Weekly Turkey Report (27 Aug-3 Sep): Taliban in talks with Turkey...Turkey’s Pentagon to be built...

The Taliban are in talks with Turkey about the management of Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The country has not made a final decision on the Taliban’s request for support to run the Kabul airport after the withdrawal of foreign forces.

National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that Turkey may consider operating the airport if the situation and conditions are suitable.

Akar also emphasized that Turkey has supported Afghanistan through the past 20 years of instability mainly through the Turkish Armed Forces.

President Erdoğan started the construction of Turkey’s ‘Pentagon at a ground-breaking ceremony.

The complex named ‘’Crescent Star’’ will be an operational military center that is set to be bigger than the US Pentagon.

It will be built on an area of some 12.6 million square meters and it will be able to serve some 15,000 people.

The complex will be equipped with cutting-edge technology that takes into account the concept of future warfare.

Erdoğan said they will build a structure that strikes fear in enemies and confidence in friends’’, adding that the campus would be ready by May 19, 2023.

Turkey’s most advanced drone to date entered the inventory of the Turkish security forces.

Cutting-edge combat drone Bayraktar Akıncı made Turkish aviation history in July this year.

 It reached an altitude of eleven thousand five hundred ninety-four meters during a flight that lasted twenty-five hours and forty-six minutes. 

With Akinci, Turkey has risen to the world’s top three countries in combat drone technology.

President Erdoğan said that all the drones produced by Turkish defense companies are in high demand worldwide.

He added that new export agreements were signed with more than ten countries.

Turkey broke a national medal record at Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Turkish athletes have picked up a total of 12 medals, surpassing the ten medal record in the 2016 Rio Games.  

The first gold medal came from Abdullah Öztürk in table tennis.

 Öztürk defeated his South Korean opponent 3-1 in the men's singles final.

  Meanwhile, shooter Ayşegül Pehlivanlar won a  silver medal in the P2 women's 10-meter air pistol event.

 So far, the country has won one gold, three silver, and eight bronze medals.

The national woman’s volleyball team advanced to the semifinals of the Woman’s European Volleyball Championship.

The team faced Poland in the quarterfinal match and win the game 3-0.

 So far, The Sultans of the Net have won all seven matches at this year's European championship.

The team will face Serbia in the semifinals on September third.