TIRANA: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his attacks on Israel as he arrived in Tirana Thursday, the first stop of a Balkans tour that will also take him to Serbia.
Repeating his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted “genocide,” he branded it the “shame of humanity,” at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
“The international community, we must do our best to urgently guarantee a permanent ceasefire and exert the necessary pressure on Israel,” he added.
“The genocide that has been going on in Gaza for the past year is the common shame of all humanity,” he added.
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.
Erdogan has branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.
“The aggression led by the Netanyahu government now threatens the world order beyond the region,” Erdogan said.
Later Thursday Erdogan, accompanied by Prime Minister Edi Rama, inaugurated the Great Mosque of Tirana.
The largest Muslim place of worship in the Balkans, it has a capacity of up to 10,000 people. The project, funded by Turkiye, cost 30 million euros.
Turkiye is also a major employer in Albania. As Erdogan said in February, over 600 Turkish companies operate in the country, providing jobs to more than 15,000 workers.
It is also one of the five biggest foreign investors in Albania, he said, with $3.5 billion (3.2 billion euros) committed.
The two NATO member countries also have close military ties, with Turkiye supplying Tirana with its Bayraktar TB2 drones.
For the second stage of his tour Erdogan traveled from Albania to Serbia, where he was greeted at Belgrade airport by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Turkiye made a diplomatic comeback here in 2017 when Erdogan made a landmark visit to Belgrade.
The five century Ottoman presence in Serbia has traditionally weighed heavily on Belgrade-Ankara relations.
Another source of tension has been Turkiye’s historic ties with Serbia’s former breakaway province of Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade still refuses to recognize.
Erdogan’s 2017 visit repaired the relationship with Serbia, Belgrade analyst Vuk Vuksanovic told AFP.
But Belgrade was furious last year when Turkiye sold drones to Kosovo, something Serbia said was “unacceptable.”
The row could however still be patched up, Vuksanovic insisted.
“I would not be surprised if we see a military deal at the end of this visit,” he said.
He expected talks in Belgrade on Friday to focus on “military cooperation, the position of Turkish companies — and attempts by Belgrade to persuade Ankara to tone down support for Kosovo.”
While the rapprochement is relatively new, economic ties between the two countries are already significant.
Turkish investment in Serbia has rocketed from $1 million to $400 million over the past decade, the Turkiye-Serbia business council told Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.
Turkish exports to Serbia hit $2.13 billion in 2022, up from $1.14 billion in 2020, according to official Serbian figures.
Turkish tourists are also important for Serbia, second only to visitor numbers from Bosnia.
Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire
https://arab.news/c3n36
Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire
- Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted ‘genocide’ and called it the ‘shame of humanity’
- Erdogan branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza’ and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler
Moroccan women embroider ‘art with purpose’
Some of their works have been shown internationally
SIDI RBAT, Morocco: In a small village on the coast of southern Morocco, women gather in a house to create collaborative works of textile art, and also earn a living.
Several hunch over large canvasses, embroidering their latest piece at the women-only workshop, in the village of 400 people. Some of their works have been shown internationally.
“This project has changed my life,” said Hanane Ichbikili, a 28-year-old former nursing student turned project creative director.
“And yet I had never held an embroidery needle before,” she told AFP.
Just 19 percent of Moroccan women hold steady jobs, according to official figures, and in rural areas they are particularly affected by poverty, unpaid labor and a lack of opportunity.
An artist with roots in both Morocco and France has tried to make a difference.
Margaux Derhy founded the workshop in 2022 in her father’s native village of Sidi R’bat, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Agadir, to fulfil her “dream to make art with purpose.”
The project uses textiles and old photographs to explore her family heritage before they left the country in the 1960s, turning sepia-toned portraits and scenes into large silk-and-linen canvases.
The North African country was a protectorate of France before gaining its independence in 1956.
The project is more than just personal for Derhy — it also provides local women in the small fishing village employment.
“I wanted to be engaged on the ground,” said Derhy, adding that she hired 10 local women to work full-time for a monthly salary exceeding Morocco’s private-sector minimum wage of 3,045 dirhams ($330).
The women’s hands glide over frames that were once used by Paris’s prestigious Maison Lesage, the world-famous embroidery house that has worked with some of the greatest names in fashion.
The creative process is collaborative, with Derhy drawing an outline and the team then gathering to choose the threads and color palette for each section.
A canvas can take up to five months to complete.
