All posts tagged: Turkish

Turkish central bank stuns market by hiking interest rates to 50% | Turkey

Turkish central bank stuns market by hiking interest rates to 50% | Turkey

Published by skeptic

Turkey’s central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates to 50% on Thursday, citing a deteriorating inflation outlook and pledging to tighten further if it looks like inflation is significantly and persistently worsening. The hawkish move came 10 days before local elections and was seen by analysts as a signal that the central bank was independent from any political constraints and determined to tackle price rises. The lira rallied by as much as 1.5% to 31.91 against the dollar in response to the hike from the previous 45% rate, reversing weeks of steady declines in the Turkish currency, and Turkey’s dollar bonds extended a rally. The bank has now raised its key one-week repo rate by 41.5 percentage points from 8.5% since last June, after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s victory in May presidential elections and U-turn towards greater orthodoxy in economic policy. The “tight monetary stance will be maintained until a significant and sustained decline in the underlying trend of monthly inflation is observed, and inflation expectations converge to the projected forecast range”, the bank said. Policy “will …

‘Our bills have tripled’: UK’s first Turkish mosque fights to survive in London | London

‘Our bills have tripled’: UK’s first Turkish mosque fights to survive in London | London

Published by skeptic

Nestled among the kebab shops, Caribbean takeaways and flashy new-build flats in Dalston, north-east London, sits the UK’s first Turkish mosque. Like many things built by and for the deep-rooted communities in this heavily gentrified part of London, it is fighting for survival. “Our bills have tripled, costs to maintain the building have soared and we are not collecting enough money,” said Erkin Güney, 59, who runs and owns Masjid Ramadan, also known as the Shacklewell Lane mosque. He said the mosque could be forced to close its doors by next Ramadan. Monthly costs come in at about £4,000. “We get about £200 to £300 a week if we’re lucky,” he said. He recently received an electricity bill for £17,000. When the Guardian visited the mosque last Friday, a funeral service was under way. This is the mosque’s main source of income. The rest is supplemented by donations that have sharply declined. The death of a loved one is not only a hit to the community, it often also means the loss of a regular …

More than 20 killed in Somalia in alleged Turkish drone strike

More than 20 killed in Somalia in alleged Turkish drone strike

Published by Sam

A drone strike just outside the Somali capital killed more than 22 people and wounded 21, including many children, a witness and a relative of the victims told The Washington Post. Two security sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the strike was carried out by a Turkish drone. The accounts are likely to fuel concerns that the proliferation of drones is causing a huge spike in civilian casualties with little accountability. Witness Daud Hassan Mohamed said the strike hit a home in an agricultural area in the evening after iftar, the meal when Muslims fasting for the holy month of Ramadan break their day-long fast. “There was one airstrike that targeted the victims. But when people began rushing to the scene to save them, these same people were hit by more airstrikes,” he said. “What happened was a massacre.” About 15 children were among the casualties, he said, and several women. The wounded had sought treatment in Madina Hospital in Mogadishu, he …

the Turkish holiday resort that’s become an emergency dental centre for Britons who can’t get treated at home

the Turkish holiday resort that’s become an emergency dental centre for Britons who can’t get treated at home

Published by skeptic

It’s a hot summer day in the Turkish city of Antalya, a Mediterranean resort with golden beaches, deep blue sea and vibrant nightlife. The pool area of the all-inclusive resort is crammed with British people on sun loungers – but they aren’t here for a holiday. This hotel is linked to a dental clinic that organises treatment packages, and most of these guests are here to see a dentist. From Norwich, two women talk about gums and injections. A man from Wales holds a tissue close to his mouth and spits blood – he has just had two molars extracted. The dental clinic organises everything for these dental “tourists” throughout their treatment, which typically lasts from three to 15 days. The stories I hear of what has caused them to travel to Turkey are strikingly similar: all have struggled to secure dental treatment at home on the NHS. “The hotel is nice and some days I go to the beach,” says Susan*, a hairdresser in her mid-30s from Norwich. “But really, we aren’t tourists like …

Erdoğan says upcoming Turkish local election will be his last – POLITICO

Erdoğan says upcoming Turkish local election will be his last – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

The founder and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan has been Turkey’s president since 2014 following a decade as the country’s prime minister. Erdoğan said that the outcome of the local election will have a significant impact on his plans for political succession. “The result that comes out of this election will be a transfer of a legacy to the brothers who will come after me,” Erdoğan said. “That’s why we made the necessary preparations.” Erdogan was re-elected for a second five-year term in a divisive election in May 2023. Source link

