Skip to main content

Turkish police officer dies from gunshot wounds suffered in Istanbul drug raid

ISTANBUL (AP) — A police officer died Monday after being shot and seriously wounded during an early morning drug raid in Istanbul, Turkish officials said.

Officer Emre Albayrak died of his wounds in a hospital. He was part of a special operations team carrying out the raid in the Cekmekoy district on Istanbul’s Asian side.

“Our police officer Emre Albayrak, who was seriously injured in a narcotics operation in the Cekmekoy district, could not be saved despite all interventions in the hospital to which he was taken and became a martyr,” Istanbul Governor’s Office said in a statement.

The man who opened fire on police was killed and two other suspects were detained, the office said.

Turkey has experienced a rise in drug-related crime in recent years. There was a 23% rise in drug-related incidents last year compared to 2023, according to a National Police Counter-Narcotics Department report.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a social media post Monday that 970 suspects had been detained in nationwide counter-narcotics operations over the previous week.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
Read Next Story

Related News

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

Women are the first caregivers in this Ebola outbreak and the most at risk