PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY’S CENTRAL BANK LEAVES TENNIS: TURKISH PLAYER WEATHER / ANKARA TURKEY VISITS ANADOLU AGENCY KEY INTEREST RATES ON HOLD ADVANCES TO QATAR OPEN ROUND 3 During a friendly visit to Anadolu Agency headquarters in Turkey’s Central Bank decided to leave its key interest Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay advanced to the third round of Wednesday Ankara Tuesday, Palestinian Ambassador to Turkey Faed rates unchanged during its meeting Tuesday, the bank an- the Qatar Total Open Tuesday defeating last year’s cham- CLOUDY Mustafa said that representatives of both Hamas and Fa- nounced. The bank left its benchmark interest rate or one- pion and number 12 seed Lucie Safarova from the Czech tah would meet in Qatar early next month with a view to week repo rate at 7.50 percent as forecast by markets and Republic. 12°C kick-starting reconciliation efforts. At Tuesday’s meeting, economists. Also, the upper and lower limits of interest rate Buyukakcay defeated 2015 French Open finalist 7-6, 7-5, Metin Mutanoglu, Anadolu Agency deputy director-gen- corridor, which the bank utilizes for borrowing and lending becoming the first Turkish tennis player to advance to the Thursday eral and editor-in-chief, briefed Mustafa on the agency’s money to commercial banks, remained unchanged. third round of a tennis tournament at the professional level. CLOUDY international operations. - Palestinian reconciliation As The upper limit of the interest rate was left at 10.75 percent, The Turkish female athlete, who is currently ranked 162, is for the planned Palestinian meeting in Qatar, Mustafa ex- while the lower limit was at 7.25 percent. set to play Italia’s Roberta Vinci in the third round. 16°C plained: “Its first aim ...>> TURKEY ECONOMY >>SPORTS Thursday February 24, 2016 Traffickers of migrants Turkey, Turkey to not allow terror risk terror charge in Germany Turkey sign deal Kurtulmus said approximate- zone near border with Syria ly 4,800 such traffickers had to fight Turkish PM says Turkey will foil designs of Russia, Assad been caught in 2015, half of whom were behind bars migrant regime, Daesh and YPG group to install terror structure in pending trial. “We know these [traffick- smuggling northern Syria close to its borders ers] organizers’ access points, very detailed security meas- and the YPG, both of which are seen taken to Istanbul and southeastern Turkish deputy prime min- ures have been taken [to deal as terrorist organizations by Turkey. Diyarbakir provinces before the at- ister has warned that those with them],” he said. “We Turkish President Recep Tayyip tack, while explosives were strapped behind human trafficking of also dug deep on illegal pro- Erdogan also said earlier this week to the car in Ankara. asylum seekers risked facing ductions [of items used to that the attack was carried out by a According to the Turkish govern- terrorism charges in Turkey. traffic people] like life vests YPG member. A total of 28 people ment, Syrian national Salih Necar Addressing a gathering of and boats,” he added. were killed and 81 others injured was the suicide attacker involved in foreign journalists in the The deputy premier also said Wednesday when a bomb hit mili- the blast; the bomber worked as a Turkish capital Ankara Tues- that approximately 156,000 Turkey and Germany signed asylum seekers had been tary-owned vehicles in the Turkish construction worker in Ankara and day, Deputy Prime Minis- Tuesday joint declarations of caught in Turkey in 2015, capital of Ankara on Feb. 17. Ac- stayed with two members of the ter- ter Numan Kurtulmus said intent on bilateral cooperation out of which 91,000 were regarding the fight against mi- cording to security officials, the ve- rorist organization before the attack, the Council of Ministers has been working on a law that rescued from the sea. grant smuggling and against hicle used in the attack was hired by officials added. The PKK terrorist organization tack, official security sources told will consider organizing (traf- He said the world did not terror. The deputy undersec- a car theft ring from a rental compa- Turkey has held 21 suspects so far planned last week’s deadly Ankara Anadolu Agency Monday. ficking of) illegal migrants realize the seriousness of the retary of the Turkish Interior ny based in western Turkey’s Izmir across the country in connection blast, while the YPG, which is the Speaking on condition of anonym- (into Europe from Turkey) as refugee crisis until people Ministry Mehmet Tekinarslan province. with the attack. military wing of Syrian terror group ity, Turkish officials said the attack a terror crime. saw the body of three-year- and the German ambassador in They added that the vehicle was also >>MORE DETAILS old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, PYD, provided assailants for the at- was carried out jointly by the PKK “These actions are going to Turkey Martin Erdmann signed be considered under [Tur- who drowned in the