Turkey

Turkey to allow 200 Kurdish fighters to enter Kobane

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday (Oct 23) that 200 Iraqi Kurd peshmerga fighters would travel through Turkey to the flashpoint Syrian border town of Kobane under assault by the Islamic State (IS) group. The regional administration in northern Iraq and Syrian Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party …

Read More »

German FM hopes for reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey

“We respect Armenia’s decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union and hope that it will not hinder the development of relations with the EU,” German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier said at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. Touching upon the forthcoming Sargyan-Aliyev meeting scheduled for …

Read More »

Kurdish peace could be achieved in a few months, Turkish PM says

The Turkish government and the Kurdish political movement have sounded a note of optimism for the future of the stalled peace process, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu suggesting that the process could reach a settlement within the next few months if all actors involved fulfill their roles. “Now there is a road …

Read More »

Cavusoglu says Peshmerga forces are not entering Ayn al-Arab from Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Peshmerga forces of Iraqi Kurdish Government have not entered Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobane, through Turkey. “The talks about the issue are still ongoing,” he said in a televised interview, giving no further details. It has been reported that …

Read More »

New US Ambassador to Turkey presents credentials

The new U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, John Bass, presented his credentials to PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan on Oct. 20. Ambassador Bass also paid a courtesy visit to Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinilirlioğlu on the same day, two days after his arrival to Ankara.

Read More »

NATO drills to kick off in Turkey

NATO war games started in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Monday, with the armies of 13 countries participating, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement. NATO drills are mainly meant to develop enhance the capacity of the NATO countries to work together and cooperate, it said, adding that …

Read More »

Turkey to adopt new strategy for EU membership

Turkey is launching a new communication strategy to support its bid for EU membership. The new strategy, intended to reverse the decline in public opinion support for Turkey’s membership in the EU, the country, will reinforce the value of Turkey’s participation, according to the country’s ministry of EU Affairs.

Read More »

Kurdish forces manage to push IS from part of Kobane

Kurdish forces have managed to repel Islamic State militants from part of the besieged Syrian town of Kobane, various Kurdish sources said on Thursday. A Kurdish official in Kobane said that US-led airstrikes had successfully pushed back Islamic State insurgents from parts of the town and had allowed Kurdish fighters to …

Read More »

Turkey will not intervene in Syria without international community

Turkey will not embark on an “adventure” in Syria without certain agreements from the international community, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, reiterating Ankaradeems establishing safe havens and no-fly zones in northern Syria as a must for Turkish participation in the international coalition. “Turkey will not embark on an adventure [in Syria] at the …

Read More »

Turkey says it won’t accept security threats

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said here on Thursday that his country would not tolerate the undermining of peace, stability and peaceful coexistence. “Turkey will never tolerate any traps against our peace, stability or sense of brotherhood,” Erdogan said in a statement published by the presidential information center.

Read More »