Government of Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for "concrete action" to prevent a crisis in Syria's last rebel stronghold in a phone call with his French and German counterparts, his office said on Feb. 21, amid escalating tensions in the region.

Ozan Ceyhun, a former German-Turkish European Parliament MP, has been appointed as Turkey's ambassador to Austria.

His assignment decision, by the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was published in the Official Gazette on Feb. 21.

Russia and Turkey are on the verge of an armed conflict in the Syrian province of Idlib, according to US Department of Defense official Jonathan Hoffman. At the same time, the Pentagon hopes that direct confrontation and hostilities between the two countries in Syria will be avoided, EA Daily reports.

Turkey is willing to reach a compromise with Greece as long as the latter is prepared to share in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Feb. 20 said that Turkey is "keeping a close eye" on developments in Germany, after attacks in two bars in Hanau, Germany that killed nine people, including five Turkish nationals.

"Turkey, and especially the Turkish Embassy in Berlin, is carefully monitoring the process," Erdoğan said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Feb. 20 that there was some rapprochement with Russia in talks about Syria's Idlib region, where Ankara has threatened to mount an offensive, but added that discussions were not at the desired level yet.

Turkey's foreign minister met Montenegro's parliament speaker in capital Ankara on Feb. 19.

In a tweet, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said the two countries are "giving great importance to interparliamentary cooperation".

The foreign minister said he was very pleased to meet Ivan Brajovic, the parliament speaker of "friend and ally" Montenegro, twice within one week.

Greece rejected on Wednesday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's claims that Athens is gradually accepting Ankara's positioning in the Eastern Mediterranean following the maritime border deal with Libya, saying that these activities undermine regional stability.

Police at Aegean province of İzmir's international airport detained five Iranian nationals trying to smuggle heroin in capsules hidden in their stomachs, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 19.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Feb. 19 that talks with Russia on the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib were far from meeting Turkey's demands and warned that a military operation there was a "matter of time".