Foreign Ministry

The Presidential Culture and Grand Awards of 2014 will be presented to actress Gönül Ülkü Özcan, elegy performer Celal Yilmaz, lyricist Beşir Ayvazoğlu and the Kubbealtı Academy Culture and Arts Foundation, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik has announced.

A ferry carrying nearly 500 people caught fire off the Greek island of Corfu Dec. 28, trapping passengers on the top decks as gale-force winds and choppy seas hampered the evacuation.

The next round of the Minsk talks between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels has been called off, according to Belarusian officials.

A spokesman for the country's Foreign Ministry is quoted by the BBC as saying "there wil be no contact group meeting today", but stopped short of any specific reason.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, does not beat around the bush. “On Syria, Turkey needs to cut and run. Built a wall on its border and turn away,” he said when we talked last month in Istanbul.

Turkey’s bilateral ties with Egypt could “normalize if the country properly returns to democracy, if the Egyptian people’s free will is reflected in politics and social life,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said.

Co-Chair of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş departed on Dec. 22 for a five-day visit to the Russian capital city of Moscow where he is expected to hold talks on regional conflicts, with a particular focus on the battle against jihadists in Rojava, the Kurdish region in the northern part of Syria.

Senior Turkish diplomat Feridun Sinirlioğlu is visiting Moscow for talks with Russian officials on a number of issues, including Syria, Iraq and Ukraine.

Turkey has extended cautious support to a United Nations plan to create "frozen zones" within Syria, while also noting its concerns with the proposals and reiterating its demands that any political recommendations must include the removal of the Bashar al-Assad government.

The Turkish capital has voiced its satisfaction with the announcement of rapprochement between Cuba and the United States, which have recently taken steps to bury half a century of enmity.

The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Barzani, is set to arrive in Turkey on the night of Dec. 18, ahead of talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç has announced.

The meeting between Davutoğlu and Barzani is expected to take place on Dec. 19 in Istanbul, diplomatic sources said.