Turkey
Turkey evacuates thousands as firefighters battle wildfires
Firefighters battled wildfires across Turkey on Sunday amid a searing Mediterranean heat-wave, with authorities evacuating more than 3,600 people from settlements in two provinces.
Turkish authorities detained three more mayors from the main opposition party on Saturday, according to a prosecutor's statement and media reports, expanding a months-long legal crackdown that has expanded beyond its origins in Istanbul.
Adana, Turkey © Mena Today
Turkish authorities detained three more mayors from the main opposition party on Saturday, according to a prosecutor's statement and media reports, expanding a months-long legal crackdown that has expanded beyond its origins in Istanbul.
The mayors of the big southern cities of Adana and Adiyaman were detained on allegations of extortion, the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office said, along with some eight other people.
Broadcaster NTV said Antalya's mayor and the deputy mayor of Istanbul's Buyukcekmece district were also detained as part of the broader investigation in which hundreds of members of the Republic People's Party (CHP), including 11 mayors previously, have been targeted since October last year.
The CHP broadly denies the charges and calls the probe politically driven, charges the government denies.
In March Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, was jailed pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets.
Reporting by Zeynep Berkem and Jonathan Spicer
Firefighters battled wildfires across Turkey on Sunday amid a searing Mediterranean heat-wave, with authorities evacuating more than 3,600 people from settlements in two provinces.
Ziad Rahbani, the Lebanese composer and musician who built a distinct Lebanese sound from Western and Arabic musical roots, and whose sardonic critique of the country's sectarian politics rang true to Lebanese across the divides, has died.
Syrian and Israeli officials agreed to meet again after no final accord was reached in U.S.-mediated talks in Paris on de-escalating the conflict in southern Syria, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Saturday, citing a diplomatic source.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.