Turkey News Gazette

Turkey’s exports jumped 109.2% on an annual basis to reach $18.78 billion, while imports were up by 61.1% to $21.84 billion, narrowing the trade deficit by 33.2% year-on-year in April.

The foreign trade deficit was $3.05 billion in April, while the figure was $4.58 billion in the same month last year, the country’s statistical authority TurkStat said on Friday.

The export-import coverage ratio was 86% in the month, up from 66.2% in the previous year.

“Foreign trade deficit, excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, was $404 million in April 2021,” TurkStat said.

With 94.7%, manufacturing industries products took the lion’s share from overall exports in the month, followed by agriculture-forestry-fishing at 2.7% and mining-quarrying at 2%.

The ratio of high and medium-high technology products in manufacturing industries exports was 38.6% in April, up from 37.6% in the same month last year.

Germany was the main destination for Turkish exports with a total volume of $1.65 billion, while China was the main source of Turkey’s imports with a total of $2.4 billion.

Foreign trade statistics are calculated using two different methods: the special and the general trade systems.

The general trade system is a wider concept, including customs warehouses, all types of free zones, free circulation areas, and premises for inward processing.

According to the special trade system, exports were $17.85 billion, up 111.9% year-on-year in April, while imports increased by 67.7% to some $20.88 billion.

In the first four-month period, Turkey’s exports and imports were up 33.1% and 19.7% to reach $68.74 billion and $82.87 billion, respectively.

The trade gap narrowed 19.7% to $14.12 billion over the same period, while the export-import coverage ratio was 83%, up on a yearly basis from 74.6%.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s exports jumped 109.2% on an annual basis to reach $18.78 billion, while imports were up by 61.1% to $21.84 billion, narrowing the trade deficit by 33.2% year-on-year in April.

The foreign trade deficit was $3.05 billion in April, while the figure was $4.58 billion in the same month last year, the country’s statistical authority TurkStat said on Friday.

The export-import coverage ratio was 86% in the month, up from 66.2% in the previous year.

“Foreign trade deficit, excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, was $404 million in April 2021,” TurkStat said.

With 94.7%, manufacturing industries products took the lion’s share from overall exports in the month, followed by agriculture-forestry-fishing at 2.7% and mining-quarrying at 2%.

The ratio of high and medium-high technology products in manufacturing industries exports was 38.6% in April, up from 37.6% in the same month last year.

Germany was the main destination for Turkish exports with a total volume of $1.65 billion, while China was the main source of Turkey’s imports with a total of $2.4 billion.

Foreign trade statistics are calculated using two different methods: the special and the general trade systems.

The general trade system is a wider concept, including customs warehouses, all types of free zones, free circulation areas, and premises for inward processing.

According to the special trade system, exports were $17.85 billion, up 111.9% year-on-year in April, while imports increased by 67.7% to some $20.88 billion.

In the first four-month period, Turkey’s exports and imports were up 33.1% and 19.7% to reach $68.74 billion and $82.87 billion, respectively.

The trade gap narrowed 19.7% to $14.12 billion over the same period, while the export-import coverage ratio was 83%, up on a yearly basis from 74.6%.


– Exports to continue to increase


Enver Erkan, chief economist at an Istanbul-based private investment firm Tera Yatirim, recalled that Turkey’s foreign trade activities narrowed significantly in April 2020 due to the pandemic’s impact on the world economies and supply chains.


Thus, the increase in exports in April 2021 was due to the base effect, Erkan said, adding Turkey’s exports posted a triple-digit increase due to the recovery in foreign economies.


“We expect the positive contribution of the global recovery to foreign demand to support the increase in exports in the upcoming period,” he underlined.


He added that the tourism revenues during the summer period can also support the narrowing trend in the current account deficit.


Touching on the import side, he said the increasing import figures stemmed from a base effect and higher goods prices.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A grieving Palestinian father said he understood that he lost five of his family members when he could no longer hear their voices under the rubble after an Israeli airstrike.

