Over 1000 American and 500 South Korean personnel are participating in the exercises, along with US 7th Air Force and South Korean Air Force gunships. The exercises are held amid sharp escalation of the situation in the Korean Peninsula.
“Negative implications in social moods, Turkey’s domestic policy, in the context of intra-ethnic situation, in particular, linked to Kurds, and economists claim that it’ll have a negative effect on Turkey’s economy,” he said.
The National Security Council of Turkey will convene a session on April 17 to discuss extending the state of emergency in the country, Vice Prime Minister of the country Nurettin Canikli told A Haber.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel also said on Monday that Turkish authorities needed to address concerns about the content and procedure of the referendum raised by a panel of European legal experts.
“If the decision on re-introducing death penalty is passed in the Parliament, I will ratify it. If it doesn’t pass, we will hold another referendum on introducing death penalty,” he said.
“The referendum results created a divided country. The EU’s cooperation with this country in the future will become more difficult,” he said.
Protests erupted in Turkey’s Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other cities after the constitutional referendum results were published. The protestors chanted “This is just the beginning, we will continue the struggle”, Sozcu news agency reported.
Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan expressed hope for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Iranian Minister made the remarks during a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov in Tehran, Mehr reported.
Up to 30 thousand soldiers, more than 250 tanks, over 200 various caliber missile-artillery systems, multiple rocket launchers, 25 gunships, UAVs and new radio-electronic reconnaissance devices are involved in the military exercises.
“These directions of cooperation are planned under the NATO-Armenia Individual Partnership Action Plan. Our main goal is conveying NATO standards and positive experience to partner countries,” the NATO official said.
