Day: November 10, 2021

The global community must immediately respond to the mounting humanitarian needs of civilians as Myanmar’s military junta continues to carry out “heinous” acts “that may constitute war crimes,” an international rights watchdog said on Wednesday.

“The Myanmar military junta blocked lifesaving humanitarian aid for forcibly displaced civilians … by arbitrarily arresting aid workers, destroying food stocks, confiscating aid, and other ongoing acts that may constitute war crimes,” according to a report by Fortify Rights.

It urged the governments of Thailand, India, China, and Bangladesh to “immediately authorize humanitarian agencies to provide cross-border aid to growing numbers of civilians in need in Myanmar.”

Since the Feb. 1 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, the Myanmar military has “killed, tortured, and arbitrarily arrested civilians with impunity, while also using forced labor, including human shielding,” the report said, adding that more than 223,000 have been displaced in the country.

The report detailed several incidents of arbitrary arrests and rights violations by the Myanmar army, including an attack on June 9 in which soldiers “destroyed and burned stockpiles of rice stored at a school” in a village in Shan State.

It also cited residents’ accounts of “how the Myanmar junta forces looted civilian possessions, carried out arson attacks, and destroyed civilian property, including food, medicine, and aid supplies intended for displaced civilians.”

“Blocking aid and targeting humanitarian workers in the context of armed conflict are war crimes,” said Ismail Wolff, the group’s regional director.

Warning that the “Myanmar junta poses a threat to regional peace and security,” he called on the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “to urgently support emergency cross-border aid for the displaced and ensure accountability for the junta’s heinous crimes.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish police seized 473.6 kilograms (1,044 pounds) of heroin, a local police department said Wednesday.

The drugs were seized in anti-narcotic operations conducted by Turkish police in Ipekyolu and Tusba districts of Van province.

The heroin, which was hidden in 922 packs, was seized with the help of sniffer dogs, while two suspects were arrested.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s diplomatic missions around the world on Wednesday held ceremonies to pay homage to the country’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the 83rd anniversary of his passing.

Turkey’s embassies in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Greece, Ukraine, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus held ceremonies in memory of the preeminent leader. Attendees observed a minute of silence at 9.05 a.m., the exact time of the leader’s death, and laid flowers on Ataturk’s monuments.

A commemoration ceremony was held in front of the Ataturk monument in Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, attended by Turkish Ambassador Ufuk Ekici, his family, and members and representatives of Turkic institutions.

“Today has been an honor for us in terms of remembering once more the republic that Ataturk entrusted upon us, as well as the values and ideals of the republic,” Ekici said in a speech at the ceremony.

Ataturk was also commemorated in Pakistan at a ceremony held at the Turkish Embassy in the capital Islamabad. The ceremony was attended by Ambassador Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul, as well as embassy employees and representatives from Turkish institutions.

A similar ceremony was held at the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, with a small number of attendees due to COVID-19 pandemic measures. The occasion was attended by Ambassador Fatma Ceren Yazgan, mission employees, and representatives from Turkish institutions.

Yazgan remarked that the Turkish people are “extremely fortunate” to have Ataturk as a leader, and she underlined her nation’s admiration and love for him.

During a memorial ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, Ambassador Cahit Bagci said that owing to Ataturk’s leadership, Turkey has become a modern model country.

The ceremony, which took place in front of the Ataturk monument, was attended by embassy employees, representatives from Turkish organizations, and students from Turkish institutions.

“Ataturk is an example for the world with his revolutionary character,” Bagci said. “We commemorate Ataturk with longing.”

Films showing scenes from Ataturk’s life were displayed during the event, and students recited poems in memory of the late leader.

In Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, a ceremony was held in Ataturk Park attended by the acting Turkish envoy Yekta Kamil Noyan, staff from the Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Manas University and Turkish schools, as well as Turkish businessmen and citizens.

