Ankara

Bartın is a small and lovely Black Sea coastal city. It is only about a three-hour drive from Ankara. The town was in the headlines this week with a rather interesting SMS message from the provincial education director: Don't let your children fall prey to infidel propaganda.

Ankara’s recent talks with the Kurds have come to a critical juncture. As the delegation of Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Pervin Buldan and İdris Baluken has now been joined by Hatip Dicle and Leyla Zana, the political weight of the negotiations seems to have shifted from cease-fire to autonomy/federalism.

The 15th week of Turkey's top football division, the Spor Toto Super League, is set to kick off Dec. 26 with the highly anticipated match between Gençlerbirliği and Galatasaray in Ankara, as the race heats up both at the top and the bottom of the standings.

The match will begin at 8 p.m. local time.

Turkey and Iraq have begun a new round of talks to seek additional measures for the elimination of the threat posed to the region by extremist Islamists as Baghdad requested more military and intelligence assistance from Turkey, including the delivery of weapons.  

Terrorism is harming Islam the same way it is harming people in our region, Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said Dec. 25.

Çiçek made the remarks during his meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his delegation in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Ankara wants to repair its relationship with Cairo, but Egypt needs to take steps "to end human rights violations" against its people, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, noting there has been attempts to establish a dialogue between two countries.

A patch of land in a protected island on the Marmara Sea off Istanbul bought by Saudi Prince Sattam Bin Abdelaziz, the late brother of the Saudi king and former governor of Riyadh, will be opened to construction following the intervention of civil servants in Ankara, Turkish media reported Dec. 25.

Turkey’s bilateral ties with Egypt could “normalize if the country properly returns to democracy, if the Egyptian people’s free will is reflected in politics and social life,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) made public harassment of its aircrafts by Greek military aircrafts, only a day after a similar announcement.

EU Affairs Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır has joined the chorus of critics against EU officials who made comments directed at Turkey over mass media detentions on a day of rest.