Kyrgyzstan

Turkish authorities have named the main suspect in the deadly Istanbul attack on New Year as Iakhe Mashrapov, 28, who reportedly entered Turkey in November and stayed in Konya.

Officials have snown on state-run broadcaster TRT World an image of his passport which indicated he had come from Kyrgyzstan.

Turkish police believe the gunman who claimed 39 lives in a nightclub in Istanbul may be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, according to Hürriyet Daily News.

Another hypothesis, appearing in daily Habertürk and cited by Hürriyet, suggests the man might be from Xinjiang in China.

Eight people have been detained so far over alleged links to the deadly attack.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who staged an attack on Istanbul's Reina nightclub in the early hours of Jan. 1 looks like a professional who received military training on how to use a weapon, according to security experts. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who staged an attack on a famous Istanbul nightclub on Jan. 1 may be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, according to initial police reports. 

Kyrgyzstan has voted in favor of constitutional changes boosting the power of its government, the Central Election Commission said on Dec. 11, citing preliminary results of a national referendum. 

Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has gathered intelligence via imams from 38 countries on the activities of suspected followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, widely believed to be the mastermind of the failed July 15 coup attempt. 

Turkey has entered the top 10 countries with the most items on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List, with the addition of traditional flatbread during the 11th official meeting. 

During the meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, one national and two multi-national files were presented on behalf of Turkey. 

Turkey will chair the Energy Club of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017, becoming the first non-SCO country to hold its term presidency, according to officials from the Energy Ministry. 

In a meeting on Nov. 22, a proposal from Ankara to pave the way for non-SCO member countries to assume the term presidency of the Energy Club was accepted, officials said.  

Turkey would never take steps to undermine NATO's collective defense and unity as spelled out in Article 5, the alliance's chief has said, recalling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's commitment to NATO membership amid the revival of a discussion on Turkish participation in the Russian-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, known as the Shanghai Five. 

China is willing to consider any application from NATO-member Turkey to join a Russian and Chinese-led security bloc, the Shanghai Pact, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Nov. 21 after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said his country could join.