Day: June 19, 2021

Turkey is an ally and important partner for Montenegro, the country’s foreign minister said before the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Saturday.

Congratulating his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu for the “tremendous job in this Antalya Diplomacy Forum,” Djordje Radulovic said: “I think that from now on, (the forum) is going to be a hallmark for the country.”

“For us (Montenegro), Turkey is a friend, an ally, and a very important partner in many fields ranging from economy, tourism, health, military, as well as education,” he said. “We’ll be staying shoulder to shoulder, as we stayed in NATO alliance,” Radulovic remarked.

Turkey and Montenegro have marked 15 years of the establishment of their diplomatic relations this year, Radulovic stressed, touching on the significance of the signing of a recent memorandum of understanding between two countries.

“This signing of this memorandum is once more mark of our true and genuine interest in friendship,” he said.

“Our countries (should) stay shoulder to shoulder in the field of NATO. So, there is also solidarity, and we cannot thank enough Turkey for being a supporter of (Montenegro’s) NATO membership,” he continued.

Radulovic added that regional cooperation is one of the key foreign policy priorities for his country.

Recalling his recent meeting with Cavusoglu at the South East European Countries Cooperation Process, which brings together Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Greece, Croatia, Moldova, and Montenegro, Radulovic said: “I have no doubt that our recent meeting also provided some kind of added value for the sake of the mutual benefits of both countries.”

The two ministers discussed enhancing and fostering the regional cooperation between the two countries prior to the forum, and Radulovic added: “I have no doubt that we managed to sort out many things for the sake and for the benefits of our citizens and for the sake of forging posing closer ties between our countries.”

Concerning the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, he said: “It is going to be another springboard for boosting cooperation between our two countries and international.”

Stating that he is “very much pleased” to have been invited to the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Radulovic said he believes Turkey and Montenegro will “forge even more friendly relations between the two countries and two nations.”

He went on to thank Turkey for providing medical supplies and help during the pandemic.

“A friend indeed is a friend in need. And Turkey was our friend, really, when we needed the most, by providing us medical supply, although Turkey also was affected by the pandemic,” he said.

He said that a “huge” Montenegrin diaspora currently lives in Turkey. “One-third of Montenegrin descendants live here in Turkey. And they are, of course, citizens to your country,” he said. “These people are something that we know to connect us forever, and these kinds of ties are unbreakable.”

Radulovic added that the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) “has done a tremendous job since 2007” with more than 300 development projects in Montenegro, adding that the contributions of such projects are “huge” for his country.

Speaking of the Yunus Emre Institute’s activities, he said: “I strongly believe that culture is always a thing that brings nations together, regardless of the fact that Turkey and Montenegro are two nations, may be different in size, power, and economy, but still, what we nurture together is culture.”

Mentioning the mutual economic goals of Turkey and Montenegro, Radulovic said: “There are many possibilities for exploring further communication and cooperation in the field of economy.”

“Our goal is to reach €200 million ($237.28 million) turnover between our two countries as it used to be prior to the pandemic. Of course, our economy suffered due to the pandemic. But still, I believe, frankly, that we are on the right track. And just in the field, there are a lot of Turkish companies working and operating in Montenegro,” he continued.

Noting that Montenegro aims to attract more investors, he said: “Economic diplomacy is something useful for every country if it wants to be recuperated from the pandemic.”

“Turkish investors so far have been one of the most credible investors and we would like to see them more. Likewise, besides economy, tourism, and culture, we do have a lot of agreements in the pipeline,” he added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Senegalese President Macky Sall urged his country to get vaccinated to avoid serious illness from the coronavirus, media reports said Friday.

“The trend of new contaminations is increasing,” he said late Thursday.

Sall’s remarks were made during an economic tour following the announcement of an increase in new infections made by the Ministry of Health and Social Action.

