The Turkish Coast Guard Command announced on Saturday that it rescued 41 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea who were pushed back into Turkish territorial waters with one set on fire by the Greek Coast Guard.

The command said on its website that coast guard teams were dispatched to rescue asylum seekers early Saturday off the Cesme district in Izmir province.

An asylum seeker with a burn on his leg was handed to Emergency Medical Personnel.

Additionally, Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu shared footage on Twitter that showed Greek forces pushing asylum seekers into Turkish territorial waters.

"Greek Law Enfor. Agencies seek to burn people, pouring gasoline on them, which indicates massacre under scout of Europe," said Soylu.

"Europe shall go down history as instigator of this malignancy, by spoiling Greece and keeping silent to what's going on there @EU_Commission," he added.

Speaking about the incident on the video, one of the victims said: "There was a woman. She said: 'You go.' But We did not go. She brought oil, spilled over us and set fire. The police said: 'You got burnt as you did not go to Turkey.'

"They brought us here with our own boat and left us at the sea," the victim added.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

Turkey and human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children./aa

The death anniversary of Turkey's eighth President Turgut Ozal was marked on Saturday with a ceremony that was attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ozal's family and government officials.

Among participants at the ceremony held at his memorial graveyard in Istanbul's Topkapi district were Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and other officials.

Erdogan placed a wreath on the grave.

"I feel empty without him" Ozal's wife, Semra, told reporters.

“It is difficult to speak about him, my longing and pain increases,” she said while confined to a wheelchair.

Ozal pioneered several major innovations for the nation in line with the target of Great Turkey, Erdogan said in a statement earlier, according to Turkey's Communication Directorate.

"Turgut Ozal has won the love of our nation with his exceptional personality as well as the democratization and development moves he pioneered," said Erdogan.

Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop said: "I commemorate President Turgut Ozal with mercy and gratitude on the 28th anniversary of his death."/aa

Firefighters are battling to contain forest fires that erupted on Saturday in southwestern and western Turkey.

A fire broke out in Mentese, in southeastern Mugla province, for unknown reasons.

A total of 150 forest workers, five firefighters and 45 water tankers battled flames that the wind helped spread in a short time over the region.

The fire is burning but does not threaten settlements, for now, Mentese Mayor Bahattin Gumus told Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, the team of the regional directorate of forestry is battling to contain another fire that erupted in the Kavaklidere district of Mugla.

That blaze that wind helped spread in a short time in the region also broke out for unknown reasons.

And firefighters contained a fire that erupted in the mountainous area of Turkey’s Aegean province of Izmir.

Firefighters were dispatched to the fire zone in Odemis district.

There have been no reports of casualties from the fires./aa

At least two people, including a top national army commander, were killed when a roadside bomb targeted a military vehicle outside Bal'ad, Middle Shabelle region, an official said on Saturday.

The attack occurred near Gololey on the outskirts of Bal'ad, an agricultural town 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the capital, Mogadishu.

Police officer Abdi Rage told Anadolu Agency that the military was carrying Yasin Abdi Tohow, a top military commander in Middle Shabelle, when it was targeted by the blast that killed him and one of his bodyguards. Several others were also injured.

Hirshabelle regional State President Ali Gudlawe Hussein confirmed the death of Tohow and offered condolences to his family.

Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and said it killed the commander and wounded more than five other soldiers./aa

A Turkish charity donated new clothes and shoes to 500 orphaned children in Ethiopia on Saturday.

The distribution was organized by the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV) in the capital Addis Ababa.

Cemil Alici, a religious services adviser at the Turkish Embassy, told Anadolu Agency that TDV has been conducting charity drives in Ethiopia during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan for the last 10 years.

“As in the past, this year’s Ramadan gifts from Turkey will help these children enjoy their Eid with brand-new footwear and clothes,” he said, adding that Turkey will continue to assist Ethiopians in need.

“We plan to expand our aid efforts to building schools, clinics, and drinking water facilities all across Ethiopia over the coming years.”

Hala Abrar, 10, was visibly delighted with the gifts.

“Now I feel I have someone who can do what my family used to do for me. I am happy and thankful,” she told Anadolu Agency./aa

The loss of autonomy in August 2019 and introduction of new laws may lead to a reduced level of political representation and participation of local groups in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, according to UN experts.

This concern was raised by five UN special rapporteurs in a letter to the Indian government on Feb. 10 that was made public by the UN on Saturday.

The special rapporteurs are for minority issues, promotion, and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association; contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; and the special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

They said native groups such as Kashmiri, Dogri, Gojri, Pahari, Sikh, Ladakhi, and other minorities faced reduced levels of political representation and participation due to the “abolishment of the regional government and its power to legislate.”

Before Aug. 5, 2019, the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir was the only state that had its own constitution and a bicameral assembly that could make laws.

Another provision scrapped by New Delhi – Article 35A – barred outsiders from buying properties or applying for government jobs in the region.

Not only were these provisions abrogated, but also the state was divided into two centrally ruled territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir is currently ruled directly by New Delhi through a lieutenant governor.

At present, there is no member of the Kashmiri Muslim community – the largest ethnic group in the region – in the governor’s secretariat.

The rapporteurs said the new citizenship law “may cause demographic changes” and “risks undermining the linguistic and cultural rights and the freedom of religion or belief of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the autonomous region which had been established in 1947 to guarantee their ethnic, linguistic and religious identities.”

New domicile laws have made it easier for an individual outside Jammu and Kashmir to obtain residency certificates of the region than the native residents, the UN experts said.

These laws also risk diminishing native residents’ access to public employment, they warned, adding that it was a “matter of grave concern” that New Delhi could modify residency laws without the consultation of the local population.

