Showing posts with label WORLD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WORLD. Show all posts

Saturday, 30 October 2021

Turkish president inaugurates Atatürk Cultural Center on Republic Day

 

Turkish president inaugurates Atatürk Cultural Center on Republic Day

ANKARA, OCT 30: The Turkish president on Friday inaugurated the Atatürk Cultural Center in Turkey's metropolitan Istanbul.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony on the 98th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "We are striving to repay our debt to the founders of our republic by setting out our 2023 goals and working day and night to achieve them."

"We will not allow any obstacle, trap, or attack to prevent us from achieving the goals we have set for the 100th anniversary of our Republic," he added.

All art and cultural activities at the center will contribute to a great and powerful Turkey, the president said.

"The Atatürk Cultural Center will remain standing for centuries as the place where the pulse of culture and art beats in our country," he said.

Erdoğan praised the Koca Sinan opera, which was especially composed for the inauguration, about famed Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan whose ingenious works dot the territory of the former empire, particularly in Istanbul.

The ceremony was also attended by Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Minister Murat Kurum, Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanik, and Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Kasapoglu.

In the fall of 2017, Erdoğan announced the new project known by its Turkish initials AKM, saying it would be a "symbolic" site in Istanbul.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the cultural complex at the famed Taksim Square was attended by Erdoğan along with many Turkish actors and artists.

The new building boasts a world-class opera hall with over 2,000 seats, a theatre hall, backstage rooms, and fair areas.

The center also has meeting rooms, administrative offices, restaurants and art galleries.

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Courtesy Anews

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Thursday, 28 October 2021

India tests nuclear-capable missile amid tensions with China

 

India tests nuclear-capable missile amid tensions with China

NEW DELHI, OCT 28: India has test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,000 kilometres from an island off its east coast amid rising border tensions with China.

The successful launch on Wednesday was in line with “India’s policy to have credible minimum deterrence that underpins the commitment to no first use”, said a government statement.

The Agni-5 missile splashed down in the Bay of Bengal with “a very high degree of accuracy”, said the statement issued on Wednesday night.

Beijing’s powerful missile arsenal has driven New Delhi to improve its weapons systems in recent years, with the Agni-5 believed to be able to strike nearly all of China.

India is already able to strike anywhere inside neighbouring Pakistan.

India has been developing its medium and long-range nuclear and missile systems since the 1990s amid increasing strategic competition with China in a major boost to the country’s defence capabilities.

Tension between them flared last year over a long-disputed section of their border in the mountainous Ladakh area. India is also increasingly suspicious of Beijing’s efforts to heighten its influence in the Indian Ocean.

Talks between Indian and Chinese army commanders to disengage troops from key areas along their border ended in a stalemate earlier this month, failing to ease a 17-month standoff that has sometimes led to deadly clashes. India and China fought a bloody war in 1962.

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Courtesy DAWN NEWS

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Turkey ready to enhance cooperation with Chad: Turkish president

 

Turkey ready to enhance cooperation with Chad: Turkish president

ANKARA, OCT 28: Turkey is prepared to boost defense and security cooperation with Chad as the African nation faces terrorists and other armed groups, the Turkish president said on Wednesday.


"Turkey is ready to develop cooperation with Chad, which is simultaneously fighting terrorist organizations and armed opposition groups, in the military, defense, and security fields," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a joint press conference following a meeting with Chad's visiting Transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in the Turkish capital Ankara.


Erdoğan said they discussed the bilateral relations of the two nation, as well as regional issues adding Turkey to support Chad in its transitional period.


"With the agreements signed today, Chad will become one of Turkey's pioneering partners in Africa," Erdoğan said, adding that the Central African country has a great potential and role in the region.


Erdoğan noted that the bilateral trade volume between the two countries has reached $112 million, a 47% increase overall, with the goal of reaching $200 million and then $500 million.


The two countries will continue to work on further deepening relations and enrich diversity in trade in a holistic, win-win approach, Erdoğan added.

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Courtesy Anews

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Tuesday, 26 October 2021

Key US senator asks Blinken to ensure Biden calls PM Imran to 'rebuild' Pak-US relationship

 

Key US senator asks Blinken to ensure Biden calls PM Imran to 'rebuild' Pak-US relationship

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, OCT 26: US Senator Bob Menendez said on Sunday that he had asked US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to urge President Joe Biden to have a conversation with Prime Minister Imran Khan in an effort to rebuild the relationship with Pakistan.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee underscored the need for such conversations while speaking at a fundraising event hosted at the residence of a board member of the American-Pakistani Political Action Committee (APPAC), Dr Tariq Ibrahim.

