Turkish Cargo, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY), has been awarded as 2021's fastest-growing international cargo airline.

Participants from the air cargo industry, agencies, customers and readers of the global air cargo industry voted for the STAT Trade Times International Award for Excellence in Air Cargo, which is considered one of the largest and most prominent events in the Asian air cargo market, Turkish Cargo said in a statement.

The award ceremony that took place in Mumbai, India, brought together industry professionals and air cargo companies from all over the world.

The fifth-largest air cargo brand in the world by the end of 2021, the company had the highest growth rate of the top 25 air cargo carriers in June last year, with a 5.7% market share, according to the freight ton-kilometers (FTK) data determined by multiplying the air cargo tonnage by the kilometers covered.

Commenting on the award, Turkish Airlines Chief Cargo Officer Turhan Ozen, said: "We are at the center of the rapidly growing and developing logistics industry with air cargo services to 132 countries worldwide."

"With the strength of Turkish Cargo's infrastructure and technology investments, its wide network and unique geographical location, we aim to make our brand one of the top three air cargo carriers in the world."

Meanwhile, Turkish airports served more than 128.3 million passengers in 2021, according to figures released on Wednesday by the country's air travel authority.

This constitutes a 57% increase from 81.7 million recorded in 2020.

Istanbul Airport alone welcomed more than 26.4 million international passengers last year, a 66% year-over-year increase, data from Airports Council International (ACI) showed.

Cargo traffic also climbed to more than 3.4 million tons in 2021 – up 36% from 2.5 million the previous year./aa

Russia hopes Turkey will "refrain" from launching an operation in northern Syria, a diplomatic spokesperson said Thursday, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan renewed the possibility of a military campaign targeting the PKK terrorist group's Syrian branch, the YPG.

"We hope that Ankara will refrain from actions that could lead to a dangerous deterioration of the already difficult situation in Syria," Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

"Such a move, in the absence of the agreement of the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic, would be a direct violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and would "cause a further escalation of tensions in Syria", she added.

Zakharova said, "We understand Turkey's concerns about threats to national security emanating from the border regions" with Syria, but added that the problem can only be solved if Syrian troops are deployed in the area.

Under the terms of a 2019 agreement Russia, the main ally of the Damascus regime, and Turkey agreed to ensure YPG forces withdrew from areas in Syria close to the Turkish border and to launch joint patrols.

Turkey, which has mounted four operations in northern Syria since 2016, has vowed a new operation against YPG terrorists that control swathes of territory near the Turkish border.

While Turkey views the YPG forces in Syria as terrorists and a national security threat, the United States views the group as an ally that has helped drive Daesh from vast areas of Syria.

Washington, whose support for the YPG has long been a point of tension in ties with its NATO ally Turkey, has expressed concern, saying any new operation would put at risk U.S. troops – which have a presence in Syria – and undermine regional stability.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday warned NATO ally Turkey against a military operation in Syria, saying it would put the region at risk.

On a visit to the Turkish town of Hatay near the Syrian border, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations reiterated U.S. opposition to any military action.

"We have engaged with the Turkish government. We have indicated our opposition to any decision to take military action on the Syrian side of the border. We think that nothing should be done to break the ceasefire lines that have already been established," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

She added that any such action would not only increase suffering but also the number of displaced people, including some who might try to cross the border into Turkey.

Erdoğan said on Wednesday Turkey would rid Syria's Tal Rifaat and Manbij areas of terrorists, confirming the targets of the operation and saying it would continue into other regions.

"We are taking another step in establishing a 30-kilometer security zone along our southern border. We will clean up Tal Rifaat and Manbij", he said, referring to two northern Syrian cities.

Erdoğan said they would then proceed, "step by step, into other regions".

Turkey is one of several powers drawn into the war in Syria, where Russia backs the Bashar Assad regime.

Russian army helicopters have been making unusually frequent flights over northern areas held by the regime or YPG over the last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based organization that reports on the conflict, said.

