Ahmet Davutoğlu

Last year, a week from today on Dec. 17, Istanbul prosecutors opened the biggest ever corruption probe in Turkey.

PM Davutoğlu declares that HDP co-chair Demirtaş will be responsible for any violence in protests against a controversial new security package Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has upped the stakes in the Kurdish peace process, declaring that Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş will be responsible for any future bloodshed in the country.

Any delimitation of the Mediterranean between Egypt and Greece will not be acceptable if it affects Turkey’s national interests, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.

Davutoğlu’s remarks were published on Dec. 7 in the Greek newspaper To Vima, in an interview given at the end of the third High-Level Cooperation Council meeting between Greece and Turkey in Athens on Dec. 6.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signed a decree that changes the institutional structure of the presidential office, paving the way for the establishment of a “shadow cabinet” that will work under Erdoğan and monitor the work of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Turkey has been under criticism for some time for becoming too involved in Middle Eastern affairs, thus distancing itself from the European Union and generally the Western world.

Ankara has called on the EU to “make visible” the dialogue between Ankara and Brussels, by inviting Turkish leaders to EU meetings and taking them into EU family photographs.

Turkish PM Davutoğlu has called for a closer cooperation with Greece during his visit to Athens as part of the third High Level Strategic Council between both countries, while playing down differences, particularly on the Cyprus issue

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has warned the Turkish military not to “talk through the media” if they have concerns.

Speaking to the press at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport before his departure to Greece, Davutoğlu said the General Staff was connected to the Prime Ministry and did not need the media to express its concerns.

Athens is bracing for a tense weekend after the Greek government banned protests during the two-day official visit of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, which coincides with commemorations for the 2008 murder of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos on Dec. 6.

The Turkish government is working on a draft reform bill allowing Alevis to choose their own religion courses at school and give their places of worship the same rights as mosques.