Government of Turkey

The Turkish foreign minister is set to visit Lithuania to attend a conference on Ukraine, the country's foreign ministry said on July 6.

Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will participate in the fourth Ukraine Reform Conference (URC), which will be held on July 6-7 in the capital Vilnius, the ministry said in a statement.

Mehmet Ferhan Yorulmaz, Turkey's consul general in St. Petersburg, Russia, has passed away, the country's foreign minister announced on July 5.

A top terrorist of the FETÖ in Central Asia was nabbed abroad in an operation by Turkish intelligence, Turkey's president said July 5.

Ahmet Erdi Ozturk, a professor of politics and international relations at London Metropolitan University, told BIRN that Erdogan urgently needs to revitalise relations with the West.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) spokesperson Faik Öztrak reacted to the government's decision for the privatization of the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEİAŞ).

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is preparing a draft law on water management of the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 5.

"We are preparing a 'Water Law' in the parliament in order to reach our targets faster and to prevent conflicts in water management," Erdoğan said, speaking at an opening ceremony of water facilities in the capital Ankara.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has stated that the government wants to imprison him and called on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to lift his immunity because he is not afraid of it.

The CHP leader shared a video on his Twitter account on July 3, saying that "Let's lift my immunity right now; let's do it together."

The 2021 season excavations at the Ayasuluk Hill and St. Jean Monument will start on July 4 in Izmir.

Expert researchers from Istanbul University, Akdeniz University, Ege University, Dokuz Eylül University and Manisa Celal Bayar University will take part in the excavations.

Turkey's AKP on July 1 submitted a long-awaited bill on animal rights to the Parliament's Speaker Office.

Under the bill, "animals will no longer be seen as products, but as life," Mahir Ünal, the party's deputy parliamentary group chair, told reporters in parliament.

Also under the bill, the sale of cats and dogs by pet shops will be banned, he said.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has outlined 29 principles for a return to the parliamentary system if it comes to power following the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections.