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Tag: Turkey government

  • Kurdish militants claim responsibility for deadly attack on Turkish defense firm

    Kurdish militants claim responsibility for deadly attack on Turkish defense firm

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    BAGHDAD (AP) — A banned Kurdish militant group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack on the headquarters of a key defense company in Ankara that killed at least five people.

    A statement from the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, said Wednesday’s attack on the premises of the aerospace and defense company TUSAS was carried out by two members of its so-called “Immortal Battalion” in response to Turkish “massacres” and other actions in Kurdish regions.

    A man and a woman stormed TUSAS’ premises on the outskirts of Ankara, setting off explosives and opening fire. Four TUSAS employees were killed there. The assailants arrived on the scene in a taxi that they had commandeered by killing its driver. More than 20 people were injured in the attack.

    The woman assailant took her own life by detonating an explosive device after being injured in an exchange of fire at the entrance of the complex, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The male attacker hurled hand grenades at approaching security forces, then also detonated himself in the restroom of a nearby building “realizing there was no way out,” the minister said.

    Turkey blamed the attack on the PKK and immediately launched a series of aerial strikes on locations and facilities suspected to be used by the militant group in northern Iraq or by its affiliates in northern Syria.

    The attack on TUSAS came at a time of growing signs of a possible new attempt at dialogue to end the more than four-decade-old conflict between the PKK and Turkey’s military.

    Earlier this week, the leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party that’s allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the possibility that Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK’s imprisoned leader, could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization.

    Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island off Istanbul, said in a message conveyed by his nephew on Thursday that he was ready to work for peace.

    The PKK’s military wing, the People’s Defense Center, said, however, that the attack was not related to the latest “political agenda,” insisting it was planned long before.

    It said TUSAS was chosen as a target because weapons produced there “killed thousands of civilians, including children and women, in Kurdistan.”

    TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense industry and space systems. Its defense systems have been credited as key to Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants.

    On Friday, an Iraqi security official said Turkish warplanes intensified their airstrikes on sites belonging to the PKK and other loyal forces in northern Iraq’s Sinjar district. The intensive bombing targeted tunnels, headquarters and military points of the PKK and the Sinjar Protection Units inside the Sinjar Mountain area.

    A local official and a security official said the bombings killed five Yazidis. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

    The Turkish defense ministry said 34 alleged PKK targets including caves, shelters, depots and other facilities were hit in an aerial operation overnight. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said drones operated by the national intelligence agency have struck 120 suspected sites since Wednesday’s attack.

    The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Thursday that the Turkish warplanes and drones struck bakeries, a power station, oil facilities and local police checkpoints. At least 12 civilians were killed and 25 others were wounded.

    The People’s Defense Center statement claimed there were no casualties among PKK fighters in the airstrikes.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a group of journalists on his return from a trip to Russia late Thursday that the two TUSAS assailants had infiltrated from Syria, but did not provide details.

    Addressing a defense industry fair in Istanbul on Friday, he said Turkey was determined to stamp out the militant group.

    “Although our pain is great because of our martyrs, our determination to fight against the scoundrels is much greater,” Erdogan said. “We will continue to crush those who think they can make us step back with such treachery.”

    On Friday, Turkish police detained 176 suspected PKK members in operations across Turkey, the Interior Ministry said.

    Police also detained a man who hurled rocks at the entrance of the headquarters of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, DEM, Anadolu reported. DEM party spokeswoman Aysegul Dogan said on the media platform X that the entrance door and windows were broken in the attack.

    The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

    __

    Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey.

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  • A look inside the indictment accusing New York City’s mayor of taking bribes

    A look inside the indictment accusing New York City’s mayor of taking bribes

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    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has never been shy about his globetrotting ways. But he’s not always said how he bankrolled years’ worth of overseas adventures.

    Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Thursday saying the Democrat took trips to France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, Ghana and Turkey that were partly or fully paid for by people looking to buy his influence in city government.

    The gifts, prosecutors said, included free hotel rooms, seat upgrades worth thousands of dollars, expensive meals, entertainment — even a trip to a Turkish bath. All told, the perks were worth more than $100,000, prosecutors said.

    The indictment also accuses Adams of conspiring to collect illegal donations to his campaigns, partly by funneling them through straw donors who hadn’t actually contributed the money.

    Adams says he didn’t do anything wrong and has no plans to resign. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, criticized the charges as a jumble of innuendo meant to mislead the public and tarnish the mayor.

    Here are highlights from the 57-page indictment:

    Key allegations against Adams

    Adams is accused of exploiting a yearslong relationship with people tied to Turkey, who funded his travel and fueled his run for mayor with donations that helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds. People who are not U.S. citizens are banned by law from donating to U.S. political candidates.

    Prosecutors say Adams returned the favor in September 2021 by ensuring that Turkey’s newly built diplomatic tower in Manhattan wouldn’t be subject to a fire inspection, which it was certain to fail.

    At one point, a Turkish official praised Adams as a “true friend of Turkey,” according to the indictment. Adams allegedly responded: ”Yes even more a true friend of yours. You are my brother. I am hear (sic) to help.”

    The indictment said Adams also agreed not to release a statement on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day that would reflect poorly on Turkey.

    Adams is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery and receiving campaign contributions from a foreign national.

    Who is named in the indictment?

    Adams is the only person charged and the only person identified by name — but there are lots of other characters who factor prominently in the indictment.

    There’s the “Turkish Official,” a senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment said to have arranged Adams’ travel perks and facilitated straw donations to his campaign; “The Promoter,” a Turkish entrepreneur who prosecutors say organized events to introduce Adams to Turkish businesspeople; and the “Airline Manager,” a New York City-based general manager for Turkish Airlines who booked Adams’ free and heavily discounted flights and business class upgrades.

    There were also “Businessman-1,” the owner of a Turkish University who prosecutors say was considering a business venture in Brooklyn; the “Businesswoman,” who gave Adams free or steeply discounted stays in opulent suites at the St. Regis Istanbul, a luxury hotel she owned; plus “Businessman-2,” “Businessman-3,” “Businessman-4,” and “Businessman-5,” all of whom were accused of being involved in straw donations.

    ‘The Promoter’

    Prosecutors said the person they identified as “The Promoter” concocted a plan — personally approved by Adams — to funnel up to $100,000 in banned campaign contributions to him through U.S. employees of a Turkish university, the indictment alleges.

    At one point, an Adams staffer tried to discourage the idea, saying Adams likely wouldn’t be interested in “such games” because it “might cause a big stink later on,” according to the indictment. But prosecutors said Adams liked the idea and directed his staffer to pursue it.

    “The Promoter” purportedly told associates that Adams was worth supporting because he could become president someday.

    ‘This is how things work in this country’

    At one point, the indictment says, a construction company owner tried to recruit others in industry and the Turkish community to back Adams with campaign contributions and gifts, writing, in part, this “may feel like swimming against the current but unfortunately this is how things work in this country.”

    What does Adams’ lawyer say?

    Spiro told reports the conduct described in the indictment wasn’t illegal or didn’t involve the mayor.

    The Turkish consulate was asking for “a courtesy,” not payback, when it wanted Adams’ help in skipping a fire inspection, Spiro said, adding: “New Yorkers do this all the time.” Adams said he’d see what he could do and, a few days later, ignored a follow up phone call from the consulate, Spiro asserted.

    “There is no corruption. This is not a real case,” Spiro said.

    Spiro said Adams sent emails telling his staff never to accept foreign donations.

    As for the free flights and upgrades, Spiro said there’s nothing illegal or unusual about that.

    “When you actually look at this — if you just take a second to step back and look at this — look at the flights they talk about, the travel, the expenses,” Spiro said. “The flight they talk about, that free flight was in 2017 — seven years ago, five years before he’s the mayor. There’s nothing illegal or improper about that.”

    Adams’ flight upgrades put him in otherwise open seats, the defense attorney said, contending that such arrangements are a common practice in the airline industry.

    “That’s what airlines do,” Spiro said. “They do it every day. They do it for VIPs. They do it for congresspeople. They’re empty seats that cost the airlines nothing.”

    Alleged cover up

    The indictment claims that Adams and co-conspirators took steps to cover their tracks, including making a false paper trail to make it appear as if he had fully paid for flights that were free or deeply discounted.

    The indictment also accused the mayor and others of making it difficult for investigators.

