Turkey has assured Bangladesh for the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar. At the same time, the country has assured to work with Bangladesh on regional and global issues. Both countries expressed eagerness to increase bilateral trade by diversifying trade commodities. Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud held a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Antalya on Sunday (March 3).  Fidan vowed to work with Bangladesh on various international issues on behalf of his country. Hasan Mahmud proposed contract-based farming between the two countries. Where Bangladeshi farmers and experts will cultivate seasonal crops in Turkey and return to Bangladesh after harvesting.

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said Bangladesh and Turkey will work together to prevent global disinformation and misinformation. The  minister said this in a press release after a bilateral meeting with President of the Directorate of Communications of Turkey Professor Fahrettin Altun on Saturday afternoon (Feb 24) before the special session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers of OIC. Ali Arafat said, "The spread of misinformation and disinformation is being noticed all over the world." Professor Fahrettin Altun assured that Bangladesh and Turkey will work jointly against the spread of global misinformation and disinformation.

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said Bangladesh and Turkey will work together to prevent global disinformation and misinformation. The  minister said this in a press release after a bilateral meeting with President of the Directorate of Communications of Turkey Professor Fahrettin Altun on Saturday afternoon (Feb 24) before the special session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers of OIC. Ali Arafat said, "The spread of misinformation and disinformation is being noticed all over the world." Professor Fahrettin Altun assured that Bangladesh and Turkey will work jointly against the spread of global misinformation and disinformation.

Raids across 37 cities and provinces came after Turkey said it thwarted planned Islamic State attacks on synagogues and churches. Over 220 people have been taken into custody in two days. Turkish police arrested on Saturday 189 people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State militant group in wide raids across 37 cities and provinces. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya made the announcement in a social media post on Saturday. He stressed that Turkish police do not "tolerate any terrorists." A day earlier, Turkey said it thwarted Islamic State plans to attack churches and synagogues.  What do we know about the arrests? Raided cities included the capital, Ankara, as well as Istanbul, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Izmir and Konya.  Yerlikaya shared images of alleged IS members being handcuffed in their apartments during the night raids. The raids come after Turkish officials announced the arrest of 32 suspected Islamic State members. Police said they were allegedly involved in plotting an attack on the Iraqi embassy. The militant Islamic State group claimed in 2017 a deadly Istanbul nightclub attack on New Year's Eve, which left 39 people killed.

Turkey hit several- Kurdish targets in northern Iraq on Sunday, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced. It said that it had "destroyed" some 20 targets associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), including caves, shelters and depots. The ministry said that a large number of PKK operatives were "neutralized" in the strikes, which it referred to as an "air operation." "Turkish army planes bombed parts... of the Bradost region at around 9:20 pm (1820 GMT), as well as the village of Badran," Ihsan Chelabi, the mayor of the Iraqi Kurdish town of Sidakan, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. The PKK, a left-wing Kurdish militant group, is listed as a terror group by Turkey, the EU and the US. The Kurds number around 35 million and predominantly inhabit parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. In recent years, Ankara has increasingly targeted Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria. In April, Turkey arrested 110 people in an operation targeting people with alleged links to the PKK. Strikes follow suicide bombing in Turkey The strikes come several hours after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance to the Turkish Interior Ministry, wounding two police officers. A second man was killed in a shootout with police. The PKK claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide bombing. Hours after the blast, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that "terrorists" would never achieve their aims. The attack took place hours before parliament was set to reopen. In its autumn session, the Turkish parliament is to consider Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance, of which Turkey is a member.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Ankara could "part ways" with the European Union, implying that his country is thinking about ending its EU membership bid. "The European Union is trying to break away from Turkey," he told reporters in Istanbul before flying to New York, where he is to attend the 78th UN General Assembly. "We will make our own evaluation of these developments, and if necessary we could part ways with the European Union," Erdogan said when asked about the contents of a European Parliament report on Turkey. Erdogan's statement on Saturday came more than a week after Turkey's foreign minister affirmed his country's resolve to join the EU and urged the bloc to take courageous steps to advance its bid. What was the European Parliament report about? The report, adopted earlier this week, said Turkey's accession process with the EU cannot resume under current circumstances. It also called for the European Union to explore "a parallel and realistic framework" for its ties with Ankara. Turkey's Foreign Ministry condemned the European Parliament report as "unfounded" and "based on disinformation." It also said the report contained unfounded allegations and prejudices and took "a shallow and non-visionary" approach to the country's ties with the EU. Turkey-EU accession talks have been ongoing since 2005 but are effectively frozen amid Brussels' concerns over the deteriorating rule of law and the human rights situation in Turkey. Following his reelection in May, Erdogan   called for the revival of negotiations to join the EU. In July, he also suggested that the EU should admit Turkey into the bloc if it wanted Sweden in NATO.

NATO members have said they want Ukraine in the alliance when the time is right, as Turkey drops its opposition to Swedish accession on day one of two-day summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. A summit communique issued by NATO leaders meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday, said, "Ukraine's future is in NATO." The document said thatKyiv would be asked to join the military alliance when "members agree and conditions are met." No hint was given as to when that might be. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, "there has never been stronger language for membership in NATO." Zelenskyy dissatisfied at 'weakness' of position But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced disappointment over the situation, saying it would be "absurd" if no time frame for membership were given. "I traveled here today with belief in a decision, with belief in partners, with belief in a strong NATO, a NATO which does not doubt, which does not lose time," he told a crowd of thousands of cheering, flag-waving Ukraine supporters in Vilnius alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. Zelenskyy thanked Nauseda for Lithuania's, "clear, honest and courageous position." Then the Ukrainian leader said, "every soldier expects… our every citizen, our every mother, our every child…" wants certainty from NATO, "is that too much to wish for?" Olexander Scherba at Kyiv's Foreign Ministry told DW that NATO's position on Ukraine membership in recent years had been "one big lie," saying that Ukraine was already "doing NATO's job and defending Europe."  Speaking on ARD television on Tuesday evening, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, "I understand the dissatisfaction and impatience, particularly in the situation Ukraine is in, I have complete sympathy." "But nevertheless, the assurance is there: Ukraine will become a NATO member, as soon as the preconditions are met. That's an agreement that hasn't previously existed with such clarity," Pistorius said. Summit hosts Lithuania praise Ukraine Nauseda has staunchly backed Ukraine, and Lithuania was the first NATO member to send Kyiv weapons before Russia's February 24, 2022, invasion. Speaking alongside Zelenskyy, he said, "Ukraine is buying us time with their blood, so we can prepare and give a strong retort to Russia." The Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — were the last to become part of the Soviet Union when they were annexed in 1940, and the first to declare independence when it collapsed in 1990.  Still, NATO does not accept countries that are involved in ongoing conflicts, thus sealing Ukraine's fate while it remains under attack from neighboring Russia. Further conditions to be filled by Kyiv are effectively clamping down on corruption as well as modernizing the country's armed forces. Eastern NATO members who feel the threat posed by Russia, have been far more eager to extend a hand to Kyiv, yet the US and Germany, for instance, fear the consequences of NATO ultimately getting drawn into an open conflict with Russia. Nevertheless, Ukraine is enjoying unheard of assistance, with Germany announcing €700 million (roughly $770 million) in new military aid before the start of the Vilnius summit. France and Norway, too, have recently delivered new longer-range missiles. US President Joe Biden has offered Kyiv a security guarantee similar to the one Washington maintains with Israel, for example, but Kyiv has been hesitant to put too much faith in such US promises with another presidential election coming up there in November 2024. Turkey supports Sweden NATO membership after a year of stalling While in Vilnius, Biden thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his "courage" and "diplomatic efforts" on day one of the summit after it was announced that Ankara would drop more than a year of opposition to Stockholm's membership bid. NATO boss Stoltenberg had spoke of Turkey's change of heart on Monday, saying Turkey would put acceptance of Swedish membership to a vote in parliament — though no date was given when — in exchange for increased security cooperation and Stockholm's assistance in reviving Turkey's floundering EU membership bid. Increased trade and investment were part of the deal as well, and the US rushed to hint at new F-16 fighter jets for Turkey after years with the possible deal on ice. Turkey had presented an ever-growing list of demands before the announcement. Initially these had to do with members of the Turkish and Kurdish diaspora living in Sweden and then focussed on the arrest and extradition of Erdogan's perceived political opponents. Sweden has indeed tightened control over the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting an insurgency against Turkey for 39 years and whom Turkey considers