The number of people in Turkey requesting asylum from Germany in 2017 has increased five times in comparison with 2015. The rate of approved asylum requests has also increased from 8 percent in 2016 to 42 percent in the first two months of 2018.

199 academics from around the world, including Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser, have published an “Open Letter of Support for Students Arrested at Boğaziçi University.”

It has been stated in National Security Council’s statement that Turkey may launch offensives into Manbij of Syria as well as Qandil and Sinjar of Iraq.

US Secretary of Defense Mattis has called on PKK to leave Sinjar.

In a statement issued by Turkish Armed Forces, it has been announced that two soldiers have lost their lives in Afrin upon the explosion of an improvised explosive device.

After the EU-Turkey leaders’ meeting in Varna aimed at renegotiating the EU-Turkey relations after more than one year of deadlock, the leaders of the EU and Turkey have held a joint press conference. While Tusk has expressed his concerns about Afrin, Erdoğan has demanded ‘visa liberalization’.

President Erdoğan has spoken at Atatürk Airport before heading to Varna for Turkey-EU meeting: We will remind parties once again that Turkey doesn’t tolerate double standards”.

The US dismisses charges brought against 11 of President Erdoğan’s bodyguards who attacked protesters during his visit in Washington in 2017. Some officials from the US have commented, “They were falsely identified and there was not sufficient evidence.”

Human Rights Watch has said Turkey has routinely intercepted hundreds, and at times thousands, of asylum seekers at the Turkey-Syria border since at least December 2017 and deported them to Idlib governorate in Syria.

Concerning Afrin operation, Chancellor of Germany Merkel has said, “Afrin operation is unacceptable. We condemn it in the strongest way”.

Responding to Presidential Spokesperson Kalın’s statements about Manbij, US State Department Spokesperson Nauert has said, “That’s funny, because no agreement has been reached”.

Today is World Down Syndrome Day. Their difference is to having one extra chromosome compared to other people. The biggest issues for around 70 thousand individuals with Down syndrome living in Turkey are education and lack of social space.