    FBI agents seized electronic devices from Adams last November as he left an event. According to the indictment, the mayor produced two phones but not the personal phone. Adams later turned over that phone in response to a subpoena, but it was locked and required a password.

    Adams claimed to have forgotten it, the indictment said.

    According to the indictment, an Adams staffer who met with FBI agents excused herself at one point, went to a bathroom and deleted the encrypted messaging app she had used to communicate with the mayor, the Turkish official, the Turkish airline contact and others.

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  • Swirling federal investigations test New York City mayor’s ability to govern

    Swirling federal investigations test New York City mayor’s ability to govern

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    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing mounting questions over his ability to govern after federal investigators seized phones from multiple officials in his administration, compounding scrutiny of a Democrat who was already ensnared in an apparently separate criminal probe.

    Federal agents on Wednesday took devices from Adams’ police commissioner, his schools chancellor, two deputy mayors and several other advisers.

    None of the officials involved have been charged with a crime, but the wave of searches added to a cloud of suspicion around Adams, a former city police captain who has fashioned himself as a champion of law and order.

    They’ve also raised questions internally about the administration’s ability to stay focused on serving the nation’s largest city.

    In a private call Friday with senior staff, the city’s Emergency Management Commissioner, Zach Iscol, offered a blunt assessment of the impact of the investigations on public safety.

    “This is not good,” he said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press. “There’s a lot going on in the city and the thing that I’m most concerned about is city leadership being distracted.“

    The agency, which is responsible for the city’s emergency procedures, falls under the portfolio of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks, whose home was visited by law enforcement Wednesday. Iscol said on the call that he had not spoken to City Hall leadership as of Friday morning.

    The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment and it was not immediately clear whether federal authorities were seeking information linked to one investigation or several.

    In addition to Banks, federal agents on Wednesday seized devices from Police Commissioner Edward Caban; First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Banks’ brother, David Banks, the city’s schools chancellor; and Timothy Pearson, a top mayoral adviser and former high-ranking New York Police Department official.

    The seizures came nearly a year after federal agents seized Adams’ phones and iPad as he was leaving an event in Manhattan. Investigators also searched the homes of a top Adams campaign fundraiser and a member of his administration’s international affairs office.

    In February, federal authorities searched two properties belonging to his director of Asian affairs as part of a separate investigation overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

    Then earlier this summer, Adams, his campaign and City Hall all received subpoenas from federal prosecutors requesting information about the mayor’s overseas travel and potential connections to the Turkish government.

    The most recent round of searches appear to be unrelated to the Turkey inquiry and the investigation by Brooklyn federal prosecutors, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose information about the investigations.

    “There is a stench of corruption around the mayor,” said Douglas Muzzio, a retired political science professor at Baruch College with deep knowledge of New York politics. “You’ve got to believe that at some point, the feeling that the government is not working is going to start pervading the public consciousness.”

    Federal investigators appear to have been interested in Adams’ inner circle as far back as this winter. John Scola, an attorney representing four city employees who have accused Pearson of sexual harassment, said three of his clients received visits in February from FBI agents, who wanted to know about Pearson and his work with City Hall.

    Pearson previously worked alongside Phil Banks before he was assigned to lead a new mayoral unit tasked with overseeing city agencies.

    Those who worked with Pearson said he had an unusual suite of responsibilities that gave him wide latitude over police promotions, pandemic recovery efforts and certain homeless shelters for migrants. He is currently facing a separate city investigation for his role in a brawl at one of those shelters.

    Throughout the various FBI activities, Adams has forcefully maintained that he has followed the law and that he would continue to focus on his duties as mayor.

    Asked repeatedly at news conferences about the investigations, Adams has said his mantra is to “stay focused, no distractions and grind.”

    Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the mayor, said nothing would hamper the administration’s ability to govern.

    “For the better part of a year, the mayor has been absolutely clear that, as a former member of law enforcement, he will always follow the law, and in the same time he has stayed focused on delivering for the people of the city,” Levy said in a statement Friday, pointing to recent drops in crime and increases in job numbers and other city initiatives.

    Since the Wednesday morning searches, the mayor has personally visited a tunnel emergency, held a public event about the first day of school, and met with residents concerned about e-bikes. On Friday, he held his regularly scheduled senior staff call at 8 a.m., then met with the mayor of Lisbon, Levy said.

    In a statement, Schools Chancellor David Banks said: “I remain focused on ensuring they have safe, academically rigorous, and a joyful school year. I am confirming that I am cooperating with a federal inquiry. At this time, I cannot comment any further on that matter.”

    Benjamin Brafman, an attorney for Philip Banks, confirmed that a search was conducted, but otherwise declined to comment. The NYPD’s media relations office also confirmed a federal investigation involving members of the department, but declined to make Caban available for comment. A phone message left for Pearson’s attorney was not returned.

    But news of the latest investigations has provided Adams’ foes with fresh and potent lines of attack ahead of what is expected to be a heavily contested primary election season for the Democratic mayor.

    Brad Lander, a Democrat who serves as the city’s comptroller and is one of a handful of challengers to Adams in next year’s primary, said the fact that investigations are swirling around much of the mayor’s top staff could create “a level of both distraction and anxiety about trustworthiness and consequences for all New Yorkers.”

    “New Yorkers want to know their leaders are focused on their problems and not their own problems, and the staff of agencies also need focused leadership helping them confront the challenges New Yorkers have,” Lander said.

    Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller who is expected to run against Adams next year, said the investigations are becoming a serious impediment to the day-to-day process of governing.

    “We New Yorkers are not stupid,” he said. “We know that this government is paralyzed by the investigation. I think the mayor needs to step up and tell New Yorkers, in a real way, everything he knows about what’s going on.”

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  • As Instagram remains blocked in Turkey, Erdogan accuses social media companies of ‘digital fascism’

    As Instagram remains blocked in Turkey, Erdogan accuses social media companies of ‘digital fascism’

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    ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused social media platforms of “digital fascism” on Monday for allegedly censoring photographs of Palestinian “martyrs.”

    The Turkish leader’s comments came as Turkish officials were engaged in discussions with representatives of the social media platform, Instagram, to reinstate access to millions of its users in Turkey.

    The Information and Communication Technologies Authority barred access to Instagram on Aug.2 without providing a reason. Government officials said the ban was imposed because Instagram failed to abide by Turkish regulations.

    Several media reports said however, that the action was in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. It was the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country which has a track record of censoring social media and other online platforms.

    “They cannot even tolerate photographs of Palestinian martyrs and immediately ban them,” Erdogan said at a human rights event. “We are confronted with a digital fascism that is disguised as freedom.”

    Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terror organization. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Erdogan has described the group as a liberation movement.

    Erdogan went on to state that social media websites were allegedly allowing all kinds of propaganda by groups considered terrorists in Turkey.

    “We have tried to establish a line of dialogue through our relevant institutions. However, we have not yet been able to achieve the desired cooperation,” Erdogan said.

    The transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said Turkish authorities had met with representatives of the Meta-owned company last week and held a fresh round of talks on Monday without reaching a resolution.

    “We didn’t get the exact result we wanted,” Uraloglu said. “We don’t think there will be any progress today.”

    Instagram has more than 57 million users in Turkey, a nation of 85 million people, according to We Are Social Media, a digital marketing news company based in New York.

    The Electronic Commerce Operators’ Association estimates that Instagram and other social media platforms per day generate about 930 million Turkish lira ($27 million) worth of e-commerce.

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  • Turkey turns to quest for hosting soccer’s Euros after Champions League final

    Turkey turns to quest for hosting soccer’s Euros after Champions League final

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    GENEVA (AP) — Turkey’s quest to host the men’s European Championship is among the great unfulfilled goals in world soccer.

    Having newly re-elected state President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sit next to UEFA leader Aleksander Čeferin at the Champions League final in Istanbul on Saturday should only help before Turkey’s next two tournament bids are put to votes on Oct. 10.

    Turkey is up against the joint U.K.-Ireland bid to host Euro 2028 and is in a Euro 2032 duel with Italy. The 2032 edition is the likely target with a widespread belief 2028 is going to the British and Irish who switched from trying to be UEFA’s preferred candidate in the 2030 World Cup race.

    Voters for hosting the 24-team Euros tournaments will be members of the 20-strong UEFA executive committee who also sat with Erdoğan in the VIP section to see Manchester City beat Inter Milan on Saturday.