Warplanes of the Israeli army conducted a night attack on a residential area in al-Wahda Street of Gaza City on May 16. During the attack, which turned the Al-Wahda Street into a pile of rubbles and corpses, 43 people, including 10 children and 16 women, were killed.

After the attack, Riyad Eshkontana, his 28-year-old wife Abir, his sons Zayn, 2.5, Yahya, 5, and daughters Lana, 6, Suzi, 7, and Dana, 8, were trapped under the debris.


Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Eshkontana, who survived the wreckage only with his daughter Suzi, said no word can describe those painful moments.

Recalling that the attack, which took away his family and neighbors, came only the next day of Eid-al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday, the father said he never thought that he could come out of the debris alive.

“One hour was like a century [under the rubble],” he said.

Eshkontana said, in the night of the attack, they heard a terrible noise and saw a crimson flame inside the house.

“The walls of the house were shaking, I could not understand what was happening. In a few seconds, I threw myself into the room where my wife and children were,” he said, adding that he found his wife hugging the kids and crying.

“At that moment, the whole building collapsed on us,” Eshkontana recalled, and said he found himself trapped under the debris and was unable to move.

Noting that he lost his finger, he said his only concern was his family.




– ‘What can replace a mother’s bosom?’


The children were screaming, he said, adding that their voices became weak by time. “After a while, as the voices stopped, I understood that I lost them.”

He said civilian defense teams rescued him from the wreckage and bodies of his wife and four children were found.

“I got the painful news after I was taken to the hospital,” he said, and thanked Allah for saving her daughter Suzi.

Among his children, Suzi was fond of her mother the most, he said, and added that he is concerned about how she is going to hold onto life without her mother.

“My daughter lost both her mother and four siblings, she is left all alone. Who can replace a mother’s bosom?”

Recent tensions that started in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

At least 254 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and 39 women, and more than 1,900 others injured in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. Health authorities in the West Bank also confirmed 31 killed in the occupied region.

An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took effect last Friday, putting an end to 11 days of the worst fighting in years.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Bangladesh’s coastal regions bore the brunt of Cyclone Yaas, with tens of thousands of people left homeless and hundreds of homes, roads, crops and fish farms destroyed.

Around 2,570 homes alone on the southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar district were damaged, the district administration said Thursday.

But Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char island were not seriously affected due to precautionary measures by the government and support from UN agencies, said officials.

More than 150,000 people became stranded, 20 kilometers (12 miles) of embankment areas were damaged and over 3,000 hectares of shrimp enclosures were flooded and hundreds of homes damaged due to the effects of the cyclone on the coastal southwestern district of Satkhira.

The cyclone battered Bangladesh on Wednesday, affecting at least 27 subdistricts of nine southern coastal districts, according to the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry.

“Embankments around villages were damaged due to Cyclone Yaas. Hundreds of homes and crops were submerged in saltwater while roads and communication infrastructure have been destroyed,” Bachchu Shekh, a resident of the affected coastal area, told Anadolu Agency.

“Overflowing tides were strengthened by surrounding rivers and entered localities Thursday due to the cyclone. We were submerged and affected with untold suffering here in the coastal regions,” he added.

“Some shelters were destroyed at refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. However, no major destruction or any casualties have been reported so far at the refugee camps. We are yet to assess the losses and damage and will hold a meeting to determine those,” Mohammad Shamsud Douza of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission told Anadolu Agency.

People affected in these areas have been trying to repair the damaged embankments, dams and roads to save livelihoods and belongings while the government assured that it will extend all-out support.

Shrimp enclosures and coastal forests including mangroves and the Sundarbans were also affected by the cyclone, while four deer were also found dead. Official committees have been formed to determine the losses and damage in the country.

In Cox’s Bazar, local authorities and aid agencies are responding as needed in the Rohingya refugee camps amid reports of damage to shelters, latrines and water points due to bad weather in the past few days, said Syed Md Tafhim, national communications officer at the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) for the Rohingya response in Cox’s Bazar.