“I hereby commemorate the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Gazi (honored veteran) Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and his fellow fighters with grace and mercy,” said Noyan in his speech.

Two separate ceremonies were held in Lefkosa, the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. President Ersin Tatar and Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoglu, among other political figures, participated in the ceremony.

Tatar’s statement in the official memorial book read: “Your love is an unquenchable fire within us, the Turkish Cypriots. As you wanted in your last will, we will be care about Cyprus and will work very hard for the survival of Turkey and the Turkish nation.”

Addressing the ceremony in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, Turkish undersecretary Kerim Sercan Evcin said: “Ataturk managed to fit in his life of over 50 years the difficulties, struggles and, most importantly, the success that nations may not easily do.”

Members of the embassy as well as officials from the Turkish institutions in Uzbekistan attended the ceremony.

Due to pandemic measures, the ceremony in Nigeria’s capital Abuja was held with a limited number of participants. Turkish Ambassador Hidayet Bayraktar and embassy staff were among the guests.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Military Attache of Turkish Embassy to Abuja Captain Fehmi Kahraman said that Ataturk placed great importance on women’s rights and he underscored women’s role in the victory of Turkey’s War of Independence in 1919-1923.

A similar ceremony was held at the Turkish Embassy in the Greek capital Athens.

“We bow respectfully before the supreme legacy of the leader of our War of Independence, the founder of the contemporary Republic of Turkey, the exceptional statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the 83rd anniversary of his passing,” Turkish Ambassador Burak Ozugergin said.

Another ceremony in Greece was held in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Ataturk’s hometown.

In Ukraine, the commemorative ceremony attended by Turkish Ambassador Yagmur Ahmet Guldere and embassy staff was held online due to coronavirus restrictions.

Guldere emphasized that Ataturk’s greatest expectation from the Turkish people is to carry the Republic of Turkey, which he called “my greatest achievement,” to the next level.

The battle of Turkish independence started on May 15, 1919, when the first bullet against the occupying Greek forces was fired. The incredible achievements on the battlefield led to Turkish independence, and the Republic of Turkey was founded on Oct. 29, 1923.

Ataturk became the republic’s first president until Nov. 10, 1938, when he passed away in Istanbul at the age of 57 due to cirrhosis.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.

Coronavirus and other developments in Turkey

Turkey has administered more than 117.73 million coronavirus vaccine doses since launching a mass immunization campaign in January, according to official figures.

More than 55.69 million people have received their first dose, while over 49.34 million are fully vaccinated, said the Health Ministry.

The ministry also reported 28,662 new cases, while as many as 196 additional patients died from the disease in the past 24 hours.

The Turkish presidency submitted a motion to parliament to extend the deployment of Turkish troops in Azerbaijan for one more year.

A Turkish charity group delivered 100 tons of wheat seeds and aid materials to officials of Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Agriculture Ministry in the capital Kabul.

Turkish police seized 473.6 kilograms (1,044 pounds) of heroin in eastern Van province.

COVID-19 updates worldwide

More than 7.31 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.

Mass protests erupted in New Zealand with demonstrators angry over a range of issues, including virus restrictions and mandatory vaccination.

Active coronavirus cases in Russia exceeded the 1 million mark after 39,160 more infections were registered in the country over the past day.

The world not only faces a shortage of vaccines to combat COVID-19, but it could face a deficit of 1 billion to 2 billion syringes needed to put jabs into arms, according to a senior adviser to the World Health Organization.

Greece saw another surge in new coronavirus cases with a record 8,613 infections, marking the highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic.

Other global developments

The European Union has suspended visa facilitation arrangements for Belarusian government officials in response to Minsk’s hostile actions using migrants.

Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved an impeachment trial against President Sebastian Pinera for his involvement in the controversial sale of a mining company through a firm owned by his children, the Pandora Papers revealed.

