Tanju Bilgiç

The Arab League has failed to understand Turkey's self-sacrificing and resolved efforts against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 26.

The Arab League has failed to understand Turkey's self-sacrificing and resolved efforts against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç has said.

A 34-state Saudi-led Islamic alliance does not aim to establish a military force at the moment, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 16. 

"Establishing a military force is beside the point yet," he said speaking at a press conference. 

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trTurkey has made clear that Russian military airplanes should stop violating Turkey's airspace if they wish to ensure Turkish forces will not shoot down any more Russian airplanes. 

Turkey is not involved in any plans to revise the Montreux Convention that regulates international access to the Bosphorus and the Dardenelles Straits, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 8, refuting reports that the convention could be renewed amid ongoing tension between Ankara and Moscow.

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trAnkara has moved to secure a higher level of coordination with Baghdad after the latter condemned the recent deployment of Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in Iraq's Mosul province, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 8.

Senior Turkish and Iranian officials have engaged in a war of words over Syria, with each accusing each other of lending support to terrorist organizations in a row that parallels Ankara's ongoing tension with Moscow. 

A shipment of 781 shotguns seized in Italy's northern city of Trieste on Nov. 27 was in fact legal and en route to Belgium from Turkey, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Nov. 28.       

Bilgiç said the importer of the guns, a Belgian company, had breached shipment authorizations.

Turkey has sent a medical team to Romania to support the treatment of two Turks injured in nightclub fire, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Nov. 5.

One of the Turkish nationals caught in the fire was severely injured and is under intensive care while the other has been released from hospital, he told reporters. 

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trAnkara has welcomed a U.S. statement that the country is not currently providing arms to the People's Protection Units (YPG), the military force protecting the northern Syrian region of Rojava.