Recep Tayyip

Turkey and Egypt could negotiate a maritime demarcation agreement in the eastern Mediterranean if the course of the ties paves the way for such a move, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on March 3 while welcoming Cairo's exploration bids that had respected Turkey's continental shelf.

The most important item of the new Human Rights Action Plan is the fact that it introduces measures for legal security, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül has said, informing that all the necessary works for the full implementation of the plan will be accomplished in two years.

Turkey's communications director on March 2 met Azerbaijan's Culture Minister Anar Kerimov.

Fahrettin Altun received an Azerbaijani delegation in the capital Ankara, according to an official statement from the Turkish Presidential Communications Directorate.

The two sides discussed ways to improve collaboration in communication, media, culture, and cinema, the statement said.

Cooperation between Turkey and France can contribute greatly to security, stability, and peace efforts in the world, the Turkish president said in a conversation with his French counterpart on March 2, as the two capitals move to ease bilateral tensions.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has underlined that parliamentary immunity is a must in safeguarding parliamentarians in the absence of judicial independence, while commenting about an ongoing discussion following the submission of summary of proceedings against 33 MPs including many from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Turkey has rolled out its plan to soften COVID-19 restrictions, easing weekend lockdowns in low and medium-risk provinces, while allowing limited reopening of restaurants and beginning face-to-face education in most of schools.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged on March 2 to strengthen freedoms of expression and organization in Turkey and the right to a fair trial as part of a Human Rights Action Plan while emphasizing that the ultimate goal of the plan is to build a new constitution.

Turkey's provinces are waiting for the cabinet's decision to decide how to move forward and what steps they will need to take as the country is readying to switch to the normalization phase.

As agonizing memories of the "post-modern" coup of Feb. 28, 1997, still lingers and has its effect on the country's conscience 24 years later, Turkish officials have condemned the intervention of a democratic order that led to the resignation of the then prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan.

This year Turkey will open a tender for the mega-project Canal Istanbul, an artificial sea route parallel to the Bosphorus set to connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, a senior Turkish official said on Feb. 26. 

"Canal Istanbul is truly a visionary project," said Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum during a speech in Turkey's central province of Kirsehir.