ISTANBUL: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday to discuss the escalating Middle East crisis and migration.
Scholz arrived in Istanbul on Friday night after a meeting with US President Joe Biden and the leaders of France and Britain in Berlin.
The West is hoping that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza after a year of conflict.
A fierce critic of Israel’s Gaza campaign, Erdogan has often criticized Western capitals for supporting Israel which he brands a “terror state.”
Berlin is a strong supporter of Israel and has defended its right to self-defense.
Scholz on Friday said he hoped Sinwar’s death would pave the way for a ceasefire. Sinwar was considered the architect of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza conflict.
Erdogan has forged close ties with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
His foreign minister Hakan Fidan on Friday held talks with Hamas officials in Istanbul and offered “condolences” over Sinwar’s death.
They also discussed “the state of recent negotiations for a ceasefire deal allowing the exchange of hostages and prisoners,” Fidan’s ministry said.
Turkiye’s relations with Germany — home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora of some three million people — are sensitive. Berlin has voiced concerns over the state of human rights and democracy under Erdogan especially after a failed 2016 coup.
Migration is expected to figure high on the agenda of the talks between Scholz and Erdogan.
Scholz’s government has been under heightened pressure over the issue after a series of violent crimes and extremist attacks committed by asylum seekers.
Turkiye will also expect progress on its plans to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoons which are built by a four-nation consortium including Germany.
Scholz last visited Turkiye in March 2022 a few months after taking office.
Scholz in Turkiye to discuss Mideast crisis, migrants
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Scholz in Turkiye to discuss Mideast crisis, migrants
First migrants sent to Albania for processing are returned to Italy
SHENGJIN: An Italian navy ship on Saturday took back to Italy the first 12 migrants from newly opened asylum processing centers in Albania following a court decision in Rome.
The court ruling on Friday represents an early stumbling block to a five-year deal between Italy and Albania for Tirana to host 3,000 migrants per month picked up by the Italian coast guard. They will be vetted for possible asylum in Italy or to be sent back to their countries.
Italian Premier Minister Giorgia Meloni has hailed it as a new “model” to handle illegal migration.
The court in Rome rejected the detention of 12 of the migrants, arguing they cannot be sent back to their countries or origin — Bangladesh and Egypt — because the court did not deem them to be safe enough.
The Italian navy ship took the 12 from the port of Shengjin, 66 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of the capital Tirana. After arriving there this week, the four other migrants had already been rejected by center staff, two as vulnerable after undergoing health checks and two for being minors.
Each migrant’s detention must be reviewed by special migration courts in Italy under Italian law.
Meloni slammed the judges following the ruling, and said that deeming countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt unsafe means that virtually all migrants would be barred from the Albania program, making it unworkable. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the government would appeal the ruling.
Speaking to reporters during a trip to Lebanon, Meloni said she would convene a Cabinet meeting Monday to discuss the issue.
“We’ll meet to approve some norms that will allow us to overcome this obstacle,” Meloni said. “I believe it’s up to the government and not magistrates to establish which countries can be considered safe.”
Although Bangladesh and Egypt are not at war or facing any large refugee crises, the Rome judges said their decision was based on recent international rulings that consider discrimination or persecution in even a part of a country as grounds for such a determination.
Italy has agreed to welcome those migrants who are granted asylum, while those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.
The controversial agreement to outsource the housing of asylum-seekers to a non-EU member country has been hailed by some countries that, like Italy, are experiencing a high level of migrant arrivals.
The agreement was endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” in tackling the issue of migration into the European Union.
Human rights organizations considered it as setting a dangerous precedent.
Boat carrying more than 100 Rohingya sighted off Indonesia: officials
- Thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia
- The Rohingya boat is anchored around five to six kilometers off the coast of South Aceh district with its engine turned off
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: A boat loaded with more than 100 Rohingya refugees was spotted off Indonesia’s westernmost province with at least one dead body seen on board, local officials said Saturday.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
The Rohingya boat is anchored around three to four miles (five to six kilometers) off the coast of South Aceh district with its engine turned off, community leader Muhammad Jabal said.
He said the boat was first seen on Friday when he and others set off to deliver food and water to the refugees, estimating more than a hundred were on board.
“I saw with my own eyes there was a body. There were many children too aboard the boat,” Jabal said.
The day before the sighting of the boat, the body of a Rohingya woman was found at sea.
Local police chief Sabda Man Sobri confirmed she was a member of the ethnic group, but could not comment on whether she was connected to the boat.
Yuhelmi, a South Aceh district spokesperson, confirmed the boat sighting but said locals were waiting for an immigration team from provincial capital Banda Aceh to arrive before deciding the next step for the refugees.
“Whether (the refugees) will be brought on land, that’s within the authority of the immigration. For now, there has been no decision,” said Yuhelmi, who goes by one name.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said it had been informed by local authorities about the vessel and hoped the refugees would be rescued immediately.
Many Acehnese are sympathetic to the plight of the Rohingya but some locals have opposed their arrivals, accusing members of anti-social behavior.
