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Türkiye Won’t Allow New Syrian Refugee Influx after Quake, Says Minister

An aerial picture shows the hospital (R) in the town of Harem, near buildings destroyed by an earthquake and tents erected to house homeless residents, in Syria's opposition-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Türkiye, on February 11, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. (AFP)
An aerial picture shows the hospital (R) in the town of Harem, near buildings destroyed by an earthquake and tents erected to house homeless residents, in Syria's opposition-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Türkiye, on February 11, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. (AFP)
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Türkiye Won’t Allow New Syrian Refugee Influx after Quake, Says Minister

An aerial picture shows the hospital (R) in the town of Harem, near buildings destroyed by an earthquake and tents erected to house homeless residents, in Syria's opposition-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Türkiye, on February 11, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. (AFP)
An aerial picture shows the hospital (R) in the town of Harem, near buildings destroyed by an earthquake and tents erected to house homeless residents, in Syria's opposition-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Türkiye, on February 11, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. (AFP)

Türkiye will not allow a new influx of refugees from Syria after last week's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

"Claims that there is a new influx of refugees from Syria to Türkiye (after the earthquake) are not true. We will not allow that; it is out of question," Cavusoglu said at a news conference in Ankara.

Cavusoglu was commenting on claims that Syrians were flooding into Türkiye following last Monday's 7.8 magnitude earthquake which has killed more than 37,000 in the two countries.

Humanitarian aid to Syria's opposition-held areas is being delivered through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, and Türkiye is ready to open two new border crossings from Kilis province after the earthquake, Cavusoglu said.

"All of these border crossings are for humanitarian aid. That does not mean that Syrians are coming to Türkiye through these crossings," he said.

"We are facilitating humanitarian aid for Syrians, but we are not allowing a new Syrian refugee influx. These are two separate issues," he said.

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Iraq, UK Agree on Trade Package Worth up to $15 Billion, Defense Deal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
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Iraq, UK Agree on Trade Package Worth up to $15 Billion, Defense Deal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

Iraq and Britain have agreed on a trade package worth up to 12.3 billion pounds ($14.98 billion) and a bilateral defense deal, the Iraqi and British prime ministers said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The deal, envisaging more than 10 times the total of bilateral trade in 2024, was announced after a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and British counterpart Keir Starmer at the latter's Downing Street offices.

It includes a 1.2-billion-pound project in which British-made power transmission systems will be used for a grid interconnection project between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as a 500-million-pound plan to upgrade the Al-Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq.

A water infrastructure project by a UK-led consortium that will help provide clean water in arid southern and western Iraq is also part of the deal, the statement said. The project would be worth up to 5.3 billion pounds in UK exports.

Sudani and Starmer also signed a defense deal that "establishes the basis for a new era in security cooperation".

Sudani said earlier that the UK-Iraqi security deal would develop bilateral military ties after last year's announcement that the US-led coalition set up to fight ISIS would end its work in Iraq in 2026.

The Iraqi premier began an official visit to the United Kingdom on Monday amid historic geopolitical shifts in the Middle East.

Iraq is trying to avoid becoming a conflict zone once again amid a period of regional upheaval that has seen Iran's allies Hamas degraded in Gaza and Hezbollah battered in Lebanon during wars with Israel, and Bashar al-Assad toppled in Syria.