    “We absolutely would like to win the bid because we see that our country is always capable of organizing such big-scale events successfully,” Turkey Football Federation president Mehmet Büyükekşi told The Associated Press in Istanbul ahead of the final. That was before fans complained on social media about logistical problems getting to and from Atatürk Olympic Stadium.

    Turkey has tried to persuade UEFA of its hosting potential for so long that Erdoğan was not yet in national office when in 2002 the first candidacy failed. That was a joint bid with Greece for Euro 2008.

    After 20 years of Erdoğan as Turkish prime minister then president since 2014, including several photo opportunities of him kicking a soccer ball, the construction project he has overseen would be key to any vote win at UEFA’s Swiss headquarters.

    “We believe that Turkey’s 85 million population, the stadiums built over the last years and the investments on infrastructure are essential,” Büyükekşi said in translated comments.

    Istanbul Airport opened in 2018 and is ranked top-10 globally on some metrics. Air travel would be needed for teams and fans when one host city, Trabzon, is more than 1,000 kilometers (650 miles) east of Istanbul.

    The Atatürk Olympic Stadium that was renovated in recent years to hold close to 72,000 spectators is set for further upgrades. The homes of storied Istanbul clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahce are also in the bid plan of 10 mostly state-owned stadiums.

    Turkey’s rival bids have some stadiums “almost 50 years old or even 100. We already have them in a brand-new style,” Büyükekşi said. “A European Championship in Turkey can add great value to us, and we can contribute to European football.”

    Turkey’s place in Europe was a factor in the campaign that led to its tightest and most frustrating loss from UEFA — the 7-6 vote won by France to host Euro 2016. Italy had been eliminated in an earlier round.

    Both state presidents in 2010 came to that vote in Geneva, Abdullah Gül and Nicolas Sarkozy, who while in office strongly opposed the idea of Turkish applying to join the European Union. Before the voting ceremony, Sarkozy was personally introduced to voters by UEFA’s then-leader, France soccer great Michel Platini.

    “We lost the Euro 2016 bid by just one vote,” said Büyükekşi, who was elected to lead the TFF last year. “That was kind of upsetting for us, but as we came so close to getting it we want to keep on trying.”

    Turkey seemed sure to get Euro 2020 with public support from Platini, who met with Erdoğan in 2012. The insistence from Turkey also to pursue at the same time a 2020 Olympics bid, which ultimately failed, pushed UEFA to opt for a multi-nation tournament hosted across Europe.

    Turkey then turned down staging the Euro 2020 semifinals and final, which England took instead for a tournament first postponed then held during a pandemic with restricted crowds.

    When Turkey tried for Euro 2024, Germany’s bid was just too strong on soccer and financial grounds for UEFA to refuse. The vote five years ago was 12-4.

    This run of losses, near-misses and sports politics missteps came after Turkey reached semifinals at Euro 2008 and the 2002 World Cup. As a soccer nation, it feels hosting a major tournament is due.

    “We have reached a certain level but for some time we have not gone beyond that,” Hamit Altıntop, a midfielder in the 2008 team now working for the federation, told the AP.

    The former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid player suggested hosting will help a next generation of players to “increase their belief, faith and self-confidence.”

    “We know how passionate they are about football,” Altıntop said of Turkey’s players and fans, “and they deserve it.”

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    More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Biden’s shift on F-16s for Ukraine came after months of internal debate

    Biden’s shift on F-16s for Ukraine came after months of internal debate

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to allow allies to train Ukrainian forces on how to operate F-16 fighter jets — and eventually to provide the aircraft themselves — seemed like an abrupt change in position but was in fact one that came after months of internal debate and quiet talks with allies.

    Biden announced during last week’s Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that the U.S. would join the F-16 coalition. His green light came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent months pressing the West to provide his forces with American-made jets as he tries to repel Russia’s now 15-month-old grinding invasion.

    Long shadowing the administration’s calculation were worries that such a move could escalate tensions with Russia. U.S. officials also argued that learning to fly and logistically support the advanced F-16 would be difficult and time consuming.

    But over the past three months, administration officials shifted toward the view that it was time to provide Ukraine’s pilots with the training and aircraft needed for the country’s long-term security needs, according to three officials familiar with the deliberations who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

    Still, the change in Biden’s position seemed rather sudden.

    In February, Biden was insistent in an interview with ABC’s David Muir that Ukraine “doesn’t need F-16s now” and that “I am ruling it out for now.” And in March, a top Pentagon policy official, Colin Kahl, told U.S. lawmakers that even if the president approved F-16s for Ukraine, it could take as long as two years to get Ukrainian pilots trained and equipped.

    But as the administration was publicly playing down the prospect of F-16s for Ukraine in the near term, an internal debate was heating up.

    Quiet White House discussions stepped up in February, around the time that Biden visited Ukraine and Poland, according to the U.S. officials.

    Following the trip, discussions that included senior White House National Security Council, Pentagon and State Department officials began on the pros and cons and the details of how such a transfer might work, officials said. Administration officials also got deeper into consultations with allies.

    In April, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin heard from defense leaders from allied countries during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group who were looking for U.S. permission to train the Ukrainians on F-16s, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Austin raised the matter during the NSC policy discussions and there was agreement that it was time to start training.

    Austin also raised the issue with Biden before the G7 summit with a recommendation “to proceed with approving allies” to train the Ukrainians and transfer the aircraft, the department official said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also was a strong advocate for pushing forward with the plan during the U.S. policy talks and conveying to Biden increasing European urgency on the issue, officials said.

    U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to London on May 8 for talks with British, French and German allies on Ukraine, and F-16s were high on the agenda. They got into the nitty gritty on how to go about provide training and which countries might be willing to transfer jets to Ukraine. It was agreed that the focus would be on training first, according to one of the officials.

    Sullivan, before leaving London, spoke by phone with his counterparts from the Netherlands and Poland, both countries that have F-16s and “would be essential to any efforts to provide Ukraine jets for any future use.” Denmark also could potentially provide the jets, the official added.

    Biden and Sullivan discussed how the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima could provide a good opportunity for him to make the case to key allies on the administration’s shifting stance on fighter jets.

    They also discussed Biden backing allies providing jets to Ukraine — a line he had previously appeared not to want to cross out of concern that it could draw the West into what could be seen as direct confrontation with Moscow.

    Biden, in private talks with fellow G7 leaders on Friday, confirmed that the U.S. would get behind a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 and that as things went on, they would work together on who would provide them and how many would be sent.

    State, Pentagon and NSC officials are now developing the training plan and “when, where and how to deliver F-16s” to Ukraine as part of the long-term security effort, the official said.

    U.S. officials say it will take several months to iron out details, but the U.S. Air Force has quietly determined that the actual training could realistically be done in about four months. The Air Force based the far shorter estimate on a visit by two Ukrainian pilots to a U.S. air base in March, where they got to learn about the F-16 and fly simulators. The training, officials say, would take place in Europe.

    White House officials have bristled at the notion that Biden’s decision amounted to a sea change.

    The administration had been focused on providing Ukraine with weapons — including air defense systems, armored vehicles, bridging equipment and artillery — that were needed for a coming counteroffensive. There also were concerns that sending F-16s would eat up a significant portion of the money allocated for Ukraine.

    What changed, the official added, is that other allies got to a point where they were willing to provide their own jets as part of a U.S.-based coalition.

    The Biden administration is still examining whether it will directly provide its own F-16s to Ukraine. Regardless, it needed buy-in from other allies because the U.S. wouldn’t be able to provide the full fleet of jets Zelenskyy says is needed.

    Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the F-16 will give Ukraine a key capability for the long term but it won’t be a “game changer.”

    Kendall told a gathering of reporters on Monday there has been an awareness that “we needed to go there at some point, but we didn’t have a sense of urgency about this. I think we’re at a reasonable place to make that decision now.”

    Another potential wrinkle in the F-16 conversation involves Turkey.

    Turkey wants to buy 40 new F-16s from the U.S., but some in Congress oppose the sale until Turkey approves NATO membership for Sweden, which applied to join the alliance in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has objected to Sweden’s perceived support of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the leftist extremist group DHKP-C and followers of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara claims was behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

    Erdogan is facing opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff election on Sunday. If Erdogan wins, as expected, White House officials are increasingly hopeful that the Turkish leader will withdraw his opposition to Sweden’s membership, according to the U.S. official.

