Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey A court ruled on Monday (May 18th) that President Abdullah Gul should stand trial in a fraud case involving missing party funds, despite his immunity as a head of state. The alleged fraud case dates back to the late 1990s, when the Welfare Party, a predecessor of the …

NICOSIA, Cyprus The new government in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus won a confidence vote in parliament Monday (May 18th), media reported. The government won support from 26 of the 50 lawmakers, while 23 voted “against”, allowing the National Unity Party’s (UBP) cabinet to formally assume office.

Thirty-two companies represented Turkey in an international construction fair in Georgia. Turkish companies manufacturing construction materials, window-door systems, bath-kitchen equipment, roof systems, paint and construction chemicals, joined the 14th International Fair for the Building and Interiors (Caucasus Build 2009) in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

NICOSIA, Cyprus Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said on Friday (May 15th) Nicosia does not intend to veto Turkey’s EU accession process, “either on its own or with another country”.

NKARA, Turkey Tens of thousands of people marched in Ankara on Sunday (May 17th) in support of secularism and against the scores of recent arrests stemming from the controversial Ergenekon probe.

ANKARA, Turkey Turkish security forces killed early on Saturday (May 16th) seven militants of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Siirt, the army said in a statement. One village guard was also killed and another was injured in the fighting in the district of …

ANKARA, Turkey The government is drafting a series measures as part of a new approach to the Kurdish issue, local media reported on Tuesday (May 12th). This major policy shift was prompted by last week’s tragedy in the predominantly Kurdish province of Mardin, where gunmen killed 44 people at a …

ANKARA, Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey could open its border with Armenia if Yerevan withdraws its troops from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

NICOSIA, Cyprus Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said on Saturday (May 9th) his side plans to call a referendum on a reunification proposal by the end of this year or early in 2010. He said his aim is to complete the first phase of reunification talks with Cypriot President …

ANKARA, Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rejected on Friday (May 8th) any alternative to full EU membership for Turkey. “All we ask of the EU is to keep its promises. Proposing alternative memberships is disrespectful not to us, but to the European culture itself,” Davutoglu told a meeting with EU …