DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Turkey said on Friday that it would suspend all trade with Israel until there was a “permanent cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip, the latest international sanction against Israel and one that underscores the mounting global pressure to end the war in the territory. Turkey’s announcement built on statements the previous day that it had halted all trade with Israel until “uninterrupted and adequate humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza.” But even as Turkey announced the measures, Israel continued its repeated warnings that it was preparing for an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that the United Nations said on Friday could result in a “slaughter” in Gaza. In announcing the trade suspension, the Turkish trade minister, Omer Bolat, spoke of Israel’s “uncompromising attitude.” Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told a business association on Friday that he anticipated backlash from Western countries but that Turkey had decided to “stand side by side with the persecuted.”

Persons: Israel, Omer Bolat, Israel’s, ”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan Organizations: Israel, United Nations Locations: Turkey, Israel, Gaza, Rafah

☆ Middle East Crisis Turkey Severs Trade With Israel, Citing Conditions in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Gulsin Harman | Ben Hubbard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Turkey said late Thursday that it had halted all trade with Israel until “uninterrupted and adequate humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza,” signaling further deterioration in relations between the two countries. Turkey’s Trade Ministry said in a statement that exports and imports “for all products” would pause. Mr. Katz also said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to create alternatives for trade with Turkey, focusing on local production and imports from other countries. Turkey reported $5.4 billion in exports to Israel in 2023 and $1.64 billion in imports, according to United Nations figures. The Turkish leader has also forcefully defended Hamas and recently met with Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader, and other Hamas officials in Istanbul on April 20.

Persons: Israel Katz, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr, Katz, Erdogan, Ismail Haniyeh, “, “ Israel, Hakan Fidan Organizations: Turkey’s Trade Ministry, Bloomberg, Foreign Ministry, United Nations, Ministry, Trade Ministry, Israel, International Court of Justice Locations: Turkey, Israel, Gaza, Istanbul, “ Israel, Palestine

☆ Turkey Halts Trade With Israel as Relations Deteriorate
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Gulsin Harman | Ben Hubbard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +11 min

Peaceful protest is. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest. Peaceful protest is.”In calming some in his party, though, Mr. Biden took heat from others on the political left.

Persons: Biden, It’s, President Biden, ” Mr, “, Nemat Shafik, ”, Tim Scott, Donald J, Mr, Trump, Crooked Joe Biden, Newscum, Gavin Newsom, Israel, George Floyd, could’ve, Matt Duss, Bernie Sanders, Jonathan Wolfe, Ernesto Londoño, Bob Chiarito, Mike Baker Organizations: Jewish, White, Republican, National Guard, “, Police, University of California, Portland State University, University of Wisconsin, Fordham, Manhattan, University of Texas, Dartmouth College, Tulane University, New York Times, Brown University, Northwestern University, Columbia University, American Association of University, Hamilton, Republicans, Trump Locations: America, Palestinian, Gaza, “, Los Angeles, Oregon, Madison, Dallas, New Hampshire, New Orleans, Rhode Island, Illinois, Israel, Washington, South Carolina, U.C.L.A, California, North Carolina, Charlotte, Wilmington, Vermont, St, Paul, Minn, Wis, Seattle

As the volleyball game neared its end, thousands of fans watching on giant screens in an Istanbul park rose to their feet and fell silent. The ball soared, a Turkish player set it up near the net, and her teammate spiked it. Her Italian opponents blocked the shot but knocked the ball out of bounds, handing victory to the Turks and causing the crowd to erupt into chants of “Turkey! Turkey!”The nail-biter victory on Friday by Turkey’s national women’s volleyball team in the Women’s European Volleyball Championship was the most recent conquest by the country’s most successful major sports team, a record that has turned it into a rare source of national pride that holds appeal across the country’s social divides. Affectionately referred to as “the Sultans of the Net,” the team won the Volleyball Nations League championship in July in Arlington, Texas, and became the world’s top rated women’s national team, according to FIVB, the sport’s international governing body.