    If Erdogan drops opposition to Sweden joining NATO, it could lead to Turkey getting its long desired F-16s and may eventually add to the number of older F-16s in circulation, which could benefit Ukraine.

    —

    Associated Press White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed reporting.

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  • Finland’s young leader is popular but faces tough reelection

    Finland’s young leader is popular but faces tough reelection

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    HELSINKI (AP) — A parliamentary election in Finland on Sunday is shaping up as an extremely close race between three parties as Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats fight to secure a second term running the government.

    The election is taking place days after Finland cleared the last big hurdle in its 10-month campaign to join NATO. Turkey’s parliament ratified the northern European nation’s membership in the Western military alliance late Thursday.

    Marin, who at age 37 is one of Europe’s youngest leaders, has received praise for her Cabinet’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her vocal support of Ukraine in the last year has increased her international visibility. She remains popular at home, but Finns are also frustrated with their country’s rising cost of living.

    The economy, climate change and others issues that affect voters’ daily lives — like education and social benefits — have dominated the election campaign. Job creation and Finland’s rapidly increasing government debt are issues that will likely preoccupy the next government of the Nordic nation of 5.5 million.

    “Above all, we must seek economic growth and stronger employment,” Marin said in a recent interview with Finnish public broadcaster YLE. “If we don’t succeed in these two things, we won’t be able to reduce our indebtedness, and we won’t be able to balance our economy.”

    While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to seek NATO membership in May 2022, neither the historic decision to abandon the nation’s non-alignment policy nor the war have emerged as major campaign issues. Finland shares a long land border with Russia.

    Marin played a prominent role, along with President Sauli Niinistö, in advocating for Finland’s application to join NATO, which was made in tandem with Sweden. On Friday, she thanked the countries that supported its membership.

    There was a broad consensus among the country’s political parties and overwhelming domestic support for membership in the Western military alliance.

    Kimmo Elo, a senior researcher in parliamentary studies at the University of Turku, said that Finland’s pending bid played “a very small role” in the campaign, making it unlikely that Turkey’s ratification would emerge as a matter of debate or impact voters’ choices.

    Over 2,400 candidates from 22 parties are vying for the 200 seats in Finland’s parliament, the Eduskunta. But opinion surveys suggest that three parties will dominate the pack: Marin’s Social Democratic Party, the center-right National Coalition Party and the right-wing populist The Finns party.

    Recent polls indicated each could take about 20% of the vote Sunday. If that happens, no party would be in position to form a government alone; whichever one wins the most votes is expected to begin talks next week on forming a governing coalition.

    Finland’s largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, published an editorial that described the election as “a real thriller” and predicted that the tight contest would likely inspire voters to turn out. Some 40% of eligible voters already have cast ballots in advance.

    Marin has been prime minister since December 2019. Her party leads a center-left coalition government with the centrist Center Party, the Green League, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People’s Party in Finland.

    The leaders of all five parties are women, which has made Marin’s Cabinet a rarity in Europe and rest of the world. Out of a total 19 Cabinet members, 11 are women.

    Marin has ruled out the Social Democrats partnering with The Finns after the election, citing substantial differences in values and policies. The populist, nationalist party’s candidates have run on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union platform.

    Should Marin’s party win, forming the same coalition again is out of the question as the Center Party has said it doesn’t favor such a government composition any more.

    The populists, who also have a woman as party leader, are in turn highly critical of a goal set by Marin’s government to make Finland carbon-neutral and fossil-free by 2035, calling the policy naïve and unrealistic. The Finns envision the country becoming carbon neutral in 2050 at the earliest.

    “Is this how Finland really thinks of saving itself? With green promises and throwing money at everything that sounds good?” Finns leader Riikka Purra wrote in the party’s recent newsletter, referring to pledges by Marin’s Cabinet to increase investments in a green transition and economy.

    The National Coalition Party, led by former Finance Minister Petteri Orpo, shares the same climate-neutrality target as the Social Democrats but could find it difficult to agree on economic policies. NCP is open to forming a coalition with The Finns.

    Orpo, who has headed the party since 2016, has pledged a government under his leadership would create some 100,000 new jobs and encourage entrepreneurship.

    The National Coalition Party also wants to increase the share of energy that Finland gets from nuclear power. The country currently has five reactors which produce about 40% of its electricity.

    “One of the most important tasks of the future government is to remarkably speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants in Finland,” Orpo said, writing in a blog on the party’s website that the next prime minister should make nuclear power “the cornerstone of the government’s energy policy.”

    ___

    Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed.

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  • New quake brings fresh losses to residents of Turkey, Syria

    New quake brings fresh losses to residents of Turkey, Syria

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    ISTANBUL (AP) — Survivors of the earthquake that jolted Turkey and Syria 15 days ago, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless, dealt with more trauma and loss Tuesday after another deadly quake and aftershocks rocked the region.

    The 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday evening had its epicenter in the Defne district of Turkey’s Hatay province, which was of the area’s worst affected by the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 quake that killed nearly 46,000 people in the two countries.

    Turkey’s disaster management authority, AFAD, said the new quake killed six people and injured 294 others, including 18 who were in critical condition. In Syria, a woman and a girl died as a result of panic during the earthquake in the provinces of Hama and Tartus, pro-government media said.

    Monday’s quake was felt in Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt. A magnitude 5.8 quake followed, along with dozens of aftershocks. The White Helmets, northwest Syria’s civil defense organization, said about 190 people suffered injuries in rebel-held areas and that several flimsy buildings collapsed but there were no reports of anyone trapped under the debris.

    In Turkey, teacher Zuher Capar, 42, said he was mourning the loss of relatives in the original earthquake and having a meal with his aunt and uncle near the Hatay town of Samandag when they felt Monday’s temblor.

    “It shook a little, then it grew strong,” he said. “The electricity went and there were screams everywhere. There were small children in the house. They were screaming, my aunt was crying.”

    On Feb. 6, Capar rushed to try to help his cousin, the cousin’s wife and the couple’s small children out of the rubble of their collapsed home, but they did not survive.

    “We had barely overcome the sadness (from the first earthquake),” he said.

    While his large family’s home withstood the quake earlier in the month, it was damaged on Monday. Capar said they are too frightened to sleep there and plan to stay in a large tent and cars.

    “We are trying to stay strong but it is a terrifying process. The cities we knew, the memories we had, have been destroyed,” he said. “When we go in the streets, there is only rubble and heavy machinery. It’s like a horror movie scene.”

    Turkish officials warned residents not to go into the remains of their homes, but people have done so to retrieve what they can. Three of the people killed Monday were inside a damaged four-story building when the new quake hit.

    Aftershocks and the instability of the structure complicated the rescue effort, and it took several hours for search crews to find the bodies, Turkish news agency DHA said.

    Dr. Tahsin Cinar, an anesthesiologist using vacation time to help provide medical care in Hatay as a representative of the Turkish Medical Association, said earthquake survivors need serious help with their mental health.

    “They feel so alone, so deserted and very anxious. Even a small tremor leads to a big anxious reaction,” he said.

    Cinar and other volunteers initially provided emergency care for people with physical injuries. Now, they are seeing more signs of psychological trauma, depression and the stress that comes with a lack of safe housing, winter weather and a pause in education.

    “There is nearly nothing to create social well-being,” he said.

    The U.N.’s World Food Program said Monday’s quake frightened employees who were distributing food to hundreds of thousands of people in northwest Syria and Turkey. The employees are sleeping in their cars in freezing temperatures while still trying to do their jobs, the program said.

    Kamal Abuhassan’s small house in Jinderis, Syria, was damaged in the the first earthquake, but after a few days, he and his family returned. They ran out when Monday’s quake hit; the dwelling is now partially collapsed into piles of rubble.

    “Our house is ruined, but at least our kids are OK,“ Abuhassan said.

    He has set up a tent just outside the house, too afraid to go back inside.

    “We just don’t know when the next earthquake is going to happen. Where else are we supposed to go other than tents?” he said.

    Some 13.5 million people live in Turkey’s 11 quake-hit provinces, where authorities said more than 139,000 buildings were either destroyed or so severely damaged that they need to be torn down.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 865,000 people were living in tents as of Tuesday. Some 270 tent cities have been set up in the affected provinces, and winter weather added to the suffering of displaced citizens.

    Umit Ozalp, who has lived for 40 years in Antakya, a historic city that’s now devastated, was preparing to leave, joining others carrying just a few small bags at a bus station.

