New Year's Day

Turkey will not be fully secure if it fails to help resolve conflicts in its region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, vowing to continue pursuing a “more active and bold” foreign policy in 2018.

Law enforcement officials have carried out a comprehensive security operation in Istanbul’s 39 counties as part of security measures taken by Turkish police ahead of New Year’s Eve, Doğan News Agency reported on Dec. 27.

The letter contains New Year and Christmas greetings, the Serbian Presidency announced in a statement.

In Serbia and Russia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7.

According to the statement, Putin "stressed that he counts on further improvement of bilateral cooperation in the interest of regional stability."

Authorities in Istanbul have taken measures to prevent illegal cutting down of pine trees ahead of New Year’s Eve, with officials carrying out extensive controls in forested areas for the past 15 days to protect the trees.

Ahead of the budget debate, the issue of the cost of the New Year tree installed in Republic Square has been raised in the Belgrade City Assembly.

A Turkish court on Dec. 16 ordered the release of seven suspects in the trial over the deadly New Year attack on an Istanbul nightclub following an initial series of hearings.

Christmas and New Year are coming far too early in the Serbian capital - at least as far as decorations are concerned - locals are compaining.

Many have reacted with mockery after the authorities in Belgrade decided to decorate the city centre on September 29 - a whole three months before the year runs out.

The terrible massacre by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on a nightclub in Ortaköy last week has triggered Turkey's most traditional debate on "secular versus conservative" lifestyles. 

Is there any other country in the world other than Turkey where people's hopes for 2017 were shattered?

Most of us spent the last days of 2016 shivering in the cold and spent nights in darkness because of long power cuts. Until the last minute, New Year's preparations and shopping were done blindly. 

Four young men were arrested in the western port town of Patra after breaking into a bar on New Year's Day and trying to make off with bottles of liquor.

The youths were spotted by locals breaking into the bar at around 9 a.m. on Sunday morning after having apparently gotten through their New Year's alcohol supply and looking for a top-up.