Kyrgyzstan

Turkey will chair the Energy Club of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017, becoming the first non-SCO country to hold its term presidency, according to officials from the Energy Ministry. 

In a meeting on Nov. 22, a proposal from Ankara to pave the way for non-SCO member countries to assume the term presidency of the Energy Club was accepted, officials said.  

Turkey would never take steps to undermine NATO's collective defense and unity as spelled out in Article 5, the alliance's chief has said, recalling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's commitment to NATO membership amid the revival of a discussion on Turkish participation in the Russian-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, known as the Shanghai Five. 

China is willing to consider any application from NATO-member Turkey to join a Russian and Chinese-led security bloc, the Shanghai Pact, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Nov. 21 after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said his country could join.

Aiming to become a member of the Shanghai Pact, whose members are countries where "one-man rule" is predominant, will only cause more problems for Turkey's foreign policy, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Öztürk Yılmaz has said.

Turkey should not be "fixated" on the idea of joining the European Union and should look at other opportunities, such as the Russia-led Shanghai Pact, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

"Turkey should first of all feel relaxed about the EU and not be fixated" about joining it, Erdoğan told reporters on the presidential plane returning from Uzbekistan, daily Hürriyet reported.

Turkey's flagship carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has put a total of 30 planes in its fleet into parking positions due to a decreasing number of passengers amid economic contractions and recent terror attacks, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Turkey's flagship carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has put a total of 30 planes in its fleet into parking positions due to a decreasing number of passengers amid economic contractions and recent terror attacks, Doğan News Agency has reported.

MOSCOW - Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev on Friday announced the start of free trade zone talks between the Eurasian Economic Union and Israel and Serbia, respectively.

Kyrgyzstan's government resigned on Oct. 26 after President Almazbek Atambayev's party quit the ruling majority coalition earlier this week, deepening a rift between the pro-Russian leader and his former allies. 

The Social Democratic party, the biggest party in parliament, broke up with its coalition partners on Oct. 24 over their refusal to back proposed constitutional reforms. 

The Ionic Center is hosting a lecture titled "Kyrgyzstan: An Un-Mediterranean Flora?" on Friday, October 21, by English classicist, ancient historian and gardening writer Robin Lane Fox, who traveled to the Central Asian country this summer. The talk will be illustrated by photographs taken by botanist Harriet Rix during the trip. The event is set to start at 7 p.m.