Ankara

Turkey and the EU Commission have agreed on a refugee action plan that will include short- and medium-term measures following necessary approval by political leaders, a high-level EU official has said.

Thousands of residents sought to flee for their lives in the southeastern district of Silvan yesterday, the 10th day of a continuing military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.

A sixth curfew since August was declared in three neighborhoods of Silvan, a town of 86,000  about 80 kilometers from Diyarbak?r, on Nov. 3. 

New claims for U.S. unemployment insurance benefits held steady last week, close to a four-decade low as the jobs market firms, the Labor Department reported on Nov. 12.

Initial jobless claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, totaled 276,000 in the week ending November 7, the same as the previous week.

A U.S.-born Turkish basketball player has been found dead in New York, according to media reports.

The New York Daily News reported that police found the body of Ali Karadeniz, born Michael Wright, in his SUV under a pile of garbage bags in Brooklyn on Nov. 12.

Coalition forces fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group are preparing for a wide-scale aerial operation in Syria, private broadcaster CNN Türk has reported.

Turkey's Supreme Election Board (YSK) has announced the official results of the Nov. 1 snap elections, noting that the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Republican People's Party (CHP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) obtained 317, 134, 59 and 40 seats, respectively. 

Former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Sebahat Tuncel was briefly detained at passport control in Istanbul Atatürk Airport ahead of her flight to Brussels. 

Tuncel, also the spokesperson for the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), was transferred to the prosecutor's office in Bak?rköy after testifying at the airport. 

Turkish police detained 11 suspects in helicopter-backed raids targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants across Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Nov. 11, just days ahead of a G-20 Summit being held in the country. 

One day after the European Union released its progress report on Turkey for 2015, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans paid a visit to the Turkish capital on Nov. 11. 

Turkish EU Minister Beril Dedeo?lu has been left apoplectic after Brussels suggested "an inappropriate proposal" to Ankara that linked Turkey's EU accession process with a solution to the refugee crisis.

Dedeo?lu, nonetheless, also said criticism directed at Turkey in the European Commission's latest progress report indicated "a breaking point in a positive sense."