Turkey

As we enter the final stretch towards general elections in Greece and Turkey, the risk of an incident between the two countries will certainly rise. This is more than evident both from the statements and actions emanating from Ankara and from Turkey's leadership.

Turkey will never allow Greece to extend its territorial waters beyond six nautical miles, Defese Minister Hulusi Akar said Monday, as he urged Athens to "keep away from trouble."

During a visit to Turkish Naval Forces Command, Akar said Turkey has a duty to defends its interests and rights in the Aegean, the East Mediterranean and Cyprus.

Greece is not responding to Türkiye's calls for dialogue and intentionally increases tension in the Aegean Sea due to looming elections, the Turkish defense minister has said, repeating Ankara's proposal for the resumption of military-to-military talks.

The State Department said on Jan. 5 it has adopted Turkey's preferred spelling for the name of the country, Türkiye, acceding to a request from the NATO ally after several months of hesitation.

Turkey's AK Party spokesman Omer Celik said Monday that the government is mulling bringing elections "slightly" forward (the country's parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled to be held on June 18), a decision which could have implications for Greece.

The Council of State has upheld Türkiye's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, also known as the Council of Europe Convention, on preventing violence against women.

The Administrative Courts Board of the Council of State made the final decision in the case regarding Türkiye's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, while the board found the decision "in accordance with the law."

Türkiye has reached its highest export figures ever in 2022 with $254.2 billion despite the global challenges, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 2.

The Turkish Brain Team has achieved to win two medals at the 2022 World Mind Games Championship held in Poland.

The 28th World Mind Games Championship, organized by the International Mind Sports Association in a different country every year, was held in Krakow on Oct. 16-23.

Istanbul was the busiest European airport and the only major European hub whose passenger volumes exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2022, according to the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe).

Its passenger traffic increased by 3 percent from the third quarter of 2019 and rose nearly 56.1 percent when compared to the third quarter of 2021.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has welcomed the maritime demarcation deal between Israel and Lebanon and underlined it can constitute a good example for the Mediterranean region, particularly for the Turkish and Greek Cypriots.