As Diriliş: Ertuğrul fever continues to grip Pakistanis, fans have now started pointing out how two of the show’s characters look a bit too much like two South Asian cricketing stars… and to be honest, the resemblance is truly uncanny!
Turkish historic drama series Diriliş: Ertuğrul has been trending ever since its first episode aired on PTV Home. Pakistanis are loving the drama series and it has become a sensation in the country to the point that PTV is now aiming to set a new record with the series.
In an exclusive interview with The Current, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Javed Khan revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had gifted the drama series to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture.
At the entrance of an Istanbul mosque, racks usually reserved for the shoes of the faithful are loaded with pasta packages, oil bottles, biscuits — like a supermarket. But they aren’t for sale. Instead, they are destined for the needy, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The sign on the mosque’s window ask anyone, who can, to leave something, and says those in need can take something.
Abdulsamet Cakir, 33, imam of the Dedeman mosque in the Sariyer district, came up with this idea of reaching out to the poor via the place of worship after Turkey suspended mass prayers in mosques until the risk of outbreak passes, AFP reported.
The young imam, who takes the products from the floor and places them on the shelves at the entrance, said he was inspired by a donation culture in the Ottoman period called “charity stone” — a small pillar stone erected at certain locations of the city to connect rich people with the poor.
In this Ottoman system aimed at giving charity in a dignified manner without offending the needy, people with means would leave whatever amount they wanted in a cavity on the top of the charity stone. Those who were in need would then take the amount they needed and leave the rest for others.
“After the coronavirus pandemic, we have thought about what we can do to help our brothers in need,” said Cakir, who would already help the poor in his neighbourhood before the outbreak.
“With the inspiration from our ancestors’ ‘charity stone’ culture, we decided to fill the racks in our mosque with the help from our brothers with means,” he added.
Cakir hangs a list on the wall of the mosque where citizens who need help write their names and telephone numbers.
The imam later sends the list to local authorities who check whether the names are really in need and his team then sends a message that they can visit the mosque and receive whatever they need: eight items at maximum.
The mosque has been providing services for two weeks and reaches out to 120 people in need per day. And the list includes over 900 people.
A maximum of two people wearing masks and gloves enter the mosque and take what they need, while others wait outside, standing a few paces from each other.
“We spread the services through the day. We call 15 people for each half an hour so that we respect social distancing and do not cause big queues,” the imam said. “We are doing our best to help our sisters and brothers in the best possible way without offending them.”
The mosque does not accept cash donations and instead receives aid packages and the mosques shelves are full of products sent from all over Turkey and even abroad.
“Producers also donate. A miller brings in flour, a baker brings in bread, a water distributor brings in water,” Cakir said, adding, “Everyone does whatever they can to help people in need. For example, a brother who lives in France did online shopping and directed the aid to our mosque.”
People, receiving the aid, are very thankful to the mosque for arranging this service. They said that due to the coronavirus lockdown, they are facing unemployment and with Ramzan a few days away, the situation appeared to be very bleak.
Turkey’s official death toll from the virus now stands at 2,259 after 119 more deaths were reported on Tuesday, and major cities including Istanbul will be under lockdown for four days from Thursday.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has announced the federal cabinet’s decision to send chloroquine tablets — an anti-malarial medicine that some studies found has a strong antiviral effect on COVID-19 — to “friendly nations” to help them in their time of need.
Addressing a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting, she said that one million chloroquine tablets will be sent to Saudi Arabia and the United States each, 500,000 to Turkey and Italy each, five million to the United Kingdom, 700,000 to Kazakhstan and 300,000 to Qatar.
Firdous revealed that leaders of some countries had called Prime Minister Imran Khan and expressed a desire to import the tablets from Pakistan following some encouraging results in treating the coronavirus.
“Pakistan has always been asking these countries for something or the other. So, for the sake of humanity and to improve Pakistan’s credibility and face value, this is a good chance to help them in this time of need,” she said.
She also said that Pakistan had some 40 million tablets in stock and possessed the raw material to make even more.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday thanked the people and leadership of Pakistan over the warm welcome he was accorded upon arrival, adding that while in Pakistan, he felt like he was at home.
“It is my pleasure to speak to you. I am thankful to you for giving me the opportunity to address this house. While in Pakistan, I feel like I am at home,” he said while addressing a joint session of the parliament.
Vowing unflinching support for Pakistan on the issues related to anti-terror financing and the illegal annexation of occupied Kashmir by India, Erdogan also said that he was thankful and happy to have had the opportunity to address the joint session of the parliament in Pakistan. “I am thankful for this opportunity. I am thankful to each of you individually for allowing me to address this joint session of Parliament,” he said.
According to Geo, Erdogan also said that Pakistan and Turkey’s relations were admirable for others. “During difficult times, Pakistan has supported Turkey. Our friendship is based on love and respect. Pakistan’s pain is our pain.”
Speaking about the issue of occupied Kashmir, the Turkish president said that Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) meant to Turkey exactly what it had meant to Pakistan over the years. “The relationship between Pakistan and Turkey will continue in the future as it has in the past,” he added.
To increase economic engagement and mobilise the untapped potential for trade and investment, Pakistan and Turkey have signed two memorandums of understandings (MoUs), Dawn reported.
The two MoUs include one on trade facilitation and customs cooperations, while the second pertains to reinforcing cooperation in the field of halal accreditation. The two sides agreed to explore the possibilities of enhancing bilateral trade for the mutually beneficial market access and trade facilitation.
Both have the potential to explore possibilities of investment opportunities in defence industry, food processing and packing, automotive industry and auto-parts, household appliances, construction material, textiles, leather machinery and finished products, sports goods and surgical instruments.
