عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Turkey Bans Syrians From Spending Adha Eid at Home

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)
TT
TT

Turkey Bans Syrians From Spending Adha Eid at Home

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)

Turkey on Sunday said it would ban Syrian refugees living in Turkey from visiting their families back home during Eid al-Adha, similar to the restrictions imposed on their visits to Syria during Eid al-Fitr holiday last April, said Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

Each year, thousands of Syrian refugees cross the border into Syria to celebrate the holidays and then return to Turkey.

“This is currently not acceptable. Those wishing to return to Syria will receive a one-way transit permit,” Soylo said at a press conference Saturday in Ankara.

The Adha festival is set for mid-July this year.

The Interior Minister also spoke about the new quotas that his country will begin imposing on the number of residence permits for foreigners.

He said that as of July 1, Turkey will limit residence permits for foreigners to 20 percent of the population of certain neighborhoods, adding that the rule will effectively shut 1,200 neighborhoods to more foreign residents.

Soylu addressed the new procedures and controls that will be applied in the next stage, saying that the percentage of foreigners allowed to reside in each neighborhood will be reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent, starting from the first of July.

Accordingly, 1,200 neighborhoods will be closed to requests for residence in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities had announced in the past months a number of measures to enforce stricter restrictions on the areas where Syrians can reside.

The new rules came as anti-immigrant sentiment piles pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before next year’s elections.

On Wednesday, the Turkish Interior Minister said taxi drivers are allowed to check the travel permit documents of foreign passengers, in a move to limit the transportation of illegal immigrants.

He said a camera system will be installed in truck stops to prevent stowaways from cutting holes and hiding in the tarpaulins of trucks.

In the framework of combating illegal immigration, the Turkish Interior Ministry said that 34,112 immigrants who entered the country illegally early this year have been deported.

There are about 3.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

In February, the Turkish authorities said 16 provinces, including Istanbul, Bursa, Ankara, Antalya, Izmir and Hatay, where the Syrian population is particularly high, have already stopped issuing residencies for newly arrived foreigners.

Soylu also announced on Saturday that some Syrians will not receive the temporary protection cards, or Kimlik, after they enter Turkish territory in certain ways.

He said Syrians coming from their country will be transferred to camps in Hatay and will be questioned about their places of residence in Syria. The Minister said that if those Syrians reside in Damascus, they will be returned home immediately.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Macron to Meet Zelenskiy, Starmer and Merz in London on Monday

A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
TT
TT

Macron to Meet Zelenskiy, Starmer and Merz in London on Monday

A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to London on Monday to meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy as well as the British and German leaders, to discuss the situation in Ukraine and ongoing negotiations under US mediation.

"Ukraine can count on our unwavering support. That is the whole point of the efforts we have undertaken as part of the Coalition of the Willing," Macron said on X.

"We will continue these efforts alongside the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which there can be no robust and lasting peace.

For what is at stake in Ukraine is also the security of Europe as a whole," he added. Macron also condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the strikes that targeted Ukraine last night, in particular its energy and rail infrastructure.

"Russia is locked into an escalatory approach and is not seeking peace ... We must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace," he added, according to Reuters.

Widespread military activities overnight affected Ukraine's electricity grid and prompted operating nuclear power plants to reduce output, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the IAEA said, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

World

Protesters Arrested after Smearing Custard and Crumble on Crown Jewels Case at Tower of London

Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
TT
TT

Protesters Arrested after Smearing Custard and Crumble on Crown Jewels Case at Tower of London

Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS

Four protesters were arrested Saturday after splattering food on the display case of a priceless diamond-encrusted crown at the Tower of London.

The Crown Jewels display was temporarily closed after members of a group called Take Back Power smeared apple crumble and poured yellow custard — two staples on British dessert menus — on the case containing the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III as he left his coronation ceremony in 2023 and during his speech to open Parliament in 2024.

The hefty crown, containing 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, four rubies and 269 pearls, was crafted for the coronation of Charles' grandfather, George VI, in 1937.

Police said the protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. But the invaluable jewels that are a major tourist draw were unharmed, The Associated Press quoted Historic Royal Palaces as saying.

The civil disobedience group that advocates for a permanent citizens' assembly and wants to tax extreme wealth said two of its members had thrown the food and two others were also arrested and taken into “custard-y.”

The stunt is one of many that has targeted prized treasures and artworks to draw attention to a political cause. Petroleum protesters were imprisoned last year for tossing a can of tomato soup on glass protecting Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery.

Video of the act at the Tower of London, once a royal palace also known as the prison where Anne Boleyn, Thomas More and others were executed, showed two protesters attacking the case as other visitors stepped back in shock.

After an employee intervened and radioed for help, the two demonstrators unfurled a sign saying, “Democracy has crumbled. Tax the rich.”

World

Russia Unleashes Massive Drone and Missile Attack on Ukraine

An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
TT
TT

Russia Unleashes Massive Drone and Missile Attack on Ukraine

An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after US and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet on Saturday for a third day of talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war.

Following talks that made progress on a security framework for postwar Ukraine, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday.

They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end the war.

Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching overnight attack on Ukraine, which triggered air raid alerts across the country and came as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day, the country’s air force said Saturday morning.

Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck, The Associated Press reported.

At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said.

Among these, at least three people were wounded in the Kyiv region, according to local officials. Drone sightings were reported as far west as Ukraine’s Lviv region.

Russia carried out a “massive missile-drone attack” on power stations and other energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shut-down reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that energy facilities were the main targets of the attacks, also noting that a drone strike had “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, located in the Kyiv region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its air defenses had shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Saturday.

Russian Telegram news channel Astra said Ukraine struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, sharing footage appearing to show a fire breaking out and plumes of smoke rising above the refinery. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces had struck the refinery. Ryazan regional Gov. Pavel Malkov said a residential building had been damaged in a drone attack and that drone debris had fallen on the grounds of an “industrial facility,” but did not mention the refinery.

Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war.

Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.

The latest round of attacks came as US President Donald Trump’s advisers and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet for a third day of talks on Saturday, after making progress on finding agreement on a security framework for postwar Ukraine.

Following Friday’s talks, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday. They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of war.