On the ground, there has been an uptick in violence between Syrian parties to the war. But sources on both sides say they have not seen big military movements.

A Turkey-backed Syrian opposition force, the National Army, said the YPG had intensified shelling of its areas.

"We are responding from our positions and Turkish bases in the area are shelling YPG positions," Major Youssef Hammoud, its spokesperson, said.

On Wednesday, three civilians and a fighter were killed in a rocket attack on Tal Abyad, a border town seized by Turkish forces and their Syrian allies in 2019, said the Observatory.

The Observatory said the rockets were fired from areas where both YPG and regime forces operate. The opposition National Army said the YPG was responsible.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which has been waging an insurgency since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. Western governments, including the United States and European Union, designate the PKK as a terrorist organization./agencies

“Israeli” authorities arrested over 60 people – but only Palestinians – during a nationalist march conducted by Jews who shouted racist slogans, vandalized Palestinian property and assaulted Palestinians, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday.

“Israeli” police had said after Sunday’s march that dozens of people were arrested, but have refused to give a breakdown, despite queries by The Associated Press (AP). The Haaretz daily reported Thursday that it checked arrest records name by name, and found that no Jews were among those detained. It said two Jews were arrested in a separate, related incident.

Tens of thousands of “Israeli” nationalists participated in Sunday’s parade – an annual march that celebrates [Israel’s] capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians consider the event a provocation.

“Israeli” police cleared out the area for the marchers, who passed through a Palestinian neighborhood before proceeding to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City to pray at the Western Wall.

Large crowds, many of them young Orthodox Jewish youths carrying “Israeli” flags, gathered at the entrance to the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, dancing and chanting slogans such as "Death to Arabs,” before continuing on their way. Inside the Old City, the marchers pounded on the gates of Palestinian businesses and scuffled with angry Palestinian residents. Videos captured on social media showed marchers spitting, beating and spraying pepper spray at Palestinians and journalists.

Fights broke out along the route, as police mainly intervened to protect Jews and forcibly disperse Palestinians.

According to the Haaretz report, nearly all of those arrested Thursday were Palestinian. Two Jewish suspects were arrested after the parade for the beating of a Palestinian journalist during unrest outside the Old City, it said. The newspaper compiled the statistics by going through court records in the days after the parade.

“Israeli” police did not respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said only a small minority of the flag marchers was responsible for the bad behavior and vowed to prosecute anyone who broke the law.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have long complained of a double standard in which Palestinian crowds are frequently arrested and violently dispersed by police with clubs, tear gas and rubber bullets, while Jewish settlers often carry out attacks and vandalism with virtual impunity. “Israeli” police deny such charges, saying they are merely enforcing the law.

The Old City is part of East Jerusalem, which “Israel” annexed in a move not recognized internationally and considers part of its capital. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.

Human rights groups say that discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem is part of a broader system that amounts to apartheid. “Israel” vehemently rejects that label as an assault on its legitimacy rooted in anti-Semitism.

“Israel” captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future independent state. The last round of substantive peace talks broke down over a decade ago./AP

The lives of the siblings of women abducted by the PKK terrorist group, and its Syrian branch the YPG, have been shaken by the disappearance of their sisters, exacting a heavy toll on their hopes for the future as some fear they could suffer the same fate.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), family members attending an anti-PKK protest in southeastern Turkey shared their perspectives on the abductions and how they were affected after their sisters went missing after being kidnapped by terror affiliates.

The sit-in protest in the Diyarbakır province has been ongoing outside the office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), an opposition party accused by the protesters of playing a role in their children's forced recruitment and abduction by the PKK and YPG.

"My elder sister, who is hearing-impaired, was abducted by PKK supporters nine years ago when she was 15, shortly after having foot surgery, and she still had stitches," said Fadile Koç, a 21-year-old protester who has been taking part in the sit-in for months.

