Turkiye | Pakistan

Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday arrived in Turkiye on a two-day official visit, state media reported. Citing security sources, state-run Radio Pakistan reported that CDF Munir received a “warm welcome” upon his arrival in Turkiye. During the visit, the CDF will hold “important” meetings with Turkiye’s military and political leadership, the security sources added. State-run Pakistan TV and APP also reported CDF Munir’s arrival in Turkiye and his expected meetings with the Turkish military and political leadership. Last month, General Metin Tokel, commander of the Turkish Land Forces, met CDF Munir during his visit to Pakistan. The two had discussed regional security dynamics and avenues for enhanced bilateral defence cooperation, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. General Tokel had also met with the naval and air chiefs during the visit. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid a visit to Turkiye, focused on economi...

Islamabad - Turkiye’s Minister for Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Gökta called on Minister for Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar in Islamabad on Sunday.

ANKARA: Turkiye’s health ministry has fined more than 100 obstetrician-gynaecologists for carrying out Caesarean sections, suspending them from duty and forcing them to undergo training, BirGun newspaper reported on Saturday. The country has the highest rate of C-section births among the OECD’s 38 nations, according to the last available data from 2023, with around 615 such procedures out of every 1,000 live births that year. Medical professionals have said C-sections were more time-efficient for medical staff — 30 minutes, versus 12 hours for a traditional delivery — and lowered the risk of legal action over complications, ensuring a guarantee of safety for both the physician and the women. Last year, the Turkish government began a campaign to tackle falling birthrates under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “Decade of the Family” initiative that has seen it move to exert greater control over how women give birth. Erdogan, a pious Muslim who is pushing for women to have so-called natural births, wants to addr...

United States President Donald Trump unexpectedly left Turkiye on Wednesday aboard an older Air Force One rather than the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet that brought him there, but later boarded the new plane in Britain for the flight to Washington. The trip to Turkiye for the Nato summit, the first international travel for the new plane, took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, a country that borders Turkiye. The unexpected plane switch followed months of scrutiny over the luxury gift intended to serve as a temporary replacement while Boeing struggled to deliver long-delayed next-generation Air Force One planes. Critics questioned the cost, security and pace of the retrofit. Trump said on Truth Social that he would use an older baby blue Air Force One plane “for old time’s sake” to fly from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall in Britain while the new plane stopped at the same base so US service members stationed there could tour the aircraft. Video late on Wednesday showed Trump boarding the new Air Force One...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would lift sanctions on Turkiye and make a decision on a potential sale of F-35 stealth jets to Ankara, as Nato leaders unveiled arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars to drive home the message that they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe. Leaders were convening for a summit in the capital Ankara, hoping to project unity after another bruising year, in which the Iran war once again exposed cracks in the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the end of World War Two. In a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump announced, “We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” referring to the measures imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). In 2020, Washington imposed CAATSA sanctions on Turkiye over its acquisition of Russian S-400 air defence systems. It also removed Ankara from the F-35 fighter jet program, a move Turkiye called unjust and illegal. Trump was expected to thr...

NATO unveils billions of dollars in arms deals in Turkiye ahead of Trump summit and defence spending talks

US President Donald Trump’s visit to Ankara for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) summit could help secure Turkiye’s acquisition of dozens of fighter jet engines, but won’t resolve the F-35 dispute that has soured ties, analysts say. The July 7-8 summit, which is being hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will bring together leaders from the military alliance’s 32 member states. Last month, Trump promised to make Erdogan “very happy” when asked about Turkiye looking to secure F110 jet engines and being readmitted to the F-35 fighter jet programme. Analysts said it would likely mean freeing up fighter jet engines Turkiye wants to use in its flagship KAAN stealth fighter project. “It’s likely to be the green light for the F110 GE engines for the KAAN fighter plane, about 40 of them. There had been obstacles to that supply and very possibly those are now being removed,” Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based Edam think tank, told AFP. “Turkey has produced a couple of prototypes which are fl...

ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday left for Pakistan after completing his two-day visit to Turkiye.

Pakistan and Turkiye on Saturday resolved to further strengthen their bilateral cooperation across multiple sectors with a special emphasis on trade, investment, energy, petroleum exploration, minerals, and information technology, while reaffirming their commitment to realize the mutually agreed trade target of USD 5 billion.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Istanbul on Friday for an official visit to Turkiye at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said a statement by the government. The premier, earlier today attended the funeral Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a US-Israeli strike on February 28. After paying his respects, the prime minister departed for Istanbul. At Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, the premier was received by Turkish Minister of Trade Professor Dr Omer Bolat, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkiye Dr Yusuf Junaid, and officials from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Pakistani embassy. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar are accompanying the prime minister. PM Shehbaz and President Erdogan are expected to hold detailed discussions on all aspects of bilateral relations, with a particular focus on enhancing cooperation in trade and investment, added the statement. The...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Iran and Turkiye from July 3 to July 5, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi confirmed on Thursday. Addressing a weekly briefing, Andrabi said that during his visit to Iran, the premier would participate in the funeral of late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in US-Israeli strikes on February 28. The FO spokesperson said PM Shehbaz will travel to Iran first for Khamenei’s funeral. Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, cabinet members and senior officials will accompany the premier on his visit. “The prime minister will convey condolences on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan to the Iranian leadership and the bereaved families while reaffirming solidarity with the brotherly nation in their hour of profound grief,” he said. PM Shehbaz will then visit Istanbul at the invitation of Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Andrabi said. He added that the premier will “hold discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral re...

