The slow-burn race for the most powerful job in world sport roared into life on Wednesday, set against the dazzling backdrop of the Ionian Sea, where the seven contenders for the International Olympic Committee presidency made their final moves ahead of a vote that will shape the sporting landscape for the next decade.
Turkey’s justice minister said on Wednesday that linking President Tayyip Erdogan to ongoing legal moves including the detention of Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s mayor and Erdogan’s main political rival, amounted to overstepping and insolence.
Istanbul Mayor and President Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival, Ekrem Imamoglu, said in his first comments following his detention on Wednesday that Turkish people would give the necessary response to “lies, plots and traps” against him.
Amberin Zaman, Al-Monitor’s chief correspondent based in Paris and covering major stories on Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, joins Thanos Davelis to break down what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s new willingness to engage with Kurdish leaders means for the peace process with the country’s Kurds and the PKK.
Aegean Airlines will increase its seat offering this year by 10% compared to 2024, to reach 21.5 million seats, Chairman Eftichios Vassilakis said.
The Greek government is set to recommence surveys in April for the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), a subsea electricity cable linking Greece and Cyprus, despite technical delays and Turkish opposition.
Human Rights Watch Turkey Director Emma Sinclair-Webb condemned the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and others from the Istanbul municipality on Wednesday, calling it a “flagrant abuse of the justice system.”
Turkey’s lira fell as much as 12.7% and touched a new all-time low of 42 to the dollar on Wednesday, with bonds and stocks also tumbling sharply, after authorities detained President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival.
Greek banks’ lending to Greek-owned ocean-going shipping increased from $15.8 billion at the end of 2023 to around $17 billion in end-2024.
The death toll from Greece’s catastrophic Storm Daniel may be significantly higher than official figures suggest, according to a new study by the Center for Research & Education in Public Health, Health Policy & Primary Health Care (KEPY).