A plan is under consideration to sign an agreement with Turkey regarding providing dual nationality to the citizens of two countries, a private media outlet has reported.
Reports quoted a statement issued by the Interior Ministry as saying that this came during a meeting between Interior Minister Brigadier (r) Ijaz Shah and Turkish Ambassador to Islamabad Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul on Thursday.
According to the statement, the Turkish ambassador on behalf of his government proposed that both the countries should sign an agreement regarding providing dual nationality to the citizens.
“In response to this, the minister said that the draft is under consideration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is on board with us, we hope to reach a mutual conclusion soon,” it added.
Shah also welcomed the mutual training programmes and upgrading of equipment of law enforcing agencies with Turkey.
“The interior minister welcomed the initiative of introducing a patrolling force in collaboration with Islamabad Police on the model of Dolphin Force introduced in Lahore,” the statement said.
The ambassador and minister also mutually agreed on the continuity of the training programmes being held to improve the capacity of the workforce.
Yurdakul also informed the minister that the Turkish president was scheduled to visit Pakistan soon.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu is also expected to visit Pakistan in February and will meet Shah to discuss bilateral matters, the statement said.
The interior minister was also informed that the Turkish consulate that is under construction in the southern city of Karachi is the largest one in the world by Turkey.
Interior Minister Shah also extended condolences to the ambassador over the losses due to recent earthquake that killed at least 40 people and left over a thousand others injured.
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced five people to death for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, the public prosecutor has said.
Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the kingdom’s consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul by a team of Saudi agents.
The Saudi public prosecutor said it was the result of a “rogue operation” and put 11 unnamed individuals on trial; Saud al-Qahtani, a former high-profile Saudi royal adviser, was investigated but not charged and was released.
The murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, triggered Saudi Arabia’s biggest diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks as world leaders and business executives sought to distance themselves from Riyadh.
The CIA concluded that the country’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. The crown prince denies involvement, but told US TV last month that he took “full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia”.
The prosecutor said three more people in the case had been sentenced to jail terms totalling 24 years.
Muslim-majority countries should build their own markets and produce their own technologies to become self-sufficient, Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Mahathir Mohammad has said during the ongoing Kuala Lumpur Summit that was skipped by Pakistan.
“There are 1.7 billion Muslims. Obviously this is a big market if we decide to source our needs from Muslims and Muslim countries. Then we enrich ourselves,” he said while stressing the importance of technological and industrial progress in national development.
According to AnadoluAgency, the Malaysian premier said that Muslim countries did not have enough products by themselves and had to source most of their needs from other countries, as a result of which money flowed out.
“When money flows out, we become poor. But if we source, the things that we need from Muslim countries, then obviously our wealth will stay within the Muslim community, and we become richer,” he said.
“That is why among the things that should solve problems of Muslims is to build a market and produce the things and source them from each other but it is important we learn how to produce our own things,” he added.
He underlined that Muslim nations “will forever be playing catch-up” with the rest of the developed world “if we do not start creating and developing our own technologies.”
“We have no choice but to start working on this,” he said.
The three-day Kuala Lumpur Summit is ongoing in the Malaysian capital with the attendance of hundreds of government officials and representatives from civil society and business sectors from across the Muslim World.
While the Malaysian premier’s statements are much similar to those made by his Pakistan counterpart, Imran Khan, Islamabad has pulled out of the conference over concerns it could “divide” the Muslim world.
Pakistan’s Gulf allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had earlier expressed reservations over the country joining the summit, following which Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had confirmed that neither he nor PM Imran would be attending the summit.
“Pakistan pulled out of the summit due to concerns by Saudi Arabia that the meeting could create a new bloc that would rival the existing 57-member state Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” he had said.
With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly raising Indian atrocities in Kashmir at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and his country backing Pakistan at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris, India has decided to give the cold shoulder to its ties with Turkey.
According to Khaleej Times, New Delhi has cancelled a two-day official visit to Ankara by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi at the end of this month, which would have been his first stand-alone visit to the country.
He was to have proceeded to Turkey from Saudi Arabia, where he is going on October 27-28 to attend a mega-investment summit.
The decision to cancel the visit to Turkey marks a low in relations between New Delhi and Ankara, which have never been very warm. Trade and defence cooperation were among the issues that were to be on the table during Modi’s Ankara visit, which had been agreed to in principle.
The Ministry of External Affairs was non-committal over the development. “The visit was never finalised so there is no question of cancellation,” reports an official as saying.
Modi had last visited Turkey during the G20 in Antalya in 2015. He had held a bilateral with Erdogan in Osaka, on the sidelines of the G20 in June this year. The Turkish leader had paid a two-day visit to India in July 2018.
However, Erdogan’s strong backing of Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and alleging widespread human rights violations by India during his speech at the UNGA last month has not gone down well with India.
In his speech, Erdogan had raised the issue of UN resolutions on Kashmir and alleged that “eight million people are stuck” in Kashmir due to revocation of special status. He had criticised the international community for failing to pay attention to the Kashmir issue.
At the end of September, at an event in Turkey to mark the building of a warship for Pakistan, Erdogan also said he would continue to flag the Kashmir issue on the world stage.
India is known to have cancelled an order for two naval ships it had inked with Turkey, in retaliation of Erdogan’s Kashmir comments.
At the FATF meeting too, Turkey and Malaysia, along with China, openly backed Pakistan last week, which was invaluable in getting Islamabad a lifeline of four months till February 2020 to “eliminate” money laundering and terrorist financing.
