Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili took to Twitter to offer condolences to Türkiye over an explosion in Beyoglu, the heart of Istanbul, that killed at least six people and wounded 81.

Zourabichvili said: “I am horrified by the explosion in Istanbul. My condolences to the families of the victims and my deepest sympathies to President Erdogan and the people of Türkiye.”

According to Reuters, Turkey’s government blamed Kurdish militants on Monday for a blast that killed six people in Istanbul’s main shopping street, and said police had detained 22 suspects, including the person who had planted the bomb.

"I am horrified by the explosion in Istanbul. My condolences to the families of the victims and my deepest sympathies to President

and the people of Türkiye".

Source: https://1tv.ge/lang/en/news/georgian-president-offers-condolences-to-istanbul-blast-victims/

The 6th annual meeting of the Foreign Relations Committees of the Georgian, Turkish, and Azerbaijani Parliaments was held as part of the official visit of the Georgian parliamentary delegation to Turkey. This is reported by the administration of the Parliament of Georgia.

At the meeting, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Head of Delegation, addressed the members of the delegations and discussed the ongoing processes in the region, security problems, and the role of the three countries in the process of resolving existing difficulties.

In this regard, he focused on the situation in Georgia's occupied territories, Russia's destructive actions, the security of the Black Sea, and the significance of Georgia's NATO membership as the sole means to promote regional security and stability.

Trade, energy and infrastructure projects, culture, defense, security, the environment, and people-to-people relations were among the topics discussed at the sitting.

The necessity of inter-legislative collaboration and the possibilities for strengthening parliamentary ties were emphasized.

The parties also addressed the creation of new mechanisms and formats in this context.

The parties reaffirmed their unequivocal support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and pledged to take additional actions to enhance peace, stability, and security in the Black Sea and South Caucasus regions.

"We had a crucial discussion today with our strategic partners, the Turkish and Azerbaijani delegations, where we discussed all of the problems and processes that are taking place in our region. In this context, parliamentary cooperation is important because it allows us to routinely share ideas at the legislative level and figure out concrete measures to contribute to the advancement of our nations and the well-being of our people”, - Nikoloz Samkharadze stated.

This week Istanbul will host two separate but related international conferences on mediation. One will be devoted to the state of play in the conflict map and capacity for mediation within the membership of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The second one will adopt a broad scope and discuss the connections between sustainable development, peace and mediation; the ways to increase gender and youth inclusion in mediation processes; and a thought provoking session on the role of big data and artificial intelligence in conflict and mediation analysis. It may be thought that conferences are conferences but the Istanbul Mediation Conferences have proven rather influential in cultivating a shared understanding of issues and an agenda for action in the field of mediation and peaceful conflict resolution. As the host of these conferences and the only country that co-chairs the Friends of Mediation Groups in three distinct important international organizations, namely the United Nations, the OIC and the OSCE, Turkey has the ability to share the findings of these conferences in these international organizations.

The fact of the matter is that humanity is facing a distinct challenge in the 21^st century. Just when many people thought that the glass is half full in terms of the achievements in international law, institutions, democracy and the rule of law, accountability, free trade, gender equality and others, the empty half of the glass has begun to reassert itself. The symptoms are known to all of us and need no reminding. Trade wars, new forms of international exploitation, geopolitical competitions, great power proxy wars, disintegrating nation states, terrorism, xenophobia, animosity against Islam, raging inequalities and injustice count among the contemporary trends that make up the glass half empty. The challenges of humanity are eating away the achievements and opportunities of humanity. Which side will prevail? The answer depends on how we respond to challenges, including on how much we humans can work together towards positive outcomes. One point is clear: unless we take initiative and be enterprising and humanitarian, the bad will prevail. Wait-and-see attitude is no longer tenable. Policy options differ from mediation to actual use of force against terrorists.

Take the situation in Syria. Turkey’s enterprising and humanitarian approach cleared a total of 4000 square kilometers from two terrorist organizations, DEASH and PKK/PYD/YPG. Had we not intervened, our people would have been under continued assault from these terrorists and a political solution to the Syrian tragedy would have been unreachable. Turkey is doing utmost to relieve humanitarian suffering, hosting the greatest number of refugees worldwide, spending more than the biggest economy in the world as the world’s top humanitarian spender. Turkey is also brokering agreements that save tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives and promoting a political solution based on the territorial integrity of the neighboring Syria.