According to an incident report of the ISCG on May 26, six toilets and six water points were partially damaged while 75 shelters were destroyed, but no cases of dead or missing were reported in the 32 refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey wants to see Sudan standing tall on its own feet and making use of its rich resources, the country’s vice president said on Thursday.

“We don’t want to see Sudan in the middle of proxy wars and as a country that cannot realize its potential, but as a country that assesses its rich resources in the best way … and that stands strongly on its own feet,” Fuat Oktay said at a joint news conference with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, vice president of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council.

The two spoke to reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara following a meeting between delegations from both sides. The Sudanese delegation arrived in Turkey on Thursday on a two-day official visit.

During the meeting, all aspects of Turkey-Sudan relations were discussed, Oktay said, adding that wide opportunities for bilateral cooperation were evaluated as well.

“We see today’s meeting as an important opportunity and beginning for our cooperation in the coming period,” the Turkish official said.

On the US decision to remove Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism, Oktay said it is “a belated step, but a step in the right direction.”

“We are also pleased that the financial and economic sanctions and restrictions that Sudan has been unfairly subjected to for years have been lifted recently,” he added.




– Resolve disputes through dialogue, reconciliation

Oktay expressed hope that the existing disputes that pose a threat to peace and stability in the Horn of Africa region are resolved through dialogue and reconciliation, saying they also discussed the Al-Fascaga conflict between Sudan and Ethiopia.

“We will continue our efforts both to contribute to the prosperity of the region and to add value to the development of the friendly and brotherly country of Sudan with a win-win understanding,” he said.

“At the 15th Joint Economic Commission meeting in 2018, we took concrete decisions and implemented a wide range of actions, from transport to agriculture, from finance to energy and from education to culture and tourism,” the Turkish vice president said, adding: “Despite the transition period in Sudan and the COVID-19 epidemic, we have progressed in the direction of our goals.”

“At our meeting today, we agreed to continue our cooperation and relations strongly within the framework of the previously reached agreements,” he noted.

Oktay noted that Turkey’s trade volume with Sudan exceeded $398 million in 2019 and $481 million in 2020.

“We believe that with the implementation of the Turkey-Sudan Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement we signed in 2018, our bilateral trade will be moved to much higher levels,” he said.

He stated that Turkey has provided Sudan with market opening for agricultural products, which it does not provide in most of the existing free trade agreements, and added: “This will allow Sudan to open its domestic market to the world after the transition process.”

“Bilateral cooperation on agriculture, railways, mining, oil and electricity sectors, with the development of a common platform in the field of culture, science, industry and technology in the coming period is one of the strategic actions we have decided to step up,” he said.

He said Turkey will continue all of its cooperation objectives within the framework of a comprehensive “Turkey-Sudan Action Plan.”

“With the opening of Turkish Ziraat Participation Bank’s Khartoum branch in 2020, an important step was taken to support our trade and investment relations. Sudan Ziraat Participation Bank, the first Turkish bank to be opened on the African continent, will continue to be the only institution where entrepreneurs of the two countries transact safely and receive support.”




– Support in field of health

The Nyala-Turkey Sudan Education and Research Hospital in Darfur, built and operated with the support of Turkey, has treated thousands of Sudanese so far, Oktay said, noting that the hospital became even more important during the pandemic.

“Being beside Sudan in the fight against the epidemic, we delivered the most critical medical supplies and respirators to Sudan through our Health Ministry, Turkish Red Crescent, TIKA and some other Turkish NGOs.

“We will continue to stand by Sudan in the field of health through work such as the operation of Sudan Merowe Hospital by our Health Ministry, training of health workers and medical supplies support,” said Oktay.




– Fruitful meeting

Dagalo, for his part, praised the Turkish nation and the government for always supporting Sudan in every platform and standing by them in the challenging times and crises.

Stating that his visit is the start of many others in the future, he said they had a “fruitful meeting” with Oktay.

Sudan is going through an exceptional period, he said, adding that despite the challenging conditions, they achieved to establish peace in the country.

