Turkey

Source : Reuters | 21 Feb 2012

Turkey, China signed six bilateral economic agreements.

China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping praised Turkey's growing role on Tuesday in trying to resolve regional issues such as the Iranian nuclear dispute and Middle East conflicts.

In Turkey on the last leg of a trip that also took him to the United States and Ireland, Xi is almost sure to succeed Hu Jintao as Chinese president in just over a year.

Source : Al Arabiya | 10 Feb 2012

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comment that his government wants to “raise a religious youth” has touched a nerve in society, fuelling debates over an alleged “hidden agenda” to Islamize secular Turkey.

“We want to raise a religious youth,” said Erdogan, himself a graduate of a clerical school and the leader of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), during a parliamentary address last week.

Source : Anadolu Agency | Ankara | 06 Feb 2012

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that the strategic cooperation document he signed with Turkish President Abdullah Gul would boost bilateral relations in a comprehensive fashion.

Speaking at a joint press briefing with President Gul in Ankara, President Lee Myung-bak said that he was pleased to be visiting Turkey and defined Turkey as a "brotherly country".

I thank President Gul for the warm welcome, President Lee said.

By Reuters | Munich | 5 Feb 2012

Turkey and Qatar urged the West on Sunday not to attack Iran to solve a nuclear row, but to make greater efforts to negotiate an end to the dispute.

By UAE Interact | 1 Feb 2012

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, and Mehmet Simsek, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Turkey, yesterday in a joint statement stressed the importance of the visit by Abdullah Gul, President of the Republic of Turkey, to the UAE, which contributes to the strengthening of bilateral relations, particularly economic ties.

By Reuters | Paris/Ankara | 24 Jan 2012

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan attacked the French parliament on Tuesday for passing a “discriminatory and racist” bill which makes it illegal to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was genocide.

However, Erdogan said there was still hope that NATO ally France “would correct its mistake” and that any retaliatory measures would be held back, depending on French actions.

Source : Cihan | Ankara | 17 Jan 2012

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday slammed US presidential hopeful Rick Perry for his remarks in which he questioned Turkey's NATO membership and called Turkish leaders “Islamic terrorists,” saying the statements are groundless and inappropriate.

Source : News Agencies | 13 Jan 2012

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said on Thursday that only the United Nations’ decision regarding to Iran were binding for Turkey.

Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Yildiz said that "there is news that the United States and European Union (EU) have taken certain decisions against Iran and will apply sanctions on Iranian oil. Only the United Nations’ decisions on Iran are binding for Turkey. Any decision taken out of the U.N. is not binding for Turkey".

By İsmail Duman, World Bulletin | 10 Jan 2012

“The U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq is reordering political dynamics not only in Baghdad but also in the broader Middle East. Nature abhors a vacuum, and a number of actors are seeking to fill the outsized role that America has played in Iraq over the last eight years.” says Sean Kane in his report ‘The Coming Turkish-Iranian Competition in Iraq’. “The two rising powers in the region, Iran and Turkey, share borders with Iraq and are rapidly becoming the most influential external actors inside the country.”

Source : Anadolu Agency | 04 Jan 2012

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said Turkey was against any polarization in the Middle East.

"I want to clearly say that there are some who seek a regional cold war. We are determined to prevent it. A regional sectarian tension would be a suicide for the region," said Davutoglu who assessed the year 2012 to Anadolu Agency.