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Turkey’s national education minister inaugurated a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) Center in Azerbaijan on Friday.

Ziya Selcuk and his Azerbaijani counterpart Emin Amrullayev were given a briefing by officials during a visit to the facility in the northern city of Guba.

“Turkey is ready to make any necessary contributions for Azerbaijan’s STEAM Centers,” Selcuk said in his address at the opening ceremony.

Along with these centers, he said Turkey will extend cooperation in vocational education and joint projects for teachers’ training in the future.

Selcuk said strong cooperation and exchanges of experience will prove beneficial.

He added that these initiatives are part of efforts to ensure that children get access to top quality education and diploma programs.

Amrullayev, the Azerbaijani education minister, said the government was aiming to establish more such academic facilities.

“We have built two STEAM Centers and are aiming to establish 13 more in the coming period, which we believe will be a great contribution to education in Azerbaijan,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Bulgarian Turks, who were persecuted in 1984-1989 on the grounds that they opposed an assimilation campaign against them in the country, cannot forget the suffering they endured.

Cemil Birtane, 73, and Kiymet Birtane, 70, migrated from Bulgaria to Turkey at the end of 1989 after Cemil spent four years and six months in prison and exile for opposing assimilation.

“We were tortured and beaten for one year and four months in the Belene Prison. Later, I was sent to another prison with 80 friends. After a year there, I was exiled to different villages in Bulgaria. I was released after four years and six months,” said Cemil, recalling those years.

“They sent my clothes home and told my wife I was dead. She was told not to search for me anymore. Thank God I was released after these four years and six months and Bulgaria deported me,” he added.

Cemil recounted that despite pressure from authorities, they continued to oppose the assimilation campaign in prison and went on hunger strikes with their companions, adding they also removed the Bulgarian names they were given from their bedside and wanted to keep their Turkish names.

Bulgarian authorities wanted to send Cemil and his family to Austria or Sweden, but he refused. He took refuge in the Turkish embassy in Belgrade, then in Yugoslavia.

“The Turkish Embassy sent us to a refugee camp for a week. I’m very happy we came to Turkey. We’re very happy that we’re were freed from persecution and pressures.”

– ‘We did not give up on being Turkish whatever they said’

Sukru Korkmaz, who came to Turkey 32 years ago and lives in the northwestern province of Edirne, could not hold back tears while retelling his story of migration.

Korkmaz said everyone who did not give up on being a “Turk” in Bulgaria was forced to migrate and were subjected to physical and psychological violence.

He said the most difficult time in his and his family’s life was in Bulgaria, especially in the Belene Camp, adding that he could not forget his experiences there.

“We didn’t give up on being Turkish, whatever they said. They told me: ‘You’re blonde. You speak Bulgarian very well. You’re Bulgarian. Ottomans forced you to be a Turk.’ I and hundreds of others like me did not accept this,” said Korkmaz.

“They sent us to the Belene camp. I stayed there for a year and a half. They locked us somewhere in the camp and never let us out.

“We couldn’t change our clothes for months. We got lice, we smelled. We were under psychological and verbal abuse for months. They let me see my family after every six months. We could only see [each other] through glass. Thank God, we left that all behind.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday congratulated Azerbaijan on its 103rd Republic Day and voiced support for the country’s territorial integrity.

“Congratulations to @presidentaz on Republic Day,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter, tagging Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

“I appreciate the strategic partnership between our states,” he said, adding Ukraine supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

“Look forward to continuing dialogue on bilateral partnership & your participation in marking the 30th anniversary of [Ukraine’s] Independence,” he wrote, sharing a photo of the two leaders.

On May 28, 1918, the Azerbaijani National Council, headed by Mammad Amin Rasulzadeh, declared the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Azerbaijan first declared independence from the Russian Tsar regime, but was occupied by the Soviet Union after two years.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Pakistan on Friday confirmed that the “Indian strain” of the coronavirus – a “double-mutant” variant – was detected in the country.

The country’s Health Ministry said in a statement that a case of an Indian variant has been traced after “whole-genome sequencing of SARS CoV-2 samples was collected during the first three weeks of May 2021.”

“The sequencing results confirmed detection of seven cases of B.1.351 [South African variant] and one case of B.1.617.2 [Indian variant]. This is the first in-country detection of the latter strain,” the statement added without specifying the cities or provinces where these viruses were detected.

The new variant is considered to be responsible for a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in neighboring India.

Last week, the wife of an Indian diplomat returning from India tested positive for coronavirus after rapid testing at the northeastern Wagah border.

However, the authorities did not reveal the kind of the virus.

“As per protocols, contact tracing of all the cases are in progress,” the statement further said, adding that continued detection of global strains highlights the ongoing need for “guidelines, usage of masks and need for vaccination.”

Pakistan has already banned land and air travel from India, citing concerns about the spread of the latest coronavirus variant.

The two South Asian nuclear rivals have been grappling with a devastating COVID-19 wave, while the situation in Pakistan has been considered relatively better compared to India, where hospitals are reportedly running out of beds and oxygen supplies.

Pakistan’s overall COVID-19 caseload has reached 913,784 with 20,607 deaths since March 2020.

