Turkey

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 …

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday urged Turkey to make a step forward in its ties with Armenia and open the common border between the two countries. “We urge both sides continue to try to find the opportunities

Bulgaria should receive its first natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan in 2011, agreed the presidents of the two countries, Georgi Parvanov and Ilham Aliyev. Parvanov went to Azerbaijan’s capital Baku Wednesday on a two-day state visit focused precisely on gas supplies talks and energy security. He is returning a visit

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on Monday (June 28th) to “grasp the current political window of opportunity to reach a settlement” in long-standing efforts

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said on Sunday (June 27th) that talks to reunify the divided island could lead to a deal by the end of the year. This would require the Greek Cypriot side to demonstrate that it wants to meet the target, Eroglu told the Anadolu news agency …

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu met on Wednesday (June 23rd) for another round of talks aimed at reunifying the divided island. UN special adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer said the focus this time was the property issue. They will meet again on July 9th.

Heads of state and government of the members of the Southeast European Cooperation Process, SEECP, gathered today in Istanbul under the chairmanship of Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski met his Greek counterpart George Papandreou on the sidelines of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) Summit in Istanbul, government sources told Makfax news agency.