“We must go and get vaccinated. The vaccines are there. We have vaccines. We must go and take the vaccines. With the vaccine, even if you get sick, the form will not be serious because the body will be immune,” he said, according to the Senegal News Agency.

He also called on Senegalese to be cautious and vigilant by respecting protective measures.

“In a context of circulation of variants and the effects that this could cause for the management of the pandemic, we urge the population to strictly respect the barrier measures,” the Pasteur Institute said Thursday.

The Nigerian and British variants have been discovered in 95 cases analyzed on outgoing travelers from April to May, according to the French NGO.

It said the Beta variant from South Africa and the Indian variant were detected in two cases from foreign travelers.

The Ministry of Health reported 42,259 positive cases on Friday, of which 40,767 have recovered. A total of 1,158 deaths were registered and 333 are in treatment. While 486,606 vaccinations have been performed, there have been “no imported cases at the country’s gateways.”

The increase in infections is in line with the African context reported Thursday by the World Health Organization.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Iran’s judiciary chief and the top conservative candidate, Ebrahim Raeisi, looks all but certain to romp home victorious in the country’s presidential election.

As per preliminary vote count of the 29 million votes cast in Friday’s presidential election, Raeisi was leading with 17 million, followed by Mohsen Rezaei with 3 million, Abdolnasser Hemmati with two million and Ghazizadeh Hashemi with one million votes.

Vote count was still underway at the time of filing this report with the final announcement still pending, but reports suggest Raeisi could be winning by a big margin.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Spanish powerhouse Barcelona on Saturday confirmed the signing of Dutch forward Memphis Depay on a free transfer.

Depay will sign a two-year contract with La Liga side after his contract with Olympique Lyon ends on June 30.

He started his senior career at PSV Eindhoven in 2011, scoring 50 goals in 124 games before moving to Manchester United in 2015.

The 27-year-old player netted 76 goals in 178 appearances at Lyon from 2017 to 2021.

He is currently part of the Netherlands squad for EURO 2020, and has 27 goals in 66 matches for his nation.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish Cypriots are as legitimate as Greek Cypriots in Cyprus, said the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Saturday.

Speaking at Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Ersin Tatar said, most of the people do not know the Cyprus issue and some Europeans only listen to the Greek Cypriot side and they do not deign to listen to the Turkish Cypriots.

After decades of failed negotiations, the Turkish Cypriot side will accept a bi-communal, bi-zonal federal solution, said Tatar.“ The Greek Cypriots have no intention of reaching a compromise with the Turkish Cypriots since they became an EU member. I said this at the UN-led meeting in Geneva in April,” he said.

“We want to be treated on an equal basis with Greek Cypriots internationally. Unless the UN ensures our equality in terms of sovereignty, we will not start formal negotiations. Of course, we will continue informal talks. But there is no point in starting official talks unless the sovereignty of Turkish Cypriots is recognized,” he added.

Tatar said: “Turkish Cypriots want to be a part of the international community. We deserve it.”

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece’s annexation led to Turkey’s military intervention as a guarantor power. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration, backed by Greece, became a member of the EU in 2004, although most Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement plan in a referendum that year, which had envisaged a reunited Cyprus joining the EU.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey has huge investment and earning potential in the tourism sector, said the country’s president on Saturday.

Speaking at the opening of NG Phaselis Bay Hotel in the Kemer district of Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic along with the rapid vaccination process will accelerate even more in the coming weeks.

“Our country has gradually started to come off the lists of travel restrictions. We welcome the decision taken by Russia, after France, in this direction,” said Erdogan.

“We will be able to ensure that our tourism professionals seize this opportunity at least in the second half of the 2021 season,” he added.

Erdogan said that with the mass vaccination campaign the country is now entering a new period and that he is hopeful the country will reach higher figures this year in the tourism sector.

“I recommend our investors to prepare for this new period in advance. During this time, it has been seen once again that tourists who take a vacation in Turkey cannot easily give up on our country,” he said.

