Turkey

NKARA, Turkey Tens of thousands of people marched in Ankara on Sunday (May 17th) in support of secularism and against the scores of recent arrests stemming from the controversial Ergenekon probe.

ANKARA, Turkey Turkish security forces killed early on Saturday (May 16th) seven militants of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Siirt, the army said in a statement. One village guard was also killed and another was injured in the fighting in the district of …

ANKARA, Turkey The government is drafting a series measures as part of a new approach to the Kurdish issue, local media reported on Tuesday (May 12th). This major policy shift was prompted by last week’s tragedy in the predominantly Kurdish province of Mardin, where gunmen killed 44 people at a …

ANKARA, Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey could open its border with Armenia if Yerevan withdraws its troops from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

NICOSIA, Cyprus Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said on Saturday (May 9th) his side plans to call a referendum on a reunification proposal by the end of this year or early in 2010. He said his aim is to complete the first phase of reunification talks with Cypriot President …

ANKARA, Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rejected on Friday (May 8th) any alternative to full EU membership for Turkey. “All we ask of the EU is to keep its promises. Proposing alternative memberships is disrespectful not to us, but to the European culture itself,” Davutoglu told a meeting with EU …

Turkey’s EU negotiator said on Friday Ankara would push ahead with long-delayed reforms to join the bloc, including on tax and amending the constitution, now the country has a two to three year period without elections. Turkey began accession talks in 2005, but progress has been slow. The European Union …

ANKARA, Turkey Since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government announced a draft amending 20 articles of the constitution a few weeks ago, President Abdullah Gul has met with leaders of opposition parties, trying to convince them of the need for change.

NICOSIA, Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed on Tuesday (May 5th) to intensify talks aimed at reunifying the divided island, UN Special Representative in Cyprus Taye-Brook Zerihoun said. He explained the two leaders discussed progress achieved so far and decided to speed up the …

PARIS, France President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday (May 5th) the EU should create a common economic and security space with Turkey as an alternative to Turkey’s membership in the Union, media reported.