Persons: laud Organizations: Turkey’s, volleyball, Volleyball, Volleyball Nations League, FIVB Locations: Istanbul, Turkish, Turkey, Arlington , Texas, Serbia, Brussels

Years ago, when her sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Mahire Turk sought divine intervention. She trekked to a shrine atop a hill overlooking the Bosporus, sat under an ornate dome close to the grave of a Sufi master who died nearly 400 years ago and prayed intensely for her sister to beat the disease. After chemotherapy, her sister was declared cancer free — and is now expecting a baby, said Ms. Turk, 40, who works in a pharmaceutical warehouse. So to this day, when worries cloud her mind, Ms. Turk, like many of her compatriots in this ancient, sprawling city of 16 million, visits one of its many shrines to long-dead religious figures to seek a spiritual boost.

Persons: Mahire Turk, Turk

News analysisPresident Biden and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, with G7 leaders at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday. Mr. Zelensky has never pushed for Ukrainian NATO membership while the war is raging, nor has anyone else. Mr. Zelensky has never pushed for Ukrainian NATO membership while the war is raging. “I think the win here for Ukraine is the sort of cultural acceptance that Ukraine belongs in NATO,” he said. Image French President Emmanuel Macron has moved from opposition to Ukrainian membership in NATO to strong support for it.

Persons: Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, Zelensky, Mauricio Lima, John Kornblum, Mr, Kornblum, “, Emmanuel Macron, Michal Baranowski, François Heisbourg, ” Ben Wallace, Macron, Ludovic Marin, Jens Stoltenberg, Russia —, Olaf Scholz, Germany, Doug Mills, Camille Grand, Heisbourg, Ukraine can’t, ” Lara Jakes Organizations: NATO, Lithuania — NATO, Kyiv, Ukraine, Central, Ukrainian NATO, Grad, The New York Times, Ukraine Council, German Marshall Fund, “, ”, Washington, Agence France, Russia, New York Times, Ukraine —, European Council, Foreign Relations Locations: Vilnius, Lithuania, VILNIUS, Turkey, Ukraine, NATO, Ukrainian, American, Germany, France, Warsaw, “ Ukraine, Bucharest, French, United States, Bratislava, Central Europe, Russia

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Wednesday tempered the expectation that his expression of support this week for Sweden joining NATO meant that he would swiftly push the approval through the Turkish parliament. In his first public comments on the issue since NATO announced his support for the proposal on Monday, Mr. Erdogan said that the final decision rested with the parliament and that Sweden needed to take more steps to win parliamentary support, without giving specifics. He also said parliament would not take up the matter until October, even though it is in session until July 27. Mr. Erdogan also said that Sweden needed to continue working to address Turkey’s security concerns, suggesting that he was not yet ready to give up his leverage. “The parliament is not in session for the next two months,” Mr. Erdogan told reporters in Vilnius, Lithuania, near the end of the annual NATO summit.

Persons: Recep Tayyip Erdogan of, Erdogan, Erdogan’s, ” Mr Organizations: NATO Locations: Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Sweden, Turkey, Vilnius, Lithuania

She had also survived a smaller earthquake in the southeastern province of Elazig in 2020, she said, and expected Mr. Erdogan to help now as he had helped then. “Otherwise, the people wouldn’t have voted for him.”Interviews with quake survivors indicated many reasons that the disaster had not changed their political outlook. Some whose homes were destroyed said they had more faith in Mr. Erdogan to rebuild the affected areas than they had in his challenger, the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. There are empty lots where buildings that collapsed once stood and blue and white tents sheltering quake survivors are scattered around town. Instead of voting based on the government’s quake response, residents said they focused on other issues.

