US Announces Full Resumption of Visa Services in Turkey
By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet, AA - ANKARA - The U.S. Embassy in Turkey on Thursday announced the resumption of full visa services after nearly two months. On Oct. 8, the embassy suspended non-immigrant visas to Turkish nationals following the arrest of a local employee working at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Ankara. Metin Topuz, a long-standing consulate employee, was arrested over alleged ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, the group behind last year’s coup attempt in Turkey. In a statement posted on Twitter, the U.S. Embassy said the Turkish government had “adhered to the high-level assurances it provided to the United States” that no other local employees were under investigation.
- Published in Politicians
- Written by Admin TOA
Archaeologists in Turkey Believe They Are Digging Up the Original Santa Claus
Santa isn’t just a myth made up for kids on Christmas. He did exist and he did give generous gifts, though not via chimneys on Dec. 25, as popular legend tells it. By this time next year, you may even be able to visit him in his original setting, say Turkish archaeologists. What we know today as Santa Claus was originally Saint Nicholas, and he was traditionally celebrated on Dec. 6, the anniversary of his death. Born in the village Petara in Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the late third century, Nicholas was known for his literal and spiritual generosity. He inherited great wealth but gave away his riches, joining the Christian church and becoming a bishop in the the city of Myra.
- Published in Life & Style
- Written by Admin TOA
Turks Will Be Able to Apply for US Visas Again - in 2019
ANKARA/WASHINGTON — VOA - Turkish citizens wishing to visit the United States will again be able to apply for visas, but not anytime soon. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced this week that the earliest appointments for applications are in January 2019, more than a year from now. The U.S. suspended all nonimmigrant visa services in Turkey Oct. 8 in response to the arrest of Metin Topuz, a consulate employee in Istanbul, on terrorism charges. Turkey shut down visa services in the U.S. in retaliation.
Winter Is Coming, IRUSA Needs Your Help
Winter is coming. IIslamic Relief USA (IRUSA) needs your help. IRUSA doesn’t want its neighbors to endure it alone. For thousands of people around the world – in countries such as Syria, Albania, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Palestine and many others – this time of year can make or break them. The team at IRUSA will be working all winter long to aid communities braving the cold.
- Published in Associations
- Written by Admin TOA
UN General Assembly Rejects Trump's Jerusalem Move
A resounding majority of United Nations member states has defied unprecedented threats by the US to declare President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "null and void". The non-binding resolution was approved at a UN General Assembly emergency meeting on Thursday with 128 votes in favour and nine against, while 35 countries abstained. It passed despite intimidation by Trump, who had threatened on Wednesday to eliminate financial aid to member states who would vote against his decision, while Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, had warned that she would be "taking names" of those countries.
![The Turkish president has been highly vocal in criticising the US administration over its Jerusalem decision [Anadolu Ajansi]](/media/k2/items/cache/c4ef1c5717f8e7f9d40d8ff0829d2d3a_S.jpg)
Erdogan: Mr Trump, Turkey's Democracy Is Not for Sale
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the international community to teach the United States "a good lesson" in an upcoming UN General Assembly vote on Washington's controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Erdogan’s comments come after the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned on Wednesday that she would be "taking names" of the states voting against the decision and pass them to President Donald Trump, who has threatened to cut off aid to the countries in question. The vote on Thursday is non-binding, but it is expected to pass easily in the 193-member UN body.
"Mr Trump, you cannot buy Turkey's democratic will with your dollars. Our decision is clear," Erdogan said at a cultural awards ceremony in Ankara on Thursday.
"I call on the whole world: Don't you dare sell your democratic struggle and your will for petty dollars.
"I hope and expect the US won't get the result it expects from there (the UN) and the world will give a very good lesson to the US," Erdogan added.
READ MORE
UN Security Council to weigh resolution on Jerusalem
Trump, on December 6, announced the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, deviating from decades-old policy and the international consensus that the city's status should be resolved through peace talks.
On Tuesday, the US vetoed an Egyptian-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that asked countries not to establish diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
The US, one of the five permanent members of the UN body with veto power, was outnumbered 14 to 1 when it vetoed that resolution.
Ankara tough on US move
Turkey has been highly vocal in criticising the US administration over its Jerusalem decision, leading calls at last week's summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in Istanbul last week to officially recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
Taha Ozhan, a ruling party MP and chair of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission, told Al Jazeera earlier in the week that Ankara's efforts against Trump's move put pressure on regional countries to speak up.
