Turkey

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli was discharged from hospital on Jan. 20, as his doctor said he had undergone a scheduled, preventative open-heart surgery procedure. 

Ankara will no longer engage in contact with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and will instead "liquidate" all PKK militants through ongoing security operations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has vowed.

A Turkish woman was sentenced to 11 months in prison on Jan. 20 for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an by shouting and directing a hand gesture toward him in the Aegean province of ?zmir in 2014.

Turkish exports may rise between 8 and 10 percent with the end of sanctions on neighboring Iran following its nuclear deal with world powers, the head of the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (T?M) said on Jan. 20 in a press meeting.

Key sectors for Turkish companies in Iran are automotive, clothing, textiles, machinery, furniture and chemicals, said T?M President Mehmet Büyükek?i.

German and Turkish police on Jan. 20 announced major coordinated raids against a criminal trafficking network that used unseaworthy ships to send more than 1,700 refugees to Europe.

Archaeological works are still continuing in the ancient Roman-era basilica discovered at the beginning of 2015 under Lake ?znik in Turkey's northwestern province of Bursa. Forty bronze coins have been found recently in the basilica. 

A powerful suicide car bomb struck near the Russian embassy in downtown Kabul Jan. 20, with casualties feared from the latest attack in the Afghan capital, the interior ministry said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vassily Nebenzia will pay a visit to the headquarters of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Istanbul on Jan. 22. 

Nebenzia will conduct a working visit as the representative of the Russian Chairmanship-in-Office of the BSEC.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has dismissed hearsay suggesting it intended to hold a new snap election, while arguing that such a move would sabotage the potential offered by "four years of uninterrupted service."

Phoenix Solar AG and its Turkish partner, Asunim Yenilenebilir Enerji Teknolojileri, have been awarded an order by the Turkish government to build four photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 4.9 Megawatt peak (MWp) at the ?ncesu Industrial Zone in Kayseri in Central Anatolia, the Business Wire reported Jan. 20.