“Both those who prefer our country win and Turkey wins. Hopefully, with this win-win policy, we will constantly increase our position in tourism.”

Erdogan said they will continue to work towards the goal of making Turkey an international brand in the tourism sector as they did in other sectors such as health, defense, construction, and textile.

In the opening ceremony, Erdogan was accompanied by Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, and Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank as well as first lady Emine Erdogan.

Erdogan visited Antalya on Friday to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum — with Anadolu Agency its global communication partner.:

Source: Anadolu Agency

Over the past 11 days, Turkish sea cleaning teams have collected a total of 4,202 cubic meters (148, 392 cubic feet) of mucilage from the Marmara Sea, said the country’s environment and urbanization minister on Saturday.

Updating the state of the works to clear out mucilage, also known as sea knot, Murat Kurum said on Twitter that the operations were conducted in 255 locations.

Noting that the collected mucilage has been sent for disposal, Kurum said the northwestern Yalova province, Istanbul, and the western province of Balikesir are among the cities where most of the mucilage has been cleared.

“In 4,396 inspections we did as of June 18, we imposed total administrative fines of 12.835 million Turkish liras ($1.468 million) on businesses that did not fulfill the required conditions,” he said.

On Tuesday, we will start to work on projects which will increase the level of oxygen in two different locations of the Marmara Sea, Kurum added.

Mucilage is an overgrowth of microscopic algae called phytoplankton caused by rising seawater temperatures due to global warming, stagnant water, and pollution.

On June 6, Turkish authorities announced a 22-point action plan to clear a surge of mucilage, which covers parts of the Sea of Marmara in the country’s northwest.

The mucilage – mostly accumulated in Mudanya, Gemlik Bay, Gebze and its surroundings, the coastal areas of Istanbul’s Anatolian side, and around the Princes’ Islands – also partially covered the shores of the Sea of Marmara.

The wind dispersed the substance covering the central coast of the northwestern Yalova province to coastal areas of the Cinarcik and Armutlu districts as well as the town of Esenkoy, which are among the major touristic hubs of northwest Turkey.

Source: Anadolu Agency

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that providing aid to Lebanon is conditional on carrying out economic reforms.

“The crisis that Lebanon is going through is local and internal,” Borrell told reporters following his meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun in the capital Beirut.

The European official, who is in Lebanon on a two-day visit, called on Lebanese politicians to form a new government to help cruise the country out of its current economic crisis.

“We cannot understand that nine months after the resignation of a prime minister, there is still no government in Lebanon,” Borrell said. “Only an urgent agreement with the International Monetary Fund will rescue the country from a financial collapse.”

Borrell went on to warn that, “There is no time to waste. You are at the edge of the financial collapse.”

Lebanon is still stuck in the formation of a new government amid differences between Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.

Lebanon is facing a severe economic crisis and a deterioration in living conditions, the worst since the country’s civil war.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Nearly a week after the brutal murder of a Moroccan man at the hands of a Spanish veteran in Murcia, southern Spain, the country’s institutions remain overwhelmingly silent about the attack.

Younes Bilal, 39, was shot three times on June 13 while sitting at a café with friends. It all started when the former military member, identified as Carlos, began insulting a waitress for sitting with a “group of Moors,” according to witness testimony and the lawyer of Bilal’s family.

After Carlos continued shouting racist slurs about Muslims, Bilal confronted him, asking him to respect Muslims and the waitress. Witnesses say this was the first time the two men had ever met.

After the argument, Carlos went home, changed clothes, and grabbed his gun. He returned to the café, confronted Bilal with more racist slurs, and fatally shot him three times in the chest.

The veteran fled but was later captured and brought into police custody. Upon investigation, police found several weapons in Carlos’ home and that he had no history of mental illness.

This shocking incident, which spurred protests in the town of Mazarron, where Bilal lived and had his life taken, did not make the front pages of most Spanish newspapers.

Besides passing condemnations by local political groups and the president of Murcia, the political response has been muted.