terrorists. In an agreement signed between the two on Monday, Stockholm also promised to clamp down on the YPG, the PKK's Syrian wing. In the hours after Erdogan's change of tune on Sweden, several US officials hinted that a long-frozen Turkish bid to acquire F-16 fighter jets from Washington could be revitalized. Though purportedly not related subjects, Biden said the US would work with Turkey to "enhance defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area," after he welcomed news of Ankara's about face on Sweden. The US recently balked at a deal that would have seen 40 F-16s going to Turkey as a result of perceived unreliability from the NATO partner, given its hostility with fellow NATO member Greece, its purchase of Russian air defense technology, and other issues.  Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "certain" Turkey's decision to relent on Sweden would have "negative consequences." Turkey and Russia have for years maintained close if tense relations, with Erdogan siding with Moscow and the West in different situations. On Tuesday, the EU's only other hold-out, Hungary, said acceptance of Sweden's membership bid was now simply a "technical matter." Other NATO commitments and tomorrow's slate One other area where members found agreement was in the need for NATO countries to devote "at least 2%" of GDP to defense spending. Previously, this figure was given as a NATO target, not a basline.  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Berlin "will be in a position to do just that next year." On day two of the summit, the newly-formed NATO-Ukraine Council will convene for the first time. The body aims to improve coordination between Kyiv and alliance members.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged Turkey to stop holding up Sweden's NATO entry bid, saying membership "will make Sweden safer but also make NATO and Turkey stronger." NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday urged Ankara to drop its opposition to Sweden's bid to join the US-led defense alliance.  "Membership will make Sweden safe but also make NATO and Turkey stronger," Stoltenberg said in Istanbul. "I look forward to finalizing Sweden's accession as soon as possible."  Stoltenberg visited Turkey over the weekend to attend President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lavish inauguration ceremony on Saturday, as the leader of two decades (either as prime minister or later as president) formally starts his third term as president.  He also held talks with Turkey's new foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who replaces longstanding top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu in Erdogan's reshuffled Cabinet. 'Sweden has taken significant concrete steps'  Turkey claims to object to Sweden's membership, as it previously opposed Finland's, because the countries harbor people it considers terrorists. These individuals are often Kurdish activists with alleged ties to the separatist Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK),  blacklisted by Turkey and many of its Western allies.  "Sweden has taken significant concrete steps to meet Turkey's concerns," Stoltenberg said, referring to the recent introduction of tougher laws concerning support for terrorist organizations in Sweden, and Stockholm's increased counter-terrorism cooperation with Ankara.  Erdogan had made it clear during the heated campaign that he was unlikely to make a decision on Sweden prior to securing re-election, which he did in a narrow run-off vote one week ago.  Finland and Sweden elected to leave a path of decades of military non-alignment, which lasted throughout the Cold War, behind them in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  Why is Turkey digging its heels in?  Although Turkey dropped its objections regarding Finland earlier this year, various public protests in Sweden critical of Erdogan, his government and Islam — probably caused at least in part by Turkey's initial resistance — appeared to anger Ankara further.  Sweden's government on Saturday permitted another protest that Ankara had formally objected to, under the motto "No to NATO, No Erdogan Laws in Sweden," organized by groups close to the PKK. It took place on Sunday. Stoltenberg said that while he understood that it was "hard to see demonstrations against Turkey and against NATO in Sweden," he urged the Turkish government to "remember why these demonstrations are taking place." "The organizers want to stop Sweden from joining NATO. They want to block Sweden's counterterrorism cooperation with Turkey, and they want to make NATO weaker. We should not allow them to succeed," he said.  Why is Turkish approval needed?  Prospective NATO members must be approved by the legislatures of all existing NATO member states in order to join the alliance. Lawmakers in Turkey and Hungary — the same two countries that were last to approve Finland — are yet to hold votes on Sweden. