Turkey

Investment perceptions about Turkey have started to become positive again and funds are flowing back into the country, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said after a series of meetings with foreign investors.

"A large volume of funds has started to flow into Turkey. I see a huge demand from investors regarding Turkey," Şimşek said.

Three high ranking EU officials will visit Ankara next week to discuss Turkey's EU membership and the Cyprus dispute, Turkey's EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır announced on Dec. 4.

Senior career diplomat Mithat Rende of Turkey has been elected as chair of the Executive Committee of the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Foreign Ministry has announced.

Ambassador Rende has been serving as the head of Turkey’s Permanent Delegation to the OECD since the summer of 2013.

Brussels is Turkey’s second capital, but the country suffers a "perception problem" there, the chairman of the Turkish Industrial and Business Association (TÜSİAD) has said, after his two-day visit with other TÜSİAD representatives to the European capital.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said the discount for Russian gas for Turkey may increase more than 6 percent in the future, depending on market prices and the realization of joint gas projects, RIA Novosti has reported.

Novak noted that Turkey had been asking for a discount of 15 percent for gas.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the discount for Russian gas for Turkey may be bigger than 6 percent in the future, depending on market prices and realization of joint gas projects, RIA Novosti reports.

Novak noted that Turkey had been asking for a discount of 15 percent for gas.

The first group of Iraqi Peshmerga forces sent to fight in the Syrian town of Kobane in October has returned to Iraq through Turkey.

According to sources, the Peshmerga forces arrived at the Arbil International Airport via a private plane from Turkey's southeastern Şanlıurfa province Dec. 4.

Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has claimed that Turkey will, by 2018, be the "only country in the world" with hospitals equipped with the most advanced technological equipment and buildings constructed using the latest technology.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are managing more than 600 modernization projects to address the challenges of the world's new security environment, Lt. General Alpaslan Erdoğan, chief of the Plans and Policy Division of the Turkish General Staff, announced late Dec. 3.

The bodies of the remaining five victims at the Ermenek coal mine were recovered overnight on Dec. 3, ending 38 days of painstaking search efforts.