Turkish Foreign Ministry

The Israeli Foreign Ministry's undersecretary will meet his Turkish counterpart next week for political consultations over the two countries' normalization process, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hüseyin Müftüoğlu said Jan. 26.

The Israeli official will visit the Turkish capital on Feb. 1, a Turkish diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

The German Justice Ministry's invitation to an official reception to former Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar as a guest of honor is a "provocation" ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Turkey, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Müftüoğlu has told reporters. 

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to visit Turkey on February 2, reported AFP, citing information from the Turkish Foreign ministry.

This will be Merkel's first visit to Turkey since relations between Ankara and Berlin deteriorated last year after the unsuccessful coup attempt in July.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned a deadly terror attack in Somalia that killed at least 14 people on Jan. 25, according to an official statement released later in the day. 

"We strongly believe that terrorist attacks, such as the one perpetrated today, cannot derail Somalia's progress in ensuring stability," the ministry said. 

The United Nations said two days of expert-level talks on the possible reunification of Cyprus had ended on Jan. 19, describing them as a success but without disclosing any details.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has asked that Tarkan's "Şıkıdım" song be played in concerts in Moscow and Istanbul to commemorate the Red Army Choir, daily Habertürk has reported. 

The Turkish ENBE Orchestra started preparations for concerts which will be held in Moscow and Istanbul to commemorate 64 Red Army Choir members who were killed in a plane crash on Dec. 25, 2016.

Pakistan and Turkey conducted a second round of consultations on matters pertaining to the United Nations in Islamabad on Jan. 17, discussing issues ranging from U.N. Security Council reforms to human rights, humanitarian issues, refugees and counter-terrorism, according to officials.

Turkey's chief of General Staff, Gen. Hulusi Akar, has met his Israeli counterpart for the first time since the two countries normalized their ties in the wake of the 2010 Mavi Marmara Massacre. 

The meeting came on the sidelines of a NATO conference for defense heads between Jan. 17-18 in Brussels, the Turkish Armed Forces said. 

Deputy Shipping Minister Nektarios Santorinios says there are no plans to create infrastructure or settle people on uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea as part of the government's plans to develop them.

In a stern statement late Thursday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu offered Ankara's first official response to an initiative by Greece's Deputy Shipping Minister Nektarios Santorinios for economic development on 28 uninhabited Aegean islets.