Middle Orient

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with members of the Syrian community in the United States on Saturday as part of talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The delegation representing the Syrian community in the US conveyed their thanks to Turkey for its …

A mortar round hit the Russian embassy compound in Damascus yesterday, injuring three, as Moscow accused Washington of blackmailing it to win a tough UN resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late on Thursday that the content of a one-year mandate allowing Turkey to carry out military operations in foreign countries to be renewed in Parliament on Oct. 4 might remain the same but could also contain changes.

The United States said Thursday that comments by Iranian President Hassan Rowhani had opened up a possible new path for diplomacy, and urged Tehran to engage “substantively” with the West.

A Turkish delegation led by President Abdullah Gul has been preparing to leave for New York on Sept. 20 for next week’s UN General Assembly, which will provide an opportunity for Turkish diplomats to bring regional issues, particularly Syria, to the world’s agenda in a bid to stop the violence …

 Commenting on the capture of the northern Syrian town of Azaz by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said Turkey has repeatedly warned international powers that the unsolved Syrian crisis would breed instability and terrorism in the war-torn country.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected allegations that chemical weapons have been sent to neighboring Syria via Turkey, saying the charges are “impossible to take seriously.” “It is out of the question that we show the slightest tolerance for the use, possession and production of chemical weapons,” Foreign Ministry …

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sept. 19 it was essential that a Russia-U.S. deal on eradicating Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal be enforced and that the U.N. Security Council must act on it next week. “The Security Council must be prepared to act next week,” Kerry told reporters. …

Syria has turned over materials to Russia which aim to show a chemical weapons attack last month was carried out by rebels, a top Russian diplomat visiting Damascus and a Syrian official said yesterday. The August 21 attack precipitated the current high tensions over Syria’s chemical weapons and sparked a …

The international community should provide more aid to help Lebanon allocate Syrian refugees, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday. “The international community must take its responsibility towards Lebanon, given that the latter has become the first hosting country,” Mikati said.