Turkey

Turkish first lady Emine Erdoğan has engaged in talks with counterparts and several top officials at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, with her leading role emphasized on a panel discussing the role of women in resolving global crises. 

Main opposition SYRIZA has called on the government to brief Parliament whether there are conditions attached to the sale of F-16s to Turkey by the United States, following a relevant statement regarding their procurement by Ankara on Friday by US Senator Bob Menendez without proper terms. 

Endy Zemenides, the executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, joins Thanos Davelis to break down Thursday's debate in the Senate on the Turkey F-16 deal initiated by Senator Rand Paul, the message it sends about US-Turkey ties, and more.

Turkey's exports to Russia in February fell 33% year on year to $670 million, trade ministry data showed on Saturday.

That was down from $1.1 billion in February 2023.

Imports from Russia fell 36.65% to $1.3 billion from $2 billion a year earlier.

International cooperation triggered by a spate of gangland murders in Greece has helped to dismantle a crime ring accused of more than 60 killings across Europe over the past decade, police said on Friday.

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) was launched on March 1 with an emphasis on the continued tragedy in Gaza as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reiterated Ankara's calls for an urgent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which would be followed by efforts to find a lasting solution to the decades-old question.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday discussed the Middle East, North Africa and the Black Sea region at a conference in the Turkish city of Antalya, Russian state news agency TASS reported. [Reuters]

Vladimir Putin conveyed his congratulations to the Turkish president on his 70th birthday via telephone earlier this week. The two had last spoken on the phone back in October. During the heyday of their relationship, a monthly telephone exchange between Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan was a regular part of their political routine.

The European Union's border agency Frontex said on Thursday it will triple the number of its officers in Bulgaria from next month to help stem the amount of people crossing into the bloc from Turkey.

US senators declined on Thursday to block the sale of F-16s to Turkey, despite voicing deep disdain for Turkey's conduct as an ally. They were upholding an unofficial bargain that Turks would get the fighter jets if they stopped blocking Sweden's accession to NATO.

"A deal's a deal," said Idaho Senator Jim Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.