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US, Türkiye Pledge to Deepen Their Defense Partnership

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pose for a photo as they attend a bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Rome, Italy October 31, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pose for a photo as they attend a bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Rome, Italy October 31, 2021. (Reuters)
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US, Türkiye Pledge to Deepen Their Defense Partnership

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pose for a photo as they attend a bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Rome, Italy October 31, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pose for a photo as they attend a bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Rome, Italy October 31, 2021. (Reuters)

The United States and Türkiye reaffirmed their strong cooperation as partners and NATO allies, pledging to further deepen and strengthen their defense partnership.

The announcement was made during the third meeting of the US-Türkiye Strategic Mechanism Dialogue held in Washington on Thursday.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sedat Onal attended the meeting.

Building on their steadfast partnership and previous discussions under the framework Mechanism, Washington and Ankara underscored their strong cooperation as partners and NATO allies and engaged in substantive dialogue on strategic global and regional issues and areas of bilateral cooperation, a US State Department statement said following the meeting.

Relations between the US and Türkiye have been strained in recent years due to Washington’s cooperation with Kurdish groups in Syria and its stance toward the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), as well as disagreements over Türkiye’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system and Washington’s sanctions against Ankara.

In the statement, the US Department said the two sides reviewed the extensive, security, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties that underpin the bilateral relationship, adding that both countries reiterated their commitment to promote peace and stability and to further deepen and strengthen their enduring defense partnership. 

They welcomed the recent growth in their bilateral trade relations and reconfirmed their mutual determination to advance their economic cooperation in every possible field. 

“The United States and Türkiye stand together in support of global public health as well as food and energy security,” the statement said, noting that the delegations also stressed their mutual efforts to work to promote energy supply, access, efficiency, and independence.

Both sides discussed political developments in the region and consulted on the importance of strengthening Transatlantic relations. 

They underscored the need to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. 

The delegations reiterated their unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and discussed ways to deepen NATO coordination. 

“The United States welcomed Türkiye’s efforts to broker the Istanbul Black Sea grain deal for safe passage of Ukrainian agricultural goods in the Black Sea,” the State Department said.

It added that Washington and Ankara explored possible avenues of cooperation in various parts of the world, including the Middle East and Africa, and underlined the importance of promoting peace in the South Caucasus.

In October, US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Rome and agreed to establish a strategic mechanism that promotes high-level dialogue and addresses issues on which Türkiye and the US do not fully agree, along with issues they are working on.

The Türkiye-US Strategic Mechanism was launched during a visit by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland to Ankara in April.

On May 18, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his US counterpart Antony Blinken met in New York for the inaugural meeting of Mechanism.

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World

US Supreme Court Lifts Limits on Third-country Deportations

The United States has deported thousands of migrants to so-called third-countries, including Liberia, as part of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Matthew Jacobs / AFP
The United States has deported thousands of migrants to so-called third-countries, including Liberia, as part of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Matthew Jacobs / AFP
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US Supreme Court Lifts Limits on Third-country Deportations

The United States has deported thousands of migrants to so-called third-countries, including Liberia, as part of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Matthew Jacobs / AFP
The United States has deported thousands of migrants to so-called third-countries, including Liberia, as part of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Matthew Jacobs / AFP

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted restrictions on the deportations of immigrants to countries that are not their own, while agreeing to hear the issue on its merits in December.

The conservative-dominated high court granted an emergency request by the Trump administration to suspend a lower court ruling that restricted, but did not outright ban, so-called "third-country removals."

The lower court had said people targeted with deportation must be given effective notice ahead of time about where they are being sent to allow them to raise concerns about potential persecution, said AFP.

The three liberal justices on the nine-member bench said they would not have granted the administration's request.

President Donald Trump campaigned on promises to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States and has taken several actions aimed at speeding up deportations since returning to the White House in 2025.

The Trump administration has defended third-country deportations as necessary since the home nations of some of those who are targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them.

In a brief to the Supreme Court, opponents of lifting the restrictions argued that the lower court ruling did not fully block all third-country deportations, "it simply requires them to do so lawfully."

Trump's solicitor general, John Sauer, meanwhile told the court that the rapid deportation to third countries was "an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens."

The lower court ruling "created substantial logistical problems" with removals, he said.