Turkish Red Crescent sends its biggest Gaza aid shipment yet

Turkish Red Crescent sends its biggest Gaza aid shipment yet

Published by skeptic

ANKARA: Türkiye’s Kizilay (Red Crescent) is sending its biggest aid shipment yet to Gaza via Egypt, with a ship carrying some 3,000 tonnes of food, medicine and equipment leaving for the Egyptian port of Al-Arish on Thursday (Mar 7). Türkiye, which has harshly criticised Israel for its military offensive in Gaza and backed measures to have it tried for genocide at the World Court, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and warned of consequences if calm cannot be achieved by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, starting on Sunday. “This aid, which will be delivered to Gaza with the support and cooperation of the Egyptian Red Crescent, will keep the hopes of Palestinians alive on the eve of Ramadan,” Türkiye’s ambassador to Cairo, Salih Mutlu Sen, said on social media platform X. Kizilay head Fatma Meric Yilmaz told broadcaster CNN Turk that the ship would make two trips to Egypt to deliver the aid, largely collected through donations. It will then be transported in around 200 trucks to the border town of Rafah in Gaza, …

Turkish drones kill 3 in an attack on a local Christian militia in northeastern Syria, officials say

Turkish drones kill 3 in an attack on a local Christian militia in northeastern Syria, officials say

Published by Sam

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkish drone strikes in northeastern Syria on Wednesday killed at least three members of a local Christian force and wounded others, including civilians, a Kurdish official and a Syrian opposition war monitor said. Also on Wednesday, reported Israeli airstrikes hit Damascus, and in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, security forces opened fire at protesters angry over the country’s worsening economy as they tried to break into the offices of President Bashar Assad’s ruling Baath Party. A 52-year-old man was shot in the chest and later died of his wounds. There was no immediate comment from Ankara on Wednesday’s airstrikes. Turkey has been attacking Kurdish fighters in Syria for years but attacks on the fighters from the country’s Christian minority have been rare. The force that was targeted, the local Christian Syriac police known as Sutoro, works under the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Siamand Ali of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces told The Associated Press that the Turkish drones initially hit three Suturo vehicles near the …

British film industry ‘at risk of losing huge number of talented people’

British film industry ‘at risk of losing huge number of talented people’

Published by Sam

He also said: “Producers and production companies being able to earn a fair fee for their work and not having to defer their fees, and allowing them to build much more sustainable businesses, because too often you see producers having to defer (fees) so much that feels unsustainable, and they struggle to make their next film, or even stay in the industry, because it’s too hard to build a business.” Source link

Turkish Man Jailed for 20 Years for Role in Italian Migrant Shipwreck

Turkish Man Jailed for 20 Years for Role in Italian Migrant Shipwreck

Published by skeptic

ROME (Reuters) – A Turkish citizen has been sentenced to 20 years in jail in Italy for his part in a migrant shipwreck last year in which at least 94 people were killed, Italian media reported on Wednesday. A judge from the southern Italian town of Crotone also imposed a 3 million euro ($3.2 million) fine on Gun Ufuk after he was convicted of being an organiser of a people smuggling gang behind a voyage that ended in tragedy last February. Prosecutors alleged Ufuk was piloting the boat that had set off from Western Turkey with around 180 people aboard. The victims died when the vessel smashed apart in stormy weather off the shore of the town of Cutro in Italy’s southern toe. Ufuk denied wrongdoing and said he had only been on board because he was trying to escape political persecution in Turkey. He was arrested in Austria last March after fleeing across the border from Italy. He was sentenced after opting for a fast-track trial. The maximum sentence for the crime is 30 …

Uncertainty surrounds Turkish post-quake rebuild – despite bold promises | Global development

Uncertainty surrounds Turkish post-quake rebuild – despite bold promises | Global development

Published by skeptic

Days before the anniversary of twin earthquakes that devastated swaths of Turkey’s south-east on 6 February 2023, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan returned to Hatay province, the area worst hit by the destruction that killed at least 55,000 in Turkey and Syria. Standing on stage in a sports stadium on the outskirts of Antakya, a city once rich in history now all but levelled by the quakes, the Turkish president continued to offer bold promises for reconstruction at break-neck speed, just as he had a year ago. “No matter what difficulties we encounter or we experience due to reasons beyond our control, there is no stopping or resting for us until we make Antakya a more magnificent, safer and more vibrant city than before,” he declared. Had the presidential sedan travelled deeper into the city, the challenges wrapped up in these promises would have been made clear. Where whole neighbourhoods once stood, there is now block after empty block. At the city’s covered market, a few determined residents have in recent weeks begun returning to restart their …