The country recorded 2,482 new cases and 67 deaths on Friday.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Senate Republicans blocked on Friday the creation of an independent bipartisan panel to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol carried out by former US President Donald Trump’s supporters.

The 54-35 procedural vote fell six votes short of the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill in the chamber after it cleared the House of Representatives earlier in May.

Trump, who called the insurrectionists “great patriots” during the insurrection, warned his fellow Republicans that the panel was a “Democrat trap.” Friday’s vote signals his continuing hold over the party even after he lost November’s national election by over 7 million votes.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s treasury and finance minister on Friday urged major financial actors in the country to adopt a “transformative role” in its limited resources more productively and preserving its financial strength.

Lutfi Elvan asked the actors to support high value-added and competitive projects that are innovative and raise employment, in addition to supporting small and middle-sized companies and their integration into global supply chains.

“The Turkish economy is built on strong foundations. It has shown resilience against global crises, geopolitical events and even the pandemic. Those are not coincidental,” he told in an event organized by the Banks Association of Turkey.

“Turkey will implement policies that will rapidly alleviate vulnerabilities,” he said, adding that the private sector would be able to manage opportunities and risks better with stronger predictability.

Noting that he saw the financial sector as a whole, Elvan urged other financial institutions, in addition to the banking industry, to take on a bigger role.

“With capital markets and the insurance sector supporting economic activity more, we will have a more productive ecosystem,” he said.

Elvan said Turkey was taking steps in the banking sector to boost competition, such as by creating mechanisms in digital banking licensing, protecting consumers and market integrity.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s annual inflation rate is projected to rise to 17.17% in May, an Anadolu Agency survey found on Friday.

Turkey’s annual inflation rate in April was 17.14%, up 0.95 percentage point from the previous month.

The Turkish Statistical Institute will announce the May consumer prices index on June 3.

A group of 14 economists polled by Anadolu Agency forecast that monthly inflation averaged at 1.39%, varying between 1.18% and 1.73%, in May.

Turkey’s Central Bank increased the country’s year-end inflation forecast to 12.2% for this year, up from 9.4% in its previous report.

The government’s year-end inflation rate target is 8% for 2021, under the new economic program announced last September.

Since the beginning of this year, annual inflation rose steeply from 14.60% in December 2020. The figure was 14.97% in January and 15.61% in February.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s presidential commission on the state of emergency concluded 91% of applications concerning measures taken in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup bid, according to its latest announcement on Friday.

The Inquiry Commission on the State of Emergency Measures received over 126,000 applications on measures adopted under the state of emergency decree laws, such as the dismissal of public officials, scholarship cancellations, annulment of the ranks of retired personnel, and the closure of some institutions.

Of these, it has concluded over 115,000 applications so far since beginning its ruling process on Dec. 22, 2017, the report said.

Since the defeated coup attempt, Turkish institutions, including the military, have been working to find and expel elements of FETO, the group behind the plot.

A two-year state of emergency was lifted on July 20, 2018.

A total of 251 people were killed and nearly 2,200 injured in the July 15, 2016 coup attempt orchestrated by FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

The commission says it examines applications for links or contact with terrorist organizations or other entities listed by the country’s National Security Council as engaging in activities against national security.

– Over 14,000 applications accepted

In its announcement, the commission said the number of accepted applications stood at 14,072, while 101,058 were rejected and 11,544 more are pending.

It added that of the total applications it had accepted, 61 were for the reopening of organizations that were shut down after the coup attempt, including associations, foundations, and television channels.

“Accordingly, 91% of the total applications have been decided since the date of the beginning of the Commission’s decision-making process,” read its report.

To deal with these applications, data processing infrastructure was set up to electronically receive, archive, and examine them the commission said, adding that the system had recorded information from over 20 institutions and organizations.

For this, the commission employs some 240 professionals, including 75 rapporteurs — judges, experts and inspectors — in the application review process.

A total of more than 494,000 files, including personnel files transferred from their institutions, court files, and former applications, have been classified, registered and archived.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s benchmark stock index ended the week at 1,422.06 points, up 0.50% from the previous close.

After starting Friday at 1,413.12 points, Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index gained seven points from Thursday’s close of 1,415.03 points.

During Friday’s trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 1,401.25 points and 1,417.98 points, with 24 stocks on the index rising, 69 down, and the remaining flat from the previous close.

Ending the week with a market value of around 995 billion Turkish liras ($118 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 15.2 billion liras ($1.8 billion).

The highest trading volumes were posted by private lender Garanti BBVA, flagship carrier Turkish Airlines, and iron-steel producer Eregli Demir Celik.

Shares of discount retailer BIM performed best, rising 6.29%, while energy company Esenboga Elektrik struggled the most, losing 3.35%.

One ounce of gold traded for $1,892.00 by market close, down from $1,898.50 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul’s Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $69.48 per barrel as of 6.10 p.m. local time (1510GMT) on Friday.

Exchange Rates Thursday Friday

USD/TRY 8.4660 8.5650

EUR/TRY 10.3310 10.4340

GBP/TRY 12.0450 12.1730

Source: Anadolu Agency