Headlines:
- Turkey Detains Nearly 500 People Trying to Cross from Syria
- Turkey’s Parliamentary Speaker Backs Cyprus Solution
- Eid Holiday Refreshes Turkey´s Tourism Sector
Turkey Detains Nearly 500 People Trying to Cross from Syria
Turkey’s security forces detained nearly 500 people attempting to cross the border from war-torn Syria on July 18, the army announced.
“488 people were detained by the land forces command border units while trying to cross into Turkey from Syria and 26 while attempting to cross into Syria from Turkey,” the army said on July 19 in a statement posted on its website.
Turkey has often boasted of an “open-door” policy championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and taken in 1.8 million refugees since the Syrian conflict started in 2011 but has repeatedly complained that it has been left to shoulder an unfair burden.
Several hundred thousand refugees are sheltered in camps along the border with Syria but the vast majority of them are scattered throughout the country including the mega city Istanbul.
Turkey has long been under international pressure to tighten the security of its volatile 911-kilometre (566 mile) border with Syria to cut the flow of jihadists who try to join the ranks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who have made gains in Iraq and Syria. [Source: Hurriyet Daily]
This is the result of being divided into dozens of pieces. You have to arrest or kill people who just want to save their lives or earn some money to survive, and your pretext is smuggling or narcotics. You have to protect the Colonialists synthetic borders against other Muslim people. The question is: Who are you and whom do you serve?
Turkey’s Parliamentary Speaker Backs Cyprus Solution
Cyprus’s Turkish and Greek communities should have a permanent agreement on the divided island, Turkey’s Parliamentary Speaker Ismet Yilmaz said on Sunday.
“Turkish Cypriots deserve a permanent solution on the island,” he told Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci in a meeting in Lefkosa.
He added: “Turkey will provide every kind of support for peace.”
Yilmaz was visiting Cyprus for the 41st anniversary of Peace and Freedom Day, which marks Turkey’s July 20, 1974 “peace operation” after a Greek coup attempted to incorporate the island into Greece.
Akinci, who restarted talks with his Greek-Cypriot counterpart following his April election, added: “We hope to prepare the ground for an agreement, which both sides will say ‘yes’ to and will protect the rights and laws of both sides.”
The Cyprus issue remains a major political obstacle to Turkey’s accession to the EU. [Source: Anadolu Agency]
Passion of accession to the EU makes Turkish governments make anything for the sake of European Union leading countries. Even our own Muslim lands.
Eid Holiday Refreshes Turkey´s Tourism Sector
The four-day-long Eid al-Fitr holiday cheered the tourism sector in Turkey, after a tough year when the industry was hit by a severe blow due to crisis in Russia.
Chairman of the Professional Hotel Managers Association (POYD) Ali Kizildag quoted an occupancy rate of 100 percent at hotels and attributed this recovery to the holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
“We observe a huge demand in the domestic market. Aegean and Mediterranean coasts are extremely busy,” added Kizildag.
According to Kizildag, around 150,000 people have preferred to head to the coasts of Turkey and room prices are ranging from 250 to 750 Turkish Liras per night.
While Antalya has been the first preference for many travelers, Kemer, Belek, Side, and Alanya of southern coasts, along with Marmaris, Bodrum, Kusadasi on the Aegean coast, were also significant attraction points this year, commented ETS Tourism Domestic Tour Manager Suat Ozbek.
Nevertheless, Ozbek added that the number of visitors this year – more than 130,000 people – could not be considered a success, regarding the population is 80 million in the country
The “economy of the Eid-al-Fitr holiday” is expected to provide a value between 250-300 million liras for the tourism sector. [Source: Hurriyet Daily]
For some Muslims throughout Turkey and the world, the meaning of Ramadhan is no longer seeking mercy, forgiveness and freedom from the fire, its meaning is only to fast just because it is long-held tradition. For them, the meaning of Eid al Fitr is no longer remembrance of our servitude to Allah, visitation of relatives and aid to needy people. Its meaning is only entertainment, individual holiday and spend for oneself as it is exploited and encouraged by the entertainment industry in Turkey.