application requirement and cost.
Application Timeline
Turkey might not be a part of the European-Bologna Process, but it follows much of the accords laid out by the council. As a result, Turkey has a two-semester system – Spring and Fall. The spring session starts around February, and the fall session starts at either the end of September or early October.
Given Turkey universities’ tedious vetting and selection process, starting the application process at least a year early before the intended semester is important. Note that September or spring admission is the only window for prospective Ph.D. students.
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Application Process
The application process first starts with choosing the degree and stream. For a bachelor, the application process mainly follows a central application system. Turkey doesn't have a centralized application system. So students will have to apply to each university individually.
The process is slightly different for masters. Students can either apply centrally or through a potential supervisor. In the case of supervised admission, students will have to contact potential professors with their research plans. If the professor approves, then they are required to apply centrally.
For Ph.D. stream students, the application process is completely supervisor based.
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A prospective student can opt to study either bachelors or masters or pursue a Ph.D. in any accredited university in turkey. The study procedure is on par with other European standards. Bachelor usually takes 3 to 4 years whereas masters are 2 years long. The Ph.D. program usually takes around 3 to 5 years, depending on the stream.
Required Documents
The required documents for application can vary depending on the degree applied for. However, some universal documents will apply to any prospective students. These include -
- Degree certification and transcripts (The last completed degree) - Statement of Purpose - Letter of recommendation - Proof of funding - Application fee payment - Updated CV - Research Plan (For masters and Ph.D.)- Cost of Studying in Turkey for International Students.
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Tuition Fees
One of the better things about studying in Turkey is the cost. The country’s highly subsidized higher education system allows for some of the lowest tuition fees in Europe. However, almost all of the subsidies are exclusively available for public universities.
Another great thing about higher study in Turkey is that there isn’t any cost difference between national and international students.
Typically a student pursuing bachelors in Turkey can expect to pay anywhere between 300 to 4000 euros or 31,679 BDT to 422,395 BDT depending on course streams (1 EUR = 105 BDT). The higher cost is usually associated with engineering and medicine streams.
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In contrast, the cost at private universities can get as high as 20,000 euros or 211,1976 BDT per year. The cost structure for masters is similar to bachelors and students can expect to pay the same as the bachelors if they don’t change stream.
Students pursuing Ph.D. can expect to pay around 500 to 1000 euros or 52,808 or 105,616 BDT per year in public universities. The cost can run up to 17,500 euros or 184,82,84 BDT in private institutes. However, private universities also have more funding opportunities compared to public ones.
Living Cost and Work Opportunities in Turkey
The living cost in Turkey is some of the lowest in all of Europe. A student can get by in a metropolis within 400 to 650 Euro or 42,246 BDT 68,650 BDT per month. Students wishing to work while studying need to obtain a work permit before they can engage in work.
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An average student with limited working hours can earn up to 400 euros per month.
Final Words
Turkey is a growing hub of higher education in the European region. Being right in the middle of Europe and Asia, Turkey offers a unique mix of culture and lifestyle that is otherwise unavailable in the Nordic or other European regions. From the Byzantines to the Ottomans to modern Turkey, the culture, heritage, and widely accepted education are sure to benefit anyone planning on a study abroad destination.
So far, we have discussed the scope of higher education in Turkey for international students including Bangladesh. Hope it helps!
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Turkey launches airstrikes over northern Syria
Turkey launched airstrikes over several towns in northern Syria on Saturday, U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces reported.
The airstrikes occurred a week after a bomb rocked a bustling avenue in the heart of Istanbul, killing six people and wounding over 80 others. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as well as Syrian Kurdish groups affiliated with it. The Kurdish militants groups have, however, denied involvement.
Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terror group, but disagree on the status of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have been allied with the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.
Following the strikes, the Turkish ministry of defense posted a photo of a fighter plane with the phrase, “The treacherous attacks of the scoundrels are being held to account."
