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Added on the 04/12/2019 12:01:33 - Copyright : France 24 EN
Jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan calls on followers to lay down their arms, a crucial step in Turkey's drive to end a 30-year insurgency. Mana Rabiee reports.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calls Russia's 'heavy losses' in the Black Sea a 'great victory' for Ukraine, after Kyiv said it had destroyed another Russian warship in the key battleground. SOUNDBITE
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Turkey should approve Sweden's stalled bid for membership "as soon as possible". "Sweden has delivered on what they promised and now the time has come for Turkiye to finalise the accession process," Stoltenberg tells a press conference in Brussels. Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members to not yet have ratified Sweden joining the alliance over 18 months after it applied for membership. SOUNDBITE
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calls for a halt in the fighting in Gaza to be prolonged to allow for more aid and the release of hostages. "I call for an extension of the pause. This would allow for much needed relief to the people of Gaza and the release of more hostages," Stoltenberg tells journalists in Brussels. SOUNDBITE
The United States welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's submission to parliament of Sweden's NATO membership and hopes for approval as soon as possible. "We welcome that step," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tells reporters, voicing hope that the bill "will be considered in the Turkish parliament and passed as soon as possible." SOUNDBITE
Images of Turkish fighter jets taking off from a military base in Diyarbakir to carry out strikes against positions and targets of Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. According to a statement from the Ministry of Defence, "Turkey carried out air strikes this evening at 23:00 (20:00 GMT) in the regions of Tel Rifat, Cizire and Derik in northern Syria and destroyed 30 targets". Since Sunday evening, Ankara has been carrying out a campaign of drone bombings, which left at least nine people dead on Thursday, against PKK and YPG targets in Syria, in retaliation for the attack that wounded two policemen in Ankara on Sunday. IMAGES