A court in Turkiye has given nine rail officials more than 108 years in prison for a crash that happened six years ago. The crash killed 25 people. This was reported by local media on Thursday.
In July 2018, a train in Turkey derailed near Corlu district, which is 110 kilometers west of Istanbul.
The train was going from Unlukopru, close to the Greek border, to Istanbul’s Halkali station, which is Turkey’s main train route to Europe. Seven kids died and over 300 people were hurt.
A report from an expert submitted to Corlu 1st High Criminal Court stated that heavy rain caused a rail embankment to collapse. The report also found that the railways operator was to blame for not preparing for bad weather. The ground next to a drain fell down, causing six train cars to tip over.
Pictures taken after the crash did not show any support under a part of the rail over the culvert.
Thirteen workers from Turkish Railways were accused of causing death and injury because they were not careful. Four of them were found not guilty.
The news agency Anadolu reported that the manager of Turkish Railways was sent to jail for 17 and a half years, which is the longest sentence. The deputy rail maintenance manager was given a sentence of eight years and four months.
The families of the people who were hurt in the crash want more people to be held responsible. They want the bosses of the train company and the officials from the Transportation Ministry to be charged too.
Misra Oz, whose nine-year-old son died in the crash, has been the most well-known person speaking out about the families’ complaints. Three years ago, she had to pay a fine of $1,250 for “insulting public officials” relating to the disaster.
Speaking to a large group of people before the hearing, Oz said that the people who are truly responsible for the decisions that caused negligence are not here today. He called for an end to the policy of letting people get away with no punishment. Please rephrase the following statement: “Can you please provide a plain explanation for this topic. ” “Could you simplify this topic for me please. ”
The families of the victims said that the case will not be over until important officials are put on trial.
Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the main opposition party in Turkiye, went to the trial with other politicians.
“Maybe we are noticing that government officials are finally being punished, and that the idea of getting away with doing wrong things is starting to change,” he said after the judgment.
In the last few years, Turkiye has been trying to update its train system by making faster train lines between cities. But most people still like to travel by air or road. In 2004, a very fast train crashed in Sakarya, a province in the northwest of the country, and 41 people died. 80 people were also injured in the accident.
Tag: Turkish
-
Turkish rail officials imprisoned for 108 years after a train catastrophe claimed 25 lives
-
Police on manhunt for Somali president’s son after motorcycle crash
Turkey is looking for the son of Somalia’s president because he is accused of causing a motorcycle courier’s death by running him over.
A police report said that Mohammed Hassan Cheikh Mohamud crashed into the delivery person during the day in Istanbul.
The police said he was driving a car that they think belonged to the Somali consulate.
Turkey stopped Mr. Mohamud from traveling, but they think he has already left the country.
On X, which used to be called Twitter, Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu posted a video from a security camera that shows what happened on 30 November.
A car looks like it hit the back of a motorcycle at a busy intersection on a road with many lanes.
38-year-old father-of-two named Yunus Emre Göçer was in a motorcycle accident and taken to the hospital. Sadly, he died from his injuries six days later on Wednesday.
The police report originally said that Mr Göçer was responsible for what happened, so Mr Mohamud was let go, as reported by Mr Göçer’s lawyer in Turkish media.
However, after looking at the security camera footage, it seems like there could be another reason for what happened.
Mr Mohamud, the son of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has not said anything.
The Turkish prosecutor issued a warrant for Mr. Mohamud’s arrest on Friday that applies internationally.
The police went to his house and found out that he had not been there for almost a week, according to the AFP news agency.
In the last ten years, Turkey and Somalia have become better friends. Turkey has helped Somalia by building things like roads and bridges, training the military, and giving aid to people in need. -
Turkish President hails UN for responding to earthquake
The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is speaking at the moment. He expressed gratitude to the gathered world leaders for their support after the earthquake earlier this year.
Erdogan said that we cannot forget how sincerely the international community responded to our request for help, and that it was impossible to forget their quick response.
They are currently working to rebuild the cities that were destroyed by the earthquake. -
Erdogan sworn in for third term as Turkish president
Following three terms as prime minister, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken the oath of office to begin his third presidential term.
Last week, Mr. Erdogan, 69, won a second five-year term in the presidential run-off election, potentially extending his 20 years of control in the crucial Nato member nation that sits on the border of Europe and Asia to a quarter century.
Before an inauguration ceremony that would be attended by numerous foreign dignitaries, he took the oath during a session of parliament.
The Turkish leader will announce his new cabinet later on Saturday.