    “We have nothing left. Our home, our homeland, our children. We lost our work. Our situation is painful,” Ozalp told the IHA news agency.

    Kenan Caglar, a bus company employee, said the company was transporting at least 2,000 passengers a day, most bound for Istanbul or the Mediterranean cities of Antalya and Mersin.

    The majority of deaths in the massive Feb. 6 quake, which was followed by a magnitude 7.5 temblor nine hours later, were in Turkey, where at least 42,310 people died, according to the disaster management agency.

    Turkey’s defense minister said about 20,000 Syrians living in Turkey had returned to Syria after the quakes.

    “They are returning to their lands because they lost their homes and their relatives,” Hulusi Akar said from Hatay on Tuesday.

    ___

    Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Omar Alham in Jinderis, Syria contributed.

    ___

    Follow AP’s earthquake coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/earthquakes

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  • Turkey slams West for security warnings ‘harming’ tourism

    Turkey slams West for security warnings ‘harming’ tourism

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    ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday slammed a group of Western countries that temporarily closed down their consulates in Istanbul over security concerns, accusing them of waging “psychological warfare” and attempting to wreck Turkey’s tourism industry.

    Germany, the Netherlands and Britain were among countries that shut down their consulates in the city of around 16 million people this week. The German Embassy cited the risk of possible retaliatory attacks following Quran-burning incidents in some European countries. The United States and other countries issued travel warnings urging citizens to exercise vigilance.

    Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the consulate closures and travel warnings were part of an alleged Western plot to prevent a rebound in Turkey’s tourism sector following the coronavirus pandemic.

    “On a day when we declared our aim of (attracting) 60 million tourists, at a time when 51.5 million tourists arrived and we obtained $46 billion in tourism revenue, they were on the verge of starting a new psychological warfare (against) Turkey,” said Soylu, who is known for his anti-Western rhetoric.

    Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of nine countries — the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy — and formally protested the security warnings and consulate closures, officials said.

    The envoys were told that Turkey provides security to all diplomatic missions “on the basis of international conventions” and that their actions served what the ministry said was “terrorist organizations’ sneaky agendas.”

    The interior minister said Turkey had conducted as many as 60 operations against the Islamic State group so far this year and detained 95 people. Last year, close to 2,000 IS suspects were detained in more than 1,000 operations against the group, he said.

    Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry said Turkish authorities had detained a number of suspects following a warning from a “friendly country” but hadn’t found any weapons, ammunition or sign of a planned act of violence.

    In November, a bombing on Istanbul’s bustling Istiklal Avenue, located in the heart of the city and near a number of foreign consulates, killed six people and wounded several others. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on Kurdish militants.

    Last weekend, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia. The warning followed demonstrations the week before outside the Turkish Embassy in Sweden, where an anti-Islam activist burned the Quran and pro-Kurdish groups protested against Turkey.

    In a related development, Norway revoked a group’s permission to stage a protest in Oslo on Friday that would have involved an attack on the Quran, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters. Police in Oslo confirmed that the protest was canceled on grounds that security could not be ensured “in a satisfactory manner” at the event.

    Earlier, Turkey summoned Norway’s ambassador and told the envoy that the planned action would constitute a “hate crime” that should not be allowed.

    A group called Stop Islamization of Norway had planned to burn the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy. The group’s leader, Lars Thorsen, told VG newspaper that he planned to carry out his protest “in the context of Turkey’s intolerance of Western values of freedom.”

    Recent demonstrations in Europe where activists desecrated Islam’s holy book have infuriated Muslims in Turkey and elsewhere.

    Jewish organizations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway issued a statement expressing concern about what they called the manifestation of “Islamophobic hate” in the Nordic region.

    “Once again, racists and extremists are allowed to abuse democracy and freedom of speech in order to normalize hate against one of the religious minorities by burning the Quran,” they said.

    ___

    Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed reporting.

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  • Turkish, Russian forces could ‘expand’ Syria joint patrols

    Turkish, Russian forces could ‘expand’ Syria joint patrols

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s defense minister said Wednesday that Turkish and Russian troops could “expand” their joint patrols in northern Syria as part of efforts to bring security to the region.

    Hulusi Akar did not elaborate on the plans, which come days after he held talks with his Syrian and Russian counterparts in a surprise meeting in Moscow. Akar’s talks with Syria’s Mahmoud Abbas marked the first ministerial level meeting between Turkey and Syria since relations broke down with the start of the Syrian civil war more than 11 years ago.

    “We can expand the joint patrols with Russia in (the) north of Syria,” Akar told a group of reporters when asked about his discussions in Moscow, according to a defense ministry statement.

    More talks between Russian, Syrian and Turkish officials would follow, Akar said, adding: “our hope is that this process will continue in a reasonable, logical and successful manner, and the fight against terrorism will be successful.”

    Turkey has been threatening to carry out a new military offensive into Syria against Kurdish militants it has blamed for a deadly Nov. 13 bomb attack in Istanbul.

    Moscow, which has been pressing for a reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus, has made clear that it opposes a new Turkish invasion. It was not immediately clear whether Russia may have proposed expanded joint patrols between Turkish and Russian forces to avert a new incursion.

    Turkey and Syria have been standing on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict, with Turkey backing rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Damascus for its part, has denounced Turkey’s hold over stretches of territory in northern Syria which were seized in a series of military incursions since 2016 to drive away Kurdish militant groups.

    Turkey and Russia started joint patrols in March 2020 after a cease-fire was reached earlier that month ending a Russian-backed government offensive on the last rebel stronghold in the northwest.

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  • Turkey’s December inflation slows to 64% in boost to Erdogan

    Turkey’s December inflation slows to 64% in boost to Erdogan

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Inflation in Turkey showed a sharp drop in December thanks mainly to technical reasons — which could help President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ‘s standing before an election, but is unlikely to bring relief to households suffering from a cost of living crisis.

    Consumer prices for the year rose by 64.27% in December, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Tuesday, down from 84.39% reported in November.

    It’s the second month in a row that inflation has eased after hitting a 24-year high of 85.5% in October. The fall is attributed to a base effect, with a high index from a year ago statistically bringing the inflation rate down.

    But some economists have questioned the state institutes’ figures. The Inflation Research Group — made up of independent academics and experts — said Tuesday that Turkey’s true inflation rate for December is 135.55%.

    While the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have stoked inflation around the world, experts say higher prices in Turkey were fueled by Erdogan’s belief that high borrowing costs lead to higher prices. Traditional economic thinking says that raising rates helps bring inflation under control.

    Last year, Turkey’s central bank slashed interest rates by 5 percentage points, down to 9% despite high inflation. In contrast, central banks around the world raised rates to fight soaring inflation.

    Erdogan, who faces an election in June, had promised a drop in the inflation rate in the new year and is likely to tout the fall in consumer prices during his electoral campaign.

    On Tuesday, the Turkish leader described the consumer price data as “the first important sign of the great decline in inflation.”

    “We have closed the year 2022 by achieving a consumer inflation even below the medium-term target,” Erdogan said. “Hopefully, we will see that the downward trend in inflation will continue in the coming months.”

    In steps geared toward the election, the Turkish president has raised the minimum wage by 55% to ease economic hardship and also announced a measure that would allow more than 2 million people to retire early despite warnings of the move’s additional budgetary burden.

    On Tuesday, he announced a 25% hike in public sector wages and pensions.

    According to official data, consumer prices rose 1.2% in December on a monthly basis, compared to 2.9% in November. The sharpest increases in annual prices were in the housing sector, at nearly 80%, followed by food and nonalcoholic drinks prices at 78%.

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  • Turkish, Syrian, Russian defense chiefs hold surprise talks

    Turkish, Syrian, Russian defense chiefs hold surprise talks

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    ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish, Syrian and Russian defense ministers have held previously unannounced talks in Moscow, the Turkish and Russian defense ministries said on Wednesday. It was the first ministerial level meeting between rivals Turkey and Syria since the start of the Syrian conflict 11 years ago.

    A Turkish defense ministry statement said the Turkish, Syrian and Russian intelligence chiefs also attended the talks in Moscow which, it said, took place in a “positive atmosphere.”

    The discussion focused on “the Syrian crisis, the refugee problem and efforts for a joint struggle against terror organizations present on Syrian territory,” the ministry said.

    It added that the sides would continue to hold trilateral meetings.