The airstrikes targeted Kobani, a strategic town near the Turkish border that Ankara had previously attempted to overtake in its plans to establish a “safe zone” along northern Syria. SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami in a tweet added that two villages heavily populated with displaced people were under Turkish bombardment. He said the strikes had resulted in “deaths and injuries.”
Syrian opposition media reported that Turkish airstrikes targeted Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces positions.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported that the strikes had also hit Syrian army positions and that at least 12 had been killed, including both SDF and Syrian army soldiers.
Read more: Market blast in north Syria kills at least 9, wounds dozens
The observatory said about 25 air strikes were carried out by Turkish warplanes on sites in the countryside of Aleppo, Raqqa and Hasakah.
In neighboring Iraq, the U.S. Consulate General in Erbil said it is monito21 die in Syria as airstrike targets market, school shelledring “credible open-source reports” of potential Turkish military action in northern Syria and northern Iraq in the coming days.
The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria said Saturday that if Turkey attacks, then fighters in the area would have “the right to resist and defend our areas in a major way that will take the region into a long war.”
Turkey has launched three major cross-border operations into Syria since 2016 and already controls some territories in the north.
Read more:
Turkey makes more arrests in connection with deadly bombing
Turkish police have apprehended more suspects in connection with the bombing of a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded several dozen others, bringing the number of people in custody to 50, Turkey’s justice minister said Tuesday.
Sunday’s explosion targeted Istiklal Avenue — a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants — and was a stark reminder of bombings in Turkish cities between 2015 and 2017 that crushed the public’s sense of security.
Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as well as Syrian Kurdish groups affiliated with it. The Kurdish militants groups have, however, denied involvement.
Read more: Turkey detains Syrian suspect in deadly Istanbul bombing
Police carried out raids in Istanbul several hours after the blast and detained 48 people, including a Syrian woman who is suspected of leaving a TNT-laden bomb at Istiklal. Police said the woman, identified as Ahlam Albashir, had crossed into Turkey from Syria illegally and has admitted to carrying out the attack.
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the number of suspects in custody has increased to 50, but did not provide details. The state-run Anadolu Agency said police on Tuesday detained two brothers, identified as Ammar J. and Ahmed J.
Ammar J. was allegedly tasked with helping Albashir flee Istanbul to neighboring Greece after the attack, while Ahmed J. allegedly drove a suspect who is still at large, to Edirne province, near the border with Bulgaria, Anadolu reported.
“Turkey continues with its fight against terrorism with determination,” the independent T24 news website quoted the minister as saying. “No terrorist organization will succeed in any kind of plot against Turkey.”
Around 80 people were hospitalized following the attack, of whom at least 57 have been discharged. Six of the wounded were in intensive care and two of them were in serious condition, officials said.
Read more: Bomb rocks avenue in heart of Istanbul; 6 dead, dozens hurt
The six killed in the blast were members of three families and included two girls, ages 9 and 15.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has fought an armed insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.
Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terrorist group, but disagree on the status of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have been allied with the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.
Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support for the Kurdish militia in Syria, and on Monday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said he rejects messages of condolences from Washington.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, posted on social media a chart with the flags of all countries that have offered their condolences — including the American flag — with a message expressing his “heartfelt gratitude” to all states and institutions that have “shared our grief."
Turkey detains Syrian suspect in deadly Istanbul bombing
Turkish police said Monday they have detained a Syrian woman with suspected links to Kurdish militants and that she confessed to planting a bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, killing six people and wounding several dozen others. Kurdish militants strongly denied any links to the bombing.
Sunday's explosion hit Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to Taksim Square.
“A little while ago, the person who left the bomb was detained by our Istanbul Police Department teams,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced early Monday. Police later identified the suspect as Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian citizen.
Read more: Bomb rocks avenue in heart of Istanbul; 6 dead, dozens hurt
The Istanbul Police Department said videos from around 1,200 security cameras were reviewed and raids were carried out at 21 locations. At least 46 other people were also detained for questioning.
The suspect allegedly departed the scene in a taxi after leaving TNT-type explosives on the crowded avenue, police said.
