Over the next few days the Turkish parliament is expected to approval a motion authorizing a cross-border military operation into northern Iraq to strike at camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Qandil Mountains. On October 9, a three and one-half hour... MORE

The unemployment rate stands at 70% of the adult population in the shantytowns that surround Diyarbakir, the largest city in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey, according to a recent study by Istanbul’s Bosphorus University (Milliyet, September 29). Socioeconomic underdevelopment has long been regarded as... MORE

The Turkish Energy Ministry has repeated Turkey’s determination to press ahead with a new natural gas agreement with Iran, despite objections from the United States. On October 3, Turkish Energy Ministry officials announced that that Turkey would not seek international financing for the $3.5 billion... MORE

An attempt by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to circumvent the country’s secularist establishment’s opposition to Abdullah Gul becoming president looks set to return to haunt it later this month. Under the current constitution, the president is elected by parliament. In April this... MORE

On October 1, Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit publicly warned the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) against weakening secularism in the new Turkish constitution, which is expected to be put to a referendum in early 2008. A draft of the new constitution... MORE

On September 29, 12 male villagers were massacred close to the village of Besagac, near Turkey’s border with Iran, by what is believed to have been a unit of the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The killing came the day after Turkey... MORE

Turkish officials have accused Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, of excluding the right of hot pursuit from a list of measures to be taken against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq (NTV, Radikal,... MORE

Turkish officials have announced that Turkey and Iraq have finalized details of a list of measures to be taken against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq. The announcement came after a 90-minute meeting in Ankara between Turkish Interior Minister Besir... MORE

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bulani arrived in Ankara on September 25 for two days of talks with Turkish officials in an attempt to resolve long-standing differences over the continued presence of camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Qandil Mountains of northern... MORE

Turkish Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug has issued a stern warning to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) not to attempt to change the current interpretation of secularism in the country and bluntly told the United States that it is time to take... MORE