Medi- the joint declarations of intent key’s] penal code,” Kurtul- terranean Sea while fleeing on Tuesday. The move comes mus said. the Syrian war. >>MORE DETAILS about two weeks after German Chancellor Angela Merkel visit- PYD terror group committing ed Ankara and discussed the ref- Turkey always ugee crisis with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. backs Somalia: “We believe that the cooper- war crimes in Syria: Report ation will provide important PYD terrorist group supports Assad regime in attempt to benefit from Turkish presidency contributions for the two coun- tries,” Tekinarslan said. >>MORE DETAILS Syrian civil war, says Turkey-based think tank Ibrahim Kalin issues statement According to the report, the PYD regime-affiliated forces then left underlining importance of terrorist group has been support- captured areas to the PYD and its Istanbul business forum as part NATO urges ing the Bashar al-Assad regime in armed wing the YPG,” said the of Turkey’s engagement in Africa an attempt to benefit from the Syr- report. Describing the PYD as ‘calm’ on ian civil war that started in 2011. “an armed non-state actor having Turkey-Syria Drawing attention to the oil-rich controlled areas in northern Syria”, northeastern Syrian areas mostly the report said the PYD terrorist border populated by Kurds, the report said group was trying to be “the only the Assad regime saw the Kurdish authority” in the region without population as a threat. allowing other regional commu- “The PYD, unlike other Kurd- nities “a right to live”. ish groups in northern Syria, led The report also said the PYD was The terrorist PKK’s Syrian affiliate said a report issued by the Tur- a pro-Assad policy and started benefitting from Daesh’s presence The Turkey-Somalia Busi- tion, health, institutional ca- PYD has been committing war key-based Foundation for Politi- supporting Muhaberat, the Syri- in Syria to present itself as “a useful ness Forum held in Istanbul pacity building, the building crimes in the areas it captured in cal, Economic and Social Research an secret intelligence service and actor” in U.S. counter-terrorism establishes new and strong of state institutions, roads, Syria by forcing people to migrate, (SETA) on Tuesday. pro-Assad Shabiha forces. The operations. >>MORE DETAILS ties among the peoples of ports, airports, fisheries and NATO Secretary General Jens Turkey and Somalia and Af- energy,” Kalin said. Stoltenberg has called for calm rica, the Turkish presidency “Compared with 2011, to- and de-escalation on the Turk- spokesman said Tuesday. day, Somalia is in much bet- ish-Syrian border following Suicide bomber behind Turkey to continue Ibrahim Kalin issued a state- ter position,” he added. a terrorist attack in Ankara humanitarian activities ment underlining the impor- Kalin also mentioned Turk- that killed 29 people last week. Ankara attack identified tance of the business forum ish doctors’ charity programs “Nothing can justify the kind of DNA test designates Abdulbaki Somer as in Somalia as part of Turkey’s engage- in Somalia. terrorist attack we saw in Anka- suicide bomber in last week’s terrorist attack Turkish president also called on international ment in Africa, which was “Turkish doctors have of- ra a few days ago,” Stoltenberg in Turkish capital, which killed 29 people adopted in 1998. fered health services to half a said at the European Parliament community to make investments in Somalia in Brussels on Tuesday. “The Turkey started providing hu- million Somalis, so far,” Ka- DNA samples provided by Somer’s African countries,” Erdogan said. obvious challenges we see in manitarian assistance to So- lin said. father matched the assailant’s The Turkish president also called Syria and also [the] spilling over malia in 2011. According to Kalin’s state- DNA. Somer’s father, who lives in on the international community to into Turkey underlines the im- Kalin stressed that the sixth the eastern province of Van, had make investments in Somalia. ment, the total amount of portance of calm [and] de-esca- informed the police that his son President Erdogan referred his Turkey-Somalia Business Turkish aid for Somalia thus lation and that Turkish response was behind the attack. Abdulbaki Somalia visit held in 2011 saying; Forum is Ankara’s latest in far has reached $500 million. is proportionate,” Stoltenberg Somer, born in 1989, reportedly “Somalia, which was on the verge comprehensive aid activities However Kalin added that 40 said. “Turkey is the ally most joined the terrorist PKK organiza- of devastation and had lost all hope towards Somalia. percent of the Somalia’s pop- affected by turmoil [and] vio- tion at the age of 16 in 2005, and Turkey will continue its humani- in 2011, stood up again with Turk- He added that the visit by ulation needs still humani- lence.” >>MORE DETAILS The suicide bomber behind last was based in the Qandil mountains tarian activities in Somalia until it ish and international joint efforts.” President Recep Tayyip Er- tarian aid.