Middle Orient

Interim Prime Minister of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Ahmad Ta’ma held talks on Thursday with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the preparations for the International Geneva II Conference.

EU interior ministers met here Thursday and discussed among other subjects the issue of the European fighters in the armed conflict zones, Syria in particular.

Sergei Lavrov will visit Iran next week to discuss the interim deal reached by world powers and Tehran over its nuclear program and other issues.

The chemical materials will be, first, sent overland to the Syrian northern port of Latakia, where they will be shipped to another unspecified foreign harbor before being transferred to a specially equipped US naval vessel capable of safely destroying them at sea using hydrolysis — a process for chemicals’ decomposition.

NATO Foreign Ministers Wednesday held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council. “Russia and NATO both play a critical role in the security of the Euro-Atlantic region. And today’s meeting will enable us to maintain the momentum in

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has denied claims that Turkey has security forces in war-torn Syria in his response to a question submitted to Parliament by an opposition deputy.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday his country spent nearly USD 650 million on the relief effort for the Syrian refugees in camps in areas close to the borders with Syria.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran called Nov. 27 for a ceasefire in Syria before peace talks in Geneva scheduled for Jan. 22. “All our efforts are to end the conflict and for a ceasefire if possible, even before the Geneva 2 conference takes place,” Iranian

Qusay al-Siheil, Iraqi First Deputy Speaker of the parliament, discussed ways to increase bilateral relations with  Turkish parliament Speaker. A statement by Siheil office announced on Tuesday “Siheil received today, the Turkish Parliament Speaker in Baghdad where they discussed

“The purpose of Geneva-2 is not to have an armchair discussion about Syria, it’s to have mutual agreement between regime representatives — without Assad — and the moderate opposition in order to form a transitional government,” Laurent Fabius told French radio.