Turkey

Turkey, Ukraine discuss free trade zone

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have given orders for work on creating a free trade zone between Ukraine and Turkey to be expedited, Erdogan said in Kyiv, after talks with Poroshenko.

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Erdogan says not further talks unless PKK lays down arms

Turkey’s government cannot take further steps in the peace process unless the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK) lays down its arms and takes concrete steps to foster peace, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said. “Peace is not possible under the shadow of arms … We cannot move forward in an environment in which promises …

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Turkish President to visit Ukraine

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official visit to Ukraine, where he will take part in the 4th meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish High Level Cooperation Council on March 20. He will meet with Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk.

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NATO kicks off naval drills in the Black Sea

NATO’s Black Sea members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey joined four other alliance states in a multinational naval exercise on March 10 just across the water from the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia last year. The naval rapid reaction force in the Black Sea drills consists of a United States flagship, the guided missile cruiser  USS Vicksburg, …

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Turkey provides non-lethal aid to Iraqi soldiers

Two cargo planes carrying Turkish military aid to Iraqi soldiers arrived in Baghdad on March 3, a Turkish official said, stressing that the assistance includes non-lethal military equipment aid for 500 soldiers of the central government. The military aid includes camouflage desert caps, assault vests, helmets, sleeping bags, blankets for …

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Syrian Kurds press big offensive against IS in northeast of Syria

Kurdish militia pressed a big offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northeast Syria Feb. 25, cutting one of its supply lines from Iraq, as fears mounted for dozens of Christians abducted by the hardline group that recently beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts. The new Kurdish offensive …

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Armenia pulls back from talks to normalize ties with Turkey

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan decided Monday to withdraw the two protocols on normalization of relations with Turkey from the parliament. Over the last six years the two documents remained as mere ink on paper after they were signed in 2009 due to “lack of political will” on the Turkish side, …

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US, Turkey agree to train Syrian opposition forces

Turkey and the United States have hammered out a deal for providing training and equipment to moderate opposition groups in Syria, a Turkish spokesman said here on Tuesday. Both sides are set to sign an agreement for a training and equipping program for Syrian opposition in the next few days, …

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Turkey, Pakistan discuss cooperation on fight against terror

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said that Turkey and Pakistan will “continue their cooperation and solidarity in the fight against terror and Islamophobia” around the world. “We have a common position regarding terrorism and all Islamophobic attacks in different parts of the world,” Davutoğlu told a joint press conference …

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