ISLAMABAD: As part of Pakistan’s efforts to help broker an end to the war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will pay official visits to Iran and Turkiye from July 3 to 6, sources in the PM Office told Dawn on Monday. The US military said it carried out new strikes on early Sunday on multiple targets in Iran, in response to a fresh Iranian attack on a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran responded by launching strikes against US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait before both sides agreed to halt attacks. Sources said that during his visit, the prime minister will meet the leadership of both Iran and Turkiye and call on Tehran and Washington to exercise restraint, particularly following the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of the peace process. The strikes underscored the fragility of the Pakistan-brokered interim peace deal aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and r...

Turkiye must be included in all of Europe’s defence and security structures, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, a week ahead of a key Nato summit in Ankara. His remarks come as Europe seeks to revamp its defences in light of the threat from Russia and the risk of a US pullback from Nato, as the military alliance gears up for a key summit in the Turkish capital on July 7-8. “Turkiye’s indispensable contributions to European security are sometimes overlooked,” Erdogan told parliamentary delegates from all 32 Nato member states in Istanbul, saying Turkiye wanted “to participate in all defence and security initiatives” on the continent. At issue is Turkiye’s access to the European Union’s 150-billion-euro ($176bn) Security Action for Europe (Safe) initiative, a scheme key to strengthening European defence capabilities. Although Turkiye is technically eligible to access the Safe initiative, it requires approval from all 27 EU members — something Greece has threatened to block. “We expect your support, ...

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt on Sunday welcomed the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran during a Regional Four (R-4) meeting in Cairo, emphasising the importance of achieving a “swift and successful” conclusion to the subsequent phase of negotiations. The meeting came the same day as Pakistan, along with c0-mediator Qatar, hosted delegations from the US and Iran in Switzerland for high-level technical talks ironing out the details of the MoU. On Friday, the FO had announced that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar would attend the fourth meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo on June 21 at the invitation of his Egyptian counterpart. In a joint statement issued by the participating nations, shared by the Foreign Office on X, the R-4 meet which convened in Cairo on Sunday at the invitation of Egypt, welcomed the signing of the Islamabad MoU. The participating nations viewed the important development as a “constructive step towards de-es...

• Foreign Minister Fidan says platform may include Pakistan, Turkiye, S. Arabia, Egypt, Gulf states and potentially Iran • Gaza death toll nears 73,000 with seven more killings in a day TURKIYE’S Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, has said that Israel can join a cooperative “regional platform” if it recognises a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, according to an Al Jazeera report. “If that problem is solved, I think the security of Israel will be very much assisted by the regional countries, too,” he told Nikkei Asia. Fidan said this framework could include Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, other Gulf countries, and “when things come [back to] normal, maybe Iran should also be part of it”. “All the countries in the region should be committing to each other’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and security,” Fidan told Nikkei. These comments come as Turkiye is expected to host a pivotal Nato summit in July in Ankara. On Monday, Trump laid out his vision for expanding the Abraham Accords, a series of no...

Islamabad - Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, NI (M), HJ, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force, during an official visit to the Republic of Turkiye, held high-level meetings with General Ziya Cemal Kad?oglu, Commander Turkish Air Force, Yasar Guler, Minister of National Defence, and Mr.

The Pakistan Air Force and the Turkiye Air Force reaffirmed their “growing strategic convergence” in defence, aerospace innovation and emerging technologies, the military’s media wing said on Friday. Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, during an official visit to Turkiye, held high-level meetings with Turkish Air Force Commander General Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu, Defence Minister Yaşar Güler, and Baykar Technologies Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Selçuk Bayraktar, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. During these engagements, ACM Sidhu reaffirmed “the growing strategic convergence and shared commitment of both nations towards enhanced collaboration in defence, aerospace innovation and emerging technologies”. At the headquarters of the Turkish Air Force, the air chief was accorded a guard of honour. During the engagement, ACM Sidhu “discussed enhancing interoperability through joint exercises, training programmes, and professional exchanges”. “The Turkish air chief appreciate...

Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu has held a series of high-level engagements during his official visit to Turkiye, focusing on strengthening defence cooperation and expanding collaboration in aerospace and emerging technologies.

The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt exchanged views on “evolving regional dynamics,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a post on X on Saturday. According to the FO, the meeting took place on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkiye. It included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Turkiye Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr Badr Abdelatty. In an effort to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran, the foreign ministers of the four countries had held two meetings ahead of the announcement of ceasefire, which is set to expire on April 22. The first meeting was held in Riyadh on the sidelines of a consultative ministerial meeting, while the second meeting was held in Islamabad. On Saturday, the FO said that the foreign ministers “exchanged views on evolving regional dynamics, reaffirming the vital role of dialogue and diplomacy in promoting peace, stability and shared prosperity”. ...

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of using security as a pretext to acquire “more land”. “Israel is not after its own security. Israel is after more land. Security is being used by the Netanyahu government as an excuse to occupy more land,” Fidan told the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking in English at a panel discussion, Fidan said Israel had created an “illusion” internationally by portraying itself as acting purely in its own defence. “It has become very clear, especially in recent years, that it is more than that,” he said. From Palestinian lands including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and now extending towards Lebanon and Syria, Israel was pursuing “an onward occupation and expansionism in the region,” Fidan said. “I think this has to stop,” the Turkish FM added. “Israel has to know that the only way to live peacefully in the region … is to let the other countries enjoy their own security, and territorial in...