Turkmenistan

Mitsubishi Corp., Japan?s largest trading house, said it will buy shares in and exchange personnel with a unit of Turkish conglomerate Çal?k Holding, as it seeks to win more energy and infrastructure orders in Central Asia and the Middle East.

The speaker of ex-Soviet Turkmenistan's pliant parliament has proposed constitutional changes extending the presidential term limit and removing the maximum age for the presidency, state media reported May 29.

The isolated Central Asian state of Turkmenistan on May 25 unveiled a large gold statue of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov riding a horse, in a move echoing his predecessor's cult of personality.  

By Sotiris Sideris

The government is keen to hear US proposals regarding Greece?s role in Washington?s energy strategy, especially the Americans? counterproposal to the Russian-sponsored Turkish Stream pipeline and its extension to Greece, when Amos Hochstein, the State Department?s Coordinator on International Energy Affairs, visits Athens on Friday.

EU energy boss Maros Sefcovic said late on April 30 that Europe could import natural gas from ex-Soviet Turkmenistan via Iran as Brussels ramps up efforts to break its dependence on Russian-sourced energy.

The U.S. ambassador in Ankara, John Bass, will represent his country in the commemoration ceremonies for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli, U.S. Embassy spokesperson Joe Wierichs told Hürriyet Daily News. 

Turkey will host leaders from all corners of the world when it holds commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli April 24-25.

The heads of state for 20 nations will be in attendance, while two parliament speakers, three vice presidents, five prime ministers and around 20 ministers will also attend the ceremonies.

VIENNA - Charge d'Affairs of the Serbian Embassy to Austria Goran Bradic and Defense Attache Lt. Col. Goran Jeremic laid a wreath at the Soviet War Memorial in Vienna Monday to pay tribute to 17,000 Red Army soldiers fallen to liberate the Austrian capital in World War II 70 years ago.

Öztürk Y?lmaz, the former Turkish consul general to Mosul, who was taken hostage last year along with 48 others by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants for 101 days, has been appointed as an ambassador to Tajikistan's capital of Dushanbe.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed on Tuesday the Bulgarian Petko Draganov as his Special Representative and Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Draganov succeeds the Slovak Miroslav Jenca, who was recently appointed as Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, the site of UNRCCA informs.