Iraq

The Turkish president’s statements over ‘nature’ of women and men receive criticism from opposition deputies as well as women rights activists The Turkish president’s controversial statements over gender equality have precipitated a new debate in Parliament, as well as opprobrium on the part of women’s rights activists.

More than 100 of the 600 Turkish citizens that have gone to fight for jihadist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have perished in battle, according to intelligence estimates, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said late Nov. 24.

No deal has yet been reached over moderate Syrian rebels being trained and equipped in Turkey, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz has said, saying the talks over the issue are still continuing.

An exact date has been set for the visit of a parliamentary delegation to the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) announced on Nov. 25.

Greece has sent a frigate to rescue a container ship believed to carrying hundreds of undocumented migrants and in distress off its southern island of Crete, the Greek coastguard said on Tuesday.

The Kiribati-flagged vessel, with about 700 people aboard, was sailing 30 nautical miles (55 km) southeast of Crete. The ship reported an engine problem in an area with strong winds.

In addition to training troops, Turkey has sent weapons to the Iraqi Kurdish forces combating the Islamist militants who have swept across large parts of the country, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Chief of Staff Fuad Hussein has said.

Paris is pushing for "safe zones" to be set up in Syria where citizens would be out of reach of regime forces and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Nov. 25.

Fabius said the country was working alongside U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura who has proposed a "freeze" in fighting in Syria's second city of Aleppo.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which controls a large swath of Syria and Iraq has received between $35 million and $45 million in ransom payments in the past year, a U.N. expert monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida said Nov. 24.

Some 230 Peshmerga forces of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been trained by Turkish soldiers so far in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official has told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Turkey has been providing “subsidiary” military training for the Peshmerga forces and the process will continue for as long as necessary, according to the official.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday that French fighter jets are expected to arrive in Jordan and join operations against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.