Turkey News Gazette

The German government on Wednesday criticized ongoing Israeli settlement expansion in the Palestinian-run territories and occupied Jerusalem, saying it is an impediment to a two-state solution.

Responding to reporters’ questions during a regular press conference in Berlin, German Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Christofer Burger said Israeli settlements are not “compatible with international law.”

He also stressed that the Israeli settlement policy is an “obstacle to the goal of a negotiated two-state solution.”

A traditionally staunch ally of Israel, Germany has time and again gone out of its way to criticize the continued Israeli settlement building, saying it will only further complicate the so-called Middle East peace process.

Berlin has repeatedly vowed to continue its efforts, together with the US and other European Union partners, to find a mutually acceptable, negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that addresses the legitimate concerns of both sides.

Around 650,000 Israeli Jews currently live in more than 130 settlements built since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians want these territories along with the Gaza Strip for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that a meeting with US President Joe Biden during a NATO summit next month will mark the beginning of a new era.

“We care about our long-standing, rooted and multidimensional alliance with the US. Although there are differences of ideas from time to time, our partnership and alliance have managed to overcome all kinds of predicaments,” Erdogan said in a video conference before meeting US-based companies’ executives.

“From Syria to Libya, and from fighting against terrorism to energy, and from trade to investments, we have a serious potential of cooperation with the US,” he said.

Erdogan said that Turkey and the US should bring mechanisms for economic strategy and partnership to life, and he is aiming for a $100 billion trade volume between the two countries.

He asked the US to take more constructive steps amid additional tariffs on aluminum and steel, and noted Biden’s comments on 1915 events have brought an additional burden on US-Turkey relations.

“We have always supported multinational companies that invested in our country, created employment and contributed to our economic development,” he told.

“In improving our economic and trade relations, we are happy to see that the new US administration has the same will as we have,” Erdogan said, noting that Turkey has never resorted to protectionism economic policies during the coronavirus pandemic.

The president said none of the supply-chain setbacks seen in other countries during the pandemic were witnessed in Turkey. “We have differentiated positively during that time in areas of investment, employment, production, logistics, public safety, and social support,” he said.

Erdogan noted that Turkey’s economy expanded 1.8% in 2020 — the highest growth rate of any country among the G20 after China.

Source: Anadolu Agency

At least eight irregular migrants were rescued by Turkish Coast Guard teams off the coast of the Aegean province of Mugla on Wednesday.

This came after the teams received a tip-off about a group of irregular migrants stranded on a rubber boat near Bodrum.

The migrants were reportedly pushed back by the Greek side to Turkish territorial waters.

After being rescued, the migrants were transferred to the provincial migration office.

Turkey has repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those escaping war and persecution.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Switzerland ended talks Wednesday with the European Union without signing a long-sought-after deal, said the country’s government.

“The Federal Council today took the decision not to sign the agreement and communicated this decision to the EU,” the government said in a statement.

“This brings negotiations on the draft of the [framework agreement] to a close,” it added.

Switzerland is not an EU member and cited a lack of progress on three key points, which have hindered progress since the draft deal was finalized in 2018.

The stumbling blocks include state aid rules and the access of EU citizens to Swiss social security benefits.

The government said it still considers it in the shared interest of Switzerland and the EU “to safeguard their well-established cooperation and to systematically maintain the agreements already in force.”

The agreement sought to realign five major agreements within 120 bilateral accords that lay down relations between the EU and Switzerland.

The failed talks brought to an end seven years of efforts between Switzerland and the EU to craft an overarching treaty to replace the one that has regulated relations for the past decades.

As an alternative, the government wanted to continue to “cultivate and develop” Switzerland’s partnership with the EU on the existing bilateral agreements.

With a population of 8.6 million people, Switzerland said it proposed to launch a political dialogue with Brussels to pursue future common priorities.

It also pledged to try and ensure that the Swiss cohesion fund contribution, a key demand of the EU, would be released “as soon as possible.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s main opposition leader on Tuesday pledged to the country’s young people that he would give them the freedom they want.

“Dear young people! I will give you the freedom that you wanted and missed,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), told his party’s parliamentary group in the capital Ankara.

“You will achieve such freedom that you will criticize the person who you brought to power in the strongest way, if necessary,” he added.

Kilicdaroglu said that his party would strive to enlighten the entire country with all its young people.

