Turkey

Turkiye kingmaker party keeps options open ahead of Erdogan's election test

08 Sep 2022; MEMO: A pro-Kurdish party set to play a key role in Turkish elections next year said it is open to talks with other opposition parties on finding a joint candidate who could end President Tayyip Erdogan's two decades in power, Reuters reports.

Turkey's Erdogan echoes Putin's gripes over grain exports

ISTANBUL, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he wanted grain from Russia to be exported too, adding Vladimir Putin was right to complain that grain from Ukraine under a U.N.-backed deal was going to wealthy rather than poor countries.

The grain-export agreement aimed to avert a global food crisis by guaranteeing the safe passage of ships in and out of Ukrainian ports, allowing them to export tens of millions of tonnes of grain that had been blockaded by Russia's invasion.

Turkey's Erdogan says 'Europe reaping what it sowed' on energy crisis

ISTANBUL, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Russia is cutting natural gas flows to Europe in retaliation for sanctions, adding that Europe is "reaping what it sowed".

Fears in Europe have increased over a potentially bleak winter after Russia announced it was keeping its main gas pipeline to Germany shut.

Turkish military helicopter crashes in northern Iraq

05 Sep 2022; MEMO: A Turkish military helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, the National Defence Ministry said early on Monday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Seven of the eight personnel on board were rescued, while a search operation is under way for the remaining individual, the Ministry said in a statement.

The Sikorsky helicopter was on a supply mission and had to make a hard landing in the Operation Claw-Lock region due to "technical reasons", the statement added.

'Without Türkiye, NATO is weak': Erdogan

03 September 2022; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Friday that "without Türkiye, NATO is weak," Turkish media reported.

As Erdogan spoke to journalists following Friday prayer in Istanbul, he commented on NATO's removal of a tweet about Turkish Victory Day (marked on 30 August) following a Greek complaint.

"Greece's negative approach to NATO [in relation to Türkiye] does not weaken Türkiye-NATO relations," Erdogan remarked.

Turkish president warns Greece over "harassment" of Turkish jets

ANKARA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a warning against Greece on Saturday over what Ankara calls recent "harassment" of Turkish fighter jets in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.

"Hey Greek, look at history. Go back to history. If you go too far, it will cost a lot. We have only one sentence for Greece, don't forget Izmir," Erdogan said at the aerospace and technology festival Teknofest in the Black Sea province of Samsun.

Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone being exported to 24 countries

01 September 2022; MEMO: The number of countries where Turkish fighter drone Bayraktar TB2 is being exported to has risen to 24, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of Baykar, the drone manufacturer, told Anadolu Agency the share of exports in the company's revenue for this year has reached 98 per cent.

Turkey: Inflation expected to hit 81%

31 August 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's annual inflation is expected to exceed 81per cent in August after the central bank delivered an unexpected rate cut despite continuing price pressures, a Reuters poll showed today, and it was seen declining to just below 71 per cent by end-2022.

Inflation has surged since last autumn when the lira slumped after the central bank gradually cut its policy rate by 500 basis points to 14 per cent in an easing cycle sought by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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