Day: August 26, 2021

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have rejected a €160 million ($188 million) bid by Spanish giants Real Madrid for Kylian Mbappe, the French club’s sporting director said Wednesday.

Leonardo de Araujo told French media that they want to extend Mbappe’s contract, which will expire in June 2022, and made two offers to the 22-year-old star.

Referring to Real Madrid’s offer for Mbappe, De Araujo claimed the Spanish representative made it to show that they have done everything officially and to transfer Mbappe without paying a transfer fee after waiting for a year.

He slammed Real Madrid for their attitude, calling it “incorrect, illegal.”

“Real has been acting like this for two years. This is not true, even illegal, because they have contacted the player. This is unacceptable to us. What has been done is not correct.

“Their strategy is to [make an] offer one year before the end of the contract and seven days before the transfer period expires. Real Madrid wants the offer turned down because they want to show Kylian they’ve done everything so they want to start negotiating with him for next year,” he added.

De Araujo said they “verbally” rejected Real Madrid’s offer for Mbappe.

“If Mbappe wants to go, we will not hold him back. But it will be on our terms.”

He said the Spanish club made an offer because Mbappe wants to leave PSG for Real Madrid.

De Araujo said Mbappe still has a one-year contract with PSG and reiterated that the French club wants to extend it.

“With Kylian, we talked a lot. He always told us the same thing. Kylian always promised that he would not leave the club free. That is always what he told us.”

According to the German football data website Transfermarkt, Mbappe has a €160 million market value.

The summer transfer window in Europe will close at midnight on Aug. 31.

Mbappe, a high-scoring forward, joined PSG in 2017.

Known for his pace, dribbling skills, technique and finishing ability, Mbappe scored 133 goals in 174 matches for Paris.

He won four French Ligue 1 titles — three with PSG and one with Monaco.

Separately, Mbappe helped France win the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Italian archaeologists Thursday hailed a decision to add a 30-meter-high (over 90 feet) archaeological mound in southeastern Turkey to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The decision to add Arslantepe Mound in eastern Malatya province, dating back some 8,000 years, was taken during the Extended 44th UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s online session in Fuzhou, China last month.

Italian archaeologists have been carrying out excavation work in the region for about 60 years.

Head of the excavation work carried out in Arslantepe Mound, Francesca Balossi Restelli, told Anadolu Agency that the world’s first palace and the remains of the first state system were discovered in the region.

“Scientists like us knew this place and its importance, now the world understood the importance of Arslantepe with the recent UNESCO decision,” Restelli said.

Prof. Marcella Frangipane, who retired after working as the head of the excavations in the mound for 30 years, said: “Arslantepe is important for Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and the world.”

“We made an attempt to apply to UNESCO in 2013 to highlight the importance of Arslantepe. I am very pleased as we have achieved a good result after eight years of work,” Frangipane said.

Arslantepe – meaning “Lion Hill” – has been on the UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List since 2014.

With the mound, which is among one of Turkey’s earliest religious and civil sites, the number of Turkish sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List reached 19.

The archaeological site of Arslantepe is located on the Malatya plain, five kilometers (three miles) from the city center and 15 kilometers (over nine miles) from the Euphrates River, said UNESCO’s website.

“It is a four-hectare and 30-meter-high archaeological mound dominating the plain and formed by the superimposition of settlements for millennia, from at least the 6th millennium BCE to the late Roman period,” said UNESCO.

The long history of the site, located at the crossroads of the main civilizations of the Near East, reveals crucial events and processes of change in connection with the contemporary developments in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the South Caucasus.

More than 50 years of archaeological excavations by Rome’s Sapienza University have brought to light rich material remains of the many civilizations that called the site home, from their formation to their collapse, it added.

The site illustrates the processes which led to the emergence of a state society in the Near East and a sophisticated bureaucratic system that predates writing.

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz

Source: Anadolu Agency

At a time of sweeping changes in the global order, the stability and trust seen in Turkey make it well placed to rise to the top, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We will have reached the top when we make use of this period, where we see the global political and economic order is being reshaped, by preserving the (country’s) climate of stability and trust,” Erdogan said at commemorations of the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert – a victory that opened the doors of Anatolia to the Turkish people.

Turkey, the successor of a series of civilizations embracing elements of both East and West, has again been on the rise in recent decades, said Erdogan, speaking in Mus, eastern Turkey, where the battle took place.

He added that inspired by its “glorious past,” Turkey has its eyes fixed on the future and is determined to realize its goals in the coming decades, or even a century, through the help of coming generations.

