Second Turkish soldier martyred in Afrin operation

Monitoring Desk
ANKARA: A second Turkish soldier has been martyred during clashes with terrorists in Operation Olive Branch in Syria, the military said Tuesday.
According to a Turkish General Staff statement, the soldier, Lt. Oguz Kaan Usta, was martyred in the town of Rajo in Syria’s Afrin district during clashes with PKK, KCK, PYD/YPG and Daesh terrorists.
The military conveyed condolences to the martyred soldier’s family and friends as well as the Turkish nation.
On Monday, non-commissioned officer Musa Ozalkan was martyred during clashes with terrorists in southeast of the Turkish village of Gulbaba, along the Syrian border.
Turkey on Saturday launched Operation Olive Branch to clear PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin, northwestern Syria.
According to the military, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.
Also, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), backed by the Turkish Armed Forces, on Tuesday captured a strategic village and two hills in Afrin, Syria, according to Anadolu Agency correspondents in the region.
The village of Hammam, in Jindaras in the northwestern district of Afrin, lies in a strategic location, as the terrorist PYD/PKK has been using it to attack Turkey’s southern Reyhanli district in the Hatay province.
The village is also situated in a valley stretching between the Turkish border and the city of Afrin.
Also, Turkey’s Treasury borrowed 3.33 billion Turk-ish liras ($880 million) from domestic markets, according to an official statement Tuesday.
The first auction was held for 10-year fixed coupon bonds (semiannually, re-op-en, fifth issue), which amou-nted to 1.84 billion Turkish liras ($486 million), the Tre-asury Undersecretariat ann-ounced.
The government bonds will be settled on Wednesday and mature on Aug. 11, 2027, while the total tender was 4.03 billion Turkish liras ($1-.06 billion) with a 45.6 percent accepted/tendered rate.
The interest rate of the 10-year bonds was accepted at a 5.92 percent term rate, with annual simple and compound interest rates of 11.84 and 12.19 percent, respectively.
At Tuesday’s second auction, the Treasury borrowed 1.49 billion Turkish liras ($394 million) by issuing 10-year CPI-indexed government bonds (semiannually, new issuance), which will be settled on Wednesday and mature on Jan. 12, 2028.
According to the statement, the total tender for the government bonds was 3.11 billion Turkish liras ($822 million), with a 47.8 percent accepted/tendered rate.
The under secretariat said the term rate of 10-year bonds was accepted at 1.45 percent, while annual simple and compound interest rates were 2.90 and 2.92 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Treasury announced on Monday that Turkey’s central government’s gross debt stock — the outstanding debt of public sector institutions, the Central Bank, private companies, households — rose 15.4 percent year-on-year to reach 876.5 billion Turkish liras (nearly $231.3 billion) at the end of 2017.