Turkey

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has suggested that the prospective independence of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would "further complicate the picture" in a region destabilized by the "artificial borders of the Sykes-Picot agreement" of 1916.

A summary of proceedings against five opposition lawmakers, including the co-chairs of the Kurdish problem-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has been sent to the Justice Ministry, the state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Iraq is building a three-metre-high security wall and trench defences around Baghdad in an effort to thwart jihadist attacks, a security official said on Feb. 4.
 
The aim is to prevent the infiltration of "terrorists" and car bombs into the city, Brigadier General Saad Maan said.
 

Turkish jazz artists Ay?egül and Nezih Ye?ilnil will perform two concerts in Spain this month. 

The concerts, organized by Escola de Musica, one of the respected music schools in Spain, will take place on Feb. 11 at the Sunset Jazz Club in Girona and on Feb. 12 at the Nova Jazz Cava in Barcelona. 

Tourism Minister Mahir Ünal has called on local and foreign industry representatives to "defend freedom of travel" against threats posed by terrorism, as the Turkish tourism industry continues to feel the chill of geopolitical uncertainty.

A court sentenced two young Israelis to life and 21 years in prison yesterday for burning a Palestinian teen alive, part of a cycle of violence that led up to the 2014 Gaza war.

The two Israelis were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street and subsequently killed him. 

The European Union has pledged over EUR 3 B to help the Syrians living inside the country as well as the refugees and the neighbouring countries hosting them in 2016.  

One police officer was killed on Feb. 4 during clashes with outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the Cizre district of southeastern ??rnak province.

The special operations police officer was killed in clashes with PKK militants in the Sur neighborhood, as operations were ongoing in the district as a part of a curfew.

Mechtild Rössler, the director of both UNESCO's Division for Heritage and World Heritage Center, has declared Turkey did not apply for the inclusion of the ancient city of Hasankeyf on the UNESCO World Heritage List. 

Members of the four political parties at parliament should act with "common sense" while drafting a new constitution, leaving no room for doubt over its "legitimacy," Parliament Speaker ?smail Kahraman has stressed, opening the first session of the inter-party commission tasked with writing a new charter.