The US sharply denounced a visit from the United Arab Emirates’ top diplomat to Damascus and issued a veiled warning to regional states to carefully consider any effort to normalize relations with the Syrian regime.

Bird flu has been detected at a poultry farm in Akita prefecture in northeastern Japan.

A team of Chinese and American researchers have concluded that the coronavirus pandemic is driving a big dump of single-use plastics into the earth’s oceans, coming mainly from hospitals.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Tanzanian farmers, who every year contributed to harmful smog in winters by burning rice husk and straws have found their alternative usage.

Farmers in Morogoro region are not only using rice husk as fuel instead of wood and charcoal to stop deforestation and reduce carbon footprints, but they are also converting it into organic fertilizer. Perched on the rolling hills, the region is a bustling rice hub of Tanzania.

“Rice husk does not emit bad smoke. I have used it for now to cook food and it is cheaper than charcoal,” said Hadija Kasembe, a resident of Kiroka in Morogoro.

Tanzania produces more than 3.2 million metric tons of rice husks every year.

To get rid of it, farmers used to burn the rice husk and straws to clear the farm for another crop, which was causing immense smoke and when mixed with fog would create smog leading to breathing issues in the region.

For every five tons of rice harvested, one ton of husks — small cases around edible kernels of rice is produced.

Until recently, it was discarded or fed to animals as farmers did not see any commercial value in it.

The government has also introduced special rice-husk stoves which generate sufficient heat to cook food, but less smoke.

“My family no longer throw away paddy residues. I know they’re valuable,” said Kasembe

Although Tanzania has 33 million hectares (81.5 million acres) of forests, the country has been losing more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres) of forest annually for the past two decades, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forests Resources Assessment.

Using special ovens, the farmers have been trained by experts from the Sokoine University of Agriculture to carbonize the rice-husk wastes, which are then pressed into briquettes for cooking.

Improves fertility

“We want to show families and institutions that the use of husks for cooking instead of charcoal or firewood is the way to go to protect the environment,” said Charles Kilawe a researcher from the department of ecosystems and conservation at Sokoine University of Agriculture.

He said that the rice husk ash can be put back into the soil to improve its fertility.

Before she discovered that rice husks can be used to improve soil nutrients and increase crop yields, Madalena Athanas, a farmer in Kiroka village hardly got five or eight bags of rice per acre.

“I have learned a new method which I find more effective. I simply mix the rice wastes with soil and disperse in the farm” said the 61-year-old woman who was able to increase her yield.

Another farmer Zaituni Kailima said that she used to burn piles of rice straws on her farm to get rid of it.

“I honestly didn’t know if these residues could be put to better use,” she told the Anadolu Agency.

“Rice husks have many uses and can be processed into bio-fertilizers and added to soil on the recommendation of scientists to improve soil aeration,” said Kilawe.

According to him, husks with their rich contents of potassium and silicon helps to change the soil, improve its properties by reducing soil bulk density, improve its fertility with the air pockets created underground, and work as a rice conditioner, he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that reversing high inflation is a top priority for him after consumer prices hit their highest level in 30 years.

“Inflation hurts Americans pocketbooks,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House, noting that the largest share of the increase in prices is because of rising energy costs.

“I have directed my National Economic Council to pursue means to try to further reduce these costs, and have asked the Federal Trade Commission to strike back at any market manipulation or price gouging in this sector,” he said.

The statement was released after the Labor Department said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 6.2% in October on an annual basis, its largest 12-month increase since November 1990.

The food index rose 0.9%, energy index increased 4.8% and the gasoline index soared 6.1%. On an annual basis, they were up 5.3%, 30% and 49.6%, respectively.

Biden argued that his $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that passed the House of Representatives last week will bring down costs, reduce supply bottlenecks and make goods more available and less costly.

He urged the Federal Reserve to monitor inflation and take necessary steps.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly insisted that the central bank views persistent inflation as “transitory” and said on Nov. 3 that it is not a good time to raise interest rates before the labor market further recovers.