“If you hear a knock on your door in the early morning, you will know that it’s a milkman, not a police officer, I promise you such freedom,” he added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s parliament speaker on Wednesday congratulated Georgia on completing 103 years of independence.

“On behalf of the Turkish nation and myself, I congratulate the friendly people of Georgia on the occasion of the National Day,” Sentop said in a letter to his Georgian counterpart Kakha Kuchava.

He noted that Turkey and Georgia shared deep-rooted historical and cultural ties.

“Close relations between our parliaments are also developing on this ground, gaining momentum on bilateral and multilateral platforms,” he said.

Georgia declared independence on May 26, 1918 in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former South African President Jacob Zuma pleaded “not guilty” on Wednesday to all charges in connection to a 1999 arms deal case.

“I plead not guilty,” Zuma 79, told the judge at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in KwaZulu-Natal at the start of the trial.

Zuma faces 16 counts that include corruption, money laundering, fraud and racketeering linked to a $2.5 billion arms deal dating to the late 1990s.

The charges were dropped in 2009 by former National Prosecuting Authority head Mokotedi Mpshe, weeks before he was elected president.

But they were reinstated in 2018, marking one of the longest-running legal battles.

Zuma said the charges are politically motivated and were initiated by his foes within his own ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.The former South African leader was forced to resign as president by the ANC in 2018 following various allegations of corruption linked to the wealthy Indian Gupta family, among others.

Crowds of Zuma’s supporters gathered outside the court where he is expected to make an address.

The trial was postponed to July 19.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Syrian regime’s tourism minister has arrived in Saudi Arabia on the first such visit by a regime minister to the kingdom in a decade.

Muhammad Rami Martini is scheduled to attend the 47th meeting of the World Tourism Organization Committee for the Middle East in Riyadh on May 26-27, according to the official Syrian news agency SANA.

The Syrian minister’s visit came upon an official invitation from the Saudi Tourism Ministry and the World Tourism Organization Committee for the Middle East to participate in the meeting, SANA said.

Saudi Arabia’s relations with the regime of Bashar al-Assad deteriorated following the eruption of the Syrian revolution in 2011, with Riyadh recalling its ambassador from Damascus and freezing diplomatic relations with the Assad regime.

Source: Anadolu Agency

An opposition member of parliament on Wednesday accused the British government for being complicit in the murder of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in its most recent attack on the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip.

Zara Sultana of the Labour Party during prime minister’s question time queried Boris Johnson on whether British-made weapons were used by Israeli forces during its assault on the occupied territory and whether the government would acknowledge its denial in the role it has played in the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians.

“Tala, 13, Rula just 5 years old, her big sister Yara aged 9; three Palestinian children killed in an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military murdered 63 other children and 245 Palestinians in its recent assault on Gaza. The call for Palestinian freedom has never been louder but this Conservative government is complicit in its denial,” Sultana said in her segment of the session.

“It [the government] has approved more than £400 million in arms to Israel since 2015. So can the prime minister look me in the eye and tell me that British-made weapons or components weren’t used in the war crimes that killed these three children and hundreds of other Palestinians,” Sultana asked, holding up an image of the three Palestinian children she mentioned earlier.

In response to her question, the prime minister spoke of his relief at the implementation of a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza and reiterated his government’s policy and support on the two-state solution between Tel Aviv and Palestine.

“Mr Speaker, I think that whole House understands that nobody wants to see any more of the appalling conflict that we have seen in Israel and Gaza and we are all glad that there is now a cease-fire and de-escalation. As for the position of the British government, I think that it is common ground for most members of this House that what we want to see is a two-state solution, Mr Speaker, that is what the UK government has campaigned for many and that continues to be our position,” Johnson said.

The prime minister dodged Sultana’s question on whether UK arms were used in the 11-day-long assault on Gaza and his response attracted further criticism from the MP.

“Today I asked the prime minister if he could look me in the eye and tell me that British-made weapons weren’t used in the war crimes that killed these three Palestinian children and hundreds more. He couldn’t. Utterly shameful,” Sultana said on Twitter.

Last week, an Egyptian brokered cease-fire between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel came into effect.

At least 284 Palestinians have been killed, including 66 children and 39 women, and 1,900 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping East Jerusalem, now occupied by Israel, might eventually serve as capital of a future Palestinian state.

Source: Anadolu Agency