Hatay

The war in Syria has also spread into Turkey’s southern border province of Hatay due to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) wrong policies, presidential hopeful Selahattin Demirtaş has said, while pledging for peace.

The trial into the murder of Abdullah Cömert, who died during last year’s Gezi protests in the southern city of Antakya, has been relocated to the Aegean city of Balıkesir, some 1,300 kilometers away, due to “security” concerns.

One Turkish soldier was killed and two others were wounded in clashes with smugglers near Turkey's border with Syria, a Turkish official announced late July 21.

A Hatay court has dismissed all demands of the arrests for the main suspect in the killing of the Turkish Gezi Park protestor Abdullah Cömert in its hearing on July 4.

A 52-kilometer-long pipe used to smuggle fuel between the Turkish and Syrian border in the Narlıca district of the southern province of Hatay has been seized by the Turkish authorities, the Chief of Staff announced in a statement.

Two lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) have accused the government of protecting and cooperating with jihadist militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the al-Nusra Front, while the Turkish government quickly denied the claim.

Gezi victim Abdullah Cömert, who was killed during a police crackdown on last year’s protests in the southern province of Hatay, was commemorated June 3, the anniversary of his death.

Hundreds of people, including family and friends, gathered in central Antakya at 10:45 p.m. to lay flowers at the spot where the 22-year-old was hit by a police tear gas canister.

Over a thousand people gathered in Eskişehir to commemorate Gezi victim Ali İsmail Korkmaz on June 2, who was fatally beaten by plainclothes police officers a year ago before dying on July 10 in a coma due to injuries sustained in the incident.

Eight people were killed on Sunday in clashes between supporters of rival candidates in Turkey's local elections.

Six people were killed in a gunfight between two families in the village of Yuvacik in the eastern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria, security officials said, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu News Agency reported on Friday that Interior Minister Efkan Ala had said two of the arrested "terrorists" were Albanian nationals, while the third was from Kosovo. 

The shoot-out in the central Turkish province of Nigde on Thursday left three people dead, including a soldier and a police officer.