    Russia has long been pressing for a reconciliation between Turkey and the Syrian government — Moscow’s close ally — which have been standing on opposite sides in Syria’s civil war.

    Turkey backed rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Damascus for its part denounced Turkey’s hold over stretches of territory in northern Syria which were seized in Turkish military incursions launched since 2016 to drive Kurdish militant groups away from the frontier.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the three ministers discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the refugee issue and to combat extremist groups.

    The parties noted “the constructive nature of the dialogue … and the need to continue it in the interests of further stabilizing the situation” in Syria and the region as a whole, the short statement said. It didn’t provide any other details.

    The previously unannounced talks in Moscow follow repeated warnings by Turkey of a new land incursion into Syria after a deadly bombing in Istanbul last month. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and on the Syria-based People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Both groups denied involvement.

    Russia has opposed a new Turkish military offensive.

    The efforts toward a Turkish-Syrian reconciliation also comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who faces presidential and parliamentary elections in June — is under intense pressure at home to send Syrian refugees back. Anti-refugee sentiment is rising in Turkey amid an economic crisis.

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  • Prosecutors: Paris shooting suspect wanted to kill migrants

    Prosecutors: Paris shooting suspect wanted to kill migrants

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    PARIS — The man suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris ahead of Christmas weekend told investigators that he had set out that morning aiming to kill migrants or foreigners and then himself, according to prosecutors.

    The 69-year-old man killed three people outside a Kurdish cultural center Friday and wounded three others, and was then disarmed and subdued by one of the injured victims, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Sunday.

    He was detained at the scene and transferred Saturday to psychiatric care. His name hasn’t been released. If he is released from psychiatric care, he faces potential charges of racially motivated murder, attempted murder and arms violations.

    The prosecutor’s office said in a statement Sunday that the suspect told investigators that a 2016 burglary at his home marked a turning point for him, sparking what he called a “hatred toward foreigners that became completely pathological.”

    The shooting in a bustling Parisian neighborhood shook and angered the Kurdish community, and stirred up concerns about hate crimes at a time when far-right voices have gained prominence in France and around Europe.

    The suspect told investigators that the morning of the shooting, he took his weapon first to the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with the aim of killing foreigners but changed his mind, the prosecutor’s statement said. He then went to the Kurdish center in Paris, which is near his parents’ home.

    He opened fire on one woman and two men there, then entered a Kurdish-run hair salon across the street and fired on three men. One of the wounded men in the hair salon managed to stop him and hold him until police arrived, the prosecutor’s statement said.

    He told investigators he didn’t know his victims, and described all “non European foreigners” as his enemies, the statement said.

    Two of the injured were still hospitalized Sunday with leg injuries.

    Investigators are studying his computer and phone, but haven’t found any confirmed links to extremist ideology, the statement said.

    On Saturday, members of France’s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together in a demonstration of mourning and anger. The gathering was largely peaceful, with marchers holding portraits of the victims.

    Some youths threw objects and set a few cars and garbage bins on fire, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. A spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Council in France said the violence began after some people drove by waving a Turkish flag. Some of the marchers carried flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

    In 2013, three women Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz, a PKK founder, were found shot dead at a Kurdish center in Paris.

    Turkey’s army has long been battling against Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq. Turkey’s military also recently launched a series of strikes from the air and with artillery against Syrian Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.

    Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terror group, but Turkey accuses some European countries of leniency toward alleged PKK members. That frustration has been the main reason behind Turkey’s continued delay of Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership.

    Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday the violence in the Paris protests was a result of lenience toward the PKK.

    “The snake France fed is now biting them. Everyone should now see the real face of this terror organization,” Akar said.

    ———

    Zeynep Bilginsoy contributed to this report from Istanbul.

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  • Kurds, anti-racism groups gather after deadly Paris shooting

    Kurds, anti-racism groups gather after deadly Paris shooting

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    PARIS — Members of France‘s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together in mourning and anger on Saturday in Paris after three people were killed at a Kurdish cultural center in an attack that prosecutors say was racially motivated.

    The shooting in a bustling neighborhood of central Paris also wounded three people, and stirred up concerns about hate crimes against minority groups at a time when far-right voices have gained prominence in France and around Europe in recent years.

    The suspected attacker was wounded and detained, and transferred Saturday to psychiatric care, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The 69-year-old Parisian had been charged with attacking a migrant camp last year and released from jail earlier this month. For Friday’s shooting, he is facing potential charges of murder and attempted murder with a racist motive, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Thousands gathered Saturday at the Place de la Republique in eastern Paris, waving a colorful spectrum of flags representing Kurdish rights groups, left-wing political movements and other causes.

    The gathering was largely peaceful, though some youths threw projectiles and set a few cars and garbage bins on fire, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Some protesters shouted slogans against the Turkish government. Berivan Firat of the Kurdish Democratic Council in France told BFM TV that the violence began after some people drove by waving a Turkish flag.

    Most demonstrators were ethnic Kurds of varying generations who came together to mourn the three fellow Kurds who were killed, who included a prominent feminist activist and a Kurdish singer who came to France as a refugee.

    ”We are devastated, really. We are destroyed because we lost a very important member of our community and we are angry. How is this possible?” said demonstrator Yekbun Ogur, a middle school biology teacher in Paris. “Is it normal for a man with a gun to sneak into a cultural place to come and murder people?”

    Demonstrator Yunus Cicek wiped his tears away as spoke of the victims, and his fears. “We are not protected here. Even though I have political refugee status, I don’t feel safe. … Maybe next time it will be me.”

    The shooting shook the Kurdish community and put French police on extra alert for the Christmas weekend. The Paris police chief met Saturday with members of the Kurdish community to try to allay their fears.

    France’s Interior Ministry reported a 13% rise in race-related crimes or other violations in 2021 over 2019, after an 11% rise from 2018 to 2019. The ministry did not include 2020 in its statistics because of successive pandemic lockdowns that year. It said a disproportionate number of such crimes target people of African descent, and also cited hundreds of attacks based on religion.

    Friday’s attack took place at the cultural center and a nearby Kurdish restaurant and Kurdish hair salon. Surveillance video from the hair salon shared online suggests people in the salon subdued the attacker before police reached the scene. The prosecutor’s office would not elaborate on the circumstances of his arrest.

    Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect was clearly targeting foreigners, and had acted alone and was not officially affiliated with any extreme-right or other radical movements. The suspect had past convictions for illegal arms possession and armed violence.

    Kurdish activists said they had recently been warned by police of threats to Kurdish targets.

    In 2013, three women Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz, a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were found shot dead at a Kurdish center in Paris.

    Turkey’s army has long been battling against Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq. Turkey’s military also recently launched a series of air and artillery strikes against Syrian Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.

    ———

    Boubkar Benzebat in Paris contributed.

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  • Taliban ban women from working for domestic, foreign NGOs

    Taliban ban women from working for domestic, foreign NGOs

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    KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban government in Afghanistan on Saturday ordered all foreign and domestic non-governmental groups to suspend employing women, the latest restrictive move by the country’s new rulers against women’s rights and freedoms.

    The order came in a letter from Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, which said that any NGO found not complying with the order will have their operating license revoked in Afghanistan.

    The contents of the letter were confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday by ministry spokesman, Abdul Rahman Habib.

    The ministry said it had received “serious complaints” about female staff working for NGOs not wearing the “correct” headscarf, or hijab. It was not immediately clear if the order applies to all women or only Afghan women at the NGOs.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

    KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban security forces used a water cannon to disperse women protesting the ban on university education for women on Saturday, eyewitnesses said, as the decision from the Taliban-led government continues to cause outrage and opposition in Afghanistan and beyond.

    The development came after Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Tuesday banned female students from attending universities effective immediately. Afghan women have since demonstrated in major cities against the ban, a rare sign of domestic protest since the Taliban seized power last year.

    According to eyewitnesses in the western city of Herat, about two dozen women on Saturday were heading to the provincial governor’s house to protest the ban, chanting: “Education is our right,” when they were pushed back by security forces firing the water cannon.

    Video shared with The Associated Press shows the women screaming and hiding in a side street to escape the water cannon. They then resume their protest, with chants of “Disgraceful!”

    One of the protest organizers, Maryam, said between 100 and 150 women took part in the protest, moving in small groups from different parts of the city toward a central meeting point. She did not give her last name for fear of reprisals.

