Turkey on Monday rejected the parliamentary elections held in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

In a statement, Tanju Bilgic, spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said: “Turkey maintains its support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and does not recognize the unlawful annexation of Crimea."

In this context, Bilgic said, the State Duma elections held in Crimea on Sept. 17-19 have “no legal validity for Turkey.”

The Ukrainian administration also objects to Russia's elections in Crimea on the grounds that it violates international law./aa

Pakistan’s military on Monday claimed to have killed a commander of a "terrorist group" involved in the murder of four women aid workers in February.

Safiullah, a commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed in a security operation in the North Waziristan district near the Afghan border, the Pakistani army said in a statement.

He was behind the fatal attacks on four women working for an NGO in February this year and engineers of the Frontier Works Organization, a military engineering unit, in November 2020, according to the army.

He was also involved in planning attacks on security forces using improvised explosive devices, as well as cases of extortion and kidnapping for ransom, it added.

Weapons and ammunition were seized during the operation, the army said.

The Pakistani military claimed to have killed at least five "terrorists" in South Waziristan on Sept. 15, with seven soldiers also losing their lives in the operation.

North and South Waziristan districts – once dubbed the heartland of militancy in Pakistan – are among the seven former semi-autonomous tribal regions where the army has conducted a series of operations since 2014 to eliminate the TTP.

The areas, including North and South Waziristan, were given the status of districts and merged with the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018.

More than 5,000 suspected militants and over 700 soldiers have been killed in aerial strikes, clashes, and land mine blasts over the past seven years. The figures, however, cannot be independently verified as media access to the former tribal areas is restricted.

The successive operations have pushed the TTP towards neighboring Afghanistan, and Islamabad claims the "terrorist network" has now set up bases across the border to attack Pakistani security forces.

The assertions, however, were persistently rejected by the government of Afghanistan’s former President Ashraf Ghani.

The military operations have also displaced over a million people, but the Pakistani government claims 95% of them have returned to their homes./agencies

The volcanic eruption on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma has destroyed around 100 homes, large swathes of agricultural land, roads and businesses, officials said on Monday.

The towns of Tacande and El Paraiso have borne the brunt of the damage. According to local media, agricultural land, mostly dedicated to growing bananas, and other businesses like wineries and rural hotels have been gutted by the lava.

Around 5,500 people have been evacuated from the area and no deaths or injuries have been reported so far.

“All of Spain is with La Palma,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who canceled his trip to New York to travel to the Atlantic Island.

After days of increased seismic activity, the volcano erupted on Sunday for the first time since 1971. The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to release lava, ash and smoke.

Experts suggest that the lava, which is traveling towards the sea at around 300 meters per hour, may continue to flow for weeks.

While local authorities warn people to stay away from the affected area, Spanish Tourism Minister María Reyes Maroto said the eruption presented a unique opportunity to see the “marvelous natural spectacle.”

The airport on the island remains functional and she said the government is letting tourists know that “the island is open.”

Her remarks have been met with hostility by many.

“This is not a marvelous spectacle or an exciting site to see, it’s a tragedy,” tweeted Ana Oramas, MP for the Canarias Coalition.

“Please be sensitive, the people of the Canary Islands aren’t in the mood for jokes," Oramas added./aa

The Biden administration announced on Monday it will lift COVID-19 travel bans starting in November while mandating that all foreign nationals seeking to come to the US show proof of vaccination before they are allowed entry.

Passengers will have to show proof of vaccination prior to boarding a US-bound plane beginning in "early November," said Jeff Zients, the administration's pandemic response coordinator.

“International travel is critical to connecting families and friends, to fueling small and large businesses, to promoting the open exchange ideas and culture,” Zients said, according to the New York Times. “That’s why, with science and public health as our guide, we have developed a new international air travel system that both enhances the safety of Americans here at home and enhances the safety of international air travel.”

Travel bans were originally imposed by the Trump administration in March 2020, and curtailed travel from some European countries and China before being expanded to include other nations, including South Africa and Brazil.

The new regulations will replace the patchwork restrictions.

In addition to being fully vaccinated, foreign travelers will also have to show a negative test result taken within three days prior to their departure, Zients reportedly said.

Unvaccinated Americans will face tighter requirements, including showing proof of a negative test within 24 hours of departure./aa

An Orthodox Jewish young man, who fears for his life after refusing to take part in the Israeli army, is seeking asylum in the UK.

The man, whose name was not revealed at the instructions of the court, got his asylum application rejected in December 2020 in the UK. The court will decide on his appeal on Monday.

