Day: June 6, 2021

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on Saturday to transfer the operations of the country’s three mineral mines to two Turkish companies.

The Qasqacay, Elbəydas and Agduzdag mines were transferred for the purpose of study, research, exploration, development and exploitation based on a 30-year contract, said the presidential order.

Aliyev also instructed the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry and the Economy Ministry to prepare contracts for the operation of the mines within three months and to sign them with the companies.

The Agduzdag mine is located in the southeastern part of the Kalbajar region, which was recently liberated after a nearly three-decade occupation by Armenian forces.

During a 44-day conflict last year, which ended in a truce on Nov. 10, 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages in Karabakh from Armenia’s occupation.

The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces withdrew in line with the agreement.

A joint Turkish-Russian center was established to monitor the cease-fire. Russian peacekeeping troops have also been deployed in the region.

Source: Anadolu Agency

At least 17 people, including a minor, were killed in a Houthi missile attack in the central Yemeni city of Marib, the government said on Sunday.

Yemeni authorities said the ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels struck a petrol station in the Rawdha neighborhood on Saturday, causing a huge fire.

“The Houthi attack has killed 17 civilians, including a five-year-old girl, and injured five people,” Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said in a statement cited by the official news agency Saba.

“This heinous terrorist crime is an extension of the Houthi militia’s continuous and deliberate targeting of residential neighborhoods and civilian facilities in Marib,” Al-Eryani said.

Medical sources had earlier put the death toll at 14 from the rebel attack.

There has been no comment from the Houthi group on the report.

The rebels and government forces share control of the Marib province.

Since February, the Iranian-backed rebels have engaged government forces in fierce battles to take control of Marib, the government’s most important stronghold where the Defense Ministry iis headquartered. The area is also rich in oil and gas.

Yemen has been ravaged by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital city of Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 30 million people accounting for 80% of the population needing humanitarian assistance and protection.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict has claimed more than 233,000 lives.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish security forces nabbed an alleged YPG/PKK terrorist along with eight other suspects trying to cross into the country from the borders with Syria and Iraq, the National Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

The ministry said on Twitter: “Nine people trying to enter our country from Syria and Iraq were captured by our border troops. One of the captured individuals was identified as a PKK/YPG terrorist.”

“Our fight against illegal crossings on our borders continues,” the statement added.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.​​​​​​​

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Sunday vowed to expedite work on rail links, marble trade and regional energy transit projects on the second and final day of talks headed by the foreign ministers of both countries.

According to the Foreign Ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Haneef Atmar led a high-level delegation and held talks with his Turkmen counterpart Rashid Mardov, focusing on projects such as the TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India) gas pipeline and the Lapis Lazuli transit route connecting Afghanistan to Turkey and Europe via Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

According to the ministry’s statement, the Afghan delegation shared details on the country’s estimated $200-billion-worth of various resources and rare stone, which it said would be significant in strengthening and expanding trade with Ashgabat, considering the demand in regional countries, particularly Turkmenistan, for marble.

“Highlighting the construction projects for building new cities in Turkmenistan, the Turkmen delegation discussed their requirement for marble and expressed Turkmenistan’s full readiness to procure marble from Afghanistan, it said.

The two sides also discussed the importance of implementing the Torghundi-Herat railway project.

Earlier this year, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov oversaw the inauguration of three major energy and connectivity projects aimed at bolstering bilateral and regional ties.

Ghani had noted on the occasion that it was a source of great pride for Afghanistan to be resuming long-standing relations with Central Asian countries after more than a century of isolation.

“Regional connectivity clusters and large-scale projects such as railway, TAPI gas pipeline, TAP power transmission line, fiber optics network that can link South Asia to Europe by land and to the rest of the world will transform the living conditions of the Afghan people for the better and improve the situation in the entire region,” Ghani said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

After its latest attack on Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, the YPG/PKK terror group has shown once again that it is the biggest obstacle to peace and stability in region, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

“By treacherously attacking the Peshmerga, the YPG/PKK terror group has shown once again that it is the biggest obstacle before peace and stability in the region,” the ministry said in a press release a day after the attack.

