Western Asia

Iraq unveiled on Sunday a 2,800-year-old stone tablet returned by Italy, as the war-ravaged country works to recover from abroad antiquities looted from its territory.

The tablet, whose text is written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet, bears the insignia of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king who ruled the region of Nimrod, in present-day northern Iraq, from 858 to 823 BC.

After the Turkish State Meteorological Services has warned several provinces with a "yellow code" for adverse weather conditions once again, many properties including a hospital in the western province of Manisa have been damaged due to the flood caused by strong downpours.

Maritime space is a key element in contemporary Turkey's geopolitical doctrine. However, the sea was never among the critical strategic priorities of the late Ottoman Empire nor of early Kemalist Turkey.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has expressed a firm belief that Turkish Cyprus will gradually overcome the embargoes and embrace global connectivity.

His statement came during a joint press conference with Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar on June 19, where the two leaders discussed economic cooperation and the future of the north side.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed to bring inflation, which is currently running at below 40 percent, down to single digits.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has reshuffled a number of ambassadors, including Moscow and Kiev, the two warring neighboring states. The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Tanju Bilgiç, will serve in Moscow while Mustafa Levent Bilgen will be deployed to Kiev, the Turkish media reported on June 16.

Poland and Spain have pulled their personnel from a Turkish-led military exercise over the presence of troops from the breakaway entity in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, military sources have said.

The exercise, named Anatolian Phoenix, is being held from June 6 to 16 in the Turkish interior.

In a one-day visit to the breakaway state in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus on Monday, newly re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that "if there are those who want to prevent peace, then we will be forced to implement a different plan."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began a visit to China on Tuesday that comes as Beijing is seeking a larger role in Middle East politics and competing for energy resources.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated that the only way for the resumption of talks for resolving the decades-old Cyprus problem is the recognition of Turkish Cyprus as an independent entity with international status.