Afro-Eurasia

Turkey's economy lost 75 million Turkish Liras last year because vehicles with foreign license plates failed to pay traffic fines, the chairman of the executive board of Istanbul-based International Transporters Association (UND) has said.

Ankara is ratcheting up its provocative behavior in the Aegean Sea.

Turkey is studying the forex debts of its private sector and will take new macro-prudential measures in March, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said, adding that measures would include new forex restrictions against.

Şimşek said the real sector was in a seriously open position in terms of foreign exchange debts. 

Around 70 percent of Turkish citizens have never participated in any culture or arts event in their lives, according to a new report from the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) based on data from research firms GfK and Ipsos. 

A Turkish military patrol boat fired shots early Friday morning in the area around the eastern Aegean island of Farmakonisi, the Greek defense ministry said.

According to the ministry, Turkish authorities issued a Navtex on Thursday informing of a military exercise with live ammunition in the area east of Farmakonisi on Friday morning.

Turkey's construction firms have clinched record-high deals abroad and obtained considerable know-how and experience in realizing top-tier projects. Thanks to such crucial projects, Turkish construction firms recently ranked second on the list of national companies undertaking construction projects abroad, just behind Chinese companies. 

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ, EFJ) have sent a letter to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The letter urges the international organization to select and appoint "without delay" its new freedom of media representative.

Turkey's unemployment rate will fall to single digit figures by the end of 2017 thanks to a number of plans to boost employment, Labor and Social Security Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has claimed. 

Turkey is as safe as the U.S. and European countries, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Feb. 16, suggesting that "no country in the world is safe from terror."

BELGRADE - Austrian FM Sebastian Kurz, who is also the OSCE chairperson-in-office, said in Belgrade Monday all agreements from the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina should also be implemented.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting wtih Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic, Kurz said it was clear all agreements must be implemented.

Kurz: Ties with Belgrade good