Middle Orient

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran called Nov. 27 for a ceasefire in Syria before peace talks in Geneva scheduled for Jan. 22. “All our efforts are to end the conflict and for a ceasefire if possible, even before the Geneva 2 conference takes place,” Iranian

Qusay al-Siheil, Iraqi First Deputy Speaker of the parliament, discussed ways to increase bilateral relations with  Turkish parliament Speaker. A statement by Siheil office announced on Tuesday “Siheil received today, the Turkish Parliament Speaker in Baghdad where they discussed

“The purpose of Geneva-2 is not to have an armchair discussion about Syria, it’s to have mutual agreement between regime representatives — without Assad — and the moderate opposition in order to form a transitional government,” Laurent Fabius told French radio.

Iran struck a historic deal with six world powers yesterday, agreeing to a temporary freeze of its nuclear program in the most significant agreement in more than three decades of estrangement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Monday that a conference on Syria, known as Geneva II, would be convened on January 22. The conference will bring the Syrian government and opposition to the negotiating table for the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict.

The co-leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which declared the establishment of a constituent assembly in the northern parts of Syria locally denominated as Rojava, said they have not held talks with Turkish officials in the recent period. 

At least 29 people were killed on Nov. 23 in Syrian regime air strikes on the northern city of Aleppo and surrounding areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group says it has sent a delegation to Geneva for consultations ahead of proposed peace talks.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski is to meet with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres on Friday in Sofia.

Bulgaria is to receive next week technical and financial assistance from the EU for coping with the refugee situation. The information about the upcoming assistance was provided after a Thursday meeting between EU Humanitarian