“Therefore, we made progress with the support of the international community, the US and the countries that stand by Sudan, and with our efforts.

“As one of them, Sudan was removed from the list of countries supporting terrorism,” Dagalo said.

Highlighting his country’s rich resources, Dagalo said it has not reached the level it should have.

The Sudanese government signed a peace agreement last year with opposition groups except for two rebel movements – one in the western region of Darfur known as the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, and the Sudan Popular Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) from the south in the Nuba mountains region.

The armed opposition SPLM-N rejected the deal because it demanded Sudan do away with sharia law and become a secular, democratic state.

But in March, the government and the SPLM-N signed a roadmap for peace talks and agreed to separate religion from the state. Peace talks between the two sides just began on Wednesday.


Dagalo also noted that they will revise and modernize already existing agreements, which were signed between Turkey and the former Sudanese government but not implemented.

“We desire to realize these agreements on a mutual win-win basis,” he said.


Source: Anadolu Agency

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a leading Turkish travel and leisure agency, Jolly, have launched a joint project to promote sustainable tourism in Turkey.

As part of “Mirasim Turkiye” campaign launched two years ago, the project will focus on raising awareness about sustainable tourism, child-friendly tourism and importance of cultural heritage.

Mirasim Turkiye campaign aims to preserve the rich heritage of Turkey and pass it on to future generations.

“We have set out on a long-term journey with Jolly,” Mustafa Ali Yurdupak, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Portfolio Manager (PPI) at the UNDP, said at a launch meeting in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya on Thursday.

Yurdupak underlined the importance of acting with an environmentally sensitive tourism approach to preserve the country’s valuable heritage.

“I believe that we can create a wide-ranging awareness in Turkey with various activities that we will carry out by adopting sustainable tourism principles and achieving the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals],” Yurdupak stressed.

The UNDP sees the project as just the beginning, leading to much deeper collaborations, he noted.

Citing global figures, Yurdupak pointed out that tourism generates 10% of the world’s GDP and employment for one person in 10.

“Minimizing the costs of tourism on our society, environment, and our cultural and natural heritage and maximizing the contribution of this sector to the local economy are our priorities in the context of sustainable tourism,” he underlined.

Mete Vardar, the chairman of Jolly, said the company has been working to promote Turkey’s rich cultural heritage for 30 years.

“There is a lot to do to preserve the natural and cultural values for future generations,” the chairman said.

Mert Vardar, the CEO of Jolly, said the company has made significant investments in the last three years to promote the natural, historical and cultural values of Turkey and contribute to regional employment.

“Now we are even more excited. We are starting a cooperation with UNDP Turkey to raise awareness about sustainable tourism, and being responsible tourists,” he said.

The CEO stressed the campaign will reach 250,000 children through trainings and workshops.

Marketing director of Jolly, Yasemin Develioglu, said the project will educate children about the rich history, culture and biological wealth of Turkey.

The primary direct beneficiaries of this project will be children and their families as well as women-owned/run tourism businesses and travel agencies, according to the UNDP.

Focusing on children and increasing their awareness about sustainable tourism will change the family’s views on sustainability issues and ultimately the whole society will be positively affected, the UN body suggested.

Source: Anadolu Agency

On the eve of World Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, several women from sub-Saharan Africa spoke to Anadolu Agency about the sanitary solutions they have created to protect women’s health and empower them.

In her room, Veronique Kouoh, a Cameroonian woman in her fifties, arranges pieces of cloth that she recycles every month for her period.

“Since we were children, she has done it — like our grandmother and our mother. I have never seen her buy disposable pads and yet I am not comfortable with this method,” said her sister, Louise Kouoh.

Even though she does not use cloth, she adds pieces of cotton and toilet paper on top of her pads every month.

“It’s not easy because I have to buy a lot of paper and cotton and change several times a day,” she said.

The use of fabric is, according to Emilie Kyedrebeogo from Burkina Faso, an ancestral practice that she perpetuates to help young girls who miss school because they have no pads. But also in memory of her difficult childhood with painful periods.