I gave the example of Syria for a reason. Syria demonstrates to us once again that prevention is important because once the fire of conflict engulfs a nation, then the only thing that remains predictable is that there will be unpredictable consequences on that state. One generation of citizens will be wasted in one way or the other; the future will also be bleak. Everyone, including those who are thousands of kilometers away will come to suffer, either in the form of terrorist threat, economic shock, irregular migration, or wounded human conscience.

If prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts are of paramount importance, then we must take it seriously. This appreciation is driving Turkey’s efforts in the field of mediation as the co-chair of the UN, OSCE and OIC friends of mediation groups and the host to a capacity building mediation training program and the two mediation conferences that we will organize in Istanbul this week.

A twin bomb attack on police officers outside a football stadium in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, has killed 38 people and injured many more. A car bomb hit a police vehicle and a suicide bomber detonated a suicide vest in quick succession late on Saturday. The blasts occurred near the stadium of top-division team Besiktas, two hours after a match. Ten arrests were made.
The government says initial findings point towards Kurdish militants, who have targeted police in the past. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told CNN Turk news channel that "arrows point" to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). Thirty of those killed in the attack were police officers, officials say.
A further 155 people were being treated in hospital, 14 of them in intensive care, health officials say. Photographs posted on Instagram after the explosion showed helmets strewn on a road and damaged vehicles. No group has said it was behind the attack but a wave of bombings in Turkey this year has been carried out both by the PKK and so-called Islamic State (IS), says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul.
source: BBC.com

The citizen of Georgia has been found dead in Istanbul. According to the Georgia’s Consul, a 51-year-old woman was found dead yesterday at the house where she worked. As he noted, he has already had a conversation with the prosecutor saying particular investigative activities have already been conducted. 
‘All versions of the death are being discussed at the moment. The only fact clarified is that the owner of the house was not in when the woman died,’ - Irakli Asashvili said. 
The government of Georgia will cover all the expenses in relation to the transfer of the body but the precise date is unknown at the moment. 

The number of dead as a result of the coup attempt has risen to 90, the state-run Anadolu Agency reports, with 1,154 wounded. It had earlier been reported that 60 people had died during overnight clashes, including many civilians. Since then Turkey's police chief has said at least 16 "coup plotters" have been killed in clashes at the country's military police command.
The Anadolu Agency also reports that some 200 unarmed soldiers at the Turkish military headquarters have "surrendered" to police. 
source: BBC

The AFP news agency is reporting that 754 members of Turkish armed forces have been arrested for involvement in the coup, citing Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency.
It quoted a Turkish official saying that 29 colonels and five generals had been removed from their posts.
Rebel soldiers still control some military helicopters, but no fighter jets, a senior Turkish official has been quoted as saying.

The attempted coup became apparent on Friday evening when tanks were positioned on key bridges in Istanbul. Armed forces were then seen in the capital Ankara a short time later and military jets started flying over the city. A group - part of the army - then declared that a "peace council" now ran the country and there was a curfew and martial law. Large explosions were heard near Istanbul's central Taksim Square and there were also reports of blasts at the parliament building in Ankara. 
Broadcaster CNN Turk was also reportedly taken over by soldiers, and its live broadcast was cut. President Erdogan made a statement on Turkish television using his iPhone and FaceTime, calling on people to take to the streets to oppose the uprising. Huge crowds confronted the coup plotters and gunfire and explosions were heard. At least 60 people died in the exchanges.
The president has now returned to Istanbul, calling the coup attempt an "act of treason" and saying the army must be cleansed. He told crowds the government was now back in control. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim ordered the military to shoot down aircraft being used by coup plotters. At least 60 people have died, while more than 700 members of the armed forces have been detained.

Turkish media have released images purporting to show three of the Istanbul airport attackers minutes before they opened fire, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 200. According to a government official, the suicide bombers were from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Chilling CCTV footage showed one of the attackers shooting down an undercover police officer who had approached him.
More footage showed panicked crowds running across the airport after hearing gunshots — and one assailant who came in to find the check-in terminal empty apparently throwing his rifle on the ground in frustration.
Turkey said evidence pointed towards the Islamic State militant group. Police carried out raids across Istanbul and arrested at least thirteen people in connection with the attack, including three foreigners, according to the interior minister. The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper reported that the mastermind of the attack was from the small republic of Chechnya.
On Thursday, a memorial was held at Ataturk airport. At least 24 Turks and 20 foreigners died in Tuesday’s attack. Two Palestinian women and a three year-old boy were among those killed. Other foreign victims include Saudis, Iraqis and citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine.