An accident at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen airport was prevented at the last minute when a passenger plane (PEGASUS) pilot flying from the southern province of Gaziantep to Istanbul realized there was another aircraft (PEGASUS) on the runway just 30 seconds before landing, daily Milliyet reported today. The incident reportedly happened late on Monday when airport staff, who had forgotten to carry their walkie ...

Three AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters were delivered to Turkey from the United States on Sunday, after lengthy negotiations over the sale of the helicopters that Ankara desperately needs to counter terrorist attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the country's Southeast. After a few years' delay in the sale, three AH-1W helicopters were delivered by C-5 military transport to Akincilar airbase ...

The Iraqi war is known to have been started by an invasion of Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom from March 20, 2003 to December 18, 2011. Although the war is supposed to have been over long time ago, sectarian violence has been continuing and has caused thousands of lives after the occupant forces withdrew from the region. Prior to the war, the governments of the United States headed by Georg ...

Nine Turkish soldiers were killed and 70 others were injured when terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked a military convoy with rocket launchers in the eastern province of Bingöl, sources said on Tuesday. The convoy was traveling between the provinces of Bingöl and Muş when it was hit by the rocket launchers near the village of Kardeşler. The attack was the second such assault there in ...

The Turkish state will not cease operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Southeast Anatolia until the militants lay down their arms, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday. “The terrorists should know that if they drop their arms, then the operations in the country will end. But arms cannot be silenced as long as the terrorists do not drop their arms. They would target ...

President Barack Obama sent a personal message to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asking him to speak out against the violence. Obama has vowed to "stand fast" against spreading anti-US violence raging in the Arab world, as he mourned four Americans slain in Libya after their remains were flown home. In a heart-rending homecoming, four transfer caskets draped in American flags were slowly borne ...

Turkey’s Foreign Affairs Ministry released the following statement on Wednesday regarding the heinous attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi Tuesday evening, which resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Tripoli Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. Foreign Service Officers. "We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack which took place in the city of Benghazi in Libya on September 11, 2012 ...

In ongoing operations in the Southeastern provinces of Hakkâri, Şırnak and Diyarbakır, the Turkish Armed Forces has killed 115 terrorists. In Northern Iraq 25 terrorists have been killed. Chief of General Staff Özel paid a personal visit to the troops in Şemdinli, where seven battalions are engaged in a widespread operation on the terrorist organization. The PKK terrorist organization has been struck hard i ...

Ammunition explodes at Turkish military depot A huge blast rocked the western province of Afyonkarahisar late today when a military storage filled with hand grenades exploded, killing 25 soldiers. The blast took place in at 9:15 p.m., setting the facility ablaze, reports said, adding that many ambulances and firefighters were sent to the scene. "Blasts erupted in a grenade depot in the area belonging to the ...

Ankara’s reaction to the treacherous attack in Beytüşşebap, Şırnak has been harsh. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan emphasizes the fact that these perpetrators will never be allowed to realize their intentions. A steadfast resolution in the fight against terrorism was the message delivered in a state summit held yesterday in response to the PKK attack in Beytüşşebap, which resulted in the deaths of ten soldier ...

Terrorist organization bombing kills 8, injures 64 in Turkey near Syrian border A car laden with explosives was detonated by suspected members of outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (NAMED terrorist organization by USA and many EU members) today in the eastern province of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, killed at least eight people and 64 wounding, daily Hürriyet reported. Militants of said organization re ...

President Gül calls on Turkey to separate the Kurdish issue from terrorism while asking Kurds to distance themselves from militancy Turkish people should distinguish the Kurdish question from the terror problem, Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül has said, urging Kurdish citizens to put a distance between themselves and terror, in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack killing eight troops in Hakkari. The Tur ...

Obama and Erdoğan discuss Syria US President Barack Obama and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met at the G20 summit Tuesday to discuss the need for a political transition in Syria. Erdoğan has become a key ally for Obama in the three years since he took office and the two men have met and spoken by telephone frequently to discuss various Middle East crises. "They discussed the importance of mov ...

BDP leader calls on PKK to lay down arms Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-leader of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), called on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to halt all armed activities today. Demirtaş spoke in the wake of today's attack on a military outpost in the Dağlıca distict of the eastern Hakkari province by the PKK that left eight soldiers and 10 PKK militants dead. Demirtaş extended h ...

No negotiations, PKK has to lay down arms: Turkish PM The government will not conduct any negotiations with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters today, adding that the PKK’s disarmament was the only way to end terror.  "Nobody can make terrorism an issue of negotiation," Erdoğan said. "We will end this, sooner or later. This is non-negotiabl ...

A possible abortion ban in Turkey would lead to more deaths for women who will have to resort to unsafe methods to end unwanted pregnancies, Turkey's U.N. Population Fund Representative recently told BBC Türkçe. New regulations that would only abortions to be conducted in the first four weeks of pregnancy would make it nearly impossible for women to conduct an abortion since it is extremely difficult to det ...

Turkish authorities have asked all Syrian diplomats to leave the country in response to the recent Houla massacre, daily Hürriyet has reported. The motive behind the decision was cited as the recent Houla massacre, where "110 innocent citizens, 50 of them children, were murdered." "It is not a possibility to remain silent in the face of such an act, which constitutes a crime against humanity," a Foreign Min ...

Three men sped their vehicle into a police station in the city of Kayseri, where they fired weapons before one of the attackers set off a bomb, reports said. One officer was killed instantly and another died on the way to hospital. The attackers were also killed, news reports said. Sixteen civilians, including several children, who were nearby were wounded, Turkey's Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin was qu ...

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) recent attacks against civilians in East and Southeast Anatolia points to a return to Turkey’s dark 1990s era, which was characterized by severe clashes and killings, according to politicians and academics. “The PKK attacked many civilians such as public workers, teachers and construction sites in the 1990s. This hasn’t been happening for a long time, but the re ...

Minister points at Air Force for Uludere raid ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily NewsTurkey’s interior minister weighs into the row over Uludere, labeling the dead villagers ‘extras’ for the outlawed PKK and refusing to apologize for the killings The go-ahead for a botched air strike along the Iraqi border last year was given by Air Force commanders in Ankara, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said yesterday, issuing ...

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chair Faruk Loğoğlu has slammed Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu for saying Turkey has a pioneering role in the new Middle East, calling this view a “dangerous fantasy.” “I am only smiling at this. I interpret this as a fantasy. I wouldn’t have a word to say if it was a safe fantasy, but it is a dangerous fantasy. The Turkish foreign minister, w ...

EP Rapporteur on Turkey calls on BDP to cut off ties with PKK European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey Ria Oomen-Ruijten called on Turkey's Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to cut off all ties with terrorist organization PKK. BRUSSELS- Speaking at a press conference following the adoption of her report on Turkey at the European Parliament on Thursday, Oomen-Ruijten said that she strongly condemned the viol ...

The undesired (but much expected) prospect has come true and several suspects alleged for causing deaths of 35 people in a fire at a hotel in Sivas town of Turkey in 1993 have been released after the court dropped the case today, due to statute of limitations. Thus, the hope to further conduct the investigation to get to the brains(instigators) who organized the shameful event behind the scene has vanished. ...