- 'Indefensible' -

An AFP investigation found that the US has offered multimillion-dollar deals and threatened visa restrictions in a bid to get "third countries," especially in Africa, to take such deportees.

Once in these countries -- and outside US jurisdiction -- deportees have been subject to abuse by local guards, indefinite detention, or quickly re-deported to their home countries.

According to an investigation published last week, the United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations.

The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to United Nations agencies to facilitate the returns.

The vast majority of the deportees -- around 20,000 -- were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalized with seven more.

Congress has made it US policy not to deport people to countries where their lives would be in danger or they could be subject to torture.

After the high court's ruling, some Democratic lawmakers were calling for more formalized steps to prevent such deportations and uphold due process.

"Congress must step in. No one should be shipped off to a country that is not their own without basic due process and a meaningful opportunity to raise legitimate fears for their safety," House Democrat Lois Frankel said on X.

Rob Menendez, another congressional Democrat, called the Supreme Court's decision "indefensible."

"Taxpayers shouldn't fund tearing people from the only home they've ever known, nor should our legal system fast-track these unilateral deportations."

World

US Withdraws from European Anti-Corruption Panel

FILE PHOTO: A general view of a US State Department sign outside the US State Department building in Washington, DC, US, July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of a US State Department sign outside the US State Department building in Washington, DC, US, July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo
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US Withdraws from European Anti-Corruption Panel

FILE PHOTO: A general view of a US State Department sign outside the US State Department building in Washington, DC, US, July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of a US State Department sign outside the US State Department building in Washington, DC, US, July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo

The Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from a top European anti-corruption watchdog as it forges ahead with plans to disengage from international and multilateral organizations that it accuses of exceeding their mandates, being inefficient or not adapting to US policies.

The Council of Europe said Tuesday that the US formally notified it a day earlier that it would leave the Group of States against Corruption, or GRECO. Only two other countries have left GRECO before — Russia and Belarus.

The State Department confirmed the move, saying that US participation, which requires an annual monetary contribution, “does not provide tangible benefits to US national security.”

“The era of writing blank checks to international bureaucracies is over,” it said. “The department is instead prioritizing higher-impact tools to combat corruption, such as visa restrictions, sanctions, and targeted foreign assistance to strengthen foreign criminal investigations into corruption directly threatening US security and prosperity.”

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe said the US had been “a valuable contributor” to GRECO "and to the exchange of experience and good practice in preventing and combating corruption.”

“GRECO remains open to resuming cooperation with the United States in the future in support of shared efforts to prevent corruption, strengthen integrity and uphold the rule of law,” it said in a statement.

The decision was announced a week after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the US had declined to invite its members to observe November’s congressional midterm elections, a sharp break from past practice.

The US has already withdrawn from a number of European-based UN and multilateral agencies, including the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, and is weighing further such steps.

The US withdrew in January from another Council of Europe panel — the Venice Commission, which is an advisory body on constitutional law.

GRECO was created in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor compliance with the organization’s anti-corruption standards. Membership is not limited to European Union members, and the United States joined a year after its founding.

World

Iran Hangs Two Anti-government Protesters

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Hangs Two Anti-government Protesters

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran's judiciary announced that two men were hanged on Wednesday over charges relating to anti-government protests that peaked in January, having begun a month earlier over economic grievances.

The two, Ali Hemmati and Majid Nik-Andish, were found guilty of involvement "in the riots of January that resulted in the martyrdom of four security personnel" in the northeastern city of Mashhad, said the judiciary's Mizan Online website.

It added that they also "inflicted extensive damage on public property by setting fire to shops, banks, buses, etc, and even torching trees".

They "were executed by hanging early Wednesday, following the Supreme Court's confirmation of their sentences".

In late December, a protest movement initially sparked by the high cost of living rapidly evolved into widespread anti-government demonstrations that peaked on January 8 and 9.

Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths, attributing the violence to "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the United States and Israel, while foreign-based NGOs maintain that security forces fired on protesters, said AFP.

US President Donald Trump had threatened at the time to intervene militarily in Iran, before the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, triggering the Middle East war.

Since then, arrests and executions have multiplied in the country, linked both to the conflict and to the protests that took place earlier in the year.

In 2025, Iran executed at least 1,639 people, the largest number for any year since 1989, according to the NGOs Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty.

According to Amnesty International, Iran is responsible for the second most executions of any country, after China.