The finished works, priced at up to $5,620, have been shown in exhibitions in Marrakech, Paris and Brussels. Future exhibits are planned for Casablanca’s L’Atelier 21 and Tabari Artspace Gallery in Dubai.
The workshop has also helped to challenge perceived ideas about women in the village.
“At first, some of the women had to hide to come because it was frowned upon,” said Khadija Ahuilat, 26, who oversees operations.
She said some people thought the project “was nonsense, and a woman should stay at home.”
“But we managed to change that. I’m very proud to have contributed to this change, even if on a small scale.”
Her mother, Aicha Jout, 50, a widow who once gathered mussels and raised livestock to support her family, is now one of the embroiderers.
“It changes a lot for me to be here,” she said.
“I love the idea of embroidering on pictures, but also of passing on the craft to other women.”
Jout learned to embroider at the age of 12, and has trained the rest of her mostly single or widowed colleagues.
“There aren’t really a lot of job opportunities here, so when the chance came I didn’t hesitate for a second,” said Haddia Nachit, 59, one of the workshop’s most efficient embroiders.
Her nickname among the women is “TGV” — after France’s high-speed train.
Seated next to Nachit, Fadma Lachgar, also 59, said the work allowed her to help her family.
“Resuming embroidery at my age, after 20 years of stopping, is a blessing,” she said.
Hungry Palestinians in Gaza block and offload dozens of UN food trucks
- The WFP said the fear of starvation in Gaza is high despite the food aid that’s entering now
- “We need to flood communities with food for the next few days to calm anxieties and rebuild the trust with communities that more food is coming”
TEL AVIV: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip blocked and offloaded dozens of food trucks, the UN World Food Program said Saturday, as desperation mounts following Israel’s monthslong blockade and airstrikes while talks of a ceasefire inch forward.
The WFP said that 77 trucks carrying aid, mostly flour, were stopped by hungry people who took the food before the trucks were able to reach their destination.
A nearly three-month Israeli blockade on Gaza has pushed the population to the brink of famine. While the pressure slightly eased in recent days as Israel allowed some aid to enter, organizations say there still isn’t nearly enough food getting in.
Hamas on Friday said it was reviewing a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire. US President Donald Trump said that negotiators were nearing a deal.
A ceasefire would pause the fighting for 60 days, release some of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and much needed food aid and other assistance, according to Hamas and Egyptian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The WFP said the fear of starvation in Gaza is high despite the food aid that’s entering now. “We need to flood communities with food for the next few days to calm anxieties and rebuild the trust with communities that more food is coming,” said agency said in a statement.
A witness in the southern city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press the UN convoy was stopped at a makeshift roadblock and offloaded by desperate civilians in their thousands. Most people carried bags of flour on their backs or heads. He said at one point a forklift was used to offload pallets from the stranded trucks. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal.
The United Nations said earlier this month that Israeli authorities have forced them to use unsecured routes within areas controlled by the Israeli military in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis, where armed gangs are active and trucks were stopped.
Israel’s military didn’t immediately respond to comment.
Attacks, gangs, lack of protection hamper UN distribution
An internal document shared with aid groups about security incidents, seen by the AP, said there were four incidents of facilities being looted in three days at the end of May, not including the convoy on Saturday.
The UN says it’s been unable to get enough aid in because of fighting. On Friday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it only picked up five truckloads of cargo from the Palestinian side of the Kareem Shalom crossing, and the other 60 trucks had to return due to intense hostilities in the area.
An Israeli official said his country has offered the UN logistical and operational support but “the UN is not doing their job.” Instead, a new U.S- and Israeli-backed foundation started operations in Gaza this week, distributing food at several sites in a chaotic rollout. Israel says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will replace the massive aid operation that the UN and others have carried out throughout the war.
It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The UN denies that significant diversion takes place.
The GHF works with armed contractors, which is says is needed to distribute food safely. Aid groups have accused the foundation of militarizing aid.
Istanbul mayor’s staff targeted by dozens of arrest warrants
- The warrants were based on “four separate corruption investigations centered on Istanbul,” Anadolu said
- Police had already detained nearly 70 people in subsequent raids
ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have issued 47 arrest warrants for municipal officials and staff across Istanbul, whose mayor — the main political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — has been jailed since March, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday.
The warrants were based on “four separate corruption investigations centered on Istanbul,” Anadolu said, without revealing how many people were actually taken into custody.