She does this through Palobde, her ecological sanitary napkin business. Like many women on the continent, the main raw materials of her business are pure cotton, local waterproof fabric, free of chemicals and with a lifespan of almost three years.

In Burkina Faso, she employs nearly 60 women who have made it possible to manufacture more than 36,000 washable and reusable pads purchased by NGOs and women’s associations. She reported that in four years she has processed nearly 15 tons of cotton, contributing to the value chain in her country and to the provision of employment for women.

After attending a training course on menstrual hygiene management, the young Togolese Elsa M’bena Mba, based in Lome, realized that industrial sanitary towels “were not at all of good quality” and decided to start manufacturing them in a way that was more respectful of women’s health, she told Anadolu Agency.

According to the young consultant and gender specialist, those ecologic pads were not initially welcomed by Togolese women.

“They were afraid of the cleaning issue and hesitated because it is a local product and they are used to foreign products, yet they do not know what they are made of,” she added.

– Fighting for gender equality

Beyond intimate hygiene, M’bena Ba wants to lead a real fight for gender equality through her business and awareness campaigns.

“We cannot hope and claim to achieve equality if girls and women still experience menstruation as an ordeal and in precariousness. This limits their social evolution compared to men,” she said.

In Senegal, French-Senegalese social entrepreneur Marina Gning is also committed to menstrual hygiene through ApiAfrique, a company she co-founded. She was inspired by discussions with Senegalese women who spoke about the hardships they experience during their menstrual periods.

“It is a taboo for them. They don’t dare to talk about it and yet they have great difficulties that they have to express by talking,” she reported.

Gning said that she “favors raw materials that are respectful of nature and without health consequences”. She wants “women to look forward to their periods without embarrassment or taboo.”

“Having your period means understanding what is going on in your body and adapting your life to your menstrual cycle. Women are not comfortable with their periods because since childhood they are taught that it is impure. So they are afraid and yet being comfortable with your period is also a path to personal development,” she explained.

For her, the use of washable pads is a better solution than disposables made of chemical materials and whose components are not disclosed.

“It is a major problem not knowing what we put on our genitals every day of our lives,” said the entrepreneur.

– Environmental hazard

According to her, disposable pads also pollute the environment because they take hundreds of years to degrade.

“Africa does not have the means to manage waste properly. When these products are buried or burnt they are polluting. When they are exposed in the wild, animals eat them and human beings eat those animals. This is really problematic,” she said.

Through the production of eco-friendly sanitary pads, Gning also wants to encourage women’s autonomy, as she finds that buying pads every month is not at all economical.

“But buying products that last up to three years is economical and they are made by women in Senegal. So jobs are created and female independence is promoted,” she concluded.

In Cameroon, Kmerpad, Olivia Mvondo’s company, has already distributed more than 300,000 washable sanitary towels since 2012. This, “in rural areas, urban areas and in areas of humanitarian conflict with the support of international NGOs such as United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF),” she reported.

For her, it is important to fight against global warming by favoring ecological products. She created her company by observing the taboos and difficulties of women around menstruation.

According to the United Nations, one in ten girls in sub-Saharan Africa do not attend school during their menstrual cycle, which is estimated to be 20% of school time lost in a year.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Assimi Goita, the vice-president of the transition and junta leader is in charge of the transition since he released Bah N’Daw, the president of the transition, and Moctar Ouane, the prime minister, after three days of detention and their resignation.

Unhappy with the appointment of a new transitional government without his consultation and accusing “sabotage” of the transition Goita, who initiated the 2020 coup, forcibly transported the transition leaders to the Kati military base on Monday.

Ouane and N’Daw resigned Wednesday hours after the vice president announced he had put them “out of their prerogatives.”

“Following a crisis of several months at the national level, including strikes and various demonstrations by social and political actors, the government led by Mr. Moctar Ouane has shown itself incapable of constituting a reliable interlocutor, likely to mobilize the confidence of social partners,” he said in a statement read on national television by Baba Cissé, his adviser.

