Turkey
Turkey arrests 1, suspects Kurdish militants behind bombing
Police have arrested a suspect who is believed to have planted the bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, Turkey’s interior minister said Monday, adding that initial findings indicate that Kurdish militants were responsible for the deadly attack.
Six people were killed and several dozen others were wounded in Sunday’s explosion on Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to the iconic Taksim Square.
Read more: Bomb rocks avenue in heart of Istanbul; 6 dead, dozens hurt
“A little while ago, the person who left the bomb was detained by our Istanbul Police Department teams,” the Anadolu Agency quoted Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu as saying. He did not identify the suspect but said 21 other people were also detained for questioning.
The minister said evidence obtained pointed to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and to its Syrian extension, the PYD. He said the attack would be avenged.
“Those who made us go through this pain in Istiklal Avenue will be inflicted much more pain,” Soylu said.
Soylu also blamed the United States, saying a condolence message from the White House was akin to a “killer being first to show up at a crime scene.” Turkey accuses the U.S. of supporting Syrian Kurdish groups.
Soylu said of the 81 people who were hospitalized, 50 were discharged. Five of the wounded were receiving emergency care and two of them were in life-threatening condition, he said.
Read more: At least 100 dead as two car bombs exploded at Somalia's capital
The PKK has fought an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.
Ankara and Washington consider the PKK a terrorist group but they diverge on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have fought against the Islamic State group in Syria.Police officers stand at the entrance the street after an explosion on Istanbul's popular pedestrian Istiklal Avenue, late Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. A bomb rocked on a major pedestrian avenue in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday, killing six people, wounding dozens and sending people fleeing the fiery explosion. Emergency vehicles rushed to the scene on Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to the iconic Taksim Square.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Bangladeshi students accorded reception by High Commission in Turkey
The Embassy of Bangladesh in Turkey has accorded a reception to 39 Bangladeshi students who have passed Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Ph.D. courses.
The event was held at the "Bijoy Ekattor Auditorium" of the Embassy on Saturday (October 1, 2022), said the Embassy in a media release.
Ambassador Mosud Mannan was present at the event.
Besides, expatriate Bangladeshis living in different cities of the country attended the gathering.
At the beginning of the programme, recitation from the Holy Quran and special prayers were offered.
Read: 4 IU teachers to attend int’l training in Turkey
The Ambassador paid tribute to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He called upon the students present at the felicitation ceremony to contribute to the ongoing development process of the country by honoring the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the War of Liberation in 1971.
A raffle draw was held at the end of the programme where seven winners were gifted laptops, mobiles and electronics materials.
Turkey: Crashes at emergency sites kill at least 35 people
Turkish authorities on Sunday investigated a pair of secondary crashes at emergency sites that killed at least 35 people the previous day. In both cases, first responders tending to earlier collisions were among the dead.
Saturday's tragedies happened just 250 kilometers (155 miles) apart in southern Turkey. The first happened on the highway between Gaziantep and Nizip when a passenger bus collided with emergency teams that had responded to a crash in Mardin Province, west of Derik.
Three firefighters, two paramedics and two journalists were among the 15 people killed, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Eight of the victims were from the bus, he said.
The Ilhas News Agency said two of its journalists were killed after pulling over to offer help to people involved in the initial accident, in which a car came off the highway and slid down an embankment.
Also read: Bus collision at accident site leaves 15 dead in Turkey
Television footage showed an ambulance with severe rear damage and the bus turned on its side along the highway. Gaziantep Gov. Davut Gul said 22 people were injured in the secondary crash.
The other incident happened late Saturday afternoon in Derik after the brakes of an articulated truck failed, causing it to crash into two other vehicles near a gas station.
As first responders worked at the scene and crowds gathered to watch, another truck lost control and ploughed into them.
Speaking from the site, Soylu said 20 people were killed and 26 injured. A police officer was among the victims, and two drivers were detained as an investigation was launched, he said.
Also read: 9 killed, 18 wounded in traffic accident in southern Egypt
Turkey has a poor record of road safety. Some 5,362 people died in traffic incidents last year, according to the government.
Bus collision at accident site leaves 15 dead in Turkey
A passenger bus collided Saturday with emergency teams handling an earlier road accident in southern Turkey, leaving at least 15 people dead and nearly two dozen injured, officials said.
Three firefighters, two paramedics and two journalists were among those killed on the highway between Gaziantep and Nizip, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu tweeted. The other eight fatalities were on the bus, he added.
Gaziantep Gov. Davut Gul said 22 other people were injured in the incident.
The Ilhas News Agency said two of its journalists were killed after pulling over to help the victims of the initial accident, in which a car came off the highway and slid down an embankment.
Read: Traffic accident in heavy rain in Pakistan leaves 13 dead
Television footage showed an ambulance with severe damage to its rear while the bus lay on its side alongside the highway.
