Politics by country

After a series of delays, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree early on March 11 promising to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture to get intra-Afghan negotiations started.

A recent peace deal signed between the United States and the Taliban called for the release of up to 5,000 prisoners ahead of the much sought-after negotiations.

About 150,000 migrants have left for Greece after Ankara decided to open its borders. This was stated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said there is "no difference" between Nazis and the Greek authorities trying to hold the country's border against the influx of thousands of migrants and refugees spurred to push into the European Union by Ankara.

Turkey will respond heavily if the cease-fire with Russia is violated in northwestern Syria's Idlib, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on March 11.

If the relevant parties of the Moscow deal violate the deal, Turkey will "never avoid going over them heavier than before," Erdoğan said at the parliamentary group meeting.

"It is projected that the peak of the coronavius will be in September." This was stated by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov after the Security Council meeting at the Council of Ministers.

"The world is completely unprepared for an epidemic like the coronavirus. Now we think about vaccines, now money is being spent on technology and medicine," the prime minister said.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to meet on Wednesday with the country's regional governors in a bid to move forward with his government's plan to set up new reception centers for migrants on the mainland and relieve pressure on overcrowded camps on the Aegean islands. 

Zagreb County Court on Tuesday convicted Milan Martic, the former president of an unrecognised wartime Serb rebel statelet called the Republic of Serbian Krajina, and his military chief-of-staff, Milan Celeketic, of staging rocket attacks on Croatian cities in 1995.

Under the first-instance verdict, Martic was sentenced to seven years in prison and Celeketic to 20 years.

Turkey has a long history of conducting extreme operations with its secret services. The most traumatic of these for us was against the Greek minority in Istanbul in September 1955. On August 21, 2013, it was accused of launching a deadly sarin gas attack on a Damascus suburb, killing hundreds.

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on March 10 criticized the cease-fire Ankara and Moscow brokered last week, saying there is "no truce" but a "cessation of military activities."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey will host a summit in Istanbul on March 17 with the leaders of France, Germany and possibly Britain to discuss the migrant issue after Turkey started allowing them to try to cross into Europe late February.