News archive of October 2020

An appeal by a former lawmaker in Turkey on a decision for a retrial for allegedly disclosing confidential information was rejected by a higher court on Oct. 23. 

Lawyers for Enis Berberoğlu, an ex-legislator for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), appealed an earlier ruling by an Istanbul court that there was no need to again stand trial.

Turkey has all kinds of resources and infrastructure to take part more strongly in new investment and production networks depending on the transformation in global value chains, its trade minister said on Oct. 23. 

Turkey issued a navigation warning (navtex) announcing naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean for Oct. 27-28, hours after NATO's Secretary-General announced that Greece and Turkey agreed on Friday to cancel military exercises that were scheduled on each other's national holidays on October 28 and 29, respectively.

Turkey is seeing a second COVID-19 peak in the Anatolian heartland region, with a dangerous rise in the number of patients, the country's Health Ministry said on Oct. 23. 

"The pandemic is in its second peak in Anatolia. We are facing a risky increase," Fahrettin Koca told a news conference following a meeting with local officials.

Turkey's president on Oct. 23 denounced a German police raid earlier this week on a mosque in Berlin.

The chief of NATO on Oct. 23 said that in a move to de-escalate tensions, Turkey and Greece canceled military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean planned for next week.

Lawmakers on Friday launched a three-day debate on a censure motion brought against Finance Minister Christos Staikouras by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras over new insolvency legislation that the leftist opposition argues would expose vulnerable mortgage holders to repossession.

An imitation of the Pyramid of Cheops, which was made using 1,000 tons of sand five years ago as part of the International Antalya Sand Sculpture Festival, is preparing to enter the Guinness Book of Records with the title of the longest standing sand sculpture.

The fairy chimneys in the Narman district of the eastern province of Erzurum, listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list, is expected to host tourists up to 500,000 with a joint project prepared by the Erzurum Governor's Office, Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality and Narman Municipality.

Ancient mosaics, unearthed in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu Kazlıçeşme and believed to belong to the Late Roman and early Byzantine period, have been introduced with the theme of "Four Times Four Stories One Space" at the Zeytinburnu Kazlıçeşme Cultural Center.