News archive of March 2017

The latest report on the U.K.'s relations with Turkey by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee shows important clues on the new theme developing in the West about the role of the Gülen community in the coup attempt on July 15, 2016. 

Since the Russian annexation of Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, the Black Sea has become one of the areas of confrontation between Russia and the West. In response to Russian aggression towards Ukraine, NATO leaders decided in the Wales Summit on Sept. 4-5, 2014 to increase the Alliance's deterrence capability in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea, in order to reassure allies and partners.

Turkish society is divided right down the middle as the country heads to a referendum on April 16 to decide on whether to replace the current parliamentary system with one with an executive presidency. According to the latest polls, half of the voters are on the "yes" front, while the other half is firmly "no," with tensions between the two camps rising every day. 

The time has come for the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad to start discussing an "amicable divorce," according to a spokesperson for the Kurdish autonomous region.

"We should enter a serious dialogue with Baghdad to reach an amicable solution - an amicable solution for divorce," KRG spokesperson Safeen Dizayee recently told daily Hürriyet.

'Age of Anger: A History of the Present' by Pankaj Mishra (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 416 pages, $27 )

Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), the 24th Istanbul Jazz Festival will host leading names and new discoveries from the world of jazz, as well as stars of contemporary music. The festival will feature more than 200 names in 20 different venues across Istanbul between July 4 and 20.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will pay a visit to Turkey on March 30 to discuss the case of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed 2016 coup, and the U.S.-led offensive to retake Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).  

The women’s volleyball team of Olympiakos is read to make history and move into the European Challenge Cup, after recording its 7th straight victory against Russian side Enisey Krasnoyarsk 3 sets to 1. The reds put on a great performance in front their fiery home crowd at Renti gym and picked up the first set (25-15), but the strong Russian team took the second set with 25-18.

Incoming tourism has got off to a negative start in 2017, according to data on air, land and sea arrivals and total revenues as reported on Wednesday by the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

Passengers flying from Greek airports to countries outside the Schengen zone will pay the same airport levy as those flying within the bloc from next month, but the levy will also appear in the prices of tickets for children aged between 2 and 5 for the first time.