Turkey

The status quo on the war-divided island of Cyprus will not continue and a solution should be found soon, the British minister of state for Europe has said. Speaking to journalists after his meeting with Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat, British minister Chris Bryant said the ongoing reunifying talks …

Turkey has planed to convoke it the near future a joint sitting of Greek and Turkey council of ministers on Cyprus issue. The first steps would be made by Turkish and Greek foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and George Papandreou. The aim of Ankara is referendums to be held in Cyprus …

The Cyprus government rejected on Wednesday a Turkish proposal for a five-party conference under the United Nations’ supervision to discuss a solution of the Cyprus problem. Cyprus President and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias stated that the proposal was reminiscent of a procedure followed in 2003, which resulted in a …

Plans to open more negotiation chapters in the EU accession negotiations are being thwarted for political reasons and Turkish leaders are fuming. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, speaking to the Daily News in Spain, says it’s not understandable. ‘We are criticized by the Europeans for not being fast enough, but …

Meeting with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos in Cordoba over the weekend, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey is very optimistic about Spain’s upcoming six-month European Union term presidency starting on Jan. 1. Stating that Turkey and Spain have strategic relations, Davutoglu said that during their meeting they discussed …

Bulgaria’s parliament is scheduled to debate on Friday a a declaration demanding that President Georgi Parvanov recall the Bulgarian ambassadors to Turkey and the United States. The center-right ruling GERB party, far-right ‘Ataka’, the rightist Blue Coalition and the conservative ‘Law, Order, Justice’ party (RZS) submitted on Wednesday the declaration, …

Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said on Friday that the government’s much-debated Kurdish initiative would not divide the country but strengthen it under the slogan “more democracy for everyone.” In his address to Parliament, he said the government’s initiative, which the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has billed as …

Bulgaria’s ambassador to Turkey, Branimir Mladenov, has filed his resignation, Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying on November 13 2009. The resignation comes a week after Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva and the Cabinet asked President Georgi Purvanov to recall Mladenov and Bulgaria’s ambassador to the US, …

Blocking Turkey’s progress toward European Union entry at a key December summit would not be in the interests of Greek Cyprus, according to the Greek Cypriot foreign minister. “As the situation stands today, we deem it would not be in our interest to halt Turkey’s accession process,” Greek Cypriot Foreign …

Greece will support any possible agreement that aims to resolve the longstanding dispute on Cyprus, the Greek prime minister has said. Prime Minister George Papandreou, who is also in charge of the Greek Foreign Ministry, called on his European counterparts to work together on the Cyprus dispute in a statement …