Foreign Ministry

A Turkish research vessel will continue searching for oil and gas off Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriot authorities have said, extending a simmering standoff over offshore gas reserves between rival sides on the ethnically-split island.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu continued his verbal attacks against the Gülen movement one day after ruling party deputies on a parliamentary commission elected not to send four ex-ministers to trial at the Supreme Council, in the face of corruption allegations.

The Greek government condemned on Monday the bombing of a Greek-owned tanker at the Libyan port of Derna that left two sailors, a Greek and a Romanian, dead.

The European Union ?mistakenly approaches Turkey based on prejudices? but Ankara is continuing its integration with European institutions with determination, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has said.

A Romanian and a Greek crewman were killed in Libya, after a missile fired by an unidentified fighter jet exploded on board their ship, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed on Monday at the request of AGERPRES.

Photo credit: (c) LIVIU SOVA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The problem with migration is Bulgaria is systemic, not sporadic, according to Gen Miho Mihov, Chair of the parliamentary defense committee and MP from the ABV Movement (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival).

In a Monday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Gen Mihov claimed that there was no enduring continuity in the country?s security and defense policy.

According to latest estimates, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is coming in at around 44 percent popularity, while the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is, as always, around the 25 percent level and the junior opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is at around 16 percent or so.

Turkey has welcomed Russia's initiative to resume peace talks aiming to end the Syrian crisis, but underlined that a political transition is a must because the regime of President Bashar al-Assad "has lost its legitimacy."

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.