The 21-year-old man, who is pursuing formal training to become a rabbi, talked to Anadolu Agency about his views on Zionism and the legitimacy of the state of Israel, as well as his stance against the compulsory military service and the ordeal he went through.

“Zionism is an affront to Judaism. According to Jewish scripture, the Jewish people are prohibited by God from assembling in masses in the Holy Land as a punishment for our sins and this punishment will only be lifted with the return of the Messiah,” he said, adding” “this was the overwhelming opinion of global Jewry for decades prior to the Holocaust.”

He said that Zionism is a political project that exploits Jewish suffering and the Jewish people in general for its own agenda.


“In the process, it has forcibly displaced the indigenous Palestinian people and stolen their land. The Zionists have engaged in theft and mass killing to create their Zionist state which racially discriminates against the Arabs. They have rebelled against God in the gravest way,” he added.

Explaining his reasons for opposing the existence of “Israel”, he said: “It is an affront to Judaism and has put in place a system that subjugates the indigenous Palestinian people by stealing their land, displacing the people, slaughtering them and denying them all rights.”

‘Immoral army’

Responding to a question on why he refused to serve in the military, he said: “It would have gone against everything that I stand for. I oppose Zionism and the legitimacy of the State of Israel and could not, therefore, participate in protecting the state. Furthermore, the State of “Israel” practices apartheid and is routinely involved in war crimes against the Palestinian people.”

“I cannot serve in such an immoral army that carries out such atrocities on a daily basis,” he added.

He said that he was arrested in 2015 during a protest against compulsory military service, when he was 17.

“I was arrested and taken into police custody. I was handcuffed and pushed to the floor and then dragged by my handcuffs. I was sworn at, spat upon, and beaten with a stick. It was a very humiliating and painful experience,” he said.

He said that he fears he will be persecuted if his asylum is rejected and has to return to Israel.

“I have been persecuted by the State of “Israel” in the past for my religious beliefs and political opinions. I am unwilling to change those beliefs and opinions as they are a fundamental aspect of my identity,” he explained.

“I will always actively oppose Zionism and fear that I will be persecuted as a result. I am afraid of being conscripted into an army that practices apartheid and engages in war crimes. As a military deserter, I fear that they will send me to prison for up to 15 years and torture me for refusing to serve,” he added.

‘He can be imprisoned for up to 15 years, tortured’

Also speaking to Anadolu Agency, the young man’s lawyer Fahad Ansari said his client can be imprisoned for up to 15 years and tortured in case of return to Israel.

He said that his client is a Rabbinical student and when he was in Israel, he was arrested for protesting against the forcible conscription of yeshiva students.

He was beaten, abused, spat upon, hit with a stick when he was in police custody, Ansari said, adding that his client then fled the country and came to the UK to seek asylum.

Ansari said that his client’s fear of going back to Israel is based on two premises.

“Firstly, he's afraid that if he goes back, he's going to be treated like a military deserter. And as a result, go to prison for up to 15 years, during which time it is likely that he will be tortured as well,” he said.

“And secondly, he feels that the fundamental aspect of his identity is that he has to protest against the state of “Israel” ... And if he does, so, he's likely to be picked up and tortured again,” he added.

Ansari said that the Home Office rejected his client’s application because he suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and that he will be exempt from military service.

However, he said that his client will not be “automatically” exempted from the military service on mental health grounds and that since he has already left the country, he is going to be treated like a deserter.

Ansari said: “It’s an asylum case. Now, we believe that he will be persecuted on the basis of his religious and political opinions, religious opinions. Obviously, he's a Jew, and he's an Orthodox Jew. And according to his beliefs, the State of Israel should not even exist, and Zionism must be opposed at all costs.”

‘Role model’

The lawyer said that he has not had a case like this before or heard anything like this.

“We haven't been able to find a precedent for it. And we think this is unprecedented,” he said, adding he is confident that they have enough evidence to convince the judge.

“It would be quite incredible for the court to refuse his appeal and to dismiss his appeal. Of course, if that was to happen. We're ready to take this to the next stage and appeal it to further up,” he added.


Ansari went on to say that his client should be a role model.

“He always says, this is not about me … I'm doing this for the Palestinians. And as I said to another colleague that this young man, as a Jew living in “Israel”, he could have lived the most privileged life. He has chosen to sacrifice all of that, not for his own sake, but for his principles and for the interests of the Palestinians and that should be admired, that should be applauded. And, if anything, this young man should be commended as a role model for young people around the world,” he said.

“And I think we need to take lessons from his courage and bravery and his resilience. And we should be supporting him anywhere we can,” he added.