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was another Western leader to attend the weekend ceremony in Istanbul, while many major Western NATO powers sent more minor officials. Both Hungary and Turkey have stood out among NATO's 31 members since Russia's invasion of Ukraine as the two countries still trying to maintain comparatively cordial ties with Moscow. Former German President Christian Wulff was sent by the government in Berlin, although ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was also in attendance, while the US sent its Turkish ambassador. Sweden, meanwhile, sent Carl Bildt. On the face of it, he too is "merely" a former prime minister. However, he's also arguably Sweden's best-known and most accomplished diplomat — a foreign minister before becoming prime minister and a key negotiator in the Balkan wars of the 1990s before that.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has secured yet another term in office, after an historic election which went to a runoff. The Turkish leader fought back a tough challenge from opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Turkey's incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has secured another five years in office, after narrowly winning Sunday's runoff vote. Erdogan beat his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu after reaping 52.14% of the votes, Election Board (YSK) head Ahmet Yener said on Sunday.  The Turkish president spoke to supporters shortly after declaring victory, saying voters had given him the responsibility of governing for the next five years.  "The only winner today is Turkey," Erdogan said.   Meanwhile, opposition leader Kilicdaroglu condemned the "most unfair election in years," yet pledged to continue "leading this struggle" against the Erdogan regime. "My real sadness is about the difficulties awaiting the country," he said, without explicitly conceding defeat. Erdogan calls for 'unity and solidarity' In a victory speech on Sunday night, Erdogan called for "unity and solidarity," vowing to leave all disputes behind and unite the nation behind "national values and dreams." Erdogan said his narrow win in the race was one for "Turkish democracy" and all of the country's 85 million citizens. "We have no resentment, no anger or frustration with anyone," the French AFP news agency quoted him as saying. "Today, nobody lost. The entire nation of 85 million won." Then, Erdogan switched to declaring "terrorist organizations" as the losers of the vote.  He acknowledged that the country's severely high inflation was the most urgent issue at hand, but said it was not a difficult one to solve, promising inflation would fall and vowing to build a strong economy based on stability and confidence. He also pledged to secure the return of an additional 1 million Syrians who had sought refuge in neighboring Turkey during their country's civil war. What does this mean for Turkey? Erdogan's latest victory makes him Turkey's longest serving ruler since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the republic a century ago. It will reinvigorate his push for unconventional economic, domestic and foreign policies. The leader of Turkey's conservative AKP (Justice and Development Party) has touted Islamic values and a populist outlook.  During his two-decade reign, he emboldened Turkey's conservative citizens who had long felt marginalized under consecutive secular rulers. Erdogan, for example, has vowed to enshrine the right to wear the Islamic headscarf in the constitution and declared Istanbul's Hagia Sophia a mosque after a court ruling. He also challenged Western partners and NATO allies on several occasions, most recently by delaying Norway's succession to the alliance and blocking Sweden's altogether. NATO allies including the US, Germany, the UK and France were quick to congratulate Erdogan on his latest win, joining Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom the Turkish leader continued to maintain ties even after the war on Ukraine. Perhaps the biggest domestic challenge to Erdogan's popularity were his unorthodox economic policies, which analysts blame for the country's current inflation and cost-of-living crises. The country's volatile economy is also expected to top his list of challenges. In 2021, Erdogan insisted on slashing interest rates at all costs, driving the local currency into freefall and hiking the annual inflation rate to up to 85% last year. The Turkish leader has vowed to stay on course, despite warnings from analysts. Sluggish relief efforts after devastating earthquakes in the Turkish-Syrian border region earlier this year have also drawn fierce criticism towards Erdogan's government.

