Turkey

ISTANBUL, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors are questioning more employees of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul as part of the investigation into the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, local media reported on Monday.

Five Turkish employees are currently giving testimony at the Istanbul prosecutor's office, the state-run Anadolu News Agency said, noting 17 more people from the consulate are also expected to be questioned as witnesses.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey will “never allow a cover-up” of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, a senior official in Turkey’s ruling party said Saturday after Saudi Arabia announced hours earlier that the writer died during a “fistfight” in its consulate.

ANKARA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkish foreign minister on Friday said they have not shared any audio recording of Khashoggi case with anyone, amid reports that Ankara had given a recording related to the missing Saudi journalist to the United States.

"Turkey did not give anyone or any country the recording. It is out of question for Turkey to give any kind of audio tape to Pompeo or any other U.S. official," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told media during a visit to Albania, Turkish meida Hurriyet quoted as saying.

13 Oct 2018; DW: US pastor Andrew Brunson left Turkey and touched down at a US airforce base in Germany on his way back to the US. He had spent two years in detention on espionage and terrorism charges.

A Turkish court on Friday sentenced US pastor Andrew Brunson to over three years in jail on a "terror" charge, but said that he would not spend any more time behind bars due to the time he had already spent in custody.

ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian rebels have completed the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the demilitarized zone in the northern province of Idlib, Turkish Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Turkey's activities in Idlib will continue in order to secure sustainable and permanent peace, the ministry said in a statement.

Opposition forces in the region also confirmed to state-run Anadolu Agency that they removed their heavy weapons, including Grad rocket launchers, mortars and medium-range missiles from the area on Sunday night.

8 Oct 2018; AFP: Turkey has sought permission to search Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul after a prominent journalist from the kingdom went missing last week following a visit to the building, Turkish television reported on Monday.

The request was made after the foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador for a second time over the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, NTV broadcaster said.

6 Oct 2018; AA: The Turkish army has dispatched two aircraft to transport aid sent to disaster-hit Indonesia, the army said on Saturday.

In a Twitter post, the Turkish Armed Forces said that on Friday two C-130 transport aircraft would transfer Turkish Red Crescent aid in order to meet the needs of people affected by the earthquake in Indonesia.

On Sept. 28, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi Island, which triggered a tsunami that towered up to 10 feet (3 meters) high.

ANKARA; 7 Oct 2018; AA: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct.2, has not left the building since, police sources said on Saturday.

The Washington Post's columnist Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate for marriage procedures, the sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media, said.

ISTANBUL; 7 Oct 2018; (AP) — Turkish investigators believe a prominent Saudi journalist who contributed to The Washington Post was killed in “a preplanned murder” at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, the Post reported Saturday night, citing two anonymous officials.

One Turkish official also told The Associated Press that detectives’ “initial assessment” was that Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the consulate, without elaborating. Saudi authorities early Sunday called the allegation “baseless.”

ANKARA, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Seven Turkish soldiers were killed, two others injured in a terror attack in the southeastern province of Batman on Thursday.

A road bomb, installed by the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) members, blasted when an armored military vehicle passed by in the rural area of Gercus district, the Batman Governor's Office said in a statement.

Local security forces launched a raid to nab the PKK militia following the attack.

The PKK is seen as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.