Female sentenced to 3 months in prison

Sahar Vardi, an Israeli female activist who was sentenced to three months in prison for opposing the compulsory military service in her country in 2008, also told Anadolu Agency that she refused to join the military when she turned 18 and the main reason was "occupation".

“My reasons were mainly the occupation; I don't want to be part of the occupation of the Palestinian people. And so, I spent about two months in prison and three months in detention, five months in total, before I was sent for military service, and that's usually the case,” she said.

Vardi pointed out that there are different groups that reject the military service in Israel and that the vast majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews refuse to join the military.

“(Ultra-Orthodox) People spend quite a lot of time in prison for refusing (to join the military), mainly for religious reasons. Their protests … are far bigger. The biggest one that I remember was (attended by) half a million people, which is huge. The police reaction to them is usually very violent,” she said./aa

American business magnate Bill Gates’ nonprofit organization, Breakthrough Energy, announced on Monday it has partnered with seven corporations for its program to accelerate development of climate-smart technologies to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The partners include American Airlines, Bank of America, Microsoft, General Motors, steel producer ArcelorMittal, investment management firm BlackRock, and management company Boston Consulting Group.

Breakthrough Energy said in a statement that the Catalyst program provides “a new model for public-private sector partnership to help build the foundation of the net-zero economy.”

The program brings together businesses, governments, philanthropies, and individuals to invest in critical climate technologies, initially focusing on four key areas – direct air capture, green hydrogen, long-duration energy storage, and sustainable aviation fuel, read the statement.

Through direct investments, the program and its partners will help reduce the costs of clean energy technologies to compete with and replace their greenhouse gas emitting counterparts, it added.

“Avoiding a climate disaster will require a new industrial revolution. Half the technology needed to get to zero emissions either doesn’t exist yet or is too expensive for much of the world to afford,” Gates said in the statement.

“Catalyst is designed to change that ... [it] will take a global view of the energy innovation landscape – the key technologies, leading-edge companies, financing partners, and pivotal policies – and fund the projects that will have the greatest positive impact for our planet.”

Since it was introduced earlier this year, Catalyst has announced partnerships with the European Commission, European Investment Bank, and the US Department of Energy, according to the statement./aa

The increasing trend of Islamophobia could have an effect on overall security and stability in societies, Turkey's Ambassador to Pakistan Mustafa Yurdakul said Thursday, expressing concern over the issue.

Speaking at an international conference in Islamabad on the "Significance of Regional Connectivity for Shared Prosperity," Yurdakul said Turkey and Pakistan are raising their voices against this trend in the world.

"We have a bigger issue at hand: That is Islamophobia. Unfortunately, this is a growing trend around the world, especially in European countries and the West," he said.

"Where the Muslim population, minorities who are simple workers, are just trying to earn a living, each and every passing day, they are facing increasing difficulties, harassment (and) discrimination."

The conference was organized by the Center for Global and Strategic Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, in collaboration with Bahria University in Islamabad.

Yurdakul praised his country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for raising their voices against the growing Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims in those countries.

"I'm very happy that our President Erdoğan and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan are raising their voices against this challenge," he said.

He warned that if this negative trend continues, it could affect the overall security, stability and harmony in all our societies.

Racist attacks targeting Muslims or immigrants in Europe increasingly make the headlines as white supremacists become more efficient in an age where their ideals, or at least parts of them, are going mainstream. There is no single large group orchestrating these attacks against Muslims and immigrants. Rather, individual attacks lead to more copycat attacks.

Under the pretext of freedom of speech, the tolerant political climate has helped far-right sympathizers with violent tendencies expand their support.

Turkish officials, including Erdoğan, have frequently urged European decision-makers and politicians to take a stance against racism and other types of discrimination that have threatened the lives of millions of people living within the bloc’s borders.

The ambassador also spoke on bilateral relations between Turkey and Pakistan and said the relationship between the two brotherly countries is based on a very strong bond.

"The friendship and bond between Turkey and Pakistan is important for the stability and well-being of the whole region," he maintained.

Regarding the connectivity of the region, Yurdakul said Turkey has spent over $100 billion in the last 15 years on connectivity projects, and Turkey is now well connected with other countries through projects like the new Istanbul Airport and Kars-Baku-Tbilisi railway, and thus the Middle Corridor is extending to the east. He added that with a four-hour flight from Istanbul, a $24 trillion (TL 204.92 trillion) GDP is within reach in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

"Connectivity is always a very dear subject for Turkey, and I will say (this) because we discovered the importance of this subject long before it hit the headlines around the world," he added.

The ambassadors of the Central Asian republic and other countries also spoke on the occasion./agencies