The March 19 arrest and jailing of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sparked the biggest street protests Turkiye had seen in decades.
Police had already detained nearly 70 people in subsequent raids linked to alleged corruption at Istanbul City Hall, including Imamoglu’s private secretary and his private protection officer.
The latest warrants targeted a former opposition lawmaker and five mayors of Istanbul districts, according to Anadolu.
The private television station Halk, seen as close to the opposition CHP party that Imamoglu belongs to, said that nine district mayors — out of a total of 39 — had now been arrested and were being kept in custody.
The CHP, which has nominated Imamoglu as its candidate in presidential elections due in 2028, did not immediately comment on the latest warrants.
Divided UN extends arms embargo on South Sudan as fears of renewed civil war grow
- The arms embargo, and travel bans and asset freezes on South Sudanese on the UN sanctions blacklist, were extended for a year until May 31, 2026
- There were high hopes for peace and stability after oil-rich South Sudan gained independence
UNITED NATIONS: A divided UN Security Council voted Friday to extend an arms embargo on South Sudan, where escalating political tensions have led the UN to warn that the country could again plunge into civil war.
A US-sponsored resolution to extend the embargo and other sanctions was approved by the narrowest margin — the minimum nine “yes” votes required. Six countries abstained – Russia, China, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Pakistan.
The arms embargo, and travel bans and asset freezes on South Sudanese on the UN sanctions blacklist, were extended for a year until May 31, 2026.
There were high hopes for peace and stability after oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, becoming the world’s newest nation.
But the country slid into civil war in December 2013 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, who is from the largest ethnic group in the country, the Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, who is from the second-largest ethnic group, the Nuer.
A 2018 peace deal that brought Machar into the government as first vice president has been fragile, and implementation has been slow. A presidential election has been postponed until 2026.
Last month, the UN envoy to South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, warned that the escalating rivalry between Kiir and Machar had degenerated into direct military confrontation between their parties and led to Machar’s arrest.
A campaign of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech is “fueling political and ethnic tensions — particularly on social media,” he warned. And “these conditions are darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 conflicts, which took over 400,000 lives.”
US Minister Counselor John Kelley thanked the council after the vote, saying the arms embargo “remains necessary to stem the unfettered flow of weapons into a region that remains awash with guns.”
“Escalating violence in recent months has brought South Sudan to the brink of civil war,” he said, urging the country’s leaders to restore peace.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Anna Evstigneeva countered by saying the easing of Security Council sanctions on South Sudan is long overdue. She said the arms embargo and other sanctions are restricting implementation of the 2018 peace agreement.
She accused the resolution’s supporters of “putting a brake on a successful political process unfolding in Sudan, as well as complicating the deployment and proper equipping of the national armed forces.”
South Sudan’s UN ambassador, Cecilia Adeng, expressed “deep disappointment” at the extension of the arms embargo and other sanctions.
“The lifting of the sanctions and the arms embargo is not only a matter of national security or sovereignty, but also a matter of economic opportunity and dignity,” she said. “These measures create barriers to growth, delay development, discourage foreign investment, and leave the state vulnerable to non-state actors and outlaws.”
Sudden hailstorm lashes Egypt’s Alexandria
- Storms are common along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in winter, however this spring event was described as “unprecedented"
ALEXANDRIA: An unseasonal rainstorm battered the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Saturday, flooding roads and damaging seafront businesses in the latest bout of erratic weather to hit the region.
Hailstones pelted the city overnight, forcing people to flee cafes as gusts of wind blew the ice pellets through windows, according to footage posted on social media.
Lightning lit up the skies and underpasses were submerged.
Alexandria governor Ahmed Khaled Hassan raised the alert level and emergency crews worked through the morning to tow cars and clear debris.
No casualties were reported, Egypt’s health ministry said.
Storms are common along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in winter, but media outlets described this spring event as “unprecedented.”
Scientists warn extreme weather is becoming more frequent due to climate change, which drives both droughts and intense, unpredictable rainstorms.
Alexandria is highly vulnerable to climate impacts, suffering from coastal erosion, rising sea levels and flooding from annual storms.
The Mediterranean could rise by up to a meter (three feet) within three decades, according to the UN-mandated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Even under more optimistic forecasts, a 50-centimeter rise by 2050 would flood 30 percent of Alexandria, displace a quarter of its six million residents and cost 195,000 jobs.
Authorities have begun mitigation efforts, including constructing a massive breakwater along the coast.
