Eurasia

BELGRADE - President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met on Thursday with Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and said that the relations between Serbia and Azerbaijan are developing quickly, having reached a significant level in a rather short time, stressing that the prospects of investing in Serbian economy are interesting for Azerbaijan.

The Chairman of the Russian State Duma Sergey Naryshkin said that the West had treated Bulgaria as a colony in case of the South Stream pipeline, not respecting the country's economic interests.

Steady growth over recent decades has brought Turkey to the threshold of becoming a high-income economy, prosperity has been broadly shared across income groups, and the size of the middle-class has doubled, according to a new World Bank report, "Turkey's Transitions: Integration, Inclusion, Institutions." However, challenges remain, the report stressed.   

Poland sees "unprecedented" Russian activity

WARSAW -- Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak says there has been "unprecedented" activity by Russia's navy and air force in the Baltic Sea region in recent days.

This is according to an Associated Press report.

BELGRADE - The Roma in Serbia enjoy more rights than in other countries in the region, but the problems of legally invisible persons, poverty and discrimination remain unsolved, said the participants of a National Roma Council conference on Wednesday.

The World Bank’s office in Turkey is set to hold an important conference today in Istanbul, on the occasion of the launch of a new book analyzing Turkish economic and social development since the 1980s under the title of “Turkey’s Transitions: Integration, Inclusion, Institutions.”
 

American author Henry Miller once wrote, “The American ideal is youth – handsome, empty youth.” The Turkish ideal, too, is youth: just replace “handsome” with “devout.”

Ziraat Bank, the largest state bank in Turkey, is not under any political pressure, contrary to reports, General Manager Hüseyin Aydın has told daily Hürriyet.

Aydın said Ziraat did not provide credit upon the government's request, denying such claims in the media.

Turkish industrial output has posted its steepest decline in a year in October, official data has shown, sending the Turkish Lira to a two-month low against the U.S. dollar.

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said on Sunday that Serbia's OSCE chairmanship starting as of January 1 is a great challenge, but also a chance for Serbia to show that it could play the role of a fair mediator in peaceful resolution of conflicts.