Sunday’s explosion was a shocking reminder of the anxiety that gripped Turkey when such attacks were common. The country was hit by a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017, some by the Islamic State group, others by Kurdish militants who seek increased autonomy or independence.
Police said the suspect told them during her interrogation that she had been trained as a “special intelligence officer” by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, as well as the Syrian Kurdish group the Democratic Union Party and its armed wing. She entered Turkey illegally through the Syrian border town of Afrin, police said.
Read more: Turkey arrests 1, suspects Kurdish militants behind bombing
The Kurdistan Workers Party denied involvement in a statement, saying it did not target civilians. In Syria, the main Kurdish militia group, People’s Defense Units, denied any links to the suspect. The group maintained that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was trying to gather international support for his plans to launch a new incursion into northern Syria ahead of next year’s elections.Soylu said the suspect would have fled to neighboring Greece if she hadn't been detained.
Asked about Soylu’s comments, Greek government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou reiterated Greece's condolences and stressed that the government “is steadily against any terrorist act. What happened in Istanbul is abhorrent and condemnable.”
Earlier, Soylu said security forces believe that instructions for the attack came from Kobani, the majority Kurdish city in northern Syria that borders Turkey. He said the attack would be avenged.
“We know what message those who carried out this action want to give us. We got this message,” Soylu said. “Don’t worry, we will pay them back heavily.”
Soylu also blamed the United States, claiming that a condolence message from the White House was akin to “a killer being first to show up at a crime scene.” Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish groups.
In its message, the White House said it strongly condemned the “act of violence" in Istanbul, adding: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our NATO ally (Turkey) in countering terrorism.”
Turkish television broadcast footage purporting to show the main suspect being detained at a house where she was allegedly hiding. It said police searching the house also seized large amounts of cash, gold and a gun.
The minister told reporters that Kurdish militants had allegedly given orders for the main suspect to be killed to avoid evidence being traced back to them.
Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said of the 81 people hospitalized in the attack, 57 have been discharged. Six of the wounded were in intensive care and two of them were in life-threatening condition, he said. The six killed in the blast were members of three families and included children ages 9 and 15.
Funerals were held Monday for the six victims, including Adem Topkara and his wife, Elif Topkara, who had left their two young children with their aunt and were taking a stroll down Istiklal at the time of the blast.
Istiklal Avenue was reopened to pedestrian traffic at 6 a.m. Monday after police concluded inspections. People began leaving carnations at the site of the blast, while the street was decorated with hundreds of Turkish flags.
Mecid Bal, a 63-year-old kiosk owner, said his son was caught up in the blast and called him from the scene.
“Dad, there are dead and wounded lying on the ground. I was crushed when I stood up" to run, Bal quoted him as saying.
Restaurant worker Emrah Aydinoglu was talking on the phone when he heard the explosion.
“I looked out of the window and saw people running,” the 22-year-old said. “People were lying on the ground, already visible from the corner of the street (I was in). They were trying to call (for help), whether it was an ambulance or the police. All of them were shrieking and crying.”
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has fought an armed insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.
Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terrorist group, but they diverge on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have fought against IS in Syria.
In recent years, Erdogan has led a broad crackdown on the militants as well as on Kurdish lawmakers and activists. Amid skyrocketing inflation and other economic troubles, Erdogan’s anti-terrorism campaign is a key rallying point for him before Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections next year.
Following the attacks between 2015 and 2017 that left more than 500 civilians and security personnel dead, Turkey launched cross-border military operations into Syria and northern Iraq against Kurdish militants, while also cracking down on Kurdish politicians, journalists and activists at home.
“In nearly six years, we have not experienced a serious terrorist incident like the one we experienced yesterday evening in Istanbul. We are ashamed in front of our nation in this regard,” Soylu said.
Turkey’s media watchdog imposed restrictions on reporting on Sunday’s explosion — a move that bans the use of close-up videos and photos of the blast and its aftermath.
Access to Twitter and other social media sites was also restricted on Sunday.