HATAY, Turkey (Reuters) – With thousands of refugees now taking shelter in Hatay after fleeing violence just across the border in their Syrian homeland, Turkey’s panhandle province has been in the news over the past year for all the wrong reasons.

But spend a couple of days exploring this fascinating subculture of Turkey and you will discover an area steeped in ancient history, hospitality and tolerance – Jews; Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians; Sunni, Shi’ite and Alevi Muslims all worship here in virtual harmony.

HATAY, Turkey (Reuters) – With thousands of refugees now taking shelter in Hatay after fleeing violence just across the border in their Syrian homeland, Turkey’s panhandle province has been in the news over the past year for all the wrong reasons.

But spend a couple of days exploring this fascinating subculture of Turkey and you will discover an area steeped in ancient history, hospitality and tolerance – Jews; Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians; Sunni, Shi’ite and Alevi Muslims all worship here in virtual harmony.

ANKARA (Reuters) – The European Union has lost appeal for the Turkish people after years of stagnation in Ankara’s accession talks but a new “positive agenda” launched on Thursday will aim to revive the process, the bloc’s enlargement chief said on Thursday.

Formal entry negotiations began in 2005 but the process has ground to a virtual halt in recent years, blocked by an intractable dispute over the divided island of Cyprus and opposition from core EU members France and Germany.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the violence in Syria should not be viewed as a sectarian or ethnic conflict, and those who did so risked setting the whole region on fire.

In an apparent reference to Shi’ite Iran, Ankara’s main rival in the region and closest ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Erdogan called on Shi’ites to see the conflict in Syria only through “brotherly eyes”.

OVAKENT, Turkey (Reuters) – When Abdul Maraf Yildiz looks at the thousands of Syrian refugees flooding across the border into southern Turkey, he sees himself, 30 years ago.

Yildiz was only two in 1982 when his family fled the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and found sanctuary in Hatay, the Turkish province that has become a magnet for Syrians escaping President Bashar al-Assad’s repression.

OVAKENT, Turkey (Reuters) – When Abdul Maraf Yildiz looks at the thousands of Syrian refugees flooding across the border into southern Turkey, he sees himself, 30 years ago.

Yildiz was only two in 1982 when his family fled the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and found sanctuary in Hatay, the Turkish province that has become a magnet for Syrians escaping President Bashar al-Assad’s repression.

ANKARA, April 30 (Reuters) – Turkey’s cabinet has given
approval for Turkey’s state-run oil firm to carry out oil and
gas exploration in six offshore areas around the island of
Cyprus, drawing condemnation from the Cypriot government which
lays claim to the territory.

The move could escalate an ongoing row between Turkey and
the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus over who has
the right to tap hydrocarbon deposits in the eastern
Mediterranean.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish police hauled in a top retired general along with several fellow officers for questioning on Thursday over their role in the overthrow of Turkey’s first Islamist government in 1997.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), which itself has Islamist roots, has made curbing the military’s political influence one of its main missions, and state prosecutors have pursued officers suspected of conspiring against current and former governments.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Iran and six world powers began rare talks on Saturday to try to halt a downward diplomatic spiral over Tehran’s nuclear program and ease fears of a new Middle East war.

The talks, in Istanbul, the first between Iran and the six powers in 15 months, are unlikely to yield any major breakthrough but Western diplomats hope to see readiness from Tehran to start to discuss issues of substance.

ANKARA (Reuters) – NATO-member Turkey has formally reported an incident in which two Turks were wounded by gunfire from Syria this week to the United Nations and NATO, and said the military alliance had a duty to protect Turkey’s borders.

At least five people, including two Turkish officials, were wounded on Monday when cross-border shooting hit a refugee camp in Turkey’s Kilis province along the Syrian border.