National Intelligence Organization

Daily Hürriyet's Ahmet Hakan has interviewed prominent political scientist and journalist Soli Özel on seven recent subjects related to Turkish foreign policy.

None of the journalists currently jailed in Turkey have been prosecuted due to charges related to their profession, Justice Minister Bekir Bozda? has said.

Socialist International President George Papandreou visited daily Cumhuriyet's office in Istanbul on Dec. 20, voicing his concern over the state of media freedom in Turkey while also expressing his support for Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, two prominent journalists for the newspaper who are currently in prison pending trial on charges of "aiding terrorist organizations."  

Members of the G-9 Journalists Platform have started a campaign to send letters to 32 journalists jailed in Turkey, including daily Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and Ankara Bureau Chief Erdem Gül.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu has called for the release of dozens of journalists being held in prison in Turkey, the state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

The gap between Ankara and Baghdad over the deployment of Turkish troops to a base near Mosul continues to widen, with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry set to lodge a formal complaint at the U.N. Security Council and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an vowing that those forces will not be pulled back. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the solution of the Iraqi-Turkey "crisis" over the deployment of Turkish troops near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul could only be solved with a "full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory."

An Istanbul court rejected on Dec. 11 an appeal for the release of prominent journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, who jailed pending trial on charges of "aiding terrorist organizations."      

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.

Prominent journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül have not been imprisoned because of their press activities but for "aiding terrorist organizations," Ankara has said in a retort to the Council of Europe.