The president went on to say that the Turkish nation has left its trace in various regions with buildings, including monuments, memorials and mosques, and today’s government in Ankara did not leave them to their fate.

He further noted that Turkey’s power, prestige and influence had been gradually increasing both in the region and across the globe, thanks to the seeds of love and sympathy sown in a wide region by its ancestors.

“We face the effects of terrorism and stability in our region at one hand, and natural disasters along with global turbulence on the other,” the president said, but added there were also various opportunities and possibilities awaiting Turkey.




Battle of Malazgirt

Turkish control of Anatolia – the vast territory of modern Turkey – began with the Battle of Malazgirt, also known as Battle of Manzikert, on Aug. 26, 1071, which saw the Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Alparslan defeat a much larger Byzantine army.

The victory accelerated the decline of the Byzantine Empire, and led to more Turks settling in the region, paving the way for both the Ottoman Empire and the modern Republic of Turkey.

Centuries later, in 1919, foreign occupation prompted Turkey’s War of Independence in which Turkish forces – led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk –drove the invaders from Anatolia.

By the end of 1922, all foreign forces had left the territories, which became a part of the Republic of Turkey a year later.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday discussed the latest situation in Afghanistan with his Finnish and British counterparts, according to diplomatic sources.

In separate phone calls, Mevlut Cavusoglu exchanged views with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on the evolving situation in Afghanistan after the capital Kabul fell to the Taliban.

The Turkish minister also spoke to Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and congratulated him for his appointment to the post.

The Taliban swept to power on Aug. 15 following rapid advances through Afghanistan.

With the collapse of the government in Kabul, attention has turned to ensure the safety of civilians and evacuees, and an orderly transfer of power.

While the US says it will continue to carry out evacuations until Aug. 31, many countries are wrapping up efforts to evacuate people at Kabul airport following a terror threat.

The Taliban have declared the war in Afghanistan over, saying efforts to form an “inclusive” government are underway.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Inter Milan announced Thursday the signing of Argentine striker Joaquin Correa on loan from Lazio.

“The 27-year-old has joined the club from Lazio on an initial loan with an obligation to make the transfer permanent,” the Italian club said in a statement.

Inter Milan said Correa inked a contract with the Nerazzurri that will run until June 30, 2025.

Correa previously played for Italy’s Sampdoria and Spain’s Sevilla. He scored 30 goals and had 18 assists in 117 matches with Lazio.

The Argentine forward helped this nation clinch the 2021 Copa America trophy.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Major stock markets in Asia closed with mixed figures on Thursday, while all European indices were in the negative territory.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost 11.56 points, or 0.30%, to close at 3,862 points.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange posted an increase of 17.49 points, or 0.06%, to 27,742.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, posted a decline of 278.26 points, or 1.08%, to 25,415 and China’s Shanghai stock exchange index decreased by 1.09% or 38.7 points to 3,501 points.

Meanwhile, Singapore index was up 1.93 point, or 0.06%, to 3,109 points and Indian Sensex benchmark index increased by 0.03% or 17.7 points to 55,961 points.

On Thursday, Hang Seng Tech index, includes major e-commerce and internet firms such as Alibaba, pulled Asian indices down by dropping more than 2%.

Meanwhile, all European major indices posted declines during the fourth transaction day of the week.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, dropped by 2.25 points or 0.48% to 469.59 as of 1100GMT.

London’s FTSE 100 was down by 28.5 points or 0.40% to 7,121 and Germany’s DAX index was down by 105.1 points or 0.66% to 15,755 points.

French CAC 40 decreased by 31.66 points or 0.47% to 6,644 points, while Italy’s FTSE MIB posted a decline of 167.3 points, or 0.64%, to 25,893 points.

Spain’s IBEX 35 also decreased by 73.3 points, or 0.82%, to 8,904 points.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s daily electricity consumption increased by 0.7% on Wednesday compared to the previous day, totaling 1,059,787 megawatt-hours, according to official figures of the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAS) on Thursday.

Hourly power consumption peaked at 50,660 megawatt-hours at 15.00 local time (1200 GMT), data from TEIAS showed. The country’s electricity usage dropped to its lowest level of 35,524 megawatt-hours at 07.00 local time (0400 GMT).

Electricity production amounted to 1,064,699 megawatt-hours on Wednesday, marking a 0.7% rise from Tuesday.

Turkey’s electricity production from natural gas plants constituted 41.1% of total electricity consumption, imported coal plants contributed 18.5% while hydro plants comprised 12.6%.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s electricity exports amounted to 13,417 megawatt-hours, while imports totaled 8,641 megawatt-hours.

Source: Anadolu Agency