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Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be "within certain limits." The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments. Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Fidan to make clear that escalation in the...

Iran said it warned its allies and neighbors in the region 72 hours before the drone and missile attack on Israel began, the Iranian foreign minister said Sunday. "We informed them that the Islamic republic's response was legitimate and definitive," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a televised meeting.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar warned on Friday that “one tiny mistake” could turn Cyprus into “a new Gaza”. Tatar, not recognized as a head of state by the international community, also suggested that Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan may soon recognize the north. Turkey is the only country that recognizes the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. in an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, said, “A mistake or a misunderstanding such as the shooting of a Turkish soldier on the Green Line… would provoke a bomb between the two populations.” “If you shoot one Turkish soldier, you...

ISTANBUL, April 1 (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Monday to correct any mistakes that led to his party's defeat in Turkey's local elections where the opposition capitalised on economic woes and alienated Islamist voters, casting uncertainty over his reform plans. Sunday's vote marked Erdogan and his AK Party's (AKP) worst defeat in more than 20 years in power, revitalising the opposition party and strengthening Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's standing as the president's main rival. Redrawing a political map long dominated by the AKP, the Republican People's Party (CHP) won the popular vote for the first time in decades...

Today, a side of Adams that was not made much of in his lifetime has for many of us become the most important, and much-needed, part of his legacy: his critical view of Islam and of Muhammad. He derived these views from experience — his own and his father’s — of Muslim behavior (both of the Barbary Pirates and of the Ottoman Turks), from his lifelong study of history, and from his intensive reading of the Qur’an. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were sent in 1786 to negotiate in London with the ambassador from Tripoli, Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, about the...

Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered the Foreign Ministry to summon Turkey’s envoy to Israel for a “serious reprimand” after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “send [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] to Allah.” “I instructed officials to summon the Turkish deputy ambassador to Israel for a serious reprimand, following Erdogan’s serious attack on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his threats to send PM Netanyahu to Allah and to convey a clear message to Erdogan,” Katz posted on X. “You who support the burning of babies, murderers, rapists and the mutilation of corpses by Hamas criminals, [are] the last one...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the Turkish President, and the rude-and-crude master of all he surveys from the 1,100 room “White Palace” that he had the government build for him in Istanbul, at a cost to the Turkish taxpayers of $615 million. But when a man like Erdogan comes along only once a millennium, why should the national exchequer skimp? In Istanbul, having announced to the world that he will not be running for office again (the hundreds of journalists he has imprisoned in Turkish jails must now be breathing proleptic sighs of relief), just to make sure we do not...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose NATO-member country has sought to balance its close relations with both Ukraine and Russia, offered during a visit Friday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to host a peace summit between the two countries.

Officials say Sheher Bano, an assistant superintendent of police in Lahore, risked her life to rescue the woman after Arabic calligraphy on her outfit was mistaken for verses from the Quran. PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A police officer in Pakistan is being hailed as a hero after she protected a woman from a furious mob accusing her of blasphemy over what she was wearing. Sheher Bano, an assistant superintendent of police in the city of Lahore, “put her life in danger” to rescue the woman after colorful Arabic calligraphy on her outfit was mistaken for verses from the Quran, the Muslim...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Thursday soundly defeated an effort to stop the $23 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits to Turkey, which President Joe Biden's administration approved after Turkey approved Sweden's joining the NATO alliance. The Senate voted 79 to 13 against a resolution of disapproval of the sale introduced by Republican Senator Rand Paul.Before the vote, Paul criticized Turkey's government and said allowing the sale would embolden its "misbehavior." Backers of the sale said it was important for Washington to keep its word to a NATO ally. The Biden administration formally informed Congress on...

An incident in Lahore Pakistan stands as a damning indictment of modern Islamic society. From distant Pakistan, an NBC news story surfaces that serves to remind us of everything we need to know about our current crisis. A week ago, a female police officer in Lahore, Pakistan, patrolling a shopping district in the busy muslim city, saw a crowd gathering, to taunt, accuse, and threaten a young woman in a colorful Kurta (a long shirt-dress). Her dress was covered with bright and abstract calligraphy that the crowd assumed was an improper quoting of the Koran. In Pakistan, when a crowd...

