Syria

Concern has grown in Berlin about a spillover of the tensions n Syria and Iraq to Germany after attacks to Kurds by Muslim groups last week

The activities of Jihadists in both Syria and Iraq have intensified the flow of desperate refugees to a greater extent than originally anticipated and have increased the pressure on islands in the Aegean where some 80 percent of undocumented immigrants are believed to have come from Syria, Kathimerini understands.

Bulgaria will increase defence spending in line with decisions of the recent NATO summit in Wales to address global challenges, President Rosen Plevneliev said on Friday.

"The crisis in Ukraine returned us to harsh reality," Plevneliev said at a defence industry forum in Sofia attended by senior NATO officials and representatives of Bulgarian military plants and research institutes.

Armed clashes in Turkey over the fate of the Kurdish town of Kobane in Syria assaulted by Islamic State jihadists have led to 31 deaths since Tuesday.

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced that the international coalition against jihadists in Syria are discussing issues

The UN envoy for Syria has called on Turkey to allow Kurdish refugees to cross back into Syria to protect Kobane

There were cases in which persons, connected to terrorist organisations, tried to enter Bulgaria as a part of the refugee wave, Vladimir Pisanchev, head of the National Security Agency (DANS) told journalists.

According to him, the persons, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, were apprehended and in some cases extradited.

In a meeting to draw up Turkey’s contribution to the anti-ISIL coalition, Ankara has asked U.S. officials to present a comprehensive strategy for Syria before taking a step for its cooperation.

Mr. Davutoğlu once claimed that he knows Syria and the Middle East polity too well as evinced by the fact, in his words, that 'he traveled to Damascus 62 times and knows the city street by street'

Two armed attacks have hit Turkey's military outposts near its border with Syria