    “There was security on every street, every square, armored vehicles and armed men,” she said. “When we started our protest, in Tariqi Park, the Taliban took branches from the trees and beat us. But we continued our protest. They increased their security presence. Around 11 a.m. they brought out the water cannon.”

    A spokesman for the provincial governor, Hamidullah Mutawakil, claimed there were only four-five protesters. “They had no agenda, they just came here to make a film,” he said, without mentioning the violence against the women or the use of the water cannon.

    There has been widespread international condemnation of the university ban, including from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as warnings from the United States and the G-7 group of major industrial nations that the policy will have consequences for the Taliban.

    An official in the Taliban government, Minister of Higher Education Nida Mohammad Nadim, spoke about the ban for the first time on Thursday in an interview with the Afghan state television. He said the ban was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam.

    He said the ban would be in place until further notice.

    Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, since they seized power in August 2021.

    They have banned girls from middle school and high school, barred women from most fields of employment and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms. At the same time Afghan society, while largely traditional, has increasingly embraced the education of girls and women over the past two decades.

    Also Saturday, in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, dozens of Afghan refugee students protested against the ban on female higher education in their homeland and demanded the immediate reopening of campuses for women.

    One of them, Bibi Haseena, read a poem depicting the grim situation for Afghan girls seeking an education. She said was unhappy about graduating outside her country when hundreds of thousands of her Afghan sisters were being deprived of an education.

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  • Taliban minister defends ban on women’s university studies

    Taliban minister defends ban on women’s university studies

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    KABUL, Afghanistan — The minister of higher education in the Taliban government on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities — a decree that had triggered a global backlash.

    Discussing the matter for the first time in public, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam. He said the ban was in place until further notice.

    In an interview with Afghan television, Nadim pushed back against the widespread international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Nadim said that foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

    Earlier on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the G7 group of states urged the Taliban to rescind the ban, warning that “gender persecution may amount to a crime against humanity.” The ministers warned after a virtual meeting that “Taliban policies designed to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries engage with the Taliban.” The G7 group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

    Nadim said universities would be closed to women for the time being, but that the ban could be reviewed at a later time.

    A former provincial governor, police chief and military commander, Nadim was appointed minister in October by the supreme Taliban leader and previously pledged to stamp out secular schooling. Nadim opposes female education, saying it is against Islamic and Afghan values.

    In Afghanistan, there has been some domestic opposition to the university ban, including statements of condemnation by several Afghan cricketers. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Afghanistan, and players have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

    Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, since they seized power in August 2021.

    They have banned girls from middle school and high school, barred women from most fields of employment and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms. At the same time, Afghan society, while largely traditional, has increasingly embraced the education of girls and women over the past two decades.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that the ban was “neither Islamic nor humane.”

    Speaking at a joint news conference with his Yemeni counterpart, Cavusoglu called on the Taliban to reverse their decision.

    “What harm is there in women’s education? What harm does it do to Afghanistan?” Cavusoglu said. “Is there an Islamic explanation? On the contrary, our religion, Islam, is not against education, on the contrary, it encourages education and science.”

    Saudi Arabia, which until 2019 enforced sweeping restrictions on women’s travel, employment and other crucial aspects of their daily lives, including driving, also urged the Taliban to change course.

    The Saudi foreign ministry expressed “astonishment and regret” at Afghan women being denied a university education. In a statement late Wednesday, the ministry said the decision was “astonishing in all Islamic countries.”

    Previously, Qatar, which has engaged with the Taliban authorities, also condemned the decision.

    In the capital of Kabul, about two dozen women marched in the streets Thursday, chanting in Dari for freedom and equality. “All or none. Don’t be afraid. We are together,” they chanted.

    In video obtained by The Associated Press, one woman said Taliban security forces used violence to disperse the group.

    “The girls were beaten and whipped,” she said. “They also brought military women with them, whipping the girls. We ran away, some girls were arrested. I don’t know what will happen.”

    Several Afghan cricketers called for the ban to be lifted.

    Player Rahmanullah Garbaz said in a tweet that every day of education wasted was a day wasted in the country’s future.

    Another cricketer, Rashid Khan, tweeted that women are the foundation of society. “A society that leaves its children in the hands of ignorant and illiterate women cannot expect its members to serve and work hard,” he wrote.

    Another show of support for female university students came at Nangarhar Medical University. Local media reported that male students walked out in solidarity and refused to sit for exams until women’s university access was reinstated.

    Girls have been banned from school beyond the sixth grade since the Taliban’s return.

    In northeastern Takhar province, teenage girls said the Taliban on Thursday forced them out of a private education training center and told them they no longer had the right to study. One student, 15-year-old Zuhal, said the girls were beaten.

    Another, 19-year-old Maryam, said while crying: “This training center was our hope. What can these girls do? They were full of hope and coming here to learn. It is really a pity. (The Taliban) have taken all our hopes. They closed schools, universities, and the training center, which was very small.”

    ———

    Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey.

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  • Turkish court gives Istanbul mayor prison term, politics ban

    Turkish court gives Istanbul mayor prison term, politics ban

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    ISTANBUL — A court in Turkey sentenced the mayor of Istanbul, the country’s most populous city, to two years and seven months in prison Wednesday on charges of insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council.

    The court convicted Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and also imposed a political ban that could lead to his removal from office. Imamoglu, who belongs to the main opposition Republican People’s Party, is expected to appeal the verdict.

    Critics alleged the mayor’s trial was an attempt to eliminate a key opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in June. Polls indicate a drop in Erdogan’s popularity ratings amid an economic turmoil and inflation at more than 84%.

    Imamoglu was elected to lead Istanbul in March 2019. His win was a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. The party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.

    The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won.

    Imamoglu was charged with insulting senior public officials after he described canceling legitimate elections as an act of “foolishness” on Nov. 4, 2019.

    The mayor denied insulting members of the electoral council, insisting his words were a response to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu calling him “a fool” and accusing Imamoglu of criticizing Turkey during a visit to the European Parliament.

    Thousands gathered in front of the municipal building to denounce the verdict against the popular mayor, shouting “Rights, Law, Justice!” and calling on the government and Erdogan to resign.

    “This decision is proof that the rulers of this country have no aim to bring justice and democracy to the country,” Imamoglu said as he addressed the crowd from the top of a bus. “They have stopped fighting honestly and bravely. They are resorting to all kinds of tricks to protect their order.”

    Opposition politician Meral Aksener, whose center-right party joined forces with the Republican People’s Party in the 2019 municipal elections, traveled to Istanbul from Ankara in a show of support for the mayor.

    “It’s when (governments) are afraid that they oppress and carry out injustices,” she said, standing besides Imamoglu. “A great fear lies behind this decision.”

    Aksener recalled that Erdogan had served as Istanbul’s mayor in the 1990s and was unjustly removed from office for reading a poem that the courts deemed to be a violation of Turkey’s secular laws.

    “This song won’t end here,” she said, repeating a comment that Erdogan made at the time.

    Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party, cut short a visit to Germany to return to Turkey and lend his support to Imamoglu.

    During the trial, the court heard testimony from Imamoglu’s press officer, Murat Ongun, who confirmed that the mayor’s words were in response to Soylu.

    “Either before or after this event, or even on May 6 (2019), when the elections were canceled, I did not hear any negative words from Ekrem Imamoglu concerning the (Supreme Electoral Council) members,” the T24 news website quoted Ongun as saying. “All of his statements were made toward political figures.”

    But in a video posted on social media, Soylu insisted the mayor’s comments were directed at the electoral council members.

    After the 2019 elections, several mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, were removed from office over alleged links to Kurdish militants and replaced by state-appointed trustees.

    Dozens of HDP lawmakers and thousands of party members were arrested on terror-related accusations as part of a government crackdown on the party.

    ———

    Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

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  • EXPLAINER: What’s at stake in Turkey’s new Syria escalation

    EXPLAINER: What’s at stake in Turkey’s new Syria escalation

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    BEIRUT — After weeks of deadly Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria, Kurdish forces and international players are trying to gauge whether Ankara’s threats of a ground invasion are serious.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned of a new land incursion to drive Kurdish groups away from the Turkish-Syrian border, following a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and on the Syria-based People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Both have denied involvement.

    On Nov. 20, Ankara launched a barrage of airstrikes, killing dozens, including civilians as well as Kurdish fighters and Syrian government troops. Human Rights Watch has warned that the strikes are exacerbating a humanitarian crisis by disrupting power, fuel and aid.