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa reiterated Türkiye’s offer to facilitate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, as he said Ankara emphasizes diplomacy and dialogue to put an end to the war between the two countries. -snip- Erdoğan also said Türkiye supports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan in principle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan is based on a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine, reparations and punishment of war criminals, as well as the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and their return under mediation by Riyadh.

Turkey Türkiye Islamist oppressor Erdogan's obsessive long record of Hitler / Nazi comparison. All the while, he himself actually has a Hitler-problem...2016: Erdogan’s Hitler Problem. The Turkish presidency is seeking to clarify President Erdogan's recent remarks in which he favorably compared his vision of an executive presidency with Nazi Germany. This is not the first time he has said outrageous things only to walk them back. Blog Post by Steven A. Cook, January 4, 2016 11:30 am (EST) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a Hitler problem. When he was asked last Friday to comment on his strong desire to...

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s director of policy planning, now denies she endorsed Today’s Zaman, the flagship newspaper of Fethullah Gülen’s Islamist cult. Here is a google cache record with Prof. Slaughter’s endorsement, and here is the page now, with Professor Slaughter’s endorsement excised. Professor Slaughter denies she made the endorsementThere are two possible explanations: (1) Professor Slaughter is being truthful, and Today’s Zaman simply made it all up. If so, this suggests that the ethics of Zaman and the organization which sponsors it are non-existent. (2) Professor Slaughter asked for the retraction only after learning about Today’s...

Jordan’s King Abdullah gives one of his most pointed criticisms of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught. “All attacks against innocent civilians, women and children, including those of October 7, cannot be accepted by any Muslim,” he says alongside US President Joe Biden. “As I have previously stressed, we must make sure the horrors of the past few months since October 7, are never repeated, nor accepted by any human being.” “We must together, along with Arab partners and the international community, step up efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and immediately start working to create a political horizon that...

A drone attack late Sunday evening that struck a military base in eastern Syria, where U.S. troops are stationed, left at least six allied Kurdish soldiers dead, officials said. The attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement Monday. According to the statement, the drone attack struck an area where the forces' commando units were being trained. No U.S. troops were killed or injured in the attack, they said. The strike was the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the...

The pair entered the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district while Sunday services were being held. Two masked assailants attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during Sunday services, killing one person, Turkish officials have announced. According to a statement posted on X - formerly Twitter - by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the armed assailants attacked the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district at 1140 am local time. He did not specify what kind of weapons were used or whether anyone else was wounded. Yerlikaya also condemned the attack and said authorities are working on capturing the assailants...

Russian presidential aide on Monday revealed that President Vladimir Putin's visit to Türkiye is planned for February. "Yes, a visit is being prepared," Yuri Ushakov told reporters in St. Petersburg in response to a question on the visit. Ushakov said Ukraine, where Russia launched a "special military operation" nearly two years ago, will be one of the key points of the meeting between Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. -snip- Ushakov also said Moscow is ready to enter into negotiations with Ukraine.

Since Hamas’s brutal attack against Israel on Oct. 7 and the resulting Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, tensions and hostilities across the Middle East have reached fever pitch. And with such a complex regional crisis playing out, it should not come as a surprise that the Biden administration is reconsidering its military priorities in the region.It should be cause for significant concern, however, that this could involve a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. While no definitive decision has been made to leave, four sources within the Defense and State departments said the White House is no...

Turkey's parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid on Tuesday, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance after 20 months of delay. Turkey's general assembly, where President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling alliance holds a majority, voted 287-55 to approve the application that Sweden first made in 2022 to bolster its security in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All NATO members need to approve applications from countries seeking to join the alliance. When Sweden and Finland asked to join in 2022, Turkey raised objections over what it said was the two countries' protection of groups it deems...