Turkey

Cyprus is ready to start direct talks with Turkey to find a solution to the Mediterranean island’s longstanding division, Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou declared on Friday (December 17th). “We should start the direct exchange of opinions. We should directly share our demands and our complaints,” Kyprianou said. Ankara has …

The UN Security Council two days ago urged Greek and Turkish Cypriots to accelerate talks to reunify their divided island. The Council expressed concern about the pace of negotiations in recent months and urged “decisive progress in the near future”. The Council also adopted a resolution extending the mandate of …

A former foreign minister of Greece on Wednesday urged Turkey to exert its influence over Turkish Cyprus to spur its leadership into a more yielding stance in peace talks to reunify the long-divided island. Dora Bakoyannis, who served as Greek minister of foreign affairs from 2006-2009 and is now the …

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Friday (December 3rd) that talks on Cyprus’ reunification could “founder fatally” unless a substantive agreement is reached within the next few months. “I fear a critical window of opportunity is rapidly closing,” Ban said

Turkey is interested in expanding economic cooperation with Ukraine and introducing visa-free regime between the two countries, Turkish Industry Minister Nihat Ergun said Monday. “We expect that the balance of trade between Ukraine and Turkey will be 5 billion dollars this year and next year it will reach the pre-crisis …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor agreed on Friday (November 26th) in Ankara that there are no open political issues between their countries and vowed to boost economic ties. Erdogan said he expects the Turkish-Croatian trade volume to rise to 1 billion euros …

The United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon has once more expressed his disappointment at the “frustratingly slow” pace of Cyprus peace talks and urged Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to make real progress by early next year. The UN chief pointed out in a progress report released on Thursday that …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Turkey to open its ports and airports to traffic from European Union member Greek Cyprus, emphasizing that a dispute between the EU and candidate Turkey blocks Ankara’s path for membership.

The European Union should hold a summit with candidate Turkey to set out a new strategy for Ankara’s bid to join the bloc as a full member, Greece’s Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas has said. “I think this is really the time to have a frank discussion with all the member …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday (November 22nd) that Turkey will not open its ports to Cypriot vessels and goods unless the EU lifts its trade embargo on northern Cyprus. “If there’s a