Turkey has a poor record of road safety. Some 5,362 people were killed in traffic accidents last year, according to the government.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy hosts talks with UN chief, Turkey leader
Turkey’s president and the U.N. chief met with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy on Thursday in a high-stakes bid to ratchet down a war raging for nearly six months, boost desperately needed grain exports and secure the safety of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant.
The gathering, held far from the front lines in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, near the Polish border, marked the first visit to Ukraine by Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan since the outbreak of the war, and the second by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
Erdogan has positioned himself as a go-between in efforts to stop the fighting. While Turkey is a member of NATO — which backs Ukraine in the war — its wobbly economy is reliant on Russia for trade, and the country has tried to steer a middle course.
At the meetings, Turkey agreed to help rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure, including roads and bridges, and Zelenskyy asked Guterres to seek U.N. access to Ukrainian citizens deported to Russia, according to the Ukrainian president’s Website. Zelenskyy also requested U.N. help in freeing captured Ukrainian soldiers and medics.
On the battlefield, meanwhile, at least 11 people were killed and 40 wounded in heavy Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia’s military claimed that it struck a base for foreign mercenaries in Kharkiv, killing 90. There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian side.
Heightening international tensions, Russia deployed warplanes carrying state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to the country’s Kaliningrad region, an enclave surrounded by two NATO nations.
The three leaders’ agenda included the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the complex, and the fighting has raised fears of a nuclear catastrophe.
Read:Ukrainians flee grim life in Russian-occupied Kherson
In his nightly video address Wednesday, Zelensky reaffirmed his demand for the Russian military to leave the plant, emphasizing that “only absolute transparency and control of the situation” by, among others, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, could guarantee nuclear safety.
Zelenskyy and Guterres agreed Thursday on arrangements for an IAEA mission to the plant, the Ukrainian president’s website reported. It wasn’t immediately clear if Russia would agree to those terms. Zelenskyy asked Guterres to ensure the safety of the plant, including its demilitarization.
Concerns about the plant mounted Thursday when Russian and Ukrainian authorities accused each other of plotting to attack the site and then blame the other side.
Earlier this month, Erdogan met in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the fighting. And last month, Turkey and the U.N. helped broker agreements clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grain stuck in its Black Sea ports since Russia invaded Feb. 24. The agreements also sought to clear roadblocks to exports of Russian food and fertilizer to world markets.
The war has significantly worsened the global food crisis because Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of grain. Developing countries have been hit particularly hard by shortages and high prices, and the U.N. has declared several African nations in danger of famine.
Yet even with the deal, only a trickle of Ukrainian grain exports has made it out. Turkey’s Defense Ministry said more than 622,000 tons of grain have been shipped from Ukrainian ports since the deal was reached.
At a news conference Thursday in Lviv, Guterres touted the success of the grain export agreements but added, “There is a long way to go before this will be translated into the daily life of people at their local bakery and in their markets.”
The discussions about an overall end to the war that has killed untold thousands and forced over 10 million Ukrainians to flee their homes were not expected to yield anything substantive.
In March, Turkey hosted talks in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, but the effort to end the hostilities failed, with the two sides blaming each other.
Erdogan has engaged in a delicate balancing act, maintaining good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has provided Ukraine with drones, which played a significant role in deterring a Russian advance early in the conflict, but it has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia over the war.
Turkey is facing a major economic crisis, with official inflation near 80%, and is increasingly dependent on Russia for trade and tourism. Russian gas covers 45% of Turkish energy needs, and Russia’s atomic agency is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
Sinan Ulgen of the Istanbul-based EDAM think tank characterized Turkey’s diplomatic policy as being “pro-Ukraine without being anti-Russia.”
“Turkey believed that it did not have the luxury to totally alienate Russia,” Ulgen said.
Bangladesh athletics team leaves for Turkey to participate in Islamic Solidarity Games
A-two member Bangladesh Athletics team left Dhaka for Turkey Friday night to participate in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games to be held in Turkish city Konya from August 9-18.
A four-member national athletics team comprising three athletes and one official will represent Bangladesh in the Islamic Games.
Manager cum coach of Bangladesh athletics team Farhad Jesmin Lity accompanied by high jumper Ritu Akhter left Dhaka for Turkey Friday night by a Turkish Airlines flight.
Two other Bangladeshi athletes --Imranur Rahman (100-meter sprint) and Umme Hafsa Rumki (high jump)-- who participated in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, are scheduled to reach Turkey from England.
Read: Islamic Solidarity Games: 64 athletes will represent Bangladesh in 11 disciplines of sports
Fencer Fatema Mujib, who won gold medal in the last SAFF Games,will carry the red and green flag in the Islamic Solidarity Games Konya, 2022.
