2M Turkey News

Sunday 31 January For more than four months, tensions have been present in the Mediterranean. Saturday, the Turkish president’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin declared the talks with Greece are an “important step” in the relations between Turkey and the EU. They want to build better relations based on peace and stability in the Mediterranean and around. Kalin spoke about seeking to solve a number of problems like the refugee crisis, or continue to make efforts to stop the conflict in Syria. The spokesman also hoped for better relations with the US following the election of the new president Joe Biden. Through these talks Turkey is striving to improve its relations with foreign countries. Un peu de diplomatie Dimanche 31 janvier Depuis plus de quatre mois, des tensions persistent en Méditerranée. Samedi, le porte-parole du président turc Ibrahim Kalin a déclaré que les pourparlers avec la Grèce sont une “étape importante” dans les relations entre la Turquie e...

Istanbul is likely to run out of water in 45 days Major cities across Turkey will be running out of water in the next months due to a severe drought caused by the lack of rainfalls and Istanbul has the worst case, with only 45 days of water left. The country is facing the most severe drought in a decade, with Istanbul, the megacity of 17 million people left with critically low levels of water while the Ömerli Dam, the city's main water source is at its lowest in the last 15 years, at just 20% capacity. According to the Turkish Chamber of chemical engineers, the drought is caused by poor rainfalls and sprawling urban development. Meanwhile, Turkey’s next two biggest cities, Izmir and Bursa are suffering as well, with the capacity of their dams at only 36% and 24%. Wheat farmers in the Konya plain and the Edrine province are fearing crop failure. The situation is so critical that mosques were asked to pray for rain back in December by the directive of the Presidency of Reli...

Thursday 7 January Since Monday, hundreds of students from the University Bogazici in Istanbul have been protesting against the appointment of the new university director Melih Bulu by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Thirty-six persons have been arrested by the police since the start of the demonstrations. In spite of the decree forbidding meetings by the Istanbul governor to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, the students came back to protest Wednesday to demand the traditional election of the new university director take place and call for the imprisoned students’ release. From the 1990s to 2016, the dean of Bogazici University was chosen by elections. But since his re-election in 2018, thanks to the executive presidential system, Erdogan can choose himself the heads of public universities. Several students from this university had already been arrested in 2018 during another demonstration. Des dizaines d’étudiants arrêtés lors d’une manifestation Jeudi 7 janvier ...