The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan said Monday that he was still hopeful about a peace deal with the Turkish state, but argued that Ankara needed to shift the process into a new gear.

Bulgaria sees the delay in admitting the country and fellow EU member Romania into the Schengen Area as politically motivated, stated Bulgaria’s President Rosen Plevneliev. Plevneliev spoke after meeting the President of EU newcomer Croatia Ivo Josipovic, who is on an official visit to Sofia Monday.

Russia on Monday urged the United States to do everything in its power to bring the Syrian opposition to peace talks after a key group said it would not attend a proposed conference in Geneva. “We very much expect our American partners and other countries, which not only have influence …