Turkey

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday (June 2nd) appointed Lisa Buttenheim as his special representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus. Buttenheim, of the United States, will replace Taye-Brook Zerihoun of Ethiopia, who was appointed in April to a UN post in New York.

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu held their first meeting in Nicosia on Wednesday (May 26th). During the meeting, UN Special Envoy Alexander Downer read them a message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who warned that time is running out to reach a deal reunifying …

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday (May 25th) to discuss the situations in Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). “All … shared the view that BiH’s future lies in Euro-Atlantic structures,” Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting.

The leaders of Turkish and Greek communities in Cyprus on Wednesday resumed the talks on reunification of the island following a two-month pause. This is the first meeting of the newly elected Turkish Cypriot President Dervis Eroglu and the Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias.

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has accepted an invitation to meet with newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, government spokesman Stephanos Stephanou announced in a statement Saturday (May 22nd). Both will attend a dinner Tuesday with UN special adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer, effectively the first meeting of the two …

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed bilateral agreements today in the areas of transport, agriculture, education and the environment. “Prime Minister Thaci and Prime Minister Erdogan appraised highly the bilateral cooperation between the countries and stressed the readiness

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday (May 19th) expressed hope that talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus will continue, yet acknowledged they can’t last forever.  Ban said that February statements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — in support of the negotiations — added momentum to the process. Ban said …

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague says the new British government firmly supports the EU integration prospects of Turkey and the Western Balkans, the Spanish daily El Pais reported on Tuesday (May 18th). Hague, who was in Spain to attend the

The Georgian president said relations between Turkey and Georgia are “exemplary” during a visit by the Turkish prime minister to the Black Sea resort city of Batumi on Monday. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s remarks came while he was speaking during the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Sheraton Batumi Hotel, built by …

The Bulgarian nationalist party VMRO and its partner cable TV channel SKAT have collected 200 000 signatures in support of their demand for a nation-wide referendum on Turkey’s EU accession. The VMRO press center announced Tuesday that the signatures were collected in one month, and that the initiative of the …