Geography of Asia

The Arab League said it had postponed indefinitely a ministerial meeting set for Aug. 27 to approve the creation of a joint military force to intervene against jihadists.

Turkey's deputy prime ministry post will be equipped with all the benefits Turkish journalists who have indefinite press cards enjoy, according to a new amendment recently made by the Prime Ministry Directorate General of Press and Information (BYEGM).

Saudi Arabia on Aug. 26 executed three of its citizens for murder and a Syrian convicted of drugs smuggling, a day after Amnesty International urged a moratorium on rising executions in the conservative kingdom.

A bomb placed in the car of a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander has detonated in southeastern Turkey, while the commander is being treated for heavy injuries. 

An FSA commander identified as Cemil Radon was severely wounded when his car exploded at midday on Aug. 26 in Hatay province, on Turkey?s border with Syria.  

Countries that accuse Turkey of not doing enough against foreign fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq have actually released foreign fighters deported by Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has stated.

U.S.-based online shopping giant Groupon has announced its decision to exit the Turkish market on Aug. 24 in a note on its website. 

"Groupon has ceased its operations in Turkey as of Aug. 24, 2015, so we are unable to offer new advantages anymore," said the company. 

The United States announced Aug. 24 it has "no intention" to reopen an embassy in Tehran, just one day after the United Kingdom reopened its diplomatic mission in the Iranian capital.

Turkey was named the sixth largest textile and confection exporter of the world by making around 4 percent of such exports globally in 2014, according to a note released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K) on Aug. 25. 

China topped the list with 41 percent, followed by India with 5.4 percent, Italy with 5.3 percent and Germany with 5 percent. 

Israel has reportedly purchased as much as 77 percent of its oil supplies from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, providing them with an essential source of funding in their campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a new report in the Financial Times revealed on Aug. 24.

Erospolis, the old Hürriyet Daily News column on the weird, absurd and unsavory stories in Turkey, is back with more Turkish portraits. Not surprisingly, its first stop is the Aegean coastal resorts of Alaçat? and Çe?me, where Turkey's glitzy jet-set and their facsimiles simultaneously complain about the rising dollar and pay 750 Turkish Liras for some shade under the blazing Aegean sun...