Turkey

ISTANBUL, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Turkey's government blamed Kurdish militants on Monday for a blast that killed six people in Istanbul's main shopping street, and said police had detained 22 suspects, including the person suspected to have planted the bomb.

State broadcaster TRT released footage of police escorting a woman, the main suspect, from an apartment after an overnight raid.

ANKARA, November 13. /TASS/. The death toll from the blast in Istanbul’s Istiklal Caddesi pedestrian street has risen to six, and the number of those injured has increased to 53, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

"As a result of the Istanbul blast, six people were kills, 53 received wounds," he told a news conference before leaving for Indonesia.

ANKARA, November 14. /TASS/. Turkish police have detained a man who is believed to have left the bomb, which detonated on Sunday on Istiklal Street in Istanbul's Beyoglu district, Minister of Internal Affairs of Turkey Suleyman Soylu.

"The man who left the bomb in Beyoglu was detained by the Istanbul security department. He is under interrogation," he said. A video with his statement was published on Twitter.

10 Nov 2022; MEMO: Citing recent events in the Black Sea grain trade, the Head of the International Association of Operative Millers – Eurasia, said there is reason to believe Turkiye can be a safe grain transit hub or even storage point, Anadolu News Agency reports.

ANKARA, November 10. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s readiness for negotiations with Russia is indicative of a split in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to Baris Doster, a columnist for Turkey’s opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper.

10 Nov 2022; MEMO: Turkiye has rejected Israel's request that it deport Hamas leaders living in the country, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

Responding to a question from MPs, Cavusoglu said Turkiye does not view Hamas as a terror group and refused to expel the movement's members.

"We did not satisfy any [Israeli] request on Hamas, because we do not perceive Hamas as a terror group," Cavusoglu said.

ISTANBUL, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- An overnight house fire in Türkiye's northwestern city of Bursa left at least nine people dead, including eight children, the city governorate announced on Wednesday.

Responding to an emergency call made at midnight, firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, only to find the dead bodies of a family caught by the blaze in their sleep.

According to the governorate, the deceased belonged to the same Syrian family of six siblings, their mother and two cousins. The children were no more than 11 years old.

09 Nov 2022; MEMO: Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, said on Tuesday that Ankara conveyed its expectation to see concrete steps from Sweden to fulfil anti-terrorism obligations under a deal, clearing bids by the Nordic country and neighbouring Finland to join NATO, Reuters reports.

ANKARA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye said on Tuesday it has been coordinating efforts to remove obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizer.

The deal that paved the way for the resumption of Ukrainian grain to world markets also envisaged shipment of Russian grain and fertilizer, the semi-official Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying.

"Export of Russian fertilizer is part of the agreement. Russians have some concerns that these demands are not met. Now diplomacy is working to remove these concerns," Cavusoglu said.

IZMIR/ISTANBUL, Türkiye, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkish companies view the on-going 5th China International Import Expo (CIIE) as a premium platform to seek business opportunities and further tap into the vast consumer market of China and beyond.

The expo has become a major platform for global businesses including Turkish companies to explore market opportunities and expand business in China, Mehmet Ali Isik, chairman of the Aegean Dried Fruits and Products Exporters Association, told Xinhua in a recent interview.