"Turkey has triggered this, and regional actors are reacting," he said.
WATCH: Turkey plays major role against US Jerusalem move (2:28)
"A possible vote in the General Assembly will remind us of the scenes we saw a few years ago in the vote there for Palestine to be a non-member observer state, in which only the US, Israel and few more countries voted against the move, dominated by the rest of the members."
In the 2012 vote at the General Assembly, Palestine was given non-member observer status with 138 votes cast for the resolution and nine votes against it.
Thousands of Turkish protesters marched in various parts of the country through the weekend, carrying anti-US and anti-Israel signs and shouting slogans against the two countries.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera News
Selda Bağcan to Sing at Burning Man 2018 in Las Vegas
Turkish folk musician Selda Bağcan has been invited to Burning Man 2018, which has been held in the deserts of the U.S. state of Nevada for 31 years, hosting tens of thousands of visitors from around the world. Bağcan, who turned 69 years old last weekend, has reportedly told close friends of her invitation to next year’s Burning Man.
- Published in Culture & Art
- Written by Admin TOA
Bankers Beware, US Says, Touting Turk’s Prosecution
ADAM KLASFELD - courthousenews.com - MANHATTAN (CN) — The major players behind the 2008 global financial crisis may be free, but a Turkish bank manager’s prosecution for facilitating billions in illicit trades with Iran proves that the financial sector isn’t “too big to jail,” a U.S. prosecutor said on Tuesday. Facing the possibility of decades behind bars, Turkish national Mehmet Hakan Atilla has vigorously maintained his innocence throughout two days of cross-examination about his work at Turkey’s state-run Halkbank, the nation’s sixth largest bank. Directly after leaving the witness stand, Atilla jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire of a prosecutor’s heated summation. Defense attorneys have depicted Atilla as one of 13 managers who improbably found himself at the center of a geopolitical drama.
Turkey Says U.S. Isolated on Jerusalem, Issuing Threats
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Wednesday the United States has isolated itself by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and accused it of threatening countries that might vote against it on the matter at an emergency U.N. General Assembly session.
More...
US Jury to Decide Atilla's Fate in "Sanction Breaching" Case
Former deputy CEO of Turkish public bank Halkbank Mehmet Hakan Atilla completed his three-day testimony on Tuesday. He is facing a trial in which he is being accused of breaching US sanctions against Iran. Atilla became the only defendant in the case, after Reza Zarrab, who was the prime defendant, pleaded guilty and testified as a witness against the former banker, accusing him of the related crimes. “I did not conspire with anyone in any part of my life on that [evading sanctions],” Atilla responded to a question about whether or not he ever collaborated with Zarrab or anyone, on Friday during the first day of questioning by his lawyer.
Turkey Says Regrets to See Veto of U.N. Resolution on Jerusalem
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey regrets the vetoing by the United States on Monday of a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for the U.S. declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to be withdrawn, the Turkish foreign ministry said. The United States was further isolated over President Donald Trump’s decision when it blocked a United Nations Security Council call for the declaration to be withdrawn despite the other 14 members voting in favor of it. “The United States being left alone in the vote is a concrete sign of the illegality of its decision on Jerusalem,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
Turkey Denounces UAE Over Divisive 'Propaganda' Retweet
Turkey has accused the United Arab Emirates of spreading divisive propaganda after its foreign minister retweeted a post denouncing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "ancestors" for their treatment of Arabs during the Ottoman Empire. Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE foreign minister, had shared on Twitter a post that accused Fahreddin Pasha - an Ottoman governor of Medina from 1916-1919 - of committing crimes against the local population, including stealing their property. "These are Erdogan's ancestors and their past with the Arabs," it said.
US Trial of Turkish Banker Not Legal, Should Be Ended: Justice Minister
Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül has said he will tell his U.S. counterpart Jeff Sessions that the New York trial of former Halkbank deputy general manager Hakan Atilla, charged with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, is “not legal and should be ended.” Gül told private broadcaster 24 TV on the morning of Dec. 19 that it would be “impossible to accept a verdict contrary to Turkey’s interests” in the case, which has strained ties between the NATO allies. Atilla, 47, was arrested earlier this year in the United States for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. He is now the sole man on the dock accused of violating sanctions on Iran, bribery and money laundering, after Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, 34, pleaded guilty to the charges and is now a state’s witness.
