Turkey

ISTANBUL, July 31 (Reuters) - The possibility of the first grain-exporting ship leaving Ukraine's ports on Monday is high, a spokesperson for President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

"If all (details) are completed by tomorrow, it seems like there is a high possibility that the first ship will leave the port tomorrow...We will see ships leaving the ports the next day at the latest," Kalin said.

31 July 2022; MEMO: Russia is transferring $20 billion to Turkiye for the building of a major nuclear power plant, as the two countries continue to expand energy cooperation and advance Turkiye's growing energy needs.

According to a Bloomberg report on Friday, senior Turkish officials with knowledge of the matter said that the Russian state-owned company Rosatom sent around $5 billion last week to the Turkish company Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, which is building the plant in the city of Mersin in southern Turkiye.

ISTANBUL, July 29 (Reuters) - A week into Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a gesture of solidarity with his soldiers at the front: injured men could claim compensation of three million roubles, equivalent to about $50,000 or the amount an average Russian worker would earn in four years.

“It’s our duty to support the families of our fallen and injured war comrades,” said Putin when he announced it in early March.

28 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticised US Central Command, CENTCOM, for issuing a condolence message published on Sunday after the killing of Salwa Yusuk, the Deputy Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Along with two fellow female fighters, she was killed in an attack near Qamishli, Syria, on 22 July.

29 July 2022; MEMO: Turkish and Qatari agencies signed a deal, Thursday, to build a residential village with a 1,000-house capacity in northern Syria, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The agreement to build the village in the Al-Bab region for displaced Syrians was reached by the Qatari Red Crescent and Turkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) in the Qatari capital of Doha.

The Head of the agencies inked the deal that is worth $3.5 million

29 July 2022; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country will provide all kinds of political support to the Syrian regime in order to expel terrorists from the region, noting that Ankara had held talks with Iran in this regard.

27 July 2022; MEMO: A new joint coordination Centre in Istanbul, established as part of a historic deal to restart Ukrainian grain exports to the world, officially opened on Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"The duty of the Centre is to provide safe sea transportation of grain and similar food products to be exported from Ukraine," Turkish Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, said at the opening ceremony, held at the National Defence University in Istanbul.

27 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye said grain exports from Ukrainian ports could resume within a week, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the export will reach 25 million tonnes by the end of the year, after it brokered a deal between Kyiv and Moscow that eased fears of a global food crisis.

The exports halted by Russia's invasion, will be determined by logistical groundwork, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said during an interview with local media.

ANKARA, July 27 (Reuters) - Sweden and Finland have yet to extradite suspects Turkey seeks over terrorism-related charges despite signing an accord to lift Ankara's veto to its NATO membership last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

The two Nordic countries applied for NATO membership in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but were faced with opposition from Turkey which accused them of imposing arms embargoes on Ankara and supporting groups it deems terrorists.

ISTANBUL, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye inaugurated the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul on Wednesday to monitor the implementation of the grain shipment process from Ukraine, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters.

Located inside the big compound of a military university in the city's European side district of Besiktas, the center consists of 20 representatives from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, five from each party, according to Akar.