Author: Turkiye Scoop

Authorities arrested 250 suspects on Tuesday in nationwide operations against a criminal network accused of forging invoices and manipulating Turkey’s iron and steel markets. Among the detained suspects was a prominent businessperson, E.E., who has been arrested in the past for money laundering and plotting the murder of an alleged loan shark. Security sources quoted by Turkish media outlets said that the suspects defrauded the state of $1.5 billion (TL 25 billion) through fake invoices. The Interior Ministry said an operation was launched some 10 months ago to monitor the suspects, based upon an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office…

As the pandemic seems to be slowing down and normalcy returning, the number of new coronavirus cases rose in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe last week, while the number of deaths globally dropped by 16%, according to the World Health Organization’s latest weekly pandemic report issued Wednesday. The WHO said there were 3.3 million new COVID-19 infections last week, marking a 4% decrease, with more than 7,500 deaths. But cases jumped by about 45% in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and by about 6% in Europe. Southeast Asia was the only region to report a slight 4% increase…

The Canadian government is expected to finally announce an end to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates for domestic flights and trains and outgoing international travel, public broadcaster CBC reported, citing unidentified sources. The government, which has faced criticism over ongoing pandemic restrictions, may bring back the vaccine mandate if a new variant of the virus is discovered, the report added. Canada’s federal COVID-19 curbs have included barring unvaccinated people from traveling on airplanes and vaccine mandates for federal civil servants. Last week the country suspended random COVID-19 testing at all its airports for the rest of June to ease the long waiting times…

Baku and Yerevan are approaching a historic path toward achieving peace by resolving a decadeslong dispute over Karabakh, previously referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh, experts say, pointing to the shift in rhetoric from the Armenian side. “Karabakh has definitely been the central element of the Armenia-Azerbaijan disagreement and an apple of discord since 1988. All other issues are directly or indirectly related to this or stemming from the issue of Karabakh: territorial integrity, border issues, even transport and communication,” Rusif Huseynov, director of the Topchubashov Center think tank, told Daily Sabah. Also speaking to Daily Sabah, Emil Avdaliani, professor at the…

India’s Health Ministry reported 3,712 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours on Thursday, the highest in nearly a month, driven up by a record number of cases recorded in the financial capital Mumbai. The city reported 739 cases on Wednesday night, more than double the number it had recorded just two days earlier, 318. “Trend graph of Mumbai shows a silent wave, mild omicron variants. Protect vulnerables, keep close watch on hospitalization,” Shashank Joshi, a member of the state government task force on COVID-19 said on Twitter late on Wednesday. Hospitalizations in Mumbai were low, and 96% of…

The new chapter in bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel opens the door for cooperation in many areas from energy to security as well as contributing to stability in the region, experts said while noting certain expectations and demands of the two sides from each other from a realist geopolitical perspective in which every international actor tries to maximize their interests. In recent months, the two regional powers have sought a rapprochement after nearly a decade of fractured ties, while Turkey has recently been working to improve relations with several countries in the Gulf and Middle East regions, including Saudi…

When German Capt. Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke visited the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, he called Armenians “Christian Turks,” as the only difference between the two nations he observed was their religion. Despite such a deep cultural connection, the two nations have had a rocky past in terms of diplomatic relations, but recent developments indicate a glimmer of hope about a better future for both nations, as leaders have been expressing willingness to finally normalize ties. The restoration of diplomatic relations between the two neighbors may have a transformative regional impact despite existing challenges, but the leaders…

Anew government in Libya can only be declared after holding elections and with the will of the people, former United Nations Special Envoy Jan Kubis said amid a political impasse that threatens to drag the North African nation back into armed conflict. “From my perspective, there is only one government in Libya, that is the government led by Mr. Dbeibah,” Kubis told Daily Sabah in an exclusive interview. “That is the government that was internationally recognized, that took part in many international events and meetings and that was endorsed and obliged to do something for the country at different conferences…

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum, held for the second time this year, began under the shadow of the war on the Black Sea. The most fruitful mediation attempts made so far to end the war have come from Turkey. The shuttle diplomacy and telephone traffic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu with more than 40 country leaders and foreign ministers yielded results. For the first time, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia met in Antalya on a political basis. So far, the parties, whose technical delegations have met three times on the Ukraine-Belarus border, have not…

The showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine being watched like a thriller for weeks finally entered its irreversible finale following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s historic speech the evening prior. The war has now begun. The daily doses of war rhetoric being fed by the United States and its European allies coupled with the intelligence reports coming in every minute have finally managed to escalate the crisis. NATO’s inability and ineffectiveness to find a satisfactory response to Moscow to justify the alliance’s expansion along with Russia’s reawakening expansionist nationalism have brought the world to the brink of a new…