state-run Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s media organizations have been unprecedentedly banned from reporting about a parliamentary inquiry into corruption allegations concerning four former ministers of Cabinet.

A request for the ban was filed by the Parliament Speaker’s Office to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office on Nov. 21, asking for a ban that will last until Dec. 27.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has proposed a yet-to-be-founded private company continues oil and gas drilling activities in the Mediterranean until a resolution can be found for the decades-long Cyprus issue.

Syrian air missile defense systems have locked onto Turkish military aircrafts almost 400 times this year, as compared to only once in 2012, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz has disclosed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has contacted Palestinian leaders upon an Israeli offensive on the al-Aqsa Mosque, which was described as “nothing but barbarity to the core” by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will pay his first visit abroad to North Cyprus and Azerbaijan later this month, in line with the country’s state traditions.

Davutoğlu will be visit Turkish Cyprus on Sept. 16 and then Baku, Azerbaijan, from Sept. 19-20, sources from the Prime Ministry office told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Sept. 9.

Within days after taking charge in their new offices, the top two leaders of Turkey have begun picking candidates to compose their strategic inner Cabinets.

Outgoing President Abdullah Gül became the first of a series of officials to congratulate Ahmet Davutoğlu after the foreign minister was nominated as a successor as prime minister to President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) intends to complete deliberations on a key omnibus law before the new legislative year begins on Oct. 1.

President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has clearly stated he will not attend the ceremony marking the commencement of the judicial year for 2014-2015 if the head of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) delivers a speech there, pressuring Turkey’s top court to review its list of invitees.

Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek has felt an apparent need to underline the contribution played by the Alevis community in protecting Turkish culture, stating that Alevis have played a “historical” role in this process.

Çiçek, in an interview with the state-run Anadolu Agency on Aug. 11, focused on a certain detachment among society from authentic Turkish culture.