The US government printed around $5 trillion during the coronavirus pandemic to support the public, American economy and markets.

Biden continued to claim that his nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better plan will help lower costs for American families through affordable health coverage, alongside cutting taxes for 50 million Americans.

“We are making progress on our recovery. Jobs are up, wages are up, home values are up, personal debt is down, and unemployment is down,” he said, adding that the economy continues to recover and is currently in much better shape than compared to a year ago.

Biden also emphasized that unemployment claims are down 70% since he took office, as the number of workers losing jobs fell to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic.

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims dropped to 267,000 last week, according to Labor Department.

While the figure is the fifth consecutive weekly decline below the critical 300,000 level, it is the sixth weekly decrease in a row.

“Unemployment has fallen so far this year at the fastest rate since the 1950s,” said Biden.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in October, down from 4.8% in September, according to Labor Department data. About 7.4 million people are still out of work as of last month in the world’s largest economy.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A Dutch journalist on Tuesday accused Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of lying about pushbacks of migrants.

“Why do you lie about pushing back migrants,” Ingeborg Beugel asked Mitsotakis during a news conference with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in Athens.

Beugel highlighted proofs of illegal pushback of migrants by the Greek side.

“Prime Minister Mitsotakis, when, at last, will you stop lying. Lying about pushbacks, lying about what is happening with the refugees in Greece?” she said.

She went on to say that this is “like narcissistic abuse.”

Mitsotakis refuted the allegations and said he could not accept “insulting him and the Greek people.”

“Rather than putting the blame on Greece, you should put the blame on those who have been instrumentalizing migration systematically pushing people in desperate situation from a safe country, —because I need to remind you that people in Turkey are not in danger— you should blame others, not us,” said Mitsotakis.

Beugel was accused of facilitating the illegal residence of immigrants in Greece for allegedly hosting a 23-year-old Afghan asylum seeker in her home, and the issue was brought to the Greek judiciary.

“In a little while here will appear Greek PM Mitsotakis and Dutch PM Mark Rutte. Both co responsible for pushbacks and refugees horror. I have the right to ask ONE question : WHICH QUESTION YOU WANT ME TO ASK THEM? PLEASE GIMME IDEAS!,” the journalist tweeted ahead of the news conference.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The second biannual SAHA Expo, a major Turkish defense industry event, opened its doors on Wednesday in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul.

The four-day event, organized by the SAHA Istanbul Defense and Aerospace Cluster Association, gathers sector professionals, officials, defense companies and technology developers.

It is being held at the Istanbul Expo Center, while visitors will be able to join virtually from Nov. 15 until Feb. 15, 2022.

The event hosts several Turkish defense companies including ASELSAN, Havelsan, Roketsan, TAI and Baykar. Companies from 30 countries are also participating this year.

The expo showcases cutting edge defense products in numerous fields such as aviation, land and naval vehicles, radar and surveillance systems, weapons and drones.

While sector professionals would have B2B meetings, panel discussions are planned, and agreements expected to be signed.

The event kicked off but an opening ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, with attendance of top officials.

The last exhibition was held online from November 2020 to April 2021.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Turkish Coast Guard Command rescued irregular migrants on Wednesday who were pushed back into Turkey’s territorial waters by Greek elements.

In Aydin province, 52 were rescued following the Greek push-back when the Coast Guard dispatched a unit to help the migrants struggling on rubber boats.

Fifty-seven others were rescued in Mugla province off Marmaris district.

In addition, 54 migrants – 49 in northeastern Artvin province and five in northwestern Kirklareli – were held by local gendarmerie forces after they entered the country illegally.

The migrants were referred to the provincial migration offices and suspected human traffickers were arrested.

Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

It already hosts over 4 million refugees, more than any country in the world, and has enhanced security measures on its borders to humanely prevent a fresh influx of migrants.

Source: Anadolu Agency