Turkey

President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu met on Wednesday (July 28th) as part of ongoing talks to reunify the divided island. The two officials discussed the issue of property, involving numerous complex claims between the two sides concerning property seized decades ago. The UN Secretary-General’s special adviser …

Cyprus marked the 36th anniversary of the Turkish Army’s intervention on the island Tuesday, a move that effectively divided the island into Greek-dominated south and Turkish-dominated north. Eight years later, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared, which is only recognised by Ankara. In a joint declaration to mark …

Despite rising political tensions due to terror attacks, Turkey’s government seems to be standing firm on its democratic initiative aimed at boosting the rights of the Kurdish minority. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen named former Turkish presidential advisor Huseyin Dirioz as the organisation’s deputy secretary-general in charge of defence and planning on Friday (July 16th). The move came following a promise Rasmussen made when he took the post in 2009 to appoint a Turkish citizen as his deputy.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul will travel to Slovenia on a formal visit on Wednesday. President’s Press Office released a statement and said Gul’s visit takes place in July 14-15, upon an invitation of Slovenian President Danilo Turk.

One of Bulgaria’s right-wing nationalist parties, VMRO, said that it would ask Parliament to debate whether the country should hold a referendum on Turkey’s accession to the European Union, after the party claimed to have gathered 300 000 signatures from Bulgarian citizens calling for a referendum.

Turkey’s Cabinet ministers and senior representatives of the EU met Tuesday in Istanbul. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis led the Turkish delegation. The EU has been represented by

Bulgaria’s foreign minister Nikolay Mladenov has played down concerns that Bulgaria would oppose a future membership in the EU on the part of Turkey. Mladenov said that Bulgaria “supports the processes of EU-accession of Turkey”, speaking for the Anatolian News Agency in Dubrovnik, where leaders from the Balkans gathered to …

The government has decided to abolish entrance visa requirements for Turkish citizens, effective Monday, the day Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicks off a visit. He will meet with President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. The programme also includes a visit to the Muslim-dominated town of Novi …

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday (July 7th) criticised the EU’s “unfair” attitude towards Turkey. In an interview with the Danish daily Politiken, Rasmussen urged the EU “to take a series of pragmatic steps to improve relations with Turkey, entirely outside the [EU accession] negotiations” process. Rasmussen, Denmark’s former …