Ömer Çelik

Turkey's ruling party has voiced its displeasure with European Parliament Rapporteur for Turkey Kati Piri, who they said lost her "neutrality" during a recent visit to southeastern Diyarbak?r, where she allegedly spent time with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by both the EU and the U.S., in addition to Ankara.

The 767 victims killed in the Struma boat tragedy while trying to escape the Holocaust were commemorated for the second time in Turkey on Feb. 24, in a ceremony in Istanbul's historic Sarayburnu neighborhood. 

For a second time, Turkey will commemorate victims of the Struma tragedy, in which 767 Jews died in the Black Sea while trying to escape the Holocaust, with the Foreign Ministry underlining the need to draw lessons from the tragic incident.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has released three reporters working for Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency after abducting them in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin.

At least five people have been killed and 10 injured after a bomb exploded in the central part of Turkey's capital Ankara on Wednesday.

The blast, believed to have been caused by a car bomb, took place near the armed forces' headquarters, parliament and government buildings. 

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.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) abandoned an inter-party commission tasked with writing a new charter on Feb. 16 over the presidential system debate.

Turkey and Israel are close to signing an agreement on compensation for the killing of 10 Turkish activists by Israeli commandos in 2010, a Turkish ruling party official said on Feb. 15.

Talks between Turkey and Israel to repair ties are going well but a deal has still yet to be reached, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Ömer Çelik said on Feb. 11. 

"We have information that the talks are going well," Çelik said, according to Do?an News Agency. 

"The zeitgeist dictates to us the following: While respecting the existing borders, we need to create common economic, political and cultural zones that go beyond borders, and to make the people converge in this way."