Foreign Ministry

The U.N.'s top official on the Cyprus issue has vowed that a final deal to reunite the divided east Mediterranean island will avoid any repeat of the sufferings of Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, saying a "solid conclusion on governance" will guarantee the security of both Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

Two of Turkey's top officials traveled to Baghdad on Dec. 10 in a bid to defuse a diplomatic standoff with the Iraqi government over the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu announced during a meeting with visiting Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Dec. 9.

Turkey on Dec. 9 called on its citizens to leave all areas of Iraq, excluding Iraqi Kurdistan, due to increased security risks, the foreign ministry said.
 

Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq's north, received a warm welcome in Ankara for key talks as Turkish jets bombed outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in the neighboring country. 

Turkey said in a written statement on Dec. 8 that the number of its troops training volunteers near Mosul would be set following talks between the two countries' defense ministers, in a bid to defuse three days of tension between the two neighboring countries. 

Turkey is not involved in any plans to revise the Montreux Convention that regulates international access to the Bosphorus and the Dardenelles Straits, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 8, refuting reports that the convention could be renewed amid ongoing tension between Ankara and Moscow.

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trAnkara has moved to secure a higher level of coordination with Baghdad after the latter condemned the recent deployment of Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in Iraq's Mosul province, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 8.

Russia will have to react to NATO's invitation to Montenegro to join the Alliance, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Berlin and Paris have notified Ankara of their desire to use Turkish bases to consolidate the battle against jihadists in SyriaGermany and France have applied to the Turkish government to use the country's air bases in to increase the intensity of their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. 

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that the best way to limit the refugee flow is to expulse Greece from the Schengen Area, according to Slovak media.

Mr. Fico claimed that Greece has no place in the Schengen Area and everyone is convinced about that. Asked, however, on whether this is discussed officially, he responded negatively.