An 84-member contingent will represent Bangladesh in the ensuing Islamic Solidarity Games Konya' 2022 in eleven disciplines of sports--Athletics, Archery, Fencing, Gymnastics, Handball, Karate, Shooting, swimming, Table Tennis, Wrestling, and Weight-lifting.
Three more ships with grain depart Ukrainian ports
Three more ships with grain have departed Ukrainian ports and are headed to Turkey for inspection, Turkey’s defense ministry said on Friday.
The three ships are loaded with a total of 58,000 tons of corn.
The departure of the ships comes after the first grain ship since the start of the war left Ukraine earlier this week. It crossed the Black Sea under a wartime deal and passed inspection Wednesday in Istanbul and then headed on to Lebanon.
Ukraine is one of the world’s main breadbaskets and the stocks of grain trapped were exacerbating a sharp rise of food prices and raising fears of a global hunger crisis.
Read: Inspectors OK 1st Ukraine grain ship but no sign yet of more
The ships that departed Friday from Ukraine are from among over a dozen bulk carriers and cargo ships that had been loaded with grain and stuck at the ports there since the start of the invasion in late February.
While tens of thousands of tons of grains are now making their way out with these latest shipments, it’s still a fraction of the 20 million tons of grains which Ukraine says are trapped in the country’s silos and ports, and which must be shipped out in order to make space for the new harvest.
Turan for investment in apparel, textile joint ventures in Bangladesh, Turkey
Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan has called for investment in joint ventures in the apparel and textile industries in Bangladesh and his country.
The envoy paid a courtesy call on Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan in Dhaka Sunday.
They discussed various issues, including potential areas for enhancing trade and investment between Bangladesh and Turkey.
Faruque said there are many opportunities for Bangladesh and Turkey to complement each other on issues related to mutual interests, particularly in boosting the apparel and textile businesses.
Read: Envoy urges BGMEA to consider setting up joint ventures in Egypt
Turan and Faruque also expressed interest in facilitating sharing of knowledge and expertise in the apparel and textile industries through collaboration between the BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology and leading Turkish fashion institutes.
Interactions between designers and technical experts through the exchange of faculties and students will help develop knowledge and skills and benefit both countries, they said.
BGMEA First Vice-President Syed Nazrul Islam, Vice-President Miran Ali; directors Asif Ashraf, Barrister Vidiya Amrit Khan, Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on Foreign Mission Cell Shams Mahmud and Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on ILO issue ANM Saifuddin were also present at the meeting.
Turkey again asks Sweden, Finland to extradite suspects
Turkey has sent letters to Sweden and Finland renewing its request for the extradition of people it considers terror suspects, the Turkish justice minister said Wednesday.
Turkey last week lifted its deal-breaking objections to Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession. But Ankara has warned that it could still block the process if the two Nordic countries fail to meet its demand to extradite people suspected of links to outlawed Kurdish groups, or to the network of an exiled cleric accused over a failed coup in 2016.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told Haber Global television in an interview that letters were sent renewing Turkey’s requests for the extradition of suspects for whom earlier requests had been rejected.
The letters also “reminded” the two countries about suspects whose cases are still pending, he said.
Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a joint memorandum last week that allowed NATO to move ahead with inviting the Nordic countries to the military alliance that seeks to enlarge and strengthen in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With the memorandum, Finland and Sweden agreed to address Turkey's “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly ... in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition.”
Turkey had objected to Finland and Sweden's membership, accusing them of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and other groups that it says pose a threat to its security. It demanded that Finland and Sweden extradite wanted individuals and lift arms restrictions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into northeast Syria.
The Nordic countries’ accession still needs to be approved by the parliaments of all 30 NATO members — a process that could take months — and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened that Turkey's Parliament could refuse to do so.
Bangladesh Air Force Chief departs for Turkey
Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan along with his spouse and two entourages left Dhaka for Turkey on Saturday for a five-days official visit.
He left the country at the invitation of Commander of the Turkish Air Force General Hasan Küçükakyüz.
Also read: BAF fully capable of protecting Bangladesh air space: Air Chief
During the visit, Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force will visit the mausoleum (Anitkabir) of
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founding Father of Turkey and pay homage by laying floral wreath, says an Inter Service Public Relation (ISPR) media release on Sunday afternoon.
During visit, Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force will call on Commander of Turkish Air Force General Hasan Küçükakyüz.
During call on, they will exchange views on bilateral issues of mutual interests which will be beneficial for implementing future plans of BAF.
Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force will visit different government and private military equipment production facilities including Turkish Aerospace Industries.
Also read:Air chief adorned with Air Chief Marshal Rank Badge
It is expected that the visit of Chief of Air Staff will play a vital role for strengthening the existing cordial relationship with Bangladesh and Turkey by expanding scope of mutual cooperation in the professional sectors.
Mentionble that Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force is scheduled to return home on 20 May.