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Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Turkish President Erdogan had a productive meeting in Istanbul on Sunday. Credit: Press Office of Greek Prime Minister

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon.

Mitsotakis first arrived in Istanbul on Sunday morning, attending church services with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at Saint George Cathedral, one of the most important churches in Orthodox Christianity.

Erdogan then hosted his Greek counterpart for lunch at his presidential residence, during which the pair discussed pressing issues of foreign policy and diplomacy for nearly two hours.

As confirmed by the Turkish Presidency, the two leaders focused much of their discussion on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has stunned Europe and the world. Both Greece and Turkey have denounced the war.

The pair agreed to reduce tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The goal of both leaders is to provide stability in the region at this time.

They also agreed that the two countries should work toward better communication in the future and avoid provocative rhetoric.

The neighboring countries will also aim to strengthen their economic bonds, with Turkish President Erdogan even suggesting that the two continue their conversation on the topic during another meeting in the coming months.

Video of the two leaders before their meal showed Erdogan and Mitsotakis having a friendly conversation, aided by an interpreter. Neither of the leaders wore a tie, highlighting the casual tone of the meeting.

Before the meeting, Mitsotakis stated that he had realistic and measured expectations from todays conversation, indicating that the meeting was not meant to mend the rocky relationship between the two countries, but to foster better understanding and cooperation.

Yet it seems that the meeting may have laid the groundwork for a period of better relations between the two countries which share a long and turbulent history. Rather than as enemies, the two leaders approached the conversation as allies.

Later in the afternoon, Mitsotakis will meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew yet again at the Greek consulate in the Turkish city.

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Mitsotakis and Erdogan Agree to Reduce Tensions in Istanbul - Greek Reporter

Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu pose for a photograph in Turkey on Saturday. BSS photo

Dhaka and Ankara have agreed that foreign ministries of the two countries would work together for a bilateral visit of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Bangladesh within this year.

This was revealed at a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the side-line of Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey on Saturday, a foreign ministry press release said on Sunday.

During the meeting, Momen discussed the issue of Rohingya crisis in details while Turkish foreign minister assured to continue his governments support for the forcibly displaced Rohingyas.

At the invitation of Bangladesh foreign minister Cavusoglu, informed that he would soon visit Bangladesh at a mutually convenient time.

Momen paid a one-day official visit to Tukey on Saturday to join second Antalya Diplomacy Forum, attended by several other foreign ministers from Asian countries held in Antalya.

On the side-line, Momen also held bilateral meeting with foreign ministers of Austria and Kyrgyz Republic.

During the meeting with Austrian foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg, Momen discussed the issue of joint celebration of the golden jubilee of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In line with the last months telephone meeting between prime ministers of Bangladesh and Austria, the two foreign ministers discussed ways for further augmenting the bilateral relations.

At his meeting with Kyrgyz foreign minister Ruslan Kazakbaev Aitbaevich, Momen flagged the potential of increasing trade between the two countries.

The Bangladeshi foreign minister assured his Kyrgyz counterpart that Dhaka would be willing to work together with Kyrgyz Republic in the coming days to increase relations between the two countries in the areas of trade, connectivity and people to people contact.

Executive director of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia Kairat Sarybay also called on Bangladesh foreign minister.

During the meeting, the CICA executive director explained the recent activities of the inter-government organisation while Momen emphasised on the importance of a peaceful and stable Asia for its prosperous.

The view that the role of CICA, where Bangladesh is a member, should play an active role in this regard, the foreign minister observed.

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Erdogan to visit Bangladesh this year - newagebd.net

And Pences choice started off like his predecessors and would have sounded like parliamentary jargon to most people watching the session on Jan. 6, 2021: Vice presidents begin the counting of electoral votes by indicating that votes will be counted after ascertaining that the certificates are regular in form and authentic. But Pence added another line to this explanation that the preceding vice presidents did not.

Not only would each certificate he introduced be regular in form and authentic, he said at the time, but they would be the ones that the parliamentarians have advised me is the only certificate of vote from that state, and purports to be a return from the state, and that has annexed to it a certificate from an authority of that state purporting to appoint or ascertain electors.