In the six days since Bilal’s murder, the Spanish government has issued two official statements condemning sexist murders. On Friday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also personally called a man whose daughter was killed by her mother to express his “total rejection” of the crime.

But Spain’s progressive government has not officially mentioned or condemned the racially charged murder of Bilal.

Neither has the government of Murcia issued an institutional statement condemning the incident.

According to Spanish broadcaster Cadena Ser, the left-wing group Podemos tried to pass a motion in the regional parliament condemning the attack and racist discourse, but the other politicians shut it down.

In comparison, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several other federal government members attended a vigil for a Muslim family run down by a pickup truck driver earlier this month, just two days after the incident.

“We need Spanish politicians to get a little more involved here, not only at the level of institutional condemnations, which are obviously very important, but also in terms of economic support … Bilal supported his wife and three children working a modest job at a campsite. His family is suffering and have no support,” the family’s lawyer Melecio Castaño told Cadena Ser.

Several activists have also pointed out how sweeping racist incidents under the rug have only produced a growing sense of impunity, especially in the southern region of Murcia where there is a large population of migrant workers and immigrants.

On Wednesday, just days after Bilal’s brutal murder, another episode of racist violence took place in the Murcian city of Cartagena. A woman from Ecuador was waiting in line at a food bank when another woman approached her, yelled racial slurs about South Americans, saying “immigrants are taking our food,” and stabbed her in the back (non-fatally).

“You hear a lot about isolated incidents, but unfortunately there’s been a series of ‘isolated incidents’ in recent years in Murcia,” Juan Guirado, head of Convivir Sin Racismo, a local antiracism organization, told Cadena Ser.

In February, a mosque was defaced and vandals tried to set it on fire in the town of San Javier. Months later a similar attack was carried out on the headquarters of the left-wing Podemos party in Cartagena.

The second month of the year also saw residents of the city of Lorca protesting against the opening of a mosque.

In December 2019, a device made to look like a bomb was planted at the door of a center for young immigrants in Alhama.

“These racist attacks have a common thread – the growing discourse of hate. These racist and xenophobic discourses are legitimizing violent actions in our neighborhoods,” Margarita Guerrero Calderon, president of the MRC Europe social justice organization who is based in Murcia, said in a social media video.

In recent years, Murcia has become a stronghold for the far-right party Vox. In the 2019 general elections, the group, with hardline views on immigration, was the region’s most voted political force.

“It’s appalling that no public institution has been in touch with his family or friends, who are devastated … Younes was killed, but it could have been anyone sitting at that table. The situation is producing sadness and outrage. Our institutions should work to humanize immigrants, sit and talk with the community, repair the harm that this region, and especially its immigrant population, has been suffering,” Guirado continued.

He and several others have suggested that the reaction would have been radically different if a veteran was killed by a Muslim extremist.

“What happened to Younes is the same as terrorism. It comes from hate. It’s taking someone’s life based on their religion, race or culture,” Nabil Azrib, a friend of Bilal’s, told Cadena Ser.

Activist groups organized protests in Madrid and Barcelona on Friday, condemning the murder and racism in Spain, but the turnout was relatively low.

Commenting on why Bilal’s murder hasn’t provoked the same show of support as racist attacks in the United States, Moroccan journalist Youssef M. Ouled quipped: “Because there’s racism in the United States, but in Spain, there are just anecdotes.”

Guirado believes that the surge of racism in Murcia has a lot to do with the treatment of seasonal workers. The region is a major producer of fruits and vegetables for Europe and is heavily reliant on migrants, mainly from the African content, who work for low prices and often under precarious conditions.

“We’re constantly witnessing labor abuses and sexual abuses of migrants working in the field that end up going nowhere. These conditions of semi-slavery dehumanize people. If you take away their dignity, people begin to feel superior to them and if there’s no social, political or institutional reproach then extremist behavior flourishes.”

Source: Anadolu Agency