Malatya

Turkish Air Force Commander Gen. Abidin Ünal announced on March 11 that the fleet of RF-4E fighter jets, which have been involved in three accidents in less than two weeks, killing six pilots, will be decommissioned as of March 12.

Two Turkish warplanes crashed during a training exercise on Feb. 24 in the central Turkish province of Malatya, killing all four crew, the military said.

Contact was lost with the RF-4E reconnaissance aircraft after they took off from Malatya air base on Feb. 24 evening for planned night training, a statement on the Chief of Staff's website said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has directly challenged an anti-government social media whistleblower for the first time, albeit by mentioning neither his real name nor Twitter handle.

Former General Levent Ersöz has been acquitted in a case investigating the death of Turkey’s eighth president, Turgut Özal, after an Ankara court ruled there was not sufficient and concrete evidence that he was complicit in the murder.

Amid rising criticism from Turkey’s opposition about the possible use of the Kürecik Radar Base for Israel, NATO’s top commander clarified its mission as “strictly for European Security.”

A foster father has been arrested in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas for raping a 15-year-old girl, whom he had adopted with his wife several years before, in a new case of horrific child abuse that comes after the government recently moved to raise the sentences for such crimes.

The main opposition party of Turkey has strongly dismissed an explanation from the Foreign Ministry and insisted the Kürecik radar base in the eastern province of Malatya has actually “become an element of Israel’s air defense system.”

The Kürecik radar base in the eastern province of Malatya is absolutely not providing data to Israel as the latter wages its deadliest assault on Gaza for five years, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said in an effort to deflect insistent claims to the contrary by the main opposition.

Making religious excuses for human mistakes and responsibilities is wrong, Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) head Mehmet Görmez has said, while discussing the Soma mine disaster.