Turkey

TURKEY A recent report by former senior leaders in Europe that urged European Union (EU) to accelerate Turkey’s accession talks has reaffirmed the Turkish government’s determination to carry out reforms, a Turkish state minister told the semi-official Anatolia news agency Monday, Xinhua informed. State Minister Egemen Bagis, who is also …

TURKEY Deputy PM Bülent Arınç lashes opposition claims of ‘treason’ due to his government’s Kurdish initiative and praises the so-called democratic move, using the Kurdish expression ‘Xwede şi te razi,’ which means ‘thank you’ in Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç censured opposition claims of ‘treason’ and praised the so-called …

TURKEY Turkey-skeptic European leaders should change their stance while Turkish government leaders should recommit themselves to the reform process, a group of experts recommended Monday for putting Turkish-European relations back on track. The latest report by the Independent Commission on Turkey, which is chaired by Finland’s 2008 Nobel Peace Prize …

TURKEY Turkey’s foreign minister has urged his European Union counterparts to speed up the process of his country’s EU membership bid and not let the Cyprus issue stall negotiations. In an opinion piece in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, Ahmet Davutoğlu said his country has started an “unparalleled reform” process to …

TURKEY Discussions picked up speed on both sides as Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias announced Thursday that he would meet Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat for a second round of talks. Talat said Turkish Cypriots have other alternatives to consider if the Greek Cypriots “refuse resolution as they did …

TURKEY The European Commission’s progress report on Turkey, which is expected to be released on Oct. 14, is likely to include praise for the government’s democratic initiative involving the country’s Kurds and the recent protocols announced between Turkey and Armenia.

CYPRUS Greek Cypriot representatives had postponed the second round of peace talks following a dispute over a pilgrimage to an orthodox church in the Turkish Cypriot north, an official said on Wednesday. The leaders of the two rival communities were scheduled to start the new round of negotiations on Thursday …

TURKEY Turkey’s opposition parties on Tuesday criticized the government’s move to start talks on establishing diplomatic ties with the country’s long-time foe Armenia for making unilateral concession. Armenia has not changed its policy enough or implemented necessary preconditions to allow a reconciliation with Turkey, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News …

TURKEY Relations between hostile neighbours Turkey and Armenia have taken a turn for the better with the two countries’ agreeing to hold talks on establishing diplomatic ties. It was last year’s unprecedented meeting between their leaders in the Armenian capital which began the slow improvement after almost a century of …

TURKEY In the wake of the second round of talks between Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus that are due to resume on Sept. 3, Turkish Cyprus President Mehmet Ali Talat said the possibility of the division on the island to be permanent was getting stronger. “The talks cannot go on …