Turkish Media Highlights — Nov. 6, 2017

TurkeyPost

-The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said it restarted processing visa applications for Turkish citizens in limited form, softening its visa policy after a complete suspension that was triggered when a U.S. Consular Staff member was arrested in Istanbul last month.

-Credit rating agency S&P Global has named Turkey among the five countries, which are most negatively affected by rising interest rates. President Erdogan’s chief advisor Bulent Gedikli dismissed the report.

Reuters

-Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia, Kuwait on Nov. 13, 14 to discuss to advance cooperation on key regional issues. The visit to Sochi comes amid reports of potential sticking points in Turkey’s planned purchase of a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, and Turkish objections to the attendance of Syrian Kurdish groups to a Russian-sponsored Syrian peace congress scheduled for Nov. 18.

-Turkey may reciprocate a move by Washington and partially ease issuance of visas for U.S. citizens after the U.S. embassy said it had resumed visa processing on a limited basis, a Turkish government source said on Monday.

AP

Turkish authorities say 310 migrants have been stopped from crossing the Aegean Sea to reach Greece.

Al Jazeera

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent religious leader in the region, will be giving a speech in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Monday evening as part of a campaign to secure the release of Palestinian leader Raed Salah. The campaign, launched on Monday, is being led by activists in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey to call for his release

Hurriyet Daily News

Turkey has the most wasteful residents in Europe, throwing a mammoth 32.3 million tons of household and commercial waste straight to landfill, according to recently issued research by the U.K.-based Expert Market company.

Motor1.com

Five local automotive and technology companies coalesced around an ambitious project to produce the first local automobile. The first prototype will be revealed in 2019 and it is going to be fully electric powered.

ArtiGercek

-Philanthropist Osman Kavala told main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers in an Istanbul prison that he was arrested after President Erdogan’s public remarks.

-According to a recent poll by Sonar company, President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would only get 38.51 percent of the votes in a parliamentary election. The poll points to a sharp fall in support for Mr. Erdogan’s party, which has been governing Turkey for 15 years.

Cumhuriyet

-In major coup trial about Akinci Air Base, a general told judges in a hearing on Monday that he and other defendants have still been subjected to torture on a systematic basis.

-At least two thousands of mine workers in Black Sea provinces of Zonguldak and Bartin launched a protest, chaining themselves inside the mines to protest the privatization of Turkey’s biggest mines located in the region.

-In a Parliament session that approved the budget of Presidential Office, the annual spending of the presidential palace in Ankara during 2016 reached 1.292 billion Turkish Lira. The palace’s construction cost was 1.3 billion, and its one-year spending almost reached the same level.

-Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and more than 5 members of his family were implicated in Paradise Papers, which came to international media spotlight in past few days.

Birgun

– Mustafa Tuna has become the new mayor of Ankara. Former Mayor Melih Gokcek who was forced by President Erdogan to resign wished the new mayor success in the remaining one and a half year before municipal elections in 2019.

-Turkish Central Bank withdrew 5.3 billion Turkish lira from the market and injected 1.4 billion U.S. dollar liquidation to banks to stabilize the jittery markets as lira tumbles against foreign currency, especially dollar and euro.