Turkey

11 May 2023; MEMO: European welcomes to Turkiye's invitation to "security and cooperation" to monitor the elections in a statement by the European Commission spokesperson, Peter Stano, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the report, European Commission spokesman, Peter Stano, said during a press conference on Thursday, "Turkiye is a major partner of the European Union in many ways, and we are closely following the elections in the country."

ISTANBUL, May 11 (Reuters) - Turkish Airlines (THY) (THYAO.IS) will order a total of 600 new aircraft in June and they will be delivered within ten years, company chairman Ahmet Bolat said on Thursday.

Such an order, if confirmed, would be the largest in the industry's history by a single airline, eclipsing a record order by Air India for 470 Airbus and Boeing planes in December, but his comments took some industry sources and analysts by surprise.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — The Ukrainian government is seeking to extend a wartime deal that allowed the country’s grain to get to nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat, a top Ukrainian official said Thursday after the latest talks on prolonging the agreement.

The two-talks in Istanbul involved Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and United Nations officials but yielded no decisions for an extension. The deal is due to expire next Wednesday.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A candidate in Turkey’s presidential election announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the race, a move that’s likely to bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger.

Muharrem Ince, the leader of the center-left Homeland Party, was one of four contenders running for president in the May 14 election. Turkey will also be holding a parliamentary election at the same time.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A candidate in Turkey’s presidential election announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the race, a move that’s likely to bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger.

Muharrem Ince, the leader of the center-left Homeland Party, was one of four contenders running for president in the May 14 election. Turkey will also be holding a parliamentary election at the same time.

ANKARA, May 10. /TASS/: Negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations on extending the Black Sea grain deal, and fulfilling the Russian part of the agreement pertaining to grain and fertilizer deliveries, will kick off in Istanbul on Wednesday and are expected to last two days, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

9 May 2023; MEMO: Turkiye raised the wages of some 700,000 civil servants by 45 per cent, President Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday, days before tight presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Erdogan announced the pay rise on Tuesday at a meeting in Ankara that discussed the economic and social rights of public workers through a framework called the Public Collective Bargaining Agreement Framework Protocol.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — In the year in which the Turkish republic marks its centenary, the country is being closely watched to see if a united opposition can succeed in unseating an increasingly authoritarian leader in the NATO-member country.

Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, taking place on Sunday, could stretch President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule into a third decade — or they could set the country on a new course.

ANKARA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday a 45 percent wage hike for 700,000 public workers ahead of May 14 elections.

"We are increasing the wages by 45 percent, including the welfare share. With this protocol, we determine the framework of the wages that approximately 700,000 of our brothers will receive in the 2023-2024 period," Erdogan said at a signing ceremony for the Public Collective Labor Agreement.

The minimum monthly wage for public workers will be 15,000 Turkish liras (768.72 U.S. dollars), he said.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — For Nidal Jumaa, a Syrian from Aleppo, life in Turkey is tough. He works part-time at a furniture workshop and collects plastics and cardboard from trash cans that he sells for recycling, but can hardly afford the rent for his run-down house in a low-income neighborhood of Ankara.