Latest News from Turkey

Turkey's Erdo?an, Saudi King Salman discuss Syria in telephone conversation

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Saudi Arabian King Salman spoke by phone late on Feb. 16, with both describing attacks by Russia and Syrian government forces north of Aleppo as "worrisome," sources at Erdo?an's office said.

Romania Lures Russians to Cut-Price Resorts

Romania's tourism authority is to launch a promotion campaign on the Russian market with holiday packages focused on health and wellness, in a move to diversify tourism products that focus on mountain and seaside resorts.

More tourists from Israel and China are also expected following recent moves to ease their access.

Turkish Airlines wants task force to enliven tourism sector

Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil has called for tourism representatives to create a task force and to focus on Asia and Africa as the sector players have voiced their concerns amid escalating risks affecting the country's tourist numbers.

With no end in sight

I know I had promised last week an imaginary phone conversation between President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and a possible U.S. President Donald Trump for this article. But sometimes events take over, and that is what happened this time. After all, we have all the U.S. primaries ahead of us to speculate, don't we? So let us come back to our jungle, the Syrian crisis.

The Anti-ISIL coalition is cracking to the advantage of jihadists

The Syrian unrest will reach its sixth year in mid-March with no sound projection how long it will last and how many more civilians will be killed or will be forced to leave their homes.

Gearing up for the mother of all wars

Tensions are building up. It is as if several key actors are collaborating viciously to send the world into a catastrophe. Will it be a third world war, as some pundits have started talking about, or will it be the "mother of all wars" - as the propaganda minister of the devastated dictator Saddam Hussein of yesterday's Iraq talked about while the Americans almost occupied all of Baghdad?

A bleeding safe haven

Speaking at an investors forum in The Hague, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu said Turkey was a safe haven for investors. If the prime minister was not joking or referring to another country that goes by the same name, his understanding of what is and what is not "safe" must be quite eccentric.

Why is Turkey shelling northern Syria?

These days a lot of people, both in Turkey and the world, are asking: "Is Turkey really going to war in Syria this time?" The Turkish military has begun doing something it has never done before since the beginning of the Syrian civil war: Shelling strategic positions deep within Syrian territory.

Two pages from our bloody history with Russia

In Jerusalem, over the hill where Jesus Christ was believed to be crucified, carried into a cave and resurrected, rises the holiest church of the Christian world.

In 1852, the roof of the church was damaged and the sectarian groups who ran the church could not agree on who was to repair it while the Ottomans who ruled the city did not care about it.

Turkey doesn't want to be bypassed on Syria

The most interesting news of yesterday (Feb. 16) was about a statement by an unnamed Turkish official who said the government was "asking allies" about the possibility of a land operation into Syria. The official reportedly said Turkey would only get involved in such an operation if it was "with allies."

Turkey's constitution panel dissolves at third meeting as parties point fingers

Turkey's ruling and main opposition parties have blamed each other for the dissolving of an inter-party parliamentary panel tasked with drafting a new constitution after just three sessions. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) left the table on Feb.