Turks will choose if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will stay in power after a 20-year reign. The opposition wants to take Turkey on a different path amid concerns about the economy and refugees.  Voters choose between Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu in runoff election Analyst tells the competition between Turkey's political parties is "not fair" The election would decide the country's political, economic and foreign policy course Both candidates held final rallies ahead of vote Analyst: Competition between political parties 'not fair' Seren Selvin Korkmaz, a researcher at the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies and head of the Istanbul-based think tank IstanPol Institute, told ahead of the vote that the competition among Turkey's political parties is not fair. "Turkey is now categorized as a competitive authoritarian regime, where elections are held regularly but competition among political parties is not fair," she said. Korkmaz said that before the elections, the government used state funds for political campaigns, adding that independent judicial bodies are also controlled by government officials.  She noted that just last year the electoral rules were changed in favor of the government.  The Turkish government has also "very effectively" used its domination not only in the official media but also in the pro-government media, Korkmaz said. The researcher listed a number of strategies which she argued helped President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to gain a slight lead in the first round of the presidential election. Those including rewarding loyalty and punishing the disloyal, using pro-government media to paint him as the only candidate who could ensure stability, and resorting to identity politics. However, she recalled that Erdogan was also suffering from the economic crisis, which had caused disappointment among some of his supporters. Both candidates urge people to vote Both Erdogan and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu rallied their supporters to vote on the final day of election campaigning. Speaking to a rally in Istanbul's Beykoz district, Erdogan promised his supporters a "historical triumph" with a "vast majority," as he gears up for a first runoff vote. The incumbent president also paid homage to his executed mentor, in an effort to mobilize his conservative base. Erdogan visited the mausoleum of Adnan Menderes, who was tried and hanged a year after the 1960 military coup, which restored Turkey to a more secular course. "The era of coups and juntas is over," the 69-year-old declared after laying a wreath at his mentor's tomb in Istanbul. "I once again call on you to go to the ballot boxes. Tomorrow is a special day for us all." Kilicdaroglu, meanwhile, called on "those who love their homeland" to "protect the ballot boxes" during a campaign event in Ankara.  Who are the candidates and what's at stake? Sunday's runoff election pits the country's decades-long ruler Recep Tayyip Erdogan against challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan held what could be a vital lead in the first round of voting, defying opinion polls. Erdogan has governed the country for the past 20 years, first as prime minister, starting in 2003, then as president from 2014 onwards. The strongly religious president founded his Islamic-conservative AKP (Justice and Development Party) in 2001. The party won an absolute majority in parliament only a year later. Erdogan has not lost an election since, and after each victory he has found new ways to strengthen his grip on power. He amended the constitution to introduce a presidential system in 2017 which saw him secure both the party chairman and the president posts at once. Kilicdaroglu, by contrast, ran a more moderate campaign up until a few days ago. As the chairman of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's CHP party, he presented himself as a reconciler who wanted to unite Turkey's deeply divided society. Among his promises was that of restoring the country's parliamentary system. However, after the disappointing first round, the opposition opted for a radical change of course. Kilicdaroglu's appearances are now loud and aggressive; he strikes a much harsher tone, and rails against refugees in an effort to shore up voters. Sunday's decisive vote is set to settle how the country will be governed, where its economy is headed and the shape of its foreign policy.  Erdogan's critics have accused him of silencing opposition and driving inflation to astronomical figures, owing to his low interest rates policy. Sluggish relief efforts after devastating earthquakes in the Turkish-Syrian border region earlier this year has also drawn fierce criticism towards Erdogan's government.