Ambassador Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, visited Washington, March 17-21, to discuss critical developments in the Middle East before President Obama's visit to Turkey on April 6-7. During his visit Davutoglu stated that "The U.S. and... MORE

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul arrived in Iraq on March 23, becoming the first Turkish president to visit the country in 33 years, where he was warmly welcomed by Iraq's President Jalal Talabani. Gul's visit to Iraq was originally scheduled for December 20, 2008 but a... MORE

Novruz, marking the arrival of spring and beginning of a new year, is being celebrated in Turkey between March 20 and 24, along with other Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. This year's celebrations in Turkey showed that this cultural event still remains highly contested... MORE

As the prosecutors deepen their investigations into the Ergenekon criminal network, they have found interesting evidence that indicates two opposing camps within the Turkish military. Recently, the neo-nationalist daily Cumhuriyet's Ankara correspondent, Mustafa Balbay, was detained on accusations of being a member of Ergenekon. Balbay... MORE

Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko paid an official visit to Ankara to meet with Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler. At the meeting, Shmatko inquired when the Turkish authorities would make their final decision to allow the Russian-Turkish consortium to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant.... MORE

Two recent reports by European institutions reignited the debate over political reforms that Turkey needs to undertake to bring its democratic practices up to European standards. The European Parliament (EP) and the Venice Commission criticized Turkey's reluctance to continue with constitutional reforms, in particular its... MORE

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq has prepared a proposal to end terror attacks inside Turkey by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It was first reported last December that the draft proposal included amnesty for PKK militants to return to Turkey and a provision... MORE

The Turkish government announced a comprehensive economic stimulus package on Friday. The decision comes against the background of deteriorating economic indicators that signal a serious recession and mounting pressure from market players for the government to act swiftly to alleviate the crisis. Industrial production showed... MORE

During a recent public debate in Brussels on Turkey's energy policies, several panelists advised Turkey's Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, who participated in the panel, that Ankara is "overplaying its hand" by setting unacceptable terms for the transit of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. Such tactics in... MORE

On March 10 the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office submitted its long-awaited second indictment in the case of Ergenekon, a clandestine organization with members from various state agencies, including the military, charged with plotting to overthrow the government (all dailies and local news channels, March 10). Tuesday's... MORE