Turkish officials hint that a Japanese-French consortium will see off its Chinese competitor to win the tender on Turkey’s second nuclear plant

• April 30, 2013

NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a "dialogue partner" of a security bloc dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia.

• April 29, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have agreed to increase efforts to resolve a territorial dispute over North Pacific islands that has prevented the two countries from signing a treaty formally ending World War ll.

• April 29, 2013

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili says his government is working on "rectifying mistakes committed by the previous government."

• April 29, 2013

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili opened the Georgian-Ukrainian Business Forum in Tbilisi on April 26. According to him, Georgia may become a unique country to do business and officials will not be able to interfere in this regard.

• April 27, 2013

Ukraine has been trying to deepen ties with the European Union (EU) in recent years and hopes to sign a Stability and Association Process agreement in November, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said here on Friday.

• April 27, 2013

NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a "dialogue partner" of a security bloc dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia.

• April 27, 2013

Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics during April 1-15th 2013
By John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

Key Points:

• Turkey and Israel take small steps in resuming normalized relations. Both are to formalize financial compensation for the Mavi Marmara incident, while Turkey is leaning on the victims’ families to drop their court cases against Israeli military personnel.
• NATO is set to benefit from the reset which allows Israel’s participation in alliance activities as a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue.
• Energy cooperation brings Turkey and the KRG of Iraq closer in spite of Baghdad’s objections. Turkish-Anglo firm Genel is set to profit from its early investments into the oil fields in the Kurdish north of Iraq.
• A cease fire continues to hold between the government and PKK, though Kurdish fighters are reluctant to give up their arms until a formal peace deal is agreed to. AKP leadership on the issue is causing splits in the main opposition CHP, with a nationalist camp opposed to the talks causing a pronounced rift to emerge in the party.
• A Turkish pianist is charged with hate speech for incendiary remarks against Muslims on his Twitter account. His conviction and other cases of free speech prosecutions are a dark stain on the AKP’s otherwise impressive governing record.

• April 27, 2013