Turkish Armed Forces

Turkey's chief of General Staff, Gen. Hulusi Akar, has met his Israeli counterpart for the first time since the two countries normalized their ties in the wake of the 2010 Mavi Marmara Massacre. 

The meeting came on the sidelines of a NATO conference for defense heads between Jan. 17-18 in Brussels, the Turkish Armed Forces said. 

An online campaign by a 21-year-old woman has prompted the Defense Ministry to change its decision barring women students from entering navy, air force and non-commissioned officer schools.

Nikos Panatelis, a Greek prosecutor on the Supreme Court recommended the non-extradition of 4 of the 8 Turkish military officers who have been charged with treason in Turkey after the failed coup attempt last year. The 8 officers fled to Greece and requested political asylum. Greece’s Supreme Court will issue a final verdict on their fate on January 23.

'The New Turkey and its Discontents' by Simon A. Waldman and Emre Çalışkan (Hurst, £15, 344 pages)

Following the initial proposal by Supreme Court prosecutor Vasiliki Theodorou for the non-extradition of two of the eight Turkish military officers to Turkey, Tuesday, a second prosecutor, Charalampos Vourliotis also recommended that two more of the officers not be extrad

The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) delivered Turkey's indigenous infantry rifle (MPT-76) to the Defense Ministry on Jan. 11. 

In a letter to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the European Parliament's Liberal group, appealed against the prospect of Greece extraditing eight Turkish military officers whose fate is to be decided by the Greek Supreme Court this week.

Some 442 people were arrested in terror operations conducted in just the last week around Turkey, the Interior Ministry has announced. 

According to the ministry, drugs worth some 11 million Turkish liras were also confiscated in operations that were carried out between Jan. 2 and 9.

Turkish Technic, the maintenance arm of Turkish Airlines, has signed a service contract with the country's air force, the company said on Dec. 30.        

A parliamentary commission investigating the July 15 coup attempt has directed 10 questions to Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was abducted by putschist soldiers during the foiled attempt before being saved together with other members of the top brass, according to broadcaster NTV.

The questions are as follows: 

- How did you learn about the coup attempt?