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Erdogan Warns of Repeated Talks about Possible Destructive Quake in Istanbul

Buildings destroyed by the earthquake in the Turkish city of Hatay. (AFP)
Buildings destroyed by the earthquake in the Turkish city of Hatay. (AFP)
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Erdogan Warns of Repeated Talks about Possible Destructive Quake in Istanbul

Buildings destroyed by the earthquake in the Turkish city of Hatay. (AFP)
Buildings destroyed by the earthquake in the Turkish city of Hatay. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that repeated talks of a potential destructive earthquake in Istanbul are spreading fear among the city’s residents.

Erdogan spoke during his interview with several Turkish TV channels Wednesday evening about the challenges that faced the government in convincing Istanbul residents living in houses built before the Marmara destructive earthquake in 1999 to demolish and reconstruct their houses.

Despite the challenges, the authority succeeded in changing the face of urbanism in many regions, and people started to apply for the demolition and reconstruction of their houses in other areas, added Erdogan.

Persisting talks about an expected destructive quake in Istanbul spread fear among citizens, with some starting to move from the city to other areas, said the President.

He added that up to 27,949 houses are under construction in several states - such as Adiyaman, Kahraman, Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Hatay, and Malatya - damaged by the Feb. 6 quakes. Construction of some rural houses is almost completed, and they would be handed out to their owners by summer.

Erdogan mentioned that the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change is carrying out the debris removal works, and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority is installing tents and establishing field hospitals.

“The scope of the destruction is unprecedented,” UNDP Türkiye Resident Representative Louisa Vinton told Anadolu Agency.

“This is why we expect equally unprecedented commitments from global donors.”

“Reconstruction is not just about bricks and mortar but also lives and livelihoods. People need secure employment to ensure a steady income, they need public services such as health care and education, and they need to be able to shop, relax and socialize with other people,” said Vinton.

“In short, they need to get back to normal life as soon as possible.”

The UNDP has proposed 31 projects that will contribute to the sustainable recovery of Türkiye's quake-hit southern region, she added.

The UNDP's 12 projects include ensuring sustainable management of debris, restoring waste management and water treatment plants, restoring cultural heritage, rehabilitation and restoration of natural assets and livelihoods, and building back better with near-zero emission structures.

The rest of the projects focus on supporting livelihoods and socio-economic recovery, leaving no one behind through targeted support to vulnerable groups, rehabilitating infrastructure, reintegrating the displaced workers into business, accelerating activity in the damaged areas, and boosting the economy.

The proposed projects also focus on strengthening legal protection and social support for persons with disabilities, increasing the psychological and social resilience of quake survivors and affected communities, and improving community resilience.

The organization is seeking $550 million in funding to implement the projects.

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World

Israel President Says at End of Visit Antisemitism in Australia 'Frightening'

Israel's President Isaac Herzog reacts during a Jewish community event in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP)
Israel's President Isaac Herzog reacts during a Jewish community event in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP)
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Israel President Says at End of Visit Antisemitism in Australia 'Frightening'

Israel's President Isaac Herzog reacts during a Jewish community event in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP)
Israel's President Isaac Herzog reacts during a Jewish community event in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

Antisemitism in Australia is "frightening" but most people want good relations, Israel's President Isaac Herzog said on Thursday as he wrapped up a four-day visit and was met by protests in the city of Melbourne.

Herzog's tightly policed visit to Australia this week was meant to offer consolation to the country's Jewish community following the mass shooting on Bondi Beach that killed 15 people in December, said AFP.

However, it sparked demonstrations in major cities, including in Sydney, where police used pepper spray on protesters and members of the media, including an AFP photographer, during scuffles in the central business district on Monday night.

Herzog told Channel Seven's Sunrise ahead of his Melbourne stop that a "wave" of anti-Jewish hatred in Australia had culminated in the December 14 killings at Bondi.

"It is frightening and worrying," he said.

"But there's also a silent majority of Australians who seek peace, who respect the Jewish community and, of course, want a dialogue with Israel."

The Israeli head of state said he had brought a "message of goodwill to the people of Australia".

"I hope there will be a change. I hope things will relax," he said.

Herzog attended a Jewish community event after a meeting with Victoria's governor at Melbourne's Government House.