Erdogan has ruled Turkey for over 20 years (Picture: Shutterstock) The line-up should indicate whether there will be a continuation of unorthodox economic policies or a return to more conventional ones amid a cost-of-living crisis.
The country of 85 million controls Nato’s second-largest army, hosts millions of refugees and played a crucial role in brokering a deal that allowed the shipment of Ukraine grain, averting a global food crisis.
Mr Erdogan is scheduled to take the oath of office in parliament, followed by an inauguration ceremony at his sprawling palace complex.
He is also in line to reveal the members of his new Cabinet during a separate ceremony later on Saturday.
Dozens of foreign dignitaries are traveling to attend the ceremony, including Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Carl Bildt, a high-profile former Swedish prime minister.
They are expected to press Mr Erdogan to lift his country’s objections to Sweden’s membership in the military alliance – which requires unanimous approval by all allies.
Turkey accuses Sweden of being too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists.
Nato wants to bring Sweden into the alliance by the time allied leaders meet in Lithuania on July 11-12, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the bid.
Mr Erdogan takes the oath of office amid a host of domestic challenges ahead, including a battered economy, pressure for the repatriation of millions of Syrian refugees and the need to rebuild after a devastating earthquake in February that killed 50,000 and levelled entire cities in the south of the country.
The country is grappling with a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by inflation that peaked at a staggering 85% in October before easing to 44% last month. The Turkish currency has lost more than 10% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year.
Critics blame the turmoil on Mr Erdogan’s policy of lowering interest rates to promote growth, which runs contrary to conventional economic thinking that calls for raising rates to combat inflation.
Unconfirmed media reports say Mr Erdogan plans to reappoint Mehmet Simsek, a respected former finance minister and deputy prime minister, to the helm of the economy.
The move would signify a return by the country, the world’s 19th largest economy according to the World Bank, to more orthodox economic policies.
In power as prime minister and then as president since 2003, Mr Erdogan is already Turkey’s longest-serving leader. He has solidified his rule through constitutional changes that transformed Turkey’s presidency from a largely ceremonial role to a powerful office.
Critics say his second decade in office was marred by sharp democratic backsliding including the erosion of institutions such as the media and judiciary and the jailing of opponents and critics.
Mr Erdogan defeated opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a run-off vote held on May 28, after he narrowly failed to secure an outright victory in a first round of voting on May 14.
Mr Kilicdaroglu had promised to put Turkey on a more democratic path and improve relations with the West.
International observers deemed the elections to be free but not fair.
-
Grain contract with Ukraine to be extended for additional two months
Turkish and Ukrainian officials claim that an agreement has been struck to extend a contract that permits grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.
The deal between Ukraine and Russia, which was mediated by Turkey and the UN, will be extended for a further two months, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Its expiration date was set for this Thursday.
The agreement, which was first struck last year, has subsequently been extended.
The extension of the grain agreement till July 18 was announced by Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Ukrainian Minister of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development, in a Facebook post.
“The world will continue to receive Ukrainian products thanks to the efforts of our partners in the agreement – Turkey and the UN,” Kubrakov said.
“We are grateful to our partners for their unwavering and focused position that the agreement should continue to work and on the terms signed by all parties,” he added.
Kubrakov also claimed that Russia has been restricting grain shipments.
“Almost 70 vessels are currently waiting in Turkish territorial waters, 90% of them are ready to deliver the products of our farmers to the world,” he said.
“We welcome the continuation of the initiative, but emphasize that it must work effectively.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also confirmed the extension, although she added that “distortions in the implementation of the grain deal should be corrected as quickly as possible.”
The United Nations has not yet commented on the extension.
After invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia blockaded vital grain exports from key Ukrainian Black Sea ports, including Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi, which meant that millions of tons of Ukrainian grain were not being exported to the many countries that rely on it.
The impact of the war on global food markets was immediate and extremely painful, as Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn market, and 13% of the barley market.
At the time, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned that as many as 47 million people could be pushed into “acute food insecurity” because of the war, and Western officials accused Russia of using food as a weapon.
The deal reached in July 2022 created procedures to ensure the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports and allowed exports to resume.
-
Turkish side Gaziantep FK put up out-of-favour midfielder Yusif Chibsah on sale
Turkish SuperLig side Gaziantep F.K are ready to sell three players including Yusif Rahman Chibsah in the ongoing transfer window, GHANASoccernet.com can exclusively reveal.
Chibsah joined Gaziantep FK on a two-year deal after ending his two-year stay at Frosinone Calcio.
The defensive midfielder enjoyed a marvelous first season at the club but endured a difficult time in the second season, making only 24 appearances in all competitions.
