Turkey

14 August 2022; MEMO: A Turkish military delegation will visit the US on Monday for talks on the sale of F-16 jets to Turkiye, Anadolu Agency reports.

Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar previously announced that a team will hold the third round of bilateral technical talks following up on US President Joe Biden's pledge to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye.

12 August 2022; MEMO: A disoriented brown bear cub, believed to have been intoxicated after eating an excessive amount of "mad honey", was rescued in northwestern Turkey's Duzce province yesterday, Reuters reported.

Footage showed the bear wobbling and whining as she sat belly-up in the back of a pick-up truck, after people rescued the visibly-debilitated animal from the forest.

Mad honey, or "deli bal" in Turkish, is a type of rhododendron honey that can have hallucinogenic effects.

ISTANBUL, Aug 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two more ships left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Friday, including one laden with the first Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a UN-brokered deal, Turkiye’s defense ministry said.

A total 14 ships have now departed from Ukraine over the past two weeks, following the deal with Russia to allow a resumption of grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, after they were stalled for five months due to the war.

12 August 2022; MEMO: Two more ships carrying wheat and corn departed from Ukrainian ports today under a deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports, Turkiye's National Defence Ministry said.

The Belize-flagged ship Sormovsky carrying 3,050 tonnes of wheat left the Chornomorsk port destined for Tekirdag, northwestern Türkiye.

The other ship, Marshal Islands-flagged Star Laura, sailed from the Yuzhny port with 60,000 tonnes of corn for Iran.

12 August 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that his country has started the process of normalising relations with Israel and Egypt, but that this process does not mean that Ankara has dispensed with its principles, Anadolu has reported.

Cavusoglu made his comment to journalists yesterday at the conclusion of the 13th conference of Turkish ambassadors in the capital.

11 August 2022; MEMO: Turkiye is expecting Saudi Arabia to deposit up to $20 billion into Turkish treasury bonds and accounts in an effort to boost the economically-struggling country's foreign currency reserves, media reports have stated.

09 August 2022; MEMO: Turkey resumed its hydrocarbon drilling operations in the eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday after a two year hiatus, though President Tayyip Erdogan said its new drill ship would operate outside waters also claimed by Cyprus, reports Reuters.

The Abdulhamid Han, Turkey's fourth drill ship, will operate 55 kilometres off the Gazipasa region in the southern coastal province of Antalya, Erdogan said.

ISTANBUL, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Turkey resumed its hydrocarbon drilling operations in the eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday after a two year hiatus, though President Tayyip Erdogan said its new drill ship would operate outside waters also claimed by Cyprus.

The Abdulhamid Han, Turkey's fourth drill ship, will operate 55 kilometres off the Gazipasa region in the southern coastal province of Antalya, Erdogan said.

09 August 2022; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Israel for targeting and killing Palestinian children and infants during Tel Aviv's latest aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip during which 44 Palestinians were killed including 15 children.

ANKARA, August 8. /TASS/: Turkey will not support the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO until both countries fulfill their obligations to fight terrorist organizations, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.