US visit to focus on fight

www.aa.com.tr/en
Wendesday March 30, 2016
Turkey’s T-129
helicopter leads
anti-terrorism fight
Egyptian airliner hijacked, Classic Ottoman design
featured in US largest mosque
lands in southern Cyprus
The T-129 ATAK helicopter has been at the fore of Turkey’s battle against PKK terrorists since the group resumed its armed campaign last summer. The
helicopter - developed by Turkish Aerospace
Industries (TAI) and AgustaWestland – first
came into service with the Turkish
Armed Forces in May 2014.
>> TURKEY
Flight from Alexandria to Cairo seized, forced to
land at Larnaca An EgyptAir airliner was hijacked
Tuesday morning and forced to land in southern
Cyprus, officials said. Flight MS181 landed at Larnaca airport at 8.50 a.m. local time (05.50GMT),
police spokesman Andreas Angelides said, according to the Cyprus Mail website. Angelides said an
armed hijacker seized the aircraft, identified as an
Airbus A320, after take-off from Alexandria en
route to Cairo. >> WORLD
Twin minarets placed within a traditional
Islamic social complex called kulliye, reflects the classical Ottoman architecture of
the U.S.’s largest mosque that will officially open later this week. The Diyanet Center
of America in Maryland, just 21 kilometers (13 miles) from the nation’s capital,
Washington DC, will be officially launched
April 2 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. >>WORLD
WEATHER / ANKARA
Wendesday
Partly cloudy
12°C
Thursday
partly cloudy
14°C
Following Turkey-EU deal,
refugee transits fall sharply
Since the EU-Turkey refugee deal
came into effect more than a week
ago, the number of refugees trying
to reach Europe by crossing by sea
from Turkey to Greece has fallen
sharply. Turkey and the EU reached
an agreement which came into effect
on March 20 to stop refugee flows
into Europe.Under the deal, refugees
US visit to focus on fight
against terror
trying to enter Europe illegally will
not get a chance to be resettled in the
EU, as all new irregular migrants
crossing from Turkey to the Greek
islands as of March 20 will be returned to Turkey.After the deal came
into effect on March 20, the refugee
transit numbers started to fall.
>>MORE DETAILS
Turkey holds nearly 700 Daesh
suspects so far this year
“We will stress the need for a sincere cooperation to fight terrorism in the wake of
the terror attacks in Paris, Ankara, Istanbul, Brussels and Lahore,” Erdogan says
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that his Washington, D.C. visit would focus on
unity against terrorism.“During the
summit, we will stress the need for a
sincere cooperation to fight terrorism
in the wake of the terror attacks in
Paris, Ankara, Istanbul, Brussels and
Lahore,” Erdogan told reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before his departure to attend the Nuclear Security
Summit in Washington, D.C., which
will take place on March 31 and April
1. “We have no more patience left to
pay the price due to a lack of cooperation,” Erdogan said. Turkey was
hit by several suicide bombings this
year, in which dozens lost their lives,
both in the Turkish capital Ankara
and in Istanbul. Noting that he will
have high-level meetings during his
Washington visit, Erdogan said that
he would hold bilateral meetings with
political leaders as well as with busi-
ness executives. He also said that he
would inaugurate the Turkish-American Cultural and Civilization Center
(Diyanet Center of America) in Lanham, Maryland, which includes a
mosque, a cultural center, an Islamic
arts museum and a guest house.
>>MORE DETAILS
Syrian refugees in
Turkey saw the doctor
15.3 mln times
‘We are determined to
defeat terrorist groups’
Turkey is determined to defeat
terrorist groups in the region
and the world, Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
said Monday. At a joint press
conference before a bilateral
meeting with the Secretary of
State John Kerry in Washington D.C., Cavusoglu thanked
the U.S. for showing solidarity with Turkey after recent
deadly attacks in Ankara and
Istanbul. “It is true that terrorists have been hitting many
cities not only in our region,
not only in Turkey and Brussels, but also in Africa in Pakistan and in other parts of
the world,” he said. “We have
the full determination to de-
feat the terrorist groups in
our neighborhood and all over
the world.” Cavusoglu said he
and his American counterpart
would discuss ways to increase
efforts against Daesh, al Nusra
and the PKK. “We need to defeat
those terrorist organizations
which have been posing threat
not only to Turkey or Europe
but to the whole world,” he
stressed. Cavusoglu also stated
that both would discuss the situation in Iraq as well, as Daesh
was still occupying almost 30
percent of the territory, which
is close to the Turkish border.
“The country also need our
support,” he said. >> MORE DETAILS
Nearly 700 suspected Daesh members have been detained in nationwide anti-terrorist operations since
the beginning of 2016, according to
data compiled by Anadolu Agency.
A total of 693 Daesh suspects were
held over the first three months,
with 160 of them being remanded
Israel refuses to hand over
bodies of slain Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has ordered the authorities not to return the bodies of
several alleged Palestinian attackers to their families, Israel media
Nearly 128,000 Syrian babies
have been delivered in Turkey’s
public, university, and private
hospitals, says Health Ministry.
Since 2011, Syrian refugees in
Turkey have received healthcare
services some 15.3 million times
both inside and outside Syrian
refugee camps in Turkey, Turkey’s Health Ministry announced
Tuesday. According to ministry
figures for January 2011 to January 2016, nearly 128,000 Syrian babies have been delivered in
Turkey’s public, university, and
private hospitals. Over 603,000
Syrians got vaccinations during
the same time period, the min-
istry said. Some 247,500 Syrian
babies, 226,000 children, and
83,600 pregnant Syrian women
have been screened in Turkey’s
hospitals since 2011, the ministry added. The ministry also
stated that new healthcare facilities will be constructed, the capacity of current facilities will be
boosted, and facilities in places
where people are being provided
temporary shelter in Turkey will
be developed. Turkey is hosting
the largest number of Syrian
refugees in the world, and so far
has spent more than seven billion
euros ($7.7 billion) meeting their
needs. >>MORE DETAILS
in custody, reports show. Of the total suspects, 554 were detained between January and February, out of
whom 98 were sent back into prison. As of Tuesday, 139 people have
been rounded up in raids conducted
in March, with 62 people held on
remand. >>MORE DETAILS
reported late Monday. According to
Israeli Channel 2, Netanyahu has
instructed Defense Minister Moshe
Yaalon not to return the bodies for
burial until further notice. The
Times of Israel newspaper reported that Yaalon, along with the Israeli army and Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency, had voiced their
opposition to the move, saying
it would fuel further frustration
among Palestinians. >>MORE DETAILS
Turkey ‘cannot wait Obama to host leaders
for anti-Daesh summit
forever’ for a new
constitution
President Barack Obama will
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister
Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday a new draft constitution will
likely be submitted to parliament
by the end of April.At a news
conference following a Cabinet
meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara,
Kurtulmus said: “This issue is not
something that can wait forever. We are planning to bring our
draft constitution to maturity
and submit it to parliament by the
end of April.”>>MORE DETAILS
host world leaders for discussions on the anti-Daesh mission
this week, the White House said
Monday. The meeting on the
sidelines of the nuclear summit
in Washington DC will focus “on
our coalition’s efforts to degrade
and ultimately destroy the terrorist organization,” spokesman
Josh Earnest said in reference
to Daesh. It will focus “on the
broader threat” the group poses
rather than a specific nuclear dimension, he added. >>MORE DETAILS