But with a power grab in a country in transition since a previous coup, the situation is “very complicated” and “unstable” for a country that should be at the forefront of securing the Sahel region against terrorism, Régis Hounkpe, a pan-African geopolitologist, told Anadolu Agency.

Domestically, Malians are divided over the circumstances. Some criticize the actions of the military and think they should be on the front lines against terrorism instead of discussing ministerial posts, while others are convinced that Goita’s action is “to help the country regain its dignity.”

“Malians don’t need a coup” or “more crises,” according to Malian political actor Brehima Diakite.

“It’s just a matter of redressing the situation and moving the transition forward,” according to Issa Kaou Djim, a member of the National Transitional Council who spoke to Anadolu Agency.

– Suspensions and targeted sanctions

The detention of the transitional authorities before their release followed a wave of condemnations and threats of sanctions against not only the junta but the entire country from the African and international community.

In a statement following its Peace and Security Council on Thursday, the African Union (AU) called on “the elements of the army that committed this illegal act to return unconditionally to their barracks and to refrain from interfering in the political process in Mali.”

AU is also considering sanctions against its West African member and “the suspension of Mali’s participation in all AU activities until the return to the agreed Charter and transition roadmap.”

After an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday evening, the UN Security Council condemned the arrests and demanded that the initial timetable for the transition with “civilian authorities” be respected.

According to the UN, “the reckless action taken” by the junta risks weakening the mobilization of the international community in favor of Mali.

On this occasion, the United States, which since the overthrow of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita had limited its annual budgetary aid to the Malian government, decided to suspend its security assistance to the Malian army.

The country is also considering “targeted measures against political and military leaders who impede Mali’s transition to civilian-led democratic governance,” said a statement from the US Embassy in Mali.

However, these measures are “double-edged” as they “also hit the Malian population” and risk “internal tensions and even feed a feeling of rejection from Mali’s partners,” said Jean Herve Jezekel, an expert from the International Crisis Group (ICG) in a recent interview published by the conflict management group.

In Mali, “the transition is taking its normal course,” Assimi Goita recently assured.

Local media report that he considers himself the new president of the republic, citing diplomatic sources. On Thursday, he met with the secretaries-general of ministerial departments. The objective was “to ensure the continuity of the state and the management of current affairs,” said Malijet, a local online media.

The transitional leader recalled the sense of duty and asked for continuity of public action, according to Dr. Yaya Gologo, secretary-general of the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service, quoted by the same source.

He added that this type of meeting is not unprecedented because after the coup of 2020, “the secretaries-general had been received by the same Colonel Assimi Goita, who had given them his guidance in relation to the conduct of this transition period.”

Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has announced an extraordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government this Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Accra (Ghana). It will be “exclusively devoted to the ongoing political situation in Mali.”

For the ICG, “international actors should continue to reject the confiscation of power by the military” and “put pressure on the country to return to civilian rule that is not hostage to it.”

The organization also believes that “repeated crises are undermining the credibility of the Malian state,” “giving space to jihadists and other armed groups,” but also undermining confidence in the Algiers Agreement.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish police thwarted a suspected bomb plot in the country’s southeastern Diyarbakir province and apprehended a terrorist, security forces said on Friday.

During a security check on the Diyarbakir-Mardin highway, a police squad signaled a vehicle to stop on Thursday. Instead of stopping the vehicle, the driver accelerated the speed in an attempt to escape, they said.

During search of the vehicle after a successful chase, police found a concealed bomb, which was later destroyed by a bomb disposal unit.

According to the security officials, a pilot car leading the suspected terrorist’s vehicle was also spotted abandoned on Mevlana Halit Street, and a manhunt is underway to apprehend his accomplices .

Searches of the vehicles yielded a cache of digital materials, unlicensed weapons, two magazines, and 35 cartridges.

An investigation is underway to determine whether this terrorist plot is linked to the PKK terror group.

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.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).​​​​​​​

Source: Anadolu Agency