According to Koç, her family became "ultra-protective" of her and other younger family members, and her life has been greatly affected as her parents did not want her to leave home for extended periods, either for work or education, in an effort to protect her from getting recruited by the PKK/YPG.

"What's the point of fighting? How could this benefit the Kurdish people as they (PKK/YPG) claim?" she said. "We are all brothers and sisters. My brother is a soldier, while my sister is in the mountains (within PKK/YPG) ranks. Siblings are shooting each other. This does not make the slightest bit of sense."

"If the PKK was an organization truly fighting for the rights of the Kurdish people, they would not devastate families by stealing their underage children," she said. "They cannot fool me. I'm not buying this at all."

Zeynep Öner, 23, has been taking part in the protest for the past eight months to bring back her sister Zahide, who disappeared when she was 22, and the family believes PKK/YPG sympathizers played a role in her abduction.

"Our lives turned upside down upon the disappearance of my elder sister, and the warm family atmosphere we once enjoyed turned just into a memory," she said.

"If you take a look at the families here, you will see that most are coming from a modest background. This means that the (PKK/YPG) organization intentionally targets illiterate, poor families as they believe this is much easier for them to trick the children into joining them with false promises," she said.

Öner, who is residing in a southeastern Turkish province, said she frequently had nightmares in which she was also abducted by terror affiliates and is worried that all her efforts to become a teacher could be in vain.

"I got paranoid for years. It was like I could not help but think that everyone was staring at me while walking idly in the streets and they could just forcibly take me somewhere against my will. This also inflicted a heavy blow on my education, but thankfully, I survived this ordeal," she said.

She still firmly believes that her elder sister will flee the terror group and reunite with her family someday in the future.

"Even if she does not – perhaps because she is already dead – I will look back years later and say that I did my part to save my beloved sister."

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa

Tobacco is a big health threat to humans and also to the planet as the tobacco industry poses a far greater danger to world's environments than many realize. It is one of the biggest polluters on Earth, from leaving mountains of waste to driving global warming, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.

The WHO accused the industry of causing widespread deforestation, diverting badly needed land and water in poor countries away from food production, spewing out plastic and chemical waste as well as emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide.

In its report released on World No Tobacco Day, the United Nations agency called for the tobacco industry to be held to account and foot the bill for the cleanup.

The report, "Tobacco: poisoning our planet," looks at the impacts of the whole cycle, from the growth of plants to the manufacturing of tobacco products, to consumption and waste.

While tobacco's health impacts have been well documented for decades – with smoking still causing more than eight million deaths worldwide every year – the report focuses on its broader environmental consequences.

The findings are "quite devastating," Ruediger Krech, WHO director of health promotion, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), charging that the industry is "one of the biggest polluters that we know of."

Poison

He slammed tobacco companies' frequent efforts to rehabilitate their image through beach cleanups and funding environmental and disaster relief organizations as "greenwashing."

"The tobacco industry dumps toxic waste into communities and depletes natural resources," he told a press conference.

"Tobacco is not only poisoning people, it's poisoning our planet."

The industry is responsible for the loss of some 600 million trees each year – or 5% of global deforestation – while tobacco growing and production uses 200,000 hectares of land and 22 billion tonnes of water annually, the report found.

It also emits around 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it said.

In addition, "tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7,000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded," Krech said.

4.5 trillion cigarette butts

He pointed out that each one of the estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts that end up in the oceans, rivers, sidewalks and beaches every year can pollute 100 liters of water.

And up to a quarter of all tobacco farmers contract so-called green tobacco sickness, or poisoning from the nicotine they absorb through the skin.

Farmers who handle tobacco leaves all day consume the equivalent of 50 cigarettes worth of nicotine a day, Krech said.

This is especially worrying for the many children involved in tobacco farming.

"Just imagine a 12-year-old being exposed to 50 cigarettes a day," he said.

Most tobacco is grown in poorer countries, where water and farmland are often in short supply, and where such crops are often grown at the expense of vital food production, the report said.

U.N. agencies have launched a project to try to help farmers transition to other crops.