☆ Erdogan Secures Endorsement of Former Rival for President
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Ben Hubbard | Gulsin Harman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The candidate who came in third in Turkey’s presidential election last week announced on Monday that he was endorsing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the runoff vote on Sunday, granting Mr. Erdogan an additional boost against his remaining challenger. Mr. Erdogan, the dominant figure in Turkish politics for 20 years, appears to have an edge in the runoff, whose victor will shape Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies for the next five years. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Erdogan aimed to link himself in voters’ minds with the image of a strong Turkey, with expanding military might and geopolitical clout. Although most polls in the run-up to the initial vote on May 14 showed Mr. Erdogan trailing his main challenger, the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the president overcame voter anger at high inflation and frustration with the government’s initially slow response to catastrophic earthquakes in February to win 49.5 percent of the vote. Mr. Kilicdaroglu, the joint candidate of a coalition of six opposition parties that came together to try to unseat Mr. Erdogan, won 44.9 percent.

☆ Ukraine and Russia Renew a Deal to Allow Ukraine to Ship Grain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | Gulsin Harman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine and Russia agreed Wednesday to a two-month extension of a wartime deal that allows Ukraine to ship its grain across the Black Sea, a rare example of cooperation between the two countries. Under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which began last July, Ukraine, a major exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, can transport grain and other food products along a corridor past Russian naval vessels that have blockaded Ukraine’s ports since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion 15 months ago. The shipments are subject to inspection off the coast of Istanbul, while empty cargo ships headed to Ukraine’s ports are also checked, in part to ensure they are not carrying weapons. Grain exports are important for Ukraine’s economy and their resumption also helps maintain the stability of global food prices, which rose sharply during the first months of war, as grain intended for export piled up in Ukrainian ports and warehouses. The resulting shortages and price increases raised the threat of famine in parts of the Middle East and Africa.

☆ Four Takeaways from Turkey’s Nail-Biting Presidential Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Gulsin Harman | Ben Hubbard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Turkey’s nail-biter election on Sunday made clear that the people’s faith in the country’s electoral system remains strong and that the incumbent, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is still a formidable political force, despite his failure to secure a first-round victory. A runoff is likely to be held on May 28 after preliminary results showed Mr. Erdogan with 49.4 percent of votes and his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, with 45 percent, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. Mr. Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 20 years, appeared to be in a strong position to emerge with another five-year term. Before the vote, most polls suggested a slight lead for Mr. Kilicdaroglu, the joint candidate of a newly formed alliance of six opposition parties. But the preliminary results showed the enduring appeal and influence of Mr. Erdogan.

☆ Nail-Biter Turkish Election Goes to Round 2 as Majority Eludes Erdogan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ben Hubbard | Gulsin Harman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After he became prime minister in 2003, he presided over a period of tremendous economic growth that transformed Turkish cities and lifted millions of Turks out of poverty. Internationally, he was hailed as a new model of a democratic Islamist, one who was pro-business and wanted strong ties with the West. But over the past decade, Mr. Erdogan’s critics grew both at home and abroad. Mr. Erdogan’s inability to clinch a victory in the first round of voting on Sunday confirmed a decline in his standing among voters angry with his stewardship of the economy and his consolidation of power. In his last election, in 2018, he won outright against three other candidates with 53 percent of the vote.

He said he came back to Antakya, the hardest hit city in the earthquake zone, with eight of his family members. They drove by car for about four hours from another southern province to vote. They cited not only the government’s response to the earthquake, but its handling of the economy in recent years, when inflation has surged. They said it was depressing to return to the earthquake zone and see that the government had only removed rubble, but taken no other discernible actions to pave the way for residents to return. That is a substantial share of the nearly nine million eligible voters in the 11 quake-affected provinces of southern Turkey.

He represents a coalition of six opposition parties that have come together to challenge Mr. Erdogan. Recent polls showed Mr. Kilicdaroglu holding a slight lead, despite Mr. Erdogan’s tapping of state resources in an effort to tilt the contest. Mr. Erdogan, 69, is viewed as a problematic and often unpredictable partner of the West. Mr. Erdogan has also vexed fellow NATO leaders by hampering the alliance’s efforts to expand, stalling Finland’s membership and still refusing to endorse Sweden’s inclusion. Mr. Kilicdaroglu, 74, has vowed to improve relations with the West if he is elected and make policy more institutional and less personal.

Search resuls for: "Gulsin Harman"

14 mentions found