Turkey

Turkey bans alcohol advertising and curbs sales

ANKARA - Turkey banned alcohol advertising and tightened restrictions on its sale on Friday, drawing criticism from secular Turks as well as the country's brewing industry.

Prominent Chechen advocate shot dead in Turkish capital

ANKARA - A prominent figure in the Chechen diaspora in Turkey was shot at his Ankara office late on Wednesday, a North Caucasus refugee association said, the latest in a series of killings of Chechens and their sympathizers in the country in recent years.

World, 23 May 2013

Turkey shuts Syria border crossing after deadly bombs

ANKARA - Turkey has shut its side of the last border crossing with Syria still controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's government, stepping up security following two deadly bombings this month.

Syria, World, 22 May 2013

Turkey prosecutor seeks life sentences for generals over coup: TV

ANKARA - More than 100 senior Turkish army officers face prosecution demands they spend the rest of their lives in jail for their alleged role in toppling Turkey's first Islamist-led government 16 years ago, a Turkish TV channel reported on Wednesday.

World, 22 May 2013

Turkish PM says no decision yet on further Iran oil import cuts

WASHINGTON - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey had already significantly reduced its oil imports from Iran, which is under the choke of Western sanctions, and further cutbacks would depend on his country's energy needs.

World, 17 May 2013

Protesting Bulgarian drivers block truck traffic to Turkey

SOFIA - Disgruntled Bulgarian truck drivers blocked traffic at two major border checkpoints with neighboring Turkey on Friday to protest against what they said were Turkish restrictions to their operations.

World, 17 May 2013

Analysis: Upgrade crowns Turkey's peaceful rise but pitfalls loom

PARIS - Turkey's achievement of investment-grade status crowns a decade of rapid growth, financial stability and political reform by a "tiger" economy on the seam of Europe and Asia, but the rising power still faces pitfalls in a dangerous neighborhood.

World, 17 May 2013

Turkey's Gul says global response to Syria just talk

REYHANLI, Turkey - Turkey's President Abdullah Gul criticized the world's response to the Syria conflict on Thursday as limited to "rhetoric", saying his country had received little help in coping with a huge influx of Syrian refugees.

World, United Nations, Syria, 16 May 2013

Turkey's Erdogan to push Obama on Syria after bombings

WASHINGTON - Turkey's prime minister will push President Barack Obama for more assertive action on Syria during a visit to Washington this week, days after car bombs tore through a Turkish border town in the deadliest spillover of violence yet.

World, Syria 14 May 2013

First Kurdish rebels reach Iraq under Turkish peace plan

HEROR, Iraq - Weary and caked in mud, the first group of Kurdish militants to leave Turkey under a peace plan to end three decades of war descended a mountain into Iraq on Tuesday to be met with embraces from PKK comrades.

World, Iraq, 14 May 2013
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Syria opposition seeks to unify as momentum for talks builds

ISTANBUL - Syria's fractious opposition scrambled to agree a new leadership on Friday in a bid to present a coherent front at peace talks which the United States and Russia are convening to seek an end to more than two years of civil war.

Ethiopia and Eritrea: An elusive peace on the cards?

Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.