Plastic pollution

At the same time the processing and transportation of tobacco account for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions – with the equivalent of one-fifth of the global airline industry's carbon footprint.

In addition, products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also contribute significantly to the global build-up of plastic pollution, WHO warned.

Cigarette filters contain microplastics – the tiny fragments that have been detected in every ocean and even at the bottom of the world's deepest trench – and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide, the report said.

Stressing that there is no evidence filters provide any proven health benefits over smoking non-filtered cigarettes, the U.N. agency urged policy makers worldwide to consider banning them.

The WHO also called for governments to immediately halt the some $500 billion in subsidies the tobacco industry receives each year, and also urged them to stop allowing taxpayers to foot the bill for cleaning up the industry's mess.

Each year, China for instance dishes out around $2.6 billion and India around $766 million, while Brazil and Germany pay some $200 million each to clean up littered tobacco products, the report found.

It is important, Krech said, that "the industry pay actually for the mess that they are creating."/AFP

We live in uncertain times, with fluctuating energy prices and volatile energy markets. The current global energy crisis highlights the indispensable role of energy security. The spike in gas prices compounded with supply difficulties faced by Europe in meeting its gas needs are, in fact, signals. It has now become evident that the current situation is unstable and unpredictable.

The sharp increase in energy prices subsequently affects both citizens and economies. Some key causes of the gas market crisis lie in outages, supply bottlenecks and a lack of key gas infrastructure in some regions of Europe. Continued support to energy projects that are key to ensuring energy security and a well-managed transition can reduce the risks of energy market volatility and its impacts on businesses and consumers.

Energy security is interweaved with the national security of any country, but sometimes it becomes a source of rivalry and hostility. Forecasting future energy demand is a difficult task. The uncertainties in the energy market demand that we as policymakers craft short and medium-term strategies. Another permanent factor is geopolitics. Energy market participants should decide whether cooperation in the spirit of true partnership will prevail or rivalry and wars will shape the contours of future energy architecture. Energy resources should add value to the development and prosperity of nations, build trust among countries and regions, and create a win-win situation for all participants. The future course of regional energy architecture also depends on the development of reliable networks of interconnectors.

As in all spheres of markets, diversification is essential in reducing countries’ dependence on others. It is the nature and rationale of an independent state in today’s world. Considering the contemporary dynamics and active realities, energy emerges as the most significant market for diversification. Currently, it is the most potent weapon with the absolute power to start a war.

War’s impacts

In this context, the ongoing war in Ukraine can be used as an example is understanding the potential limits of energy. Since the start of the war, European nations have rushed to calculate their energy future and accelerate projects and initiatives for alternatives, as they mostly depend on Russian gas. Sanctions after sanctions, in a great reaction and mobilization, Europe is attempting to corner the Kremlin. Meanwhile, Moscow knows its energy supremacy well and uses it as a card against who it sees as rivals and importers simultaneously. In other words, energy and related policies shape and dominate the Europe-Russia diplomacy traffic.

However, Europe’s seeking alternatives has its roots before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The continent is well aware of its independence need for a while.

Poland’s stance

Whether in the Southern Gas Corridor or other energy developments or in another field completely, "diversification" requires diplomacy, negotiation or whatever you want to call it. Poland’s stance here is worth mentioning as a valuable example. To be precise, my country condemns the Russian aggression in Ukrainian cities, supports Europe’s diversification plans in energy but is still trying to find a good diplomatic, peaceful solution.

In my view, a rational approach like this can help end a war, diversify the energy supply and improve relations at the same time through strong diplomacy. Poland believes that all sides, from European countries to Russia, can benefit from energy diplomacy. Aggression can be stopped, as can sanctions against Russia, while energy diversification is provided for Europe. Poland, therefore, calls for all parties to gather at an energy diplomacy table./DS

Seeking to strengthen energy security, northern European countries are discussing plans to create a common power grid under the North Sea to connect future offshore wind farms.