"I think it would serve us well to have such a conversation and, you know, when we have these conversations, they are honest, and that means they are also transparent,” the senator said, referring to the request he had made to Blinken.

Such a course, he said, means “where there is agreement, we build upon it and where there is disagreement we talk about how do we get through that disagreement.”

“I think there is an extraordinary moment in which this is a relationship that can be rebuilt to what it once was," Menendez said.

“And if we can rebuild on it we, I hope, we can expand on it — not just about Pakistan in the context of a military or security dimension, but much greater — talking about an incredibly large population that is very young; there is tremendous opportunity to build upon the economic dynamism that we create,” he said.

“And that's what I look forward to be able to continue to promote as your US senator,” Menendez told the APPAC members.

Diplomatic affront


Biden's apparent refusal or avoidance to engage with Prime Minister Imran Khan since the former assumed office has been viewed as a diplomatic affront and seemingly become a point of contention between the two countries with US lawmakers criticising the reluctance to engage as well.

In an interview with the Financial Times in August, National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf had made clear that Pakistan had other options if Biden continued to ignore the country’s leadership.

“The president of the United States hasn’t spoken to the prime minister of such an important country who the US itself says is make-or-break in some cases, in some ways, in Afghanistan — we struggle to understand the signal, right?” Yusuf told The Financial Times.

“We’ve been told every time that… [the phone call] will happen, it’s technical reasons or whatever. But frankly, people don’t believe it,” he had said. “If a phone call is a concession, if a security relationship is a concession, Pakistan has options,” he added, refusing to elaborate.

At the time, a Biden administration official had said that there were "still a number of world leaders President Biden has not been able to speak with personally yet. He looks forward to speaking with Prime Minister Khan when the time is right.”

Meanwhile, the prime minister himself said in August that he was not really "waiting" for a phone call. "I keep hearing that President Biden hasn't called me. It's his business. It's not like I am waiting for any phone call," he had said in response to a question from a Reuters journalist.

Later in September, the premier had opined that the US president was "quite busy" to call him and discuss the regional situation.

On October 11, during an interview with Middle East Eye, the prime minister had again clarified that he still had not yet spoken to President Biden — a fact which the interviewers had described as "astonishing".

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Courtesy DAWN NEWS

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Sunday, 24 October 2021

Liberation of Karabakh one of Turkic world's biggest achievements

 

Liberation of Karabakh one of Turkic world's biggest achievements

BAKU, OCT 24: The liberation of Karabakh is one of the biggest achievements of the Turkic world in recent times, Anadolu Agency's director general said on Saturday.

Addressing a panel at the Turkic Council Media Forum, Serdar Karagöz said the last such achievement was in Cyprus in 1974.

"The second achievement was in Karabakh. We didn't just gain land. I think Karabakh is a 'founding' victory," he said. "This is a step toward the establishment of a union. With the victory of Karabakh, our institutions, media, news agencies, universities, academics, we all had the pleasure of working together ... and this will open new doors for us."

He added: "The victory was not only achieved on the ground, but also on the communication front ..."

"We should not let Karabakh to be forgotten," said the head of Turkey's top news source, adding that the Karabakh war lasted for 44 days but there was no prominent coverage of the conflict and occupation of Azerbaijani lands in Western and Eastern media.

But "we kept referring as 'the occupied lands' in media from Turkey, Azerbaijan and the Turkic world," he asserted.

He said Anadolu Agency and Turkey's public broadcaster TRT's international channels broadcast Armenia's aggression to the world.

Karagoz expressed his desire to make the Association of Turkic Speaking News Agencies (TKA), which was established in 2008, more active.

In this regard, he said, they are planning to convene the TKA general assembly in the first quarter of 2022 in Turkey's resort city of Antalya.

"We intend to create a common news pool with all our members coming together again. The stronger our institutions are, the stronger our messages will be ... I consider this meeting to be held in Antalya as an opportunity. We will not only invite agencies of our member countries, but also intellectuals, journalists, academics and politicians ... We will create the biggest news pool of the Turkic world there," he said.

LIBERATION OF KARABAKH

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, and violated humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the six-week conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the nearly three-decade occupation.

It ended after the two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end the fighting, and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

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COURTESY Anews

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