Fast-tracking the process of residency certification and revising the residency rights of native residents “may be discriminatory and further deteriorate the overall human rights situation of the minorities there,” the UN rapporteurs said.

“It is also feared that the military presence in the area is likely to increase, which might lead to a possible higher risk of human rights violations,” read the letter.

The Indian government’s attention was also drawn towards “concerns expressed in previous communications regarding the ongoing internet shutdowns, restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of expression, as well as the reported pattern of detentions and harassment of journalists and human rights defenders.”

These actions, the UN experts added, “may not have given the people of Jammu and Kashmir the possibility to meaningfully participate in the political process around the new residency laws and other matters.”

The experts reminded the Indian government that concerns about the “deteriorating human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, including alleged ongoing violations of India’s minorities, particularly Kashmiri Muslims” have been raised in five earlier communications by several special rapporteurs since August 2019.

The Indian government has responded to none of these communications so far, according to the UN.

Disputed territory

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, New Delhi and Islamabad have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire took effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989./aa

A drug and vaccine candidate that can also be used in the form of a protective spray against the novel coronavirus has been developed by Akdeniz University in Turkey’s southern Antalya province, the university reported on Saturday.

A protein produced on the leaves of a type of tobacco plant called “Nicotiana benthamiana” via “Transient Plant Expression System” was taken as a base for the drug, it noted.

Dr. Tarlan Mammedov, a member of the university’s Faculty of Agriculture and also a member of the Vaccine Science Board of the Biotechnology Institute of the Presidency of the Turkish Institutes of Health, along with his team produced the drug.

Mammedov said they are working on the "angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)," which, if used as a spray, is of great importance to prevent the virus from entering the cell.

He noted that the reduction of this enzyme, which is blocked by the COVID-19 virus, in the body leads to significant human health problems, noting that the enzyme is found in small amounts in the majority of patients in intensive care units.

'Drug can be released within 4 months'

"With the Transient Plant Expression System, we have achieved a high rate of production of this enzyme,” said Mammedov, adding that they are ready to release it to save people’s lives.

“These proteins, which we produce from the plant, can be used in treatment in both spray and injection forms,” he said.

He also said the drug can be released within four months if the financial source is provided.

In addition to the protective properties of these proteins, it can be applied against COVID-19, and used for therapeutic purposes if it is produced in the form of injections, Mammedov noted.

"But for this, a Phase 1 study needs to be conducted,” he added.

“We developed kits that measure the body's antibody level. We compared the kits we developed with commercially made kits and obtained the same results in the analyses.

“These kits can be used to measure patients' antibody levels. Tests with the live virus came back positive.”

 ‘We conducted tests of vaccine candidates with live viruses'

Mammedov noted that they have also achieved an important stage in vaccine studies.

"Protein-based vaccines have advantages over other vaccines. They are effective against various mutations of coronavirus.

“We have produced several vaccine candidates based on recombinant protein. We have completed important tests on these vaccine candidates.”

“Animal tests showed that these antigens produced high titer antibodies in mice. This suggests that the proteins they produce in the plant constitute a promising vaccine candidate.

“We tested these vaccine candidates with live viruses. We found a high level of inhibition of the live virus from entering the cell,” said Mammedov.

“If financial support is provided, we are ready to move to (other) phase studies," he added./aa

Zionist warplanes conducted airstrikes in the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Zionist army said on Saturday. 

No casualties were reported following the attack, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

The Zionist army claimed on Twitter that it hit targets belonging to the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, including a training facility, an anti-aircraft missile launcher post and a concrete production plant in Gaza.

The strikes came after a rocket was launched from Gaza, it said.

Gazan authorities have yet to statement on the airstrikes.

The densely populated Gaza Strip has been under an Egyptian- Zionist blockade since 2007 when Hamas took control of the strip.

The blockade has undermined living conditions in the coastal enclave.

More than 2,160 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians, and 11,000 injured in a Zionist onslaught against the Gaza Strip in 2014./aa

The Bashar al-Assad regime used nearly 82,000 barrel bombs in nine years of attacks on civilian settlements under the control of the opposition in different parts of Syria, a monitoring group said Friday. 

In a report on the regime's attacks on civilians with barrel bombs from July 2021 to April 2021, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said the regime dropped 81,916 barrel bombs, killing 11,087 civilians, including 1,821 children and 1,780 women.

Regime forces used 2,314 barrel bombs in 2012, 14,976 in 2013, 19,654 in 2014, 17,318 in 2015, 12,958 in 2016, 6,243 in 2017, 3,601 in 2018, 378 in 2019 and 474 in 2020.

The use of barrel bombs has not been recorded in 2021 in Syria.

Since 2012, the regime has used barrel bombs filled with poison gas in 93 attacks.

The provinces most targeted were Damascus, Aleppo, Daara and Idlib but the most casualties were reported in Aleppo.

The bombs also were used in at least 728 attacks on civilian facilities, including 104 on medical facilities, 205 against mosques, 188 on schools and 57 targeting markets.

The regime used barrel bombs as a tool to displace civilians, and millions of civilians were displaced as a result of attacks by the regime and its supporters, the report said.

Attacks were carried out with barrel bombs because of their low cost, around $50, but their massive destructive effect.

It mostly targets civilian areas with the bombs and aims for the highest number of casualties and greatest destruction.

The regime’s use of chemical weapons was previously confirmed by UN investigators as well as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons.

Assad forces’ use of chlorine as a chemical weapon is a violation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which it is a party, as well as UN Security Council Resolution 2118.

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates./aa