But the ambitious proposal faces financing and regulatory challenges.

European nations have announced pledges to build dizzying amounts of offshore wind farms, spurred partly by the need to cut heavy reliance on Russian oil and gas in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

"The more interdependent we become in Europe, the more independent we will become from Russia," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit in May to the Danish port of Esbjerg, used by top wind turbine makers Vestas and Siemens Gamesa.

"We all know green power generation is great. But if you really want to use it, you need a grid and there, we have to step up," she said.

It is, however, unclear how huge amounts of green power can be exchanged across borders without overloading already strained onshore grids or creating a spaghetti bowl of cables on the seabed.

An idea being looked at are offshore grids, with new wind farms connected to hubs, or energy islands, and linked by interconnecting power cables that supply several European markets instead of just one.

Danish grid firm Energinet is already discussing connecting two energy islands in the Danish parts of the North and Baltic Seas with Germany and Belgium.

There are also talks with Norway, the Netherlands and Germany about future projects, said Hanne Storm Edlefsen, who is in charge of developing energy islands at Energinet.

Joint wind farms

Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium announced plans in mid-May to build 150 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2050, up from just around 15 GW today, a 10-fold jump.

"What is completely new is that we see the build-out of renewables as something which is done best jointly," Danish Climate and Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen told Reuters.

A North Sea grid saves money and helps manage production volatility, with wind output varying by location, but often following a predictable pattern, said Chris Peeters, CEO of Belgian transmission grid operator Elia.

"A lot of those meteorological phenomena, like wind, have a tendency to travel over Europe – you see them passing from the Irish Sea over the North Sea and towards the Baltic," he told Reuters.

An energy hub at sea also allows for wind power produced to remain offshore until it is needed by consumers onshore.

"We have this island, it collects the wind around it, and then it brings it to shore, or it brings it to another hub that then brings it to shore in the country that has the demand at that moment in time," Peeters said.

This avoids overloading the grid on land, a common issue with Germany routinely paying Danish wind producers to turn their wind turbines off for a while to limit imports and avoid straining its grid.

Who will pay?

Still, creating a meshed grid will take at least a decade to build and will probably cost more than a double-digit billion dollar amount, industry sources told Reuters.

There is one hybrid cable in operation in Europe to-date, connecting several wind farms in the Baltic Sea to both Denmark and Germany, operated by Energinet and German grid operator 50Hertz, of which Elia owns 80%.

Hybrid projects combine generation and transmission elements and connect two or more markets while existing offshore wind farms have traditionally sent their power to shore via individual cables to a single country.

It is also unclear who will invest and develop these projects which involve several countries and, in some cases, include non-EU member Britain.

"The big problem is that all parties must have the incentive to join the development of hybrid projects and that is not currently the case," Ulrik Stridsbaek, head of regulatory affairs at Orsted.

Current regulation does not allow for the necessary sharing of costs and revenue that would incentivize all parties to invest, he said.

Despite this, Orsted, which has built roughly a quarter of the world's wind farms at sea, sees hybrid projects as crucial to unlock offshore wind's future potential.

"We think that hybrids can be a huge saving of time, money and hassle," Stridsbaek told Reuters.

No rocket science

Several more hybrid interconnectors are planned across Europe, but the key hurdle is the lack of a clear European regulatory framework, according to Giles Dickson, head of industry lobby group WindEurope.

"It doesn't make sense to continue building out offshore wind towards the huge volumes governments are now committing to, if you try to do it only through point-to-point, radial grid connections," he told Reuters.

Still, these may be the go-to solution in the short-term as Europe seeks a quick build-out of its offshore wind capacity to replace Russian fossil fuels, said Soeren Lassen, a researcher at Wood Mackenzie.

"I am not sure whether the meshed grid will be the solution in the short term in the 2020s," he told Reuters.

Legal hurdles remain and risked delays, he added.

WindEurope's Dickson argues there needn't be a delay if the European Commission said what regulation could look like.

