Turkey

Controversial ex-minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou, who held the first-ever “migration policy” portfolio in a Greek government during radical leftist SYRIZA seven months in power, repeated on Thursday that refugees and migrants congregate in a handful of Athens squares “for only a few hours a day”.

Former President Abdullah Gül has criticized recent violent attacks on the office of daily Hürriyet.

?Violence on the media, such attacks, will give Turkey unforeseeable damage,? Gül told reporters on Sept. 10, in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, his hometown. 

Turkey?s gross domestic product (GDP) grew a higher-than-expected 3.8 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, a surprisingly positive move as opposed to an expected second-half slowdown in growth, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K).

Two suspects have been arrested over the deadly capsizing of migrant boat off the Aegean resort town of Bodrum, which left 12 people dead including Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi.

Migrants in Turkey have been denied access to provinces which are not listed on their identity cards, according to a notice issued by the Interior Ministry.

The Turkish military?s operations against terrorists inside and outside the country will continue, the prime minister has said, adding aerial campaigns against terrorists? hideouts over the last two days have yielded efficient results. 

The government has paved the way for Turkish Land Forces soldiers to be used to intervene in acts of terrorism and public incidents, as tension grows in the country, with 30 Turkish security forces recently killed in three separate attacks in three days by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast. 

The recently established EU Regional Trust Fund on Thursday signed two contracts worth a total of EUR 17.5M that aim to address the education and food needs of 240,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, the European Commission said.

The first contract was signed with UNICEF and is worth ?12.5 million.

Turkey?s automotive production rose by 34 percent in August to 76,987 units, according to data from the Automotive Industrialists? Association (OSD). 

The sector produced a total of 857,307 units in the first eight months of the year, marking a 19 percent increase from the same period of 2014, data released on Sept. 10 showed. 

Daily Hürriyet has pioneered an online campaign on its official website in a move to congregate supporters across Turkey over the latest attacks targeting its headquarters in Istanbul.

A counter on which supporters can click a ?Thanks for your support? button and show their support has been launched along with a specific campaign page.