Tag Archives: Turkey

On Monday ,Iranian PressTV reported that  Iran has canceled its visa fees for nationals of seven countries, in an attempt to revive its tourism sector. The seven countries are; Turkey, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bolivia, Egypt and Syria. The report said that “The new visa regulations state that the citizens of these countries can freely stay in Iran without visa from 15 to …

Three young Arab-American Muslims were shot dead in their home in Chapel Hill neighbourhood in North Carolina on Tuesday. The victims were identified as 23 year old Deah Shaddy Barakat, 21 year old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha his wife and 19 years old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha his sister in law. According to the police the gunshots were heard at 5.11 pm …

UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura met with Syrian opposition members on Monday to discuss his plan on locally “freezing” fighting in second city Aleppo. “The talks started today with representatives of armed and non-armed groups in Gaziantep” in southern Turkey, Juliette Touma, de Mistura’s spokeswoman, said. “The U.N. delegation is made up of four people, including De Mistura”, …

The US on Monday ruled out plans to create a no-fly zone along the Syria-Turkey border, brushing aside rumors that it is in talks with Turkey about creating a safe haven for refugees. According to US President Barack Obama’s spokesman Josh Earnest, the US was “open to discussing a range of options with the Turks” but that a no-fly zone …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his frustration at the US and its fellow member nations in the coalition fighting against extremist group Islamic State (IS), lamenting on Wednesday that they didn’t respond to conditions set for by Turkey that allows it to play a larger role in coalition. The timing of his complaint seems especially curious, since US special …

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday warned that 2-3 million more Syrian refugees could enter the country if the Syrian city of Aleppo is overrun by either regime or extremist forces. Turkey already hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees and has repeatedly stated that it can barely support the overwhelming number of refugees. Cavusoglu also said that supporting the rebel …

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday said that Islamic State (IS) extremists had tortured teenagers from Syrian town of Kobane for six months in captivity. According to the rights group, 153 school-going children were kidnapped by the IS in May while they were returning to Kobane after sitting for exams in Aleppo; it released 25 of the hostages late …

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has sent several hundreds of fighter to Kobane, in addition to the 400 fighters already in the town, a commander of a unit said on Thursday. FSA fighters, who oppose the Syrian regime, have joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to defend Kurdish Syrian border town Kobane, and will shortly be joined by the …

On Tuesday, an international conference held in Berlin about the Syrian refugee crisis promised to extend long-term financial support to countries struggling to deal with Syrian refugees, which the UN has labeled the world’s “most dramatic humanitarian crisis”. Almost 40 international bodies and countries adopted a declaration saying that they would “mobilize for years to come” increased developmental support to …

The international community has responded cautiously to a Turkish proposal to set a buffer zone inside war-ravaged Syria, despite it being an important condition set by Turkey to step up its efforts in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). Over the past few days, Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan has repeatedly asked for the creation of a buffer zone in …