Turkish PM Urges Resolution to Visa Dispute with US

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)
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Turkish PM Urges Resolution to Visa Dispute with US

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim urged on Tuesday an end to the dispute with the United States over the recent suspension of visa services between the two countries.

The US suspension of visa services in Turkey punishes ordinary citizens and the problem must be resolved immediately, he demanded.

"Turkey is not a tribal state, we will retaliate against what has been done in kind," Yildirim told ruling AK Party parliamentarians.

"We call on the United States to be more reasonable. The issue must of course be resolved as soon as possible," he said, describing US behavior as "unbecoming" of an ally.

"Who are you punishing? You are making your citizens and ours pay the price, this is not being serious. You can't run a country with emotional decisions," the PM added.

The US embassy in Ankara said on Sunday night it was suspending non-immigrant visa services after the arrest of a locally employed US consulate employee in Istanbul last week.

The employee was detained on charges of espionage and alleged ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement. Turkey retaliated by halting visas services in the US.

Yildirim also slammed Washington for the arrest of a Turkish banker for his alleged role in helping Iran escape US sanctions, and for its failure to extradite Gulen, who Turkey says was behind last year's failed coup. Gulen has denied involvement.

Yildirim said his country does not need Washington's permission to prosecute its citizens.

"Turkey is a state of law. ... Were we to seek the permission of the (US) gentlemen?"

On Tuesday, Turkish police launched an operation to arrest 70 soldiers accused of links to Gulen, the private Dogan news agency reported.

Operations targeting Gulen supporters are continuing on a daily basis some 15 months after the failed putsch. In the last week alone, around 800 people were held over alleged ties to him.

Among those targeted in the police raids, focused in the central Turkish city of Konya but launched simultaneously across seven provinces, were two colonels, seven captains and 36 lieutenants, Dogan said.

Sixty-two of the suspects were in the air force, some of them pilots, it added. Police were conducting searches of their homes and places of work.

More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed.

Some of Turkey’s Western allies and rights groups have voiced concern that the government is using the coup investigations as a pretext to crack down on dissent.

Ankara argues that only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen’s network, which it says infiltrated institutions such as the military, judiciary and schools.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
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France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
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Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
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UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.