In December 2023, hundreds of students forced the relocation of more than a hundred Rohingya refugees, storming a function hall in Aceh where they were sheltering and kicking their belongings.
North Korea says it recovered crashed South Korean military drone, KCNA says
- South Korea declines to say if such drones were flown, and whether they were flown by its military or civilians
- ‘It is quite likely that the drone is the one which scattered leaflets over the center of Pyongyang Municipality’
SEOUL: North Korea said on Saturday it had discovered the remains of a crashed South Korean military drone, suggesting it was on a propaganda mission in the latest confrontation between the two involving cross-border flying objects.
“In light of the drone’s shape, the presumptive period of flight, the leaflet-scattering box fixed to the underpart of the drone’s fuselage, etc, it is quite likely that the drone is the one which scattered leaflets over the center of Pyongyang Municipality. But the conclusion has not yet been drawn,” said state news agency KCNA.
South Korea’s government has declined to say if such drones were flown, and if they were, whether they were flown by its military or civilians. It said to comment on the North’s claim would be to get drawn into a ploy.
“If a violation of the DPRK’s territorial ground, air and waters by ROK’s military means is discovered and confirmed again, it will be regarded as a grave military provocation against the sovereignty of the DPRK and a declaration of war and an immediate retaliatory attack will be launched,” KCNA said.
DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, and ROK stands for Republic of Korea, the South’s formal name.
“North Korea’s one-sided claims are not worth verifying, nor do they merit a response,” South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement.
South Korean lawmaker Yu Yong-weon said the drones in North Korea’s photos are “very similar” to surveillance drones made by South Korean company Sungwoo Engineering and supplied to the South Korean military in 2023.
Sungwoo says on its website it has supplied 100 of its S-Bat drones — which have a maximum flying time of four hours and a top speed of 140kph (88 mph) — to the South Korean military.
Yu said South Korea’s drone command ordered the aerial vehicles last year after a North Korean drone entered a no-fly zone surrounding South Korea’s presidential office.
Tensions between the Koreas have escalated since the North began flying balloons carrying trash across the border to the South in late May, with Seoul responding by restarting loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, which anger Pyongyang.
North Korea has intensified its hostile rhetoric in recent days, accusing the South’s military of flying drones over its capital on three days this month and threatening “a horrible disaster” if it detects another drone over its skies.
China’s Xi urges missile troops to boost deterrence, combat capabilities
- Last month China conducted a rare launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean
- China’s military has undergone a sweeping anti-corruption purge since last year
BEIJING: Chinese state media reported on Saturday that President Xi Jinping on Thursday inspected a brigade of the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, urging the troops to boost their “deterrence and combat capabilities.”
During the inspection Xi also urged the strategic missile troops to “resolutely fulfil the tasks entrusted by the Party and the people,” state news agency Xinhua said.
The PLA Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s conventional and nuclear missiles, has been tasked with modernizing China’s nuclear forces in the face of developments such as improved US missile defenses, better surveillance capabilities and strengthened alliances.
During the inspection, Xi stressed the need to “adhere to political guidance, strengthen mission responsibility,” and “promote high-quality development of the force construction,” according to Chinese media outlet Cailianshe.
Last month China conducted a rare launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, underscoring growing international focus on the country’s nuclear build-up.
China’s military has undergone a sweeping anti-corruption purge since last year, with several generals, including from the Rocket Force, and aerospace defense industry executives removed from the national legislative body.
In June, Xi said there were “deep-seated problems” in the Chinese military’s politics, ideology, work style and discipline, adding “there must be no hiding place for corrupt elements in the army.”
Italy defense minister warns G7 over ‘deteriorated’ security framework
- Guido Crosetto: Tensions fueled by ‘a common driver: the confrontation between two different, perhaps incompatible, visions of the world’
NAPLES: The global security framework is growing increasingly precarious due to competing world visions, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told his peers at a meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies that kicked off in Naples on Saturday.
The G7 gathering marks the group’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense and comes as the West grapples with the Russian advance in Ukraine and a spiraling conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its regional enemies.
There is also deep concern over China’s military activities around Taiwan and heightened tensions along the border of North and South Korea.
“The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the indeed critical situation in Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region, highlight a deteriorated security framework,” Crosetto said in his opening speech.
Italy holds the G7 rotating presidency for 2024. The group also includes the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, with European Union and NATO representatives also attending the gathering in the southern Italian city.
Warning that forecasts for near future “cannot be positive,” Crosetto said tensions were fueled by “a common driver: the confrontation between two different, perhaps incompatible, visions of the world.”
On the one side are the countries and organizations that believe in a world order based on international law, said Crosetto, who is a prominent member of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party.
“On the other side, (there are) those who systematically disrespect democracy to pursue their objectives, including by a deliberate use of military force.”
Before the meeting, Crosetto welcomed photographers holding a model of a tiny red animal horn, a symbol of good luck according to time-honored Neapolitan tradition.