    In the most recent development, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin flew to Turkey this week for talks on the situation in Syria.

    Here’s a look at what various foreign powers and groups embroiled in the Syria conflict stand to gain or lose:

    WHAT TURKEY WANTS

    Turkey sees the Kurdish forces along its border with Syria as a threat and has launched three major military incursions since 2016, taking control of large swaths of territory.

    Erdogan hopes to relocate many of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to northern Syria and has begun building housing units there. The plan could address growing anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey and bolster Erdogan’s support ahead of next year’s elections, while diluting historically Kurdish-majority areas by resettling non-Kurdish Syrian refugees there.

    Erdogan has also touted plans to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) security corridor in areas currently under Kurdish control. A planned Turkish invasion earlier this year was halted amid opposition by the U.S. and Russia.

    THE KURDISH RESPONSE

    Kurdish groups are pressing the U.S. and Russia, both of which have military posts in northern Syria, to once again prevent Turkey from carrying out its threats.

    The Kurds are worried that West will stand aside this time to appease Ankara in exchange for approval of Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

    “This silence toward Turkey’s brutality will encourage Turkey to carry out a ground operation,” said Badran Jia Kurd, deputy co-chair of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

    Kurdish groups, which fought against the Islamic State group alongside a U.S.-led coalition and now guard thousands of captured IS fighters and family members, warn that a Turkish escalation would threaten efforts to stamp out the extremist group.

    In recent weeks, officials from the U.S. and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they had stopped or scaled back joint patrols against IS because of the airstrikes, although patrols have since resumed.

    THE ROLE OF THE SYRIAN INSURGENTS

    The so-called Syrian National Army, a coalition of Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups with tens of thousands of fighters, would likely provide foot soldiers for any future ground offensive. In previous incursions, including the 2018 offensive on the town of Afrin, the SNA was accused of committing atrocities against Kurds and displacing tens of thousands from their homes.

    Several officials from the SNA did not respond to calls and text messages by The Associated Press. One official who answered said they were ordered by Turkish authorities not to speak about plans for a new incursion.

    THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT’S STANCE?

    The Syrian government has opposed past Turkish incursions but also sees the SDF as a secessionist force and a Trojan horse for the U.S., which has imposed paralyzing sanctions on the government of Bashar Assad.

    Damascus and Ankara have recently been moving to improve relations after 11 years of tension triggered by Turkey’s backing of opposition fighters in Syria’s civil war. Damascus has kept relatively quiet about the killing of Syrian soldiers in the recent Turkish strikes.

    WILL THE UNITED STATES GET INVOLVED?

    The United States maintains a small military presence in northern Syria, where its strong backing of the SDF has infuriated Turkey.

    However, the U.S. at first said little publicly about the Turkish airstrikes, speaking more forcefully only after they hit dangerously close to U.S. troops and led to anti-IS patrols being temporarily halted. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last week voiced “strong opposition” to a new offensive.

    Asked if the U.S. had any assurances for Kurds worried that the U.S. might abandon them to coax a NATO deal out of Turkey, a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said only that there had been no changes to U.S. policy in the region.

    WILL RUSSIA BROKER A DEAL?

    Russia is the Syrian government’s closest ally. Its involvement in Syria’s conflict helped turn the tide in favor of Assad.

    Although Turkey and Russia support rival sides in the conflict, the two have coordinated closely in Syria’s north. In recent months, Russia has pushed for a reconciliation between Damascus and Ankara.

    Moscow has voiced concerns over Turkey’s recent military actions in northern Syria and has attempted to broker a deal. According to Lebanon-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV, the chief of Russian forces in Syria, Lt. Gen. Alexander Chaiko, recently suggested to SDF commander Mazloum Abdi that Syrian government forces should deploy in a security strip along the border with Turkey to avoid a Turkish incursion.

    IRAN’S INTERESTS

    Iran, a key ally of the Assad government, strongly opposed Turkish plans for a land offensive earlier this year but hasn’t commented publicly on the possible new incursion.

    Tehran also has a sizable Kurdish minority and has battled a low-level separatist insurgency for decades. Iran has seen sustained protests and a deadly crackdown by security forces since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman, in the custody of the country’s morality police in mid- September.

    Iran has blamed much of the unrest on Kurdish opposition groups exiled in neighboring Iraq, charges those groups deny, and has carried out strikes against them. Another Turkish incursion into Syria could provide a model for a wider response if the unrest in Iran’s Kurdistan continues to escalate.

    ———

    Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Andrew Wilks in Istanbul and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.

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  • Blinken confident in Finland, Sweden accession to NATO

    Blinken confident in Finland, Sweden accession to NATO

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    WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the United States is confident that Finland and Sweden will be approved soon for membership in NATO despite ratification delays in allies Turkey and Hungary.

    After meeting his Finnish and Swedish counterparts on Thursday, Blinken said both countries had proved their bona fides to join the alliance, notably in joining NATO in providing support to Ukraine to counter Russia’s invasion.

    Nearly all of NATO’s 30 members have already approved Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance, which were made after Russia launched its war in Ukraine. Turkey and Hungary are the only two to not yet have ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession.

    “Both countries have taken significant, concrete actions to fulfill their commitments, including those related to the security concerns on the part of our ally, Turkey,” Blinken said. “As their membership process continues, the United States is fully committed to Finland and Sweden’s accession.”

    But Blinken said he believed Turkey’s concerns, notably with Sweden over its past support for Kurdish groups that Ankara sees as a threat, would be overcome in the near future. Sweden this week extradited a convicted member of the Kurdish PKK militant group to Turkey. Hungary’s parliament is expected to vote on NATO expansion early next year.

    “I’m confident that NATO will formally welcome Finland and Sweden as members soon,” he told reporters at a joint news conference at the State Department with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.

    Blinken took the opportunity to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war with Ukraine had backfired if he truly intended to push back on NATO expansion.

    “As Sweden and Finland prepare to join NATO, we know that he’s failed at weakening our alliance,” he said. “Indeed, he’s only made NATO stronger and bigger.”

    Haavisto said discussions with Turkey over the PKK have gone well so far, although there was still not a date for the Turkish parliament to consider the expansion.

    “Of course, our hope is that this decision should come from Turkey rather sooner than later,” he said.

    Billstrom said he would soon travel to Turkey to continue talks on the matter. “I hope that the outcome of that discussion will also bring us forward,” he said.

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  • Turkey cuts rates by 150 basis points and ends easing cycle

    Turkey cuts rates by 150 basis points and ends easing cycle

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    An electronic board displays exchange rate information at a currency exchange bureau in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022.

    Nicole Tung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Turkey’s central bank on Thursday cut interest rates by 150 basis points to 9% and decided to end its cycle of monetary policy easing, citing increased inflation risks.

    The CBRT [Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey] has been under consistent pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to continue cutting rates despite soaring inflation, which hit 85.5% year-on-year in October as food and energy prices continued to soar.

    “Considering the increasing risks regarding global demand, the Committee evaluated that the current policy rate is adequate and decided to end the rate cut cycle that started in August,” the central bank said in a statement.

    Erdogan has continued to insist that raising interest rates, in line with central banks around the world, would harm the Turkish economy, an insistence economists suggest has caused a significant devaluation of the lira currency and driven inflation higher. The president has repeatedly states his aim of getting the country’s interest rate down to single digits by the end of this year.

    “While the negative consequences of supply constraints in some sectors, particularly basic food, have been alleviated by the strategic solutions facilitated by Türkiye, the upward trend in producer and consumer prices continues on an international scale,” the central bank said.

    “The effects of high global inflation on inflation expectations and international financial markets are closely monitored. Moreover, central banks in advanced economies emphasize that the rise in inflation may last longer than previously anticipated due to high level of energy prices, imbalances between supply and demand, and rigidities in labor markets,” it added.

    The CBRT is undergoing a review of its policy framework, focusing on the “liraization” of its financial system and said in its report Thursday that it would “continue to use all available instruments” within the framework of this strategy until “strong indicators point to a permanent fall inflation and the medium-term 5 percent target is achieved.”

    “Stability in the general price level will foster macroeconomic stability and financial stability through the fall in country risk premium, continuation of the reversal in currency substitution and the upward trend in foreign exchange reserves, and durable decline in financing costs,” the CBRT said.

    “This would create a viable foundation for investment, production and employment to continue growing in a healthy and sustainable way.”

    This is a breaking story. Please check back for more.

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