Tag Archives: Turkey

The United Arab Emirates minister of state for foreign affairs said on Saturday that Turkey should stop interfering in Arab affairs, criticising comments on Libya made by Turkey’s defence minister. Turkish media had reported the Turkish minister making remarks critical of the UAE’s actions over Libya. The UAE, alongside Egypt …

Stephanie Williams, the deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya for political affairs, said there is a “huge risk” of direct confrontation between rival foreign powers in Libya, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Williams said the chances of a miscalculation around the rebel-held Mediterranean city of …

Thousands of Muslim faithful made their way to Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship. …

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) on Thursday stated that over 180 civilians were killed and wounded in the Kurdistan Region due to the Turkish bombing over the past five years. The committee said in a report that from August 2015 until now, 85 civilians were killed …

Turkey warned Egypt against any deployment of forces in the Libyan civil war and sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s role, highlighting the threat of escalating violence and geopolitical rivalries in the oil-rich country. The remarks by Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, come days after Egypt’s …

France’s president on Thursday said it would be a serious error by the European Union to not respond to provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean and said he wanted more sanctions on those who violated Greek and Cypriot maritime space. Emmanuel Macron’s comments come after Turkey’s navy on Tuesday issued an …

Libya’s UN-backed parliament in Tripoli has criticized Egypt’s move to send its soldiers to the country. “We completely reject the Egyptian Parliament’s decision based on an illegitimate invitation by those who claim to represent the Libyan tribes under the guise of ‘parliament’,” the parliament of the Government of National Accord …

Turkey on Wednesday rejected claims by Greece that its oil-and-gas research vessels were encroaching on Greek waters in the eastern Mediterranean and said it would continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the region. A Foreign Ministry statement, however, also renewed a call by Ankara for dialogue to …

Seen as nearing a conclusion several times in the last few years, Libya’s long-running civil war looks set to flare up yet again as Turkey-backed forces of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) zero in on the crucial eastern city of Sirte. “Everything is moving towards a massive escalation …

Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) on Saturday moved fighters closer to Sirte, a gateway to Libya’s main oil terminals that the GNA says it plans to recapture from the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA). Witnesses and GNA military commanders said a column of about 200 vehicles moved …

Informed sources said that the Egyptian parliament – the House of Representatives – is expected to hold a plenary meeting this week to discuss the political and military situation in neighbouring Libya. The sources said the discussion is to be followed by a vote to mandate President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to …

The death toll from a migrant boat disaster in Lake Van in eastern Turkey has risen to 50, the governor’s office said on Saturday, after three weeks of search operations. The boat, which sank on June 27, is believed to have been carrying 55 to 60 migrants, according to Interior …

Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year, the US Defense Department’s inspector general concluded in a new report, its first to detail Turkish deployments in Libya’s war. The quarterly report on counterterrorism operations in Africa by the Pentagon’s …

When two countries who are supposed to be military allies fall out and almost get themselves into a shooting match, you know there’s going to be trouble ahead. The problem for NATO is, this time, it may prove terminal. For a story that involves high seas skullduggery, clandestine gun-running, a …

Egypt is readying its military for a possible intervention in neighbouring Libya, according to a former top-ranking member of its armed forces. The country has been conducting land and sea exercises over the past few days and their size shows that Cairo is serious about moving its forces into Libya …

Turkey has been on the receiving end of attacks by French-made Rafale jets in Libya and is looking to activate its Russian-made S-400 missiles as a countermeasure, according to the Eurasian Times news website. Itamilradar, an Italian news website, and Turkey’s pro-government Sabah daily also recently reported on Ankara mulling …

Several Turkish, Russian soldiers were wounded on Tuesday when a bomb attack hit a joint patrol in northern Syria’s M4 highway. Russia’s Defence Ministry said a roadside bomb detonated and hit a joint Russian-Turkish patrol in Syria, injuring three Russian soldiers, Russia’s RIA news agency reported. Several Turkish soldiers were …

The eastern-based Libyan parliament, which supports the Libyan National Army (LNA), has given go-ahead to the Egyptian armed forces to intervene in the Libyan conflict, citing AMN. In early June, Egypt put forward the Cairo peace initiative, outlining a path for a political settlement in Libya and calling for warring …

The Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya will only agree to a ceasefire if the Libyan National Army (LNA) withdraws from the strategic positions of Sirte and Jufra, Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu told the Financial Times (FT) on Sunday. Cavusoglo told the FT that there …

Pope Francis said on Sunday that he is “deeply pained” over the decision by Turkey to change the status of Hagia Sophia — which was originally built in Istanbul as a Christian cathedral — from a museum to a mosque. In a very brief, improvised remark, Francis, speaking from his …