Fertile Crescent

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's self-declared police force in western Syria decapitated four men after accusing them of blasphemy, a rights group monitoring the Syrian conflict said on Dec. 13. 

The men were beheaded in the countryside east of the city of Homs by the militant group's "Islamic Police", the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

The Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation (TÜPRAŞ) has bought 520,000 barrels of oil brought to market by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said late on Dec. 11.

The European Commission adopted on Thursday an EUR 180 million package aimed at alleviating the ongoing crisis in Syria, as well as its spillover effects in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon.

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The U.K.'s Secret Intelligence Service MI6 is still awaiting an answer from the Turkish authorities regarding two British citizens, who MI6 alleges were handed over to jihadists by Turkey without notification to London.

Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO will sell its first cargoes out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan since March at the end of November after reaching a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government last week, market sources said late Nov. 26.

The oil will be a blend of Kurdish crudes, the sources said.

According to figures provided by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, just under 400 people have been arrested so far in relation to the Oct. 6-7 unrest.

French lawmakers will vote later this month on a proposal urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state, a parliamentary source said Nov. 12, as diplomatic tensions continue to rise between Europe and Israel.
      

As I was reading the story of a man who was diagnosed with a “rare mental condition called delusional disorder,” I could not avoid making a comparison with the current mental state in Turkey. Could it be that our country is suffering from a similar problem since the government and its adversaries often seek refuge in delusion?

Iraq’s new Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari will visit Turkey from Nov. 5-7 in a bid to restore bilateral ties that deteriorated during the term of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Doğan Media Group’s Publishing Principles Committee has reaffirmed its commitment to Turkey’s Kurdish peace process by "continuing its objective journalism while respecting public order."