Ankara

Ankara will continue providing a full scholarship for Ethiopian students to enable the next generation of capable leaders, an official said on June 22.       

Nearly a hundred yoga mats were spread out at a park in the Turkish capital Ankara on June 22 morning.     

Amidst mounting Turkish threats around Cyprus and in the Aegean, Prime Minister Alexis has announced that that the government will sign a gas exploration deal with ExxonMobil for blocks of Greece's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) south and west of the island of Crete during the week of 24 June.

The EU at its June 20-21 summit called on the European Commission and the competent EEAS service to table "without delay" proposed sanctions against Turkey over its illegal drilling for hydrocarbons in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of member-state Cyprus.

It also issued re-issued a warning about Ankara's illegal activity in the Aegean.

European Union leaders expressed their solidarity with and full support for Cyprus on Thursday over Turkey's illegal drilling activities by its Fatih vessel within the island's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and called for measures to be taken against Ankara, which however remained defiant. 

Turkey hosted a Greek delegation for technical negotiations in the capital Ankara to enhance cooperation in the Aegean Sea, the National Defense Ministry said on June 20.        

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said he did not expect the United States to impose sanctions on Turkey over its planned purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, despite the repeated warnings from Washington, Daily Sabah reported.

Turkey's second drill ship Yavuz will operate in a borehole near Cyprus' Karpas peninsula, to the northeast of the island, for around three months and reach a depth of 3,300 metres (3,609 yards), Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Thursday.

Following several turbulent years, which saw an escalation in domestic terrorism, regional security challenges, and an attempted coup in 2016, political pluralism and freedom of expression in Turkey have become increasingly constricted.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean that Ankara's activity in the Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ] of the Republic of Cyprus aims to "guarantee that the rights of the Turkish-Cypriots are accepted by the Greek-Cypriot administration, Greece, the EU, and everyone else".