25 February 2016•Update: 25 February 2016
ISTANBUL
Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
Dailies on Thursday mainly dedicated their front pages to a disputed gold-mining project in northeastern Turkey plus an anti-terror operation in southeastern Diyarbakir province.
HURRIYET ran with the headline: “Cerattepe agreement”.
Cerattepe, a forested, mountainous area in northeastern Artvin province, saw days of protests against the mining project led by Eti Bakir Inc.
Locals have protested against the mine since last June over fears the operation will spoil the area’s natural beauty.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and representatives of the Green Artvin Association, which opposes the project, met in Ankara.
Afterwards, Davutoglu announced that operations at the gold mine would be suspended until a court decision.
VATAN’s headline read: “It [Cerattepe mine project] has been suspended for now”.
Running a story on Tuesday’s march against the project, CUMHURIYET used the headline: “People halted [the project]”.
The daily said that the resistance had been brought to a successful conclusion.
Footage of surrendering PKK terrorists in southeastern Diyarbakir was also widely covered by many newspapers on Thursday.
VATAN’s headline read: “The end of the road”.
The Turkish General Staff released footage of the operation and the moment of surrender by three PKK terrorists on Wednesday.
VATAN also ran a photo of the surrender in the Sur district of Diyarbakir. The newspaper quoted one of the terrorists saying: “We regret Diyarbakir ended up in this position. There are also others, who want to surrender.”
The PKK is seen as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.
Since late July, thousands of PKK terrorists have been killed in operations in Turkey and northern Iraq since the organization resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state.
HURRIYET covered the same story under the headline: “Surrendering moment in Sur [district],” while HABERTURK wrote: “They surrender as ‘they regret’”.
In economic news, DUNYA ran a story headlined: “Russians continue to buy houses [in Turkey]".
The newspaper reported the recent figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute saying: “House sales to foreigners have increased by 13.4 percent in January, compared the same period of 2015.”
“In January, Iraqi residents bought 308 houses, Saudi Arabians 136, Kuwaitis 134, and Russians 106,” the daily noted.
Tensions between Ankara and Moscow flared following Turkish F16s' downing of a Russian SU-24 aircraft which violated Turkish airspace near the Turkish-Syrian border on Nov. 24 last year.
On the back of the incident, Moscow tightened restrictions on relations with Turkey; among them a ban on charter flights between Russia and Turkey, to where Russian travel agencies have also been told to stop selling tours.
