A strong earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 14 people and injuring hundreds amid collapsed buildings and flooding, officials said.
A small tsunami struck the Seferihisar district south of Izmir, the city in western Turkey that was the worst affected, said Haluk Ozener, director of the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute.
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The president of Turkey on Friday formally converted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum.
The decision sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians. Originally a cathedral, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque after Istanbul’s conquest by the Ottoman Empire but had been a museum for the last 86 years, drawing millions of tourists annually.
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Leaders in Minnesota’s Armenian and Jewish communities recently published an op-ed in The Star Tribune condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) decision to vote “present” on a resolution acknowledging the Armenian genocide.
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The co-chairman of a Turkish-American advocacy group with close ties to Ankara contributed $1,500 last month to the campaign for Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is under fire this week over votes she cast supporting Turkish government positions, campaign finance records show.
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WHITE HOUSE – President Donald Trump says a U.S. brokered ceasefire in Turkey’s assault on Kurds in northeastern Syria has become permanent and Washington is lifting sanctions imposed on Ankara.
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President Donald Trump said the ceasefire agreed upon by the U.S. and Turkey on Thursday is on again after reports of Friday morning shelling and machine-gun fire on the Syria-Turkey border.
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Ben Shapiro has become famous for the line: “Facts don’t care about your feelings!” Neither does strategy. And the last week should serve as a lesson in how to do strategy properly, and how to serve the national interest: clinically and without emotion.
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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has announced a cease-fire in Turkey’s assault on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, following talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
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WHITE HOUSE – Turkish officials say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when they travel to Turkey to press for a halt to Ankara’s invasion of northeast Syria.
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On Oct. 6, the Office of the White House Press Secretary released a statement that after a telephone conversation by President Donald Trump with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”
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President Donald Trump on Monday promised “big sanctions” against Turkey for its invasion into northern Syria against Kurdish fighters, but again defended his withdrawal of American troops who had been fighting alongside the Kurds against Islamic State terrorists.
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President Donald Trump said he would rather focus efforts on the U.S. southern border than the northern Syria border in a Monday tweet.
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“We can’t abandon the Kurds now,” said Senator Lindsey Graham during a recent appearance on Fox & Friends. “When Turkey goes into Syria, they’re not going in to fight ISIS. They’re going in to kill the Kurds because in their eyes they’re more of a threat to Turkey than ISIS,” the South Carolina Republican said on “Fox & Friends. According to reporting by William Cummings for USA TODAY Graham added that “every military person” has told Trump not to pull the troops out.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that the Turkish Armed Forces will lead a military offensive in northern Syria against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters.
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by Chuck Ross A Turkish court on Friday convicted American pastor Andrew Brunson of terrorism charges but ordered his release from house arrest, a decision that will allow him to return back to the U.S. During a court hearing, four government witnesses retracted their statements that Brunson had aided…
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