It was a mouthful with a purpose. Pence was incorporating the specific legal language of the Electoral Count Act the 1887 law that, along with the 12th Amendment, governs the counting of electoral votes. The law requires that any electoral votes counted by Congress be submitted by official state authorities, like governors and secretaries of state.

The Jan. 6 select committee has been keenly interested in the mystery of Pences added words, too. The panels top investigator, Tim Heaphy, earlier this year asked Short about Pences decision to change the language and even played a video clip comparing Pences remarks to those of previous vice presidents, according to a partial transcript of Shorts testimony to the committee that was released in court filings last week.

So, obviously, Vice President Pence in 2021 alters, amplifies, adds language to the script that had been read by Vice Presidents reaching back 20 or 30 years, Heaphy said. Tell us about the decision, the purposeful decision by Vice President Pence to add that language to the ascertainment script.

[T]he predominant reason was that the Vice President wanted to be as transparent as possible, Short replied. But the transcript was curtailed mid-sentence.

Short explained in an interview that the added words were designed to clearly address Pences views of Trump allies push for false slates of presidential electors. Supporters of the then-president would be wondering why Pence refused to consider those slates during the Jan. 6 session.

Another source familiar with discussions among the then-vice president and his allies in those days said Pences decision to revise the wording had another audience: Members of Congress aligned with Trump who also espoused the view that Pence could introduce alternate electors. Pence, the source said, intended to preempt potential points of order or other procedural challenges those members might have made by laying out his thinking.

Indeed, top Trump allies like Stephen Miller and John Eastman pointed to these alternate electors as a way to keep the former presidents election challenge alive. Eastman built them into his last-ditch strategy to pressure Pence to overturn the election himself.

So the language Pence used had to explain his rationale for saying no.

The former vice president hasnt stopped subtly critiquing Trump in the year since he resisted the election subversion push. Pence told donors last week that there is no room in this party for apologists for Putin, viewed as a deliberate if delicate reference to Trump. Pence also recently declared that Trump was wrong for claiming he could unilaterally determine the outcome of the election.

The select committee is continuing to probe the involvement of Trump and his network in the submission of false elector slates to Congress in late 2020.

Under the Electoral Count Act, electors picked by the party of the winning candidate in each state are required to meet in mid-December to formally cast their ballots. In seven states won by Biden, however, the Trump campaign worked with state Republican parties to assemble their own elector meetings and cast ballots for Trump. Those false electors then signed certificates and mailed them to Washington.

Eastman urged Pence to introduce the dual slates on Jan. 6 and claim the outcome was in dispute. Then, per Eastman, Pence could adjourn the legally required session of Congress and urge state legislatures to resolve the so-called disputes, even though the Electoral Count Act prohibits adjournments during the count.

Pences counsel Jacob also testified to the Jan. 6 select committee; a partial transcript of his comments filed in federal court described Eastmans repeated efforts to convince Pence to introduce the alternate elector slates. Those comments formed the core of the select committees recent suggestion that it believes Eastman may have criminally conspired to obstruct Congress certification of the 2020 election.

Eastman has rejected that assertion, claiming he thought his efforts had a legitimate legal basis. Hes fighting to shield some of his emails from the select committee by claiming attorney-client privilege.

When Pence refused to entertain the alternate electors during Congress session certifying Biden as the next president, Trump supporters encroaching on the Capitol became furious. Within an hour, hundreds had breached the building, with some chanting hang Mike Pence.

Amid the chaos, Eastman exchanged tense emails with Jacob. Pences counsel accused Eastman, in one remarkably blunt missive, of being a serpent in the ear of the president of the United States.

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How Pence used 43 words to shut down Trump allies' election subversion on Jan. 6 - POLITICO

An overhaul of the U.S. immigration system could be key to aiding Afghan women find a new life, advocates said during an event Tuesday to mark International Womens Day.

The war for Afghan women is not over, said Ambassador Roya Rahmani, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States, adding that she worried the international communitys attention span for the plight of Afghan women has expired as the limelight from Afghanistan moves to the rest of the world.

After the U.S. withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan last summer, women living under the Taliban takeover were told to stay home from work, fueling concerns that the regime would reverse progress on womens rights.

In situations like this and around the world, women and children take the brunt of what happens. And once again, women are being forced back into the shadows and back into a life from time gone by, said Cindy McCain, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

Sen. Jeanne ShaheenCynthia (Jeanne) Jeanne ShaheenAdvocates call for US immigration reform to help support Afghan women Putin's attacks on civilians raise pressure on US, NATO Biden imposes Nord Stream 2 sanctions MORE (D-N.H.) called for comprehensive reform to the U.S. immigration system that would address gaps in current law and provide for refugees from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Its unfortunate that it has been such a partisan divide for such a long time, Shaheen said.

Critics have said that visas are difficult for Afghan women to qualify for and come by and that the processing time is backlogged and dangerously slow.

Its a bit haphazard right now with certain agencies and certain nonprofits, et cetera. I just think we need to reform the whole idea of this and make sure it works, McCain said.

Rahmani, Afghanistans first female ambassador to the U.S., said that the U.S. in particular has an ethical responsibility to Afghan women because of how the country wielded promises to liberate Afghan women as a justification for the intervention of American troops.

The U.S. should not be either looking at Afghanistan as a security issue, as a place you can experiment containment of terrorism, or a charity basket, Rahmani said.

Hawa Haidari, a member of Afghanistans Female Tactical Platoon, outlined the difficulties for refugees navigating the complex immigration system and applying for asylum in the U.S. without ready access to legal help.

Now living in Washington state, Haidari said that she and her four sisters are struggling to navigate that process in a new country and new language taking English classes and working in restaurants and cafes.

It is not the kind of job that we want, Haidari said. It is still helping us to move forward and live in peace here. I hope we can pursue our education, build our career and do our dream job here in the next few year[s].

Shaheen, the only woman serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, assured the audience that senators on both sides of the aisle are continuing to talk about what we can do to support Afghan women.

We really need a hand to help us, not a handout, Rahmani said, because one-time aid efforts create an insecure culture of reliance and dont empower lasting structural change. Rights cannot be also a handout like a bag of wheat. It is something that has to grow and brew from within.

The women spoke as part of Politicos Women Rule series.

Read more here:
Advocates call for US immigration reform to help support Afghan women | TheHill - The Hill

Bidens First State of the Union Address Touches on Immigration

President Joe Biden gave his first State of the Union Address on Tuesday, addressing the full houses of Congress in the midst of the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and public concerns about inflation and the economy.

Biden touched on immigration during his address, framing immigration reform as both an economic and liberty issue. He called for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers. He also urged Congress to revise the nations immigration laws so businesses have the workers they need and families dont wait decades to reunite.

White House Grants Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainians in the U.S.

The Biden administration on Thursday offered temporary protection from deportation to Ukrainians in the U.S. amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The White House announced Ukrainians who had been in the U.S. since March 1, 2022 would receive Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. People who are granted TPS are protected from deportation and granted work visas.

In addition to announcements about Ukraine, the Department of Homeland Security also added Sudan to the list of countries currently eligible for TPS and extended South Sudans designation by 18 months.

Koch Groups Launch Campaign For Immigration Reform

The Hill reported this week that mega-donor Charles Kochs political network has released a campaign to encourage Congress to take action on immigration reform. According to the report, Americans for Prosperity and the Libre Initiative are spending millions on digital ads, mailers, and events to encourage senators to push forth immigration reform as well as additional border security.

USCIS Expands Credit Card Payment Program

USCIS announced this week that it will begin accepting credit card payments for almost all form filing fees using Form G-1450. One exception from the program Form I-129. USCIS says it will evaluate the results at the end of the pilot program and work toward next steps to expand it further.

USCIS Updates Income Requirements for 2022

USCIS also updated the green card sponsor income requirements for 2022. The minimum annual income now needed for a household size of 2 is $22,887, up from $21,770 for a family of 2. Income requirements go up based on the size of the family and the amounts are also higher for residents of Alaska and Hawaii. To learn more about green card sponsor income requirements, hit the link in our description.

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Boundless Immigration Weekly News Archive: March 4, 2022 - Boundless - Boundless