First US-Japan-Philippines summit to boost defense ties

JAKARTA: Indonesian and Turkish defense companies agreed on Wednesday to set up a jointly operated drone factory, as the two countries signed a series of deals during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the Southeast Asian nation.

Erdogan arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday to co-chair with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, the first meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council — a bilateral mechanism for state-level negotiations.

After the council meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a joint venture deal between Turkish drone maker Baykar and Indonesian defense firm Republikorp at the Bogor Palace, West Java.

“Indonesia and Turkiye will also strengthen our defense and security cooperation, including education and training for our armed forces, intelligence partnership and counter-terrorism efforts. We also agreed to increase our cooperation and joint production in the defense industry,” Prabowo said during a joint press conference.

“Our meeting was active and productive, we have the same commitment to strengthen our partnership.”

The agreement to set up a drone factory in Indonesia was signed by Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar and Republikorp Chairman Norman Joesoef. Details of the deal were not immediately available.

Baykar drones, particularly unmanned aerial combat vehicle Bayraktar TB2, gained global prominence after they were used by Ukraine’s military against Russian forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Indonesia and Turkiye — both members of the Group of 20 biggest economies — also agreed to speed up negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEPA, to boost bilateral trade, worth about $2.4 billion in 2024.

They signed nine agreements, which besides defense, covered trade, higher education, health care and agriculture.

“We considered it important to enhance our cooperation across various fields,” Erdogan said.

“We will work toward increasing our annual bilateral trade to $10 billion with balanced values. We are committed to do all things necessary to realize this commitment.”

London: A Palestinian family fleeing Gaza have been granted the right to live in Britain through a scheme for Ukrainian refugees.

The family of six refugees were granted anonymity and permitted to join their brother in the UK following the ruling.

It is believed to be the first time refugees from outside Ukraine have used the Ukraine Family Scheme to receive residency rights.

An original rejection of the family’s claim by the Home Office breached their human rights, an immigration judge, Hugo Norton-Taylor, ruled.

More than 70,000 visas were granted to Ukrainians and their family members through the scheme, which launched in March 2022 and closed in February last year.

The Palestinian family applied through the scheme in January 2024, a month before it closed, arguing that their situation was “compelling” enough to justify an exception to the rules.

The mother, father and four children aged 7, 8, 17 and 19 were living in a Gaza refugee camp.

They faced “daily threats to their lives from Israeli military attacks” after an airstrike destroyed their home, the judge said. The family’s sponsor arrived in Britain in 2007 and is now a citizen.

Documents show that Norton-Taylor found that they were living in a “dire situation.” The family were exposed to a humanitarian crisis resulting from “the Israeli government’s indiscriminate attempts to eliminate Hamas.”

An initial rejection of their claim by a Home Office tribunal argued that instituting a resettlement scheme for Palestinians was not the body’s responsibility.

But Norton-Taylor found that the rejection interfered with their right to a family life. He highlighted the “incredibly dangerous” situation for Palestinians in Gaza and warned of the family’s “high risk of death.”

A Home Office spokesperson said the department had contested the claim “rigorously,” adding: “The latter court ruled against us on the narrow facts of this specific case.

“Nevertheless, we are clear that there is no resettlement route from Gaza, and we will continue to contest any future claims that do not meet our rules.”