"It can be done very quickly if the political will is there," he said. "It's not rocket science."/Reuters

The United Nations General Assembly had declared June 3 as "World Bicycle Day" back in 2018 to promote the use of environmentally friendly and healthy means of transport, a day when international and local events would encourage to support the development of cycling culture in communities. Today, three years later as the "World Bicycle Day" approaches cycling is steadily gaining popularity around the world, and the Netherlands stands as the country where the average number of bicycles per person is the highest.

According to the data released by the Dutch Cyclists' Association, the country has 2.3% of the 1 billion bicycles in the world, with an average of 1.3 bicycles per person.

The Netherlands is followed by Denmark with 0.8, Japan with 0.6, Belgium with 0.5, China with 0.4 and the United States with 0.3 bicycles per person.

Netherlands

Bicycle, which is a part of daily life in the Netherlands, is used by everyone from age 7 to 70.

With a population of 17 million, the Netherlands, which constitutes 0.2% of the world's population, has 23 million bicycles.

The bicycle, which is mostly used for commuting and transporting children to school in the country, is also preferred for entertainment regardless of the weather conditions. In this context, bicycles are used for work in 22%, going to school in 18% and shopping in 14% of cases. In addition, 31% use bicycles for entertainment and 16% for other purposes.

In the Netherlands, where cycling is a way of life, approximately 1 million new bicycles are sold every year. Half of them are electric-assisted bicycles that provide extra power when pedaling, thanks to the battery on them.

The majority of the people who were introduced to bicycles at a young age use second-hand bicycles.

In the country where a shared bicycle program is active, there are approximately 22,000 bicycles at more than 300 different points. After these bikes are rented for a certain fee and used, they are returned to the point where they are taken.

In the country, where there are 37,000 kilometers (22,991 miles) of bicycle paths almost the width of the world's circumference, an average of 888 kilometers is traveled per person every year and approximately 15 billion kilometers per year across the country are traveled by bicycle.

While the surroundings of the train stations are reserved for bicycles, the city of Utrecht, which is considered the center of stations, has the world's largest bicycle park with a capacity of 12,500 bicycles.

Turkey

Turkey's cycling community is also booming in recent times with numerous initiatives and organizations popping up alongside several events.

President of Turkish Cycling Federation Emin Müftüoğlu stated that Turkey is among the top 10 in the world when cycling organizations are considered in terms of quality, content and organizational skills.

"We are among the top 10 cycling organizations in the world in terms of quality, content, organizational skills, promotion, cultural activities, accommodation, presentation of historical and natural beauties to the world, discipline and performance," Müftüoğlu said.

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change plans to build a further 3,000 kilometers of bicycle paths, 3,000 kilometers of green walking paths, 60 kilometers of environmentally friendly streets and 60,000 square meters (645,834 square feet) of noise barriers.

Spain

Spaniards stand in the middle level in terms of cycling within the European Union countries.

According to a survey published by the Global Consumer Survey in 2021, 24% of the population aged 18 to 64 in Spain prefers cycling at least twice a week for urban transportation.

While 7% of Spaniards use the bicycle daily, 48% of the population defines themselves as a bicycle user.

The government aims to increase the daily use of bicycles in transportation across the country to 10% by 2030.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, where sales of bicycles and electric scooters increased after the COVID-19 pandemic, 69 of every 100 households have at least one bicycle.

The sum of national and urban cycle paths in the country, where an average of 320,000 bicycles are sold every year, reaches 8,500 kilometers.

While there are nine national and 54 regional bike lanes in the country, local governments are increasing the number of bike lanes to reduce traffic congestion and promote environmentally friendly transportation.

Germany

There are 81 million bicycles in Germany, where bicycle and electric scooter sales have increased, just like Switzerland. Around 2.3 million bicycles were produced in the country last year. Münster, in the west of the country, is known as the city of bicycles in Germany. In particular, the state of Berlin is increasing the number of bike lane roads to promote environmentally friendly transport.