Anadolu Agency

A court in Istanbul on Wednesday handed Turkish pop singer Gulsen a 10-month suspended sentence after convicting her of "inciting hatred and enmity" over a joke about Turkey's religious schools, Turkey's state-run news agency reported.

Supporters of Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at a rally as part of Nowruz (Newroz), or Kurdish New Year, celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey, 21 March 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Friday said he expects a moratorium with Greece in military and airforce exercises in the Aegean Sea between June 15 and September 15, to accommodate tourism, as relations continued to thaw following the deadly earthquakes in Turkey last February.

Turkey wants to "share the wealth of the Aegean," its defense minister, Hulusi Akar, said at the weekend, while Ankara seeks to maintain a low tone in Greek-Turkish relations and is sending signals of cooperation to Athens. In interviews with CNN Turk TV and the Anadolu Agency, Akar referred positively to the phone conversation he had with his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos.

China is the "biggest" strategic challenge for the US and Japan, both sides said.

The assessment was made during a joint press conference after the 2+2 security talks held in the American capital, Washington, between the American and Japanese ministers of foreign affairs and defense, Anadolu Agency reported.

People holding Turkish flags during a rally marking the third anniversary of the defeat of a failed coup attempt, in Istanbul, July 15, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

A fire broke out at a prison in Istanbul on Feb. 4, leaving 20 inmates and one prison warden hospitalized for smoke inhalation, Turkey's justice minister said.

There was no information on the cause of the blaze in Ümraniye prison, on the Asian side of the city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offered on Feb. 3 to mediate talks between Russia and Ukraine as NATO warned that Moscow's military buildup continues, with more troops and military equipment deployed to neighboring Belarus than at any time in the last 30 years.

The remains of a 12th-century madrasah have been unearthed in the Harran ruins, which is one of the oldest settlements in the world and on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Turkey's Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) and the Archers Foundation organized an event on Nov. 21 to promote traditional Turkish archery in the Belgian capital Brussels.