Turkey

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey launched deadly airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Sunday, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bomb attack in Istanbul.

Warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the ministry said in a statement, which was accompanied by images of F-16 jets taking off and footage of a strike from an aerial drone.

18 Nov 2022; MEMO: Newly released security camera footage shows alleged Istanbul bomber Ahlam Albashir near the scene of Sunday's terror attack more than a week earlier.

The footage of Albashir apparently scouting Istanbul's busy Istiklal Street emerged during the official investigation into the 13 November terror attack which killed six people, including children, and injured 81 others.

In the footage from 4 November, Albashir is wearing jeans and a headscarf and is walking down the street around 5:30pm local time.

19 Nov 2022; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the US and Europe of making threats and pressuring members of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS), which are already under severe stress.

Cavusoglu stated that the organisation's members had already received letters and memorandums from the US and Europe in this regard, commenting: "We must not forget that."

ANKARA, November 17. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Thursday that the grain deal signed in Istanbul in July would be extended for 120 days.

"Following the decision made by the UN, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, the agreement on the Black Sea corridor will be extended from November 19, 2022 for 120 days," the Turkish leader wrote on Twitter.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish security forces have detained a suspect wanted in connection with the deadly bombing in Istanbul in an operation in a Turkish-controlled area in northwestern Syria, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.

Other suspects detained following the bombing will appear before court officials on Thursday to face possible charges or be released from custody.

16 Nov 2022; MEMO: Turkiye plans to strike targets in northern Syria after it completes a cross-border operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq, a senior official told Reuters yesterday, in retaliation for a deadly weekend bomb in Istanbul.

A senior Turkish official said threats posed by Kurdish militants or Islamic State are unacceptable, adding that Ankara will clear threats along its southern border" one way or another".

ANKARA, Nov 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – Türkiye detained 50 suspects over the deadly bomb attack in central Istanbul earlier this week, Justice Minister, Bekir Bozdag, said yesterday.

The detainees include a Syrian woman, who was caught soon after the incident, for suspectedly planting the bomb that exploded on Istiklal avenue, Bozdag told parliament.

“Afterward, many people who assisted this terrorist and were considered in contact with this terrorist were also detained,” he said.

ANKARA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye has detained 50 suspects over the deadly bomb attack in central Istanbul earlier this week, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Tuesday.

The detainees include a Syrian woman who was caught soon after the incident for suspectedly planting the bomb that exploded on Istiklal avenue, Bozdag told the parliament.

"Afterward, many people who assisted this terrorist and were considered in contact with this terrorist were also detained," he said.

Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, met on Monday with his American counterpart, CIA Director, William Burns. This was the first high-profile Russian-US contact since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. The Biden administration insists that the two officials focused on reducing nuclear escalation risks and an exchange of prisoners, rather than on ways of resolving the Ukraine conflict.

ANKARA, November 15. /TASS/. Syrian citizen Ahlam Albashir, who carried out a terrorist attack on Istanbul's Istiklal Street on November 13, had been trained by US instructors, the Yeni Safak newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing the police investigating the incident.

According to the newspaper, a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), banned in Turkey, ordered the attack.