Protesters waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans squared off with police outside the event.

More are expected to turn out later at around 5 pm (0600 GMT) on Thursday.

Herzog told the audience at the community event: "We came here to be with you, to look you in the eye, to embrace and remember."

He also said demonstrators outside should instead "go protest in front of the Iranian embassy".

The Australian government accused Iran last year of orchestrating a recent wave of antisemitic attacks and expelled Tehran's ambassador.

Canberra, citing intelligence findings, accused Tehran of directing the torching of a kosher cafe in the Sydney suburb of Bondi in October 2024 and a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024.

- Controversial visit -

Ahead of his arrival, national broadcaster ABC reported that a building at Melbourne University had been graffiti-ed with the phrase: "Death to Herzog".

Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog's trip.

"His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community," said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community's peak body.

But some in the community disagreed, with the progressive Jewish Council of Australia saying he was not welcome because of his alleged role in the "ongoing destruction of Gaza".

The UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians -- "an entire nation" -- were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.

Israel has "categorically" rejected the inquiry's report, describing it as "distorted and false" and has called for the body's abolition.

World

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Says the US and Iran Showing Flexibility on Nuclear Deal

FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo
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Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Says the US and Iran Showing Flexibility on Nuclear Deal

FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo

The United States and Iran are showing flexibility on a nuclear deal, with Washington appearing "willing" to tolerate some nuclear enrichment, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday.

“It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries," Fidan, who has been involved in talks with both Washington and Tehran, told the FT.

“The Iranians now recognize ‌that they ‌need to reach a deal with the ‌Americans, ⁠and the Americans ⁠understand that the Iranians have certain limits. It’s pointless to try to force them.”

Washington has until now demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, a small step away from the 90% that is considered weapons grade, said Reuters.

Iranian ⁠President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran would continue ‌to demand the ‌lifting of financial sanctions and insist on its nuclear rights including ‌enrichment.

Fidan told the FT he believed Tehran “genuinely ‌wants to reach a real agreement” and would accept restrictions on enrichment levels and a strict inspection regime, as it did in the 2015 agreement with the US and others.

US ‌and Iranian diplomats held talks through Omani mediators in Oman last week in ⁠an effort ⁠to revive diplomacy, after President Donald Trump positioned a naval flotilla in the region, raising fears of new military action. Trump on Tuesday said he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, even as Washington and Tehran prepared to resume negotiations.

The Turkish foreign minister, however, cautioned that broadening the Iran-US talks to ballistic missiles would bring "nothing but another war."

The US State Department and the White House did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

World

Russia Strikes Heating in Kyiv, Kills Two in East Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire at a house following a Russian air attack in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire at a house following a Russian air attack in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
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Russia Strikes Heating in Kyiv, Kills Two in East Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire at a house following a Russian air attack in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire at a house following a Russian air attack in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russian strikes early Thursday cut heating to nearly 2,600 residential buildings in Kyiv, in a nationwide attack on energy facilities that killed two people in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's power and heating infrastructure, plunging entire cities into darkness in the coldest winter of the four-year war.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard loud blasts and saw explosions light up the night sky, as Ukrainian air defense systems fended off the Russian barrage.

"After last night's massive attack, due to damage to critical infrastructure targeted by the enemy, nearly 2,600 more buildings in the capital have been left without heat," the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, said.

He added that two people had been wounded in the capital overnight.

More than 1,000 of the capital's approximately 12,000 apartment blocks were already without heating after massive Russian attacks over the last few weeks.

Russia launched 24 missiles and 219 drones at the war-torn country, Ukraine's air force said, adding that its air defense units had downed 16 missiles and 197 drones.

Two people were killed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Lozova, where the attack cut power to residents and forced authorities to use alternative power sources for critical infrastructure, a local official said.

The attack also wounded four people in the central city of Dnipro, and cut heating to 10,000 customers, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.

"This is yet another attempt to deprive Ukrainians of basic services in the middle of winter. But restoration efforts continue nonstop," Kuleba added.

In the southern Odesa region, the attacks wounded one person, the state emergency services said, while Kuleba said around 300,000 had been left without water supplies.

Russia meanwhile said it repelled a missile attack in the Volgograd region but that debris ignited a fire at a military facility and prompted the evacuation of a nearby village.