Five Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were killed on Saturday in an ambush set by PKK terrorists in the Amadiya district of Dohuk province in northern Iraq. Seven Peshmerga soldiers were also injured.

The ministry said the attack was clear proof that the terror group’s aim was not to protect the Kurdish people and that it could not be seen as its representative.

It urged friendly and allied countries of Turkey to halt their support to the terror group, especially by supplying arms and ammunition.

Reiterating Turkey’s resolution in its fight against terrorism, the ministry wished mercy upon the deceased and a speedy recovery for the injured.

The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU — takes the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq as its stronghold and is active in many cities and towns. It occupies a large number of villages in the region and launches attacks on Turkey’s interior.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Over 2.12 billion coronavirus vaccine have been administered so far worldwide, figures compiled by Our World in Data showed on Sunday.

China leads the global count with over 763.07 million jabs, followed by the US with 300.27 million, according to the tracking website.

India has administered 225.57 million shots, Brazil 71.43 million, the UK 67.28 million, Germany 54.24 million, France 39.57 million, Italy 37.67 million, Mexico 34.46 million, and Russia 30.61 million.

Turkey ranked 11th on the list with over 30.58 million doses given, followed by Spain, Indonesia, and Canada.

The country with the most doses administered by population was the East African island nation of Seychelles, with 136.74 doses per 100 people.

Most COVID-19 vaccines are administered in two doses, so the number of shots given is not the same as the number of individuals fully vaccinated.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.72 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 173.05 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of the number of infections and deaths.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Israeli police released a Palestinian activist a few hours after detaining her in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, according to her lawyer.

The Israeli forces detained Muna al-Kurd, 23, in a raid on her home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, taking her to an unknown destination earlier on Sunday.

Her father, Nabil al-Kurd, confirmed his daughter’s detention by Israeli forces.

“Police are also looking for my son Mohammed, who was briefly detained last month,” he said.

Sources close to the al-Kurd family said Mohammed turned himself in to Israeli police, hours after the arrest of his sister.

A few hours later, al-Kurd’s lawyer, Nasir al-Awda, said she was released from the al-Masqubiyya (Russian Compound) detention center in West Jerusalem.

It remains unclear the cause of the arrest of the two Palestinian activists.

In a video clip widely circulated on social media, their father called on the Sheikh Jarrah residents to gather outside the Israeli police station in Salah al-Din Street in central Jerusalem to demand the release of the two activists, accusing the Israeli authorities of attempting to silence all critics of Israeli practices in Jerusalem.

There was no comment from Israeli police on the report.

Muna al-Kurd, who earned a degree in communications and journalism, belongs to one of 27 Palestinian families who face the threat of eviction in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

She is one of Palestinian women leading protests against Israel’s forced evictions and threats of displacement in Sheikh Jarrah.

In April, an Israeli court ruled to evict eight Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in favor of settlement groups, triggering tension across the Palestinian territories.

Israeli authorities, however, postponed giving a final decision on the eviction orders till December under Palestinian mass protests, including an 11-day fighting between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza, and international pressure.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey “neutralized” 352 terrorists in Syria and northern Iraq in the past six weeks as part of its cross-border operations, the country’s defense chief said.

The terrorists were neutralized during ongoing Pence-Simsek and Pence-Yildirim operations which were launched on April 23, said National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, who met military personnel at a dinner in the southwestern Mugla province on Saturday.

Akar also said 1,212 terrorists have been neutralized so far this year.

Operations Pence-Simsek and Pence-Yildirim launched in northern Iraq are ongoing successfully as planned, he added.

Turkish forces continue to destroy shelters of terrorists, he said.

Turkish authorities use the word “neutralized” in statements to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

The terrorist group PKK often uses bases in northern Iraq, just across Turkey’s southern border, to hide out and plot terror attacks in Turkey.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Source: Anadolu Agency