Author: Anadolu Agency

Türkiye aims to increase installed wind and solar capacity to 120,000 megawatts (MW) by 2035, requiring nearly $80 billion investment, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday. By 2035, Türkiye will “quadruple” its current capacity of 30,000 MW, he said during the Energy Transformation-Renewable Energy 2035 meeting in Istanbul, bringing together key players in the energy sector. “We believe that by working together with stakeholders, financial institutions and investors, we can achieve our goal of investing $80 billion in renewable energy,” Bayraktar added. In order to add 90,000 MW to the existing capacity, he said that…

Türkiye is slowly reining in inflation, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday, adding that now is the time to make progress on structural reforms. He stressed that the country is prioritizing saving awareness in all expenditures except for earthquake spending, speaking in Istanbul at the 51st General Assembly of the Turkish Employers’ Association of Metal Industries. Last year, twin devastating earthquakes hit 11 provinces in Türkiye, causing thousands of deaths as well as huge economic losses. Türkiye’s annual inflation rate was at 49.38% in September, its lowest level since July 2023. Erdoğan also said the Turkish Central Bank’s reserves…

Türkiye’s trade volume with Japan, one of its target countries for increased exports, rose 49% in 2019-2023 from $4.1 billion to $6.1 billion, as Türkiye aims to boost its exports to Japan via its current strategy. Türkiye’s exports to Japan between 2019 and 2023 rose from $503 million to $645 million, according to official figures compiled by Anadolu. Türkiye’s goal is to reach $10 billion in bilateral trade volume with Japan in the short term. The average amount of foreign direct investments (FDI) from Japan to Türkiye in 2002-2023 reached $152 million. Last year alone, approximately $3.5 million was invested…

Türkiye and Serbia will work harder to make sure cooperation between the two countries’ business communities reaches its full potential, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday. “We have significant potential in health, energy, information and communication technology. We should reap more benefit from these areas. It will be in the interest of both countries to take important steps together, especially in the defense industry,” Erdoğan told a news conference alongside his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at a Türkiye-Serbia Business Forum in the capital Belgrade. Erdoğan, before concluding his one-day visit to Serbia, said he believes “it is very…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan emphasized Sunday the positive changes in Türkiye’s eastern and southeastern provinces, where the dark shadow of terrorism has faded. “As the dark shadow of terrorism fades from our eastern and southeastern provinces, the potential of our cities, which has been dormant for years, is also emerging,” Erdoğan noted during his speech at the grand opening ceremony of Bitlis Public and Private Investments. He highlighted the tangible benefits of this shift, saying: “Just yesterday, Mount Gabar was a stronghold of terrorism; today, we are extracting one of our country’s largest oil reserves.” “The days when politics…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday congratulated his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on his formal assumption of office. Fidan and Araghchi spoke on the phone and discussed bilateral relations, the situation in Gaza, and regional developments, according to Turkish diplomatic sources. Araghchi, who served as deputy foreign minister during Hassan Rouhani’s government, succeeded Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was killed in a plane crash on May 19. On Aug. 11, newly-appointed President Masoud Pezeshkian nominated Araghchi as his top diplomat. After receiving a vote of confidence from the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Aug. 21, he was appointed foreign minister.

Global coffee chains giant Starbucks is under fire for offering its new CEO a corporate jet for commuting between Newport Beach, California and Seattle, Washington, around 1,609 kilometers (1,000 miles). Social media users called Brian Niccol’s use of a private jet “hypocritical,” pointing to Starbucks’ decision to use paper straws instead of plastic to reduce environmental damage. In August, Starbucks sent a mail to Niccol saying: “You will be eligible to use the Company aircraft for business-related travel in accordance with the Company’s travel policy, travel between your city of residence and the Company’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington and your…

German airline Lufthansa announced on Friday that it is extending the suspension of flights to Tehran and Tel Aviv until Sept. 2 due to security concerns. Flights to Lebanon’s capital Beirut were halted until at least Sept. 30 amid heightened tensions in the region, and fears of a new war between Israel and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, flights to Jordan’s capital Amman and Iraqi city of Erbil, which were suspended earlier this month, will be resumed from Aug. 27, according to the Lufthansa statement. The decision comes as diplomatic efforts of the US, Qatar, and Egypt continue to persuade Israel and Hamas…

Turkish security forces “neutralized” 38 PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Iraq and northern Syria over the past week, the country’s National Defense Ministry said on Thursday. “Thirty-eight terrorists were neutralized in the past week. Thus, the total number of terrorists neutralized in northern Iraq and Syria since Jan. 1 has reached 1,763, with 868 in Iraq and 895 in northern Syria,” Rear Admiral Zeki Akturk, the ministry’s spokesman, said at a weekly news conference in the capital Ankara. Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. In its nearly 40-year…

The Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority (TKM) on Friday said it blocked access to Instagram. No reason was given for the move, but it came after the country’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun criticized the social media platform, saying it “is actively preventing people from posting messages of condolences for the passing of Hamas leader [Ismail] Haniyeh without citing any policy violations.” “This is censorship, pure and simple,” he said in a post on X on Wednesday after Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran. “We will defend freedom of speech against these platforms that have showed many times that they are primarily…