Contents tagged with turkey

  • Syria demands that Turkey withdraw its troops

    Speaker of the Syrian Parliament Hamoudeh Sabbagh said that Damascus demands the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Turkish troops from the country.

    Speaking at the plenary session of the Assembly of the International Parliamentary Union in St. Petersburg, he noted that a large number of military vehicles and ambulances had been moved to the region of the Turkish province of Hatay. The Turkish General Staff announced the beginning of a reconnaissance operation in Idlib, Syrian, which is …

  • Crimean authorities admit that the ferry service with Turkey cannot be resumed

    Sevastopol has recognized that the issue of resuming ferry service with Turkey cannot be resolved, as stated by Director of the Crimean Sea Agency LLC (ferry operator) Stanislav Gvozdilov, Crimea News reports.

    According to Gvozdilov, such questions will have to be discussed by Moscow and Ankara.

    "The ferry service, which was interrupted in March, has not been resumed. For now, there is no opportunity to do so. The issue here must be resolved at the governmental level," he said.

    The …

  • Russia calls Turkey's decision to not allow ships from the Crimea an 'unfriendly step'

    Turkey has confirmed that it will not permit entry for ships arriving from ports in the Russian-annexed Crimea, stated a member of the Turkish Chamber of Shipping in response to Russian news agency TASS.

    In response, the Russian Federation Council called the decision an “unfriendly” step.

    “By its ban, Turkey may be pushing Russia to correct relations between the two countries, which could affect joint actions in Syria,” stated the Russia's First Deputy of the Federation Council on Defense and …

  • Syria demands that Turkish troops leave Idlib

    The Syrian authorities demanded that Turkey immediately withdraw its military units from the north of the country, reports the Syrian state news agency SANA with a reference to an official source in the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    The Syrian Foreign Ministry states that "the current [Turkish] aggression has nothing to do with the Astana arrangements between the guarantor countries", SANA reports.

    According to Syrian authorities the deployment of Turkish troops in Idlib showed a close …

  • Turkey to deny port access to ships which have visited Crimea

    The Turkish authorities are intensifying the measures to identify ships which have entered Crimean ports.

    This follows from a letter sent by the leadership of the Turkish Chamber of Shipping to all maritime transport and port business entities. A copy of the letter was published by BlackSeaNews.

    The document, which is titled “Principles of shipping in the regions of the Black Sea and the Crimea”, refers to the necessity of “taking steps in consideration of our country’s [Turkey’s] foreign …

  • Turkey imposes restrictions on import of Russian agricultural products

    Turkey has decided to tighten the criteria for the supply of Russian agricultural products, said Andrey Sizov, director of the SovEcon analytical center, Fontanka news website reports.

    In his opinion, the restrictions could be related to the ban on the supply of tomatoes from Turkey.

    “Yes, it's probably a matter of allowing Turkish tomatoes to enter the Russian market,” he said.

    According to him, from now on, Russian companies will need to get invoices certified by Turkish officials.

    “Now, …

  • Ankara: Turkey may cancel purchase of S-400 missile systems if Russia does not agree to joint production

    Ankara may cancel the purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia if the countries fail to achieve an agreement on joint production of these systems, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in an interview with the newspaper Aksam.

    "There has been no official refusal [from Russia]. Putin told us that the joint production might be possible. Know-how will be crucial [for Turkey]. If Russia’s attitude is negative, we may get a deal with another country," Cavusoglu said.

    "We have to …

  • President Erdogan says that Turkey does not recognize annexation of Crimea

    At a joint press briefing with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after talks between the two leaders took place in Kyiv, Turkish Presidrnt Erdogan said that Turkey supports the sovereignty of Ukraine and does not recognize the “illegal annexation” of Crimea.

    “Once again, I assured Poroshenko that Turkey will continue to support Ukraine's sovereignty, its territorial integrity, including the Crimea, and political consolidation,” he added.

    Erdogan also said that at the meeting with his …

  • Ukrainian President Proroshenko and Turkish President Erdogan met in Kyiv

    Ukraine and Turkey intend to increase the trade turnover between the two countries to $10 billion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement to this effect at a joint briefing with President Poroshenko in Kyiv on Monday.

    “Today, having noted recent developments, we have decided to increase our trade turnover to $10 billion as quickly as possible,” he said.

    The Turkish president noted that, as early as 2015, the leaders of the two countries declared their goal of doubling or …

  • Turkish Foreign Minister: Russian and Syrian airstrikes on Idlib should not be ignored

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, commenting on the situation in Syria and Idlib, said that it is necessary to ensure the territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, and one should not turn a blind eye to the airstrikes carried out by Syrian and Russian aircraft, reported Anadolu news agency.

    According to him, Idlib is a key region in terms of preventing armed conflicts in Syria. The minister also mentioned that during the Inter-Syrian talks in Astana, the decision was made to …