Mevlüt Çavu

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has named Turkish as its sixth working language, with the chair of PACE Turkey Delegation saying the number of Turkish lawmakers working at the European organization is expected to rise.

It is not clear if Salih Muslim, the co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), was not invited to the Geneva talks because of pressure from Turkey or much broader considerations. Ankara says the PYD is a terrorist organization allied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Jan. 27 that the United Nations' special envoy to Syria had told him that he would not be inviting the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to peace talks in Geneva scheduled to start on Jan. 29 and that a Riyadh-backed opposition group would lead the negotiations. 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has strongly reiterated his government's categorical objection to the participation of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in U.N.-backed talks on Syria planned for later this week. 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has strongly reiterated his government's categorical objection to the participation of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) taking part in U.N.-backed talks planned for later this week seeking a political solution to the Syrian crisis, while also making clear their objection was not aimed at excluding Syrian Kurds entirely from the negotiations.

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations' special envoy for Syria, said on Jan. 25 that the conference on Syria's future, which had been planned for Jan. 25 but failed to go ahead, could meet on Jan. 29. He was speaking after a telephone conversation earlier in the day between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The European Union assured Turkey on Jan. 25 that a package of three billion euros for Syrian refugees will soon be released, also stressing the need to further stem the influx of irregular migrants from Turkey to Europe before a key summit to take place on Feb. 18 in Brussels. 

The European Union is closely watching whether Turkey's actions are affecting the record flow of migrants to Europe, after the EU reached a $3 billion deal with Ankara to curb migration last year, European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Jan. 25. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has spoken with counterparts from France and the United States ahead of U.N.-led peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition that are slated for the near future in Geneva.

Many people were puzzled when Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu and Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavu?o?lu separately met in Istanbul with Andreas Kyprianou, the secretary-general of the Greek Cypriot Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL). Particularly, the very fact that the meeting came immediately after a landmark trilateral meeting of the two Cypriot leaders with the U.N.