News archive of November 2015

The speaker of Montenegro's parliament, Ranko Krivokapic, is in Brussels on Monday to meet Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn ahead of crisis talks on new elections in the country, due to begin on Tuesday.

The Montenegrin opposition has been boycotting parliament for months after the ruling parties refused to implement new electoral legislation.

John Kerry will visit Belgrade on December 3 to take part in the annual ministerial council of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, organized by Serbia, the country chairing the organisation in 2015.

An unusual Twitter exchange took place between Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu following the European Council of EU28 leaders. The Greek PM posted four tweets addressing his Turkish counterpart that goaded him about Turkey’s downing of the Russian Su024 jet.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has said that although it is a "crime to reveal state secrets," he is against the arrest of two prominent Turkish journalists last week.

"It is not right to accuse the government over every step made by the judicial system," Davuto?lu said, speaking to journalists en route to Brussels for a key summit with EU leaders. 

The arrest of prominent Turkish journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül has again raised concerns about media freedom in Turkey, a spokesperson from the European Council has told daily Hürriyet, with the reporters urging the EU not to ignore human rights violations in Turkey as it bargains with Ankara on refugees.

While Turkey might find it easier to find itself in a place in the new climate change regime, its main focus at the Paris summit will be to secure financial and technological assistance on emission mitigation, says Semra Cerit Mazlum, a prominent associate professor at Marmara University in IstanbulOne of Turkey's main focus in the Paris climate summit that will kick off on Nov.

The Turkish people had not even digested the war plane crisis with Russia which broke on Nov. 24 and then the arrest of two journalists reporting on an intelligence-involved probe in relation to Syria on Nov. 26 when the bad news hit the wires from the predominantly Kurdish populated southeastern Diyarbak?r province on Nov. 28.

Turkey might have finally emerged from elections with a single-party government, but the economic waters are set to remain choppyAfter the Nov. 1 elections, the markets enjoyed tranquility. The fluctuating and swinging mode had given way to a less turbulent climate; it seemed so but then the plane shooting incident erupted with Russia.

Tension between Turkey and Russia over Turkey's downing of a SU-24 Russian jet last week is likely to persist for a while despite Ankara's efforts at damage control. 

Each day Turkey becomes a witness to incredible incidents. But the biggest threat to the country is to see these incidents as normal and internalize them.

The only way Turkey can be strong in the world and in its region is to secure peace and security on its own territory.