The 27-year-old played just 9 minutes of football in the side’s last ten matches to the end of the season.
Chibsah alongside Souleymane Diarra and Bartomiej Pawlowski are reported to have fallen out with the club which informed coach Marius Sumudica to exclude them in his squad for the final game of the campaign. The cause of the fall-out is however unknown.
The reports indicate that the Red and Black outfit have communicated with the trio to find a new club before the start of next season.
Gaziantep finished 8th on the standings with 46 points after 36 round of matches.
Source:Â Ghana Soccernet
-
Protests in Turkey over brutal murder of young woman
The brutal murder of yet another Turkish woman has triggered widespread outrage in the country, with many taking to the streets and social media to express their anger.
University student, Pinar Gultekin, 27, was killed in the Aegean province of Mugla. She was reported missing last week and was found dead in the woods on Tuesday.
According to autopsy results, Gultekin was strangled and her body placed in a barrel, which was then burned and had concrete poured on it.
Her former partner Cemal Metin Avci, a bar manager in the resort town of Akyaka, has been arrested for the murder. Police said he confessed to the killing during questioning, according to local media.
On Tuesday, several groups protested across Turkish cities, including the largest city of Istanbul, against the rising violence inflicted upon women in the country.
More protests are expected as anger over the killing continues on social media, with users calling for further action by the authorities.
Femicides have doubled since 2012
According to We Will Stop Femicides Platform, a rights group that monitors violence against women, at least 474 women were murdered in 2019, most of them by current or former partners, family members, or unrelated males who wanted a relationship with them.
Turkey was the first country to ratify a 2011 Council of Europe accord, named the Istanbul Convention, on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Turkey also adopted a law in 2012 to prevent violence against women.
However, the number of murdered women has more than doubled since then, with rights groups blaming the trend on the government’s failure to implement the convention and laws.
A conservative section within Turkish media and social groups has been lobbying for Ankara to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, arguing it has a negative influence on Turkish family values.
Speaking at an Istanbul rally calling for an end to violence against women, Fidan Ataselim, general secretary of We Will Stop Femicides Platform, said their protests will continue until the authorities hear their voices.
“We are carrying banners for a woman we do not know. It is enough now. We want to live,” she said on Tuesday, demanding that the government implement the Istanbul Convention better.
“The solution is clear. Open and read the Istanbul Convention,” added Ataselim.
“The sadness of our daughter Pinar Gultekin, who was murdered in Mugla, has pierced through our hearts. Another life has been lost,” Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, Turkey’s minister of family, labour and social services, said in a tweet.
She added the government would “intervene in the case to follow the judicial process so that the murderer will get the hardest possible sentence”.
Anger on social media
Meanwhile, social media users continued to voice their anger over the murder, using the hashtag #pinargultekin.
Gozde Aydin tweeted: “We want justice for all the girls, daughters, sisters, mothers that are being brutally murdered every single day in Turkey!!”
Another user Rengul Selma said the number of women murdered in Turkey was far more than reported.
“The latest femicide once again proves how hard it is to live in Turkey as a woman. How many more femicides do we need to hear of?” she tweeted.
Source:Â aljazeera.com
-
Kevin-Prince Boateng: I would like to stay 3 more years
Ghanaian forward Kevin-Prince Boateng want to play three seasons for Turkish giants Be?ikta?, saying “there is a positive atmosphere.”
The 32-year old joined Be?ikta? on loan from Fiorentina in the January transfer window.
Boateng in an interview stated he has always wanted to play for the Turkish giant and has set his eyes on staying for three seasons.
“Before I came, I was told,” There is a lot of pressure on the team, the team is not going well in the league and it is not good in the ranking,” he said
“But after coming here I saw this, there is a positive atmosphere. In the sense of togetherness and friendship, the situation in the team is very good.
It is difficult to achieve this. It is difficult to achieve this unity and companionship when things go bad. I saw this here. The fact that the teacher came from the exhibition caused a great excitement and enthusiasm here. â€
He said he had had much information about the club before he joined the club.
“Although I had a meeting with Be?ikta? before, my transfer did not take place. But you will never be late. But of course, when I saw the atmosphere in the match, he told reporters.
” I could have come before . ” I want to stay the longest time, I want to stay for 3 years. But of course I have to ask my wife, “he ended.
According to reports Beskitas are likely to offer him a permanent contract if he is able to play nine games without injury.
Boateng scored his debut goal for Beskitas against Gaziantep over the weekend.
Source:Â ghanaguardian.com