Decades

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been selected as the personality of the year by respondents in an MRB poll, published on Sunday by the Real News weekly newspaper.

Turkey deported nearly 780 foreign terrorist fighters back to their countries in 2019, the interior minister said on Dec. 29.

"We have sent 778 foreign terrorist fighters back to their countries of origin since the beginning of the year," Süleyman Soylu said in a live interview with CNN Turk.

Soylu did not mention whether all of them were linked to the ISIL terror group.

In last year's New Year's edition of To Vima we described 2019 as a year of change. The title and content of that editorial were fully confirmed. Indeed 2019 was a year of political change as most independent analysts predicted because they discerned the trends and attitudes in Greek society.

Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay has said that before the solution (in Cyprus) there should be a cooperation between the parties in the island and the region.

Despite the personal rapport often shared by their leaders, Turkey and the U.S. are currently at odds over a number of issues, but the U.S. interest in bases on Turkish soil endures, according to a foreign policy analyst.

Turkey deported two foreign terrorist fighters back to their countries, the Netherlands, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said that Turkey continues extraditing foreign terrorists.

The statement did not specify which terror group the fighters belonged to, but in recent months it has been stressing the return of ISIL terrorists.

Turkey will definitely stay at its observation posts monitoring a cease-fire in northwestern Syria, and its soldiers there have orders to respond to any acts of hostility, said Turkey's defense chief on Dec. 28.

A car bomb exploded and killed at least 90 people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, AFP reported.

The explosion occurred early this morning.

The death toll of a car bomb in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has risen to 90, with the number expected to continue rising, said Somali MP Abdirizak Mohamed, quoted by RIA Novosti.

Turkey on Dec. 27 condemned a terror attack in Niger where 14 soldiers lost their lives.

"We are deeply saddened to receive the news that many Nigerian security force members lost their lives in a terrorist attack against the convoy of the officials of the Niger Independent National Election Commission (CENI) in the Tillabery region," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Turkish police detained 11 suspects allegedly linked to the ISIL terror group in the Aegean Balıkesir province, security sources said on Dec. 27.

The detentions came after prosecutors in Balıkesir issued detention warrants for their suspected terror activities in Iraq's western Anbar province, said sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.