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Tag: Istanbul

  • At least 1.7M people attend mass Istanbul rally: Turkish Prez

    At least 1.7M people attend mass Istanbul rally: Turkish Prez

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    Ankara: With less than a week left for presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkiye, the country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a mass rally in Istanbul on Sunday with at least 1.7 million people attending, Turkish News Agency Anadolu reported.

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the massive crowd of people at the Istanbul rally and recalled his government’s achievements over the last 21 years.

    The Turkish leader said his government had tripled the national income over the past 21 years, News Agency Anadolu reported.

    MS Education Academy

    “In 21 years, we have provided jobs and food to 21 million people added to our population. We built 10.5 million new houses in 21 years and provided families home,” he added.

    He criticized the Turkish opposition over their inimical rhetoric on homegrown drones and combat drones and pledged to further enhance the country’s defence industry, News Agency Anadolu reported.

    On energy, Erdogan recalled the billions of dollars worth of natural gas and oil reserves discovered in the Black Sea and Turkiye’s southern Gabar area that have been put at the disposal of the Turkish nation.

    Erdogan also said his government is implementing the “Great Istanbul Tunnel Project,” which he said “will be the third tube to run through beneath the Sea of Marmara.”

    “We are preparing Istanbul for the Century of Turkiye, and Istanbul will be the locomotive for the rise of the Century of Turkiye,” he added.

    The elections in Turkiye will take place on May 14. On the presidential ballot, voters will choose between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seeking reelection, leading opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Muharrem Ince, and Sinan Ogan, News Agency Anadolu reported.

    Meanwhile, 24 political parties and 151 independent candidates are vying for seats in the 600-member Turkish parliament.

    (Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Istanbul launches program to check buildings’ safety following deadly quakes

    Istanbul launches program to check buildings’ safety following deadly quakes

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    Istanbul: Turkey’s largest city Istanbul has launched a program to provide rapid scans of buildings as many people worry about the safety of their residences in the wake of devastating February 6 earthquakes that killed more than 53,500 in the country and neighbouring Syria

    As Turkey’s financial and cultural hub with over 16 million residents, Istanbul is located at the west end of the North Anatolian Fault Line, which has produced many major earthquakes throughout history, reports Xinhua news agency.

    The city government launched the scanning program in a bid to soothe the nerves of local residents.

    The service, which includes measuring the consistency of concrete and counting the number of rebars with X-ray scan, will evaluate the strength of the ground and rate the safety level of the checked building accordingly.

    Ozlem Tut, head of the Municipality’s Earthquake Risk Management and Urban Improvement Department, told reporters that they received 85,000 applications for the test since the deadly tremors.

    The municipal teams prioritise structures built before 2000, checking 150 buildings per day.

    If the concrete’s strength is reported as “weak”, then it will be reinforced. If reinforcement is not possible, then the building will be demolished before a new one is built.

    In case of demolition, the city provides up to 4,500 Turkish liras ($238) in rental assistance to its residents.

    In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the industrialized Marmara region, home to Istanbul, killing more than 17,000 people and leaving some 300,000 homeless.

    The devastation forced authorities to adopt regulations with nominal construction quality after 2000.

    Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu urged residents to cooperate on the issue, as there is considerable work in the megalopolis of over 1.16 million buildings.

    According to the 2021 building inventory, about half of the buildings do not meet earthquake resistance standards.

    “This is a call for mobilization,” Imamoglu announced on his social media accounts. “Thousands of buildings in Istanbul must be demolished and constructed to be earthquake-proof.”

    Meanwhile, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty Hospital suspended all the health and education services in its 17 buildings in the compound in the Fatih district on the city’s European side after an earthquake risk examination.

    On Monday, Faculty President Nuri Aydin told reporters that the test results revealed that the buildings were at risk and the evacuation had started.

    This state-owned hospital is one of the most comprehensive health facilities in the city.

    In the wake of the deadly tremors in early February, many Istanbul residents plan to move to earthquake-proof buildings, while the authorities are scrambling to evaluate the buildings’ strength.

    As a result, the rents of new apartments have skyrocketed in the city recently, increasing by 10 to 20 per cent in the past 15 days.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Germany, Italy close Istanbul consulates over security concerns in Turkey

    Germany, Italy close Istanbul consulates over security concerns in Turkey

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    Istanbul: Germany and Italy have joined the growing list of Western countries having their consulates in Istanbul temporarily closed over security concerns, as Turkey is on high alert against possible retaliation for Quran burning incidents in several European countries.

    The German Embassy in the capital Ankara announced on social media that the consulate in Istanbul was closed on Wednesday for security concerns. Meanwhile, the Italian Consulate General in Istanbul issued a statement on its website saying the consulate would be closed on Thursday.

    The first to close its consulate in Istanbul was the Netherlands, which took the move on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

    “The recent demonstrations in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, where a Quran was burned and torn up respectively, can evoke anti-Western feelings and lead to demonstrations and protests,” the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a travel advisory to Turkey on Monday.

    “There is also an increased threat of an attack against Western targets, diplomatic representations, and places of worship, particularly in Istanbul,” it warned.

    Britain issued a similar travel advisory on Tuesday, warning of “a heightened threat of terrorist attacks against churches, synagogues, embassies, consulates, and other places frequented by Westerners in Istanbul”.

    As a precaution, the British Consulate General in Istanbul has been closed to the public since Tuesday.

    France and the US have also issued travel warnings for Turkey following the Quran burning incidents.

    On Monday, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced that it had raised its security measures to the highest level against possible Islamic State and al-Qaida retaliation.

    “Evaluations were made against all possible provocations, and our security measures were maximised after the sinister actions against our holy book, the Quran, in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark,” read a statement by the Ministry.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Day After Six Killed, Istanbul Street Blast Suspect Arrested, Say Report

    Day After Six Killed, Istanbul Street Blast Suspect Arrested, Say Report

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    The person who left the bomb that exploded in Istanbul (Turkey) was arrested by police, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday, according to the state-run Anadolu agency’s English-language Twitter account.

    On Sunday, an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue, killing six people and injuring 81 others in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called it as a bomb strike that “smells like terrorism.”

    Istanbul Terror attack

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the “vile attack” that ripped through central Istanbul on Sunday, killing six people and injuring dozens more.

    “Our state’s relevant units are working to find the perpetrators… behind this heinous act,” President Erdogan said during a televised press conference on Sunday, according to AFP.

    Turkish media also published a photo of a woman suspected of involvement in terrorist attack.

    Turkish media published a photo of a woman suspected of involvement in today's terrorist attack in Istanbul
    Image Source: Twitter

    He also stated that first indications pointed to a “terror” attack in the Istanbul explosion.

    A strong explosion of unknown origin shook the busy shopping street of Istiklal in Istanbul on Sunday, leaving six people dead and wounding dozens more, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Turkey’s vice president said a suicide bomber carried out the attack.


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