AFAD

Former Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, who was appointed as deputy prime minister last week in a government reshuffle, has been appointed as the new government spokesperson. 

Bozdağ held his first press conference as the spokesperson following a cabinet meeting after the reshuffle. Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım named legislator Abdulhamit Gül as the new justice minister. 

Turkey and the European Union have agreed on a 12-month calendar on the future of Turkey's accession bid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on May 25 while returning to Turkey from meetings with the bloc's top executives and leaders of the European powerhouses.

The EU conducted some studies before the meetings, Erdoğan told journalists.

Turkey's disaster agency AFAD and the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) have accelerated a project for the social and economic integration of women and children refugees in Turkey.  

More than 3,000 Turkmens have fled Syria's northwest for Turkey over the past three days, Turkish disaster agency AFAD stated on Feb. 1, after pro-Assad forces ramped up their attacks in the region. 

"After the attacks spilled over to the Yamadi camp, the first group of 731 migrants, mostly babies, children, women and the elderly, entered our country on Jan. 29," AFAD said. 

Attacks by opposition parties against the government over its perceived failure to keep its promises of assistance to the Gaza Strip appear to have prompted a top Turkish agency to list in detail the country's assistance to Gaza, which has long been strangled by blockades, war and poor governance.

One worker has died at the restoration site of a historic railway building in the western province of Uşak, after the ceiling and one sidewall collapsed. The remainder of the historic building, which belongs to the Turkish State Railways, collapsed while efforts were continuing to rescue the worker’s body on Nov. 9.

Suspicious envelopes were sent to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and a building hosting three embassies in Ankara on Oct. 30, days after a substance sent to western consulates in Istanbul proved to be an inoffensive material similar to chalk dust.

More envelopes containing a suspicious powder were found at Ankara’s main courthouse and the Hungarian Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 27, as officials said analyses of the substances sent to five foreign consulates on Oct. 24 came back as negative for biological agents.

An envelope containing yellow powder was sent to the Hungarian Consulate early Oct. 27, the Istanbul Governor’s Office said, two days after five other Western consulates received similar suspicious packages. The incident came as the Turkish health minister announced that tests for anthrax and plague came back as negative.

One person was injured after a truck containing medical equipment exploded in the parking lot of Ankara University’s Ibn-i Sina Hospital on Oct. 23.