Turkey

Source : Reuters | Beirut | 28 Jun 2012

Rebel forces attacked Syria’s main court in central Damascus yesterday, state television said, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar Assad.

There was a loud explosion and a column of black smoke rose over Damascus, an Assad stronghold that until the last few days had seemed largely beyond the reach of rebels. State television described it as a “terrorist explosion” in the court car park.

By Al Arabiya & Agencies | 23 Jun 2012

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said Saturday the jet fighter shot down by Syria might have violated Syrian airspace.

“It is routine for jet fighters to sometimes fly in and out over (national) borders ... when you consider their speed over the sea,” Gul told Anatolia news agency. “These are not ill-intentioned things but happen beyond control due to the jets’ speed.”

He said Ankara has made a telephone contact with Syria.

Source : Agencies | 12 Jun 2012

Kurdish language classes might be included in the Turkish school system as elective courses, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay has said, announcing that the government was working on a new proposal to expand the scope of Turkey's democratic initiative to give more cultural rights to the Kurds.

In remarks made on Sunday, Atalay said: “The new education package has many dimensions, including one on teaching [students'] mother tongue. We are still working on this. The prime minister will make the final announcement on this.”

Source : Agencies | 01 Jun 2012

The United Nations should beef up its operation in Somalia, and other countries who want to help the war-torn state should actually move in and set up bases there, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Erdogan's direct remarks at a international conference on Somalia in Istanbul, the second hosted in Turkey in two years, were a sign of his administration's growing clout and ambitions in Africa.

Source : Agencies | 30 May 2012

A joint venture between Turkish construction firm İÇTAŞ and Italian construction group Astaldi has won the tender for the North Marmara Highway project, which will involve the construction of a third bridge over the Bosporus Strait, Minister of Transport Binali Yıldırım announced in Ankara on Tuesday.

Source : Anadolu Agency | 23 May 2012

Turkey and Pakistan signed nine agreements including a joint statement envisaging high-level cooperation between the two countries.

Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Energy & Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz and Environment & Urbanization Minister Erdogan Bayraktar signed the agreements.

Source : Agencies | Ankara | 10 May 2012

A total of 59 percent of Turkey's population belongs to the middle class, and members of this group are careful in their spending and pious, according to a survey recently conducted by Ipsos KMG.

The results of the survey, which were published in the Radikal daily on Monday, show that 43.5 million members of Turkey's population of 74.7 million are of the middle class, a number that has risen by 1.9 million in the last year.

Source : Cihan | Ankara | 21 Apr 2012

Turkey has blocked Israel’s participation in NATO’s upcoming Chicago summit in a sign of Turkey’s determination to maintain demands that stemmed from a deadly ship raid.

Turkish and Israeli relations worsened in May 2010 and have remained strained since then after Israeli naval commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, a ship carrying humanitarian aid to break Israel’s Gaza blockade, killing nine Turkish civilians.

Source : Cihan | Ankara | 21 Apr 2012

A report released by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) at the end of this week suggests the headscarf ban should be lifted in all aspects of social and political life, the public sector, state institutions and universities, noting that the continued enforcement of the ban has raised obstacles to women's participation in social and business life.

Source : Agencies | Ankara | 13 Apr 2012

Turkey's energy and natural resources minister said on Friday that Turkey would hold talks on construction of nuclear power plant with Japan, South Korea and China.

Taner Yildiz defined his visit to China as fruitful, and said Turkey would hold negotiations with Japan, South Korea and China on construction of a nuclear power plant.

"We will prefer conditions of the country which is for our bests interests," Yildiz told a press conference in Ankara.