Turkey Live Coverage (15 March): Refugees Flowing from Syria

1900 GMT: Rakel Dink, wife of Hrant Dink (a Turkish citizen of Armenian decent) who was murdered due to his writings in the bilingual newspaper Agos, said that the Dink case is Turkey's face-off case and criticized that the government for "responding with gas bombs to tears." Dink continued:

My mind has always been stuck in the pre-murder period. All signs are already taking me there. Those threats... These were not just to scare.Those increasing number of protests in front of Agos since 2005 and a Prime Minister, an Interior Minister, a Justice Minister, an intelligence, a police who had not seen all. 

1825 GMT: According to a high Dutch administrative court verdict, Turkish citizens visiting Netherlands on business need no visa and they can stay for up to three months.

1745 GMT: Having Armenia decided to withdraw from the Eurovision song contest which will be held in Azerbaijan this year, Minister of EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagıs said: 

Turkey would prefer Armenia to pull out of Nagorno-Karabakh, rather than from the Eurovision song contest. I think they should revise their decision.

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Turkey Live Coverage (7 March): Erdogan Wants A Solution to Syria

2140 GMT: The Interior Ministry's confidential report on the Uludere massacre reached to the parliament. BDP's MP Ertigril Kurkcu said that the video images of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles per se do not let to an air strike, according to the findings of the report. 

CHP's Malik Ecder Ozdemir also stated that the special report found out that no local senior military officials knew about the air strike. Therefore, the report wants a broader investigation.

1930 GMT: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met privately with his Iranian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Ali Akbar Salehi and Elmar Mammadyarov repectively, in Nakhichevan. In these meetings, it is reported that Davutoglu and Mammadyarov talked about the current political situation in South Caucasus and Azeribaijan-NATO relations since this country is in NATO's Partnership for Peace program. On the other hand, Davutoglu and Salehi reportedly talked about Iran's prospective talks with P5+1 countries (the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) and Turkey's strong willingness to host a possible meeting in Istanbul.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Demonstrations and Deaths

2030 GMT: Thanks to Ali Yenidunya for handling the LiveBlog while I was away on academic business.

Reuters reports that a large candlelit protest is taking place in the Syrian town of Baniyas this evening.

1610 GMT: After UNHRC had called for an urgent investigation by the UN high commissioner for human rights into killings and other human rights violations in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today that Syria should end its violent repression of peaceful protests following unequivocal condemnation of its actions by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

1600 GMT: An update regarding the latest situation in Syria.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Getting Close to Qaddafi

1930 GMT: Libyan State TV is reporting coalition airstrikes on Tripoli.

1920 GMT: Army Officers: Al Jazeera English offers a list of recent resignations and defections by Yemeni officials to the opposition, including six military commanders, dozens of officers, 17 Ambassadors, the entire staff of the Yemeni Embassy in the US except the Ambassador, three MPs, and the leader of Yemen's most powerful tribe.

1910 GMT: President Obama, on a visit to Chile, has spoken to reporters about Chile. He reiterated that "it is U.S. policy" that Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi "has to go" and the international community "can't stand by with empty words" in the face of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.

At the same time, Obama anticipated that the US would step back from leading the Libyan military mission when Libya's air defences were disabled: "We anticipate this transition to take place in a matter of days, not weeks."

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Coalition Attacks

Footage from Britain's Channel 4 of the aftermath of coalition airstrikes on Libya

2210 GMT: We're going on an overnight break. Coverage continues via the Live Feed from Al Jazeera English.

2145 GMT: Little confirmed information tonight, but several blasts have rocked the Libyan capital Tripoli, with a plume of smoke seen from the direction of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's home in the Bab el-Aziziya compound in a south Tripoli suburb.

1920 GMT: Latest from Libya....

There was a spate of fire from anti-aircraft guns, apparently from nervous troops expecting airstrikes, in Tripoli. The capital is now quiet.

The Libyan military spokesman announced a new ceasefire for 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT).

An Italian tugboat has been escorted out of port by officials of the Libyan port authority and military. The 11-member crew had been detained this weekend.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Unsteady as She Goes

2125 GMT: Witnesses say Yemeni police have fired on protesters in the capital Sanaa, injuring 50.

2120 GMT: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has arrived at Tripoli's Rixos Hotel, where many foreign journalists are staying. He is expected to hold a news conference soon.

2035 GMT: In Egypt, a Coptic Christian man has reportedly been killed in clashes this evening between Copts and Muslims.

1835 GMT: In Syria, human rights activist and government critic Haitham al-Maleh has been released from jail.

Maleh, 80 and reportedly in poor health, was freed after President Bashar al-Assad issued an amnesty for those convicted of minor crimes and prisoners over the age of 70.

Maleh was imprisoned last July for three years on charges of spreading false information and damaging national morale.

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Turkey Analysis: Ankara Expands Ties with Syria and Iran

Turkey's relations with its Eastern neighbours are continuing to develop. On Sunday, at the groundbreaking ceremony of Asi Friendship Dam in Hatay, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Erdogan said:

Asi river is not a river separating us, drawing borders between us anymore; it is turning into a river bringing us together.

Eight years ago, when we formed the government, we said this: 'Turkey wants peace, Turkey wants calm in the region. Turkey wants stability in this geography, wants wealth all together.' We said 'zero problem with neighbours' eight years ago. Because we believe this with our hearts that the more Syria is in peace the more Turkey is in peace. The more Turkey is in wealth the more the more Syria is in wealth. Because we are nations that are rendered as brothers by history. Throughout the history, our fate has been the same, our hearts have beat together. 

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Turkey Analysis: Ankara Seizes Political Leadership over Lebanon

Ankara's "zero problem with neighbours" policy continues as Hezbollah and its politcal allies walked away from the Lebanese government last week. On Friday, former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri was in Ankara, and the visit was followed by a call by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to offer cooperation. Erdogan said, "There is a need for the parties to act with full responsibility and an understanding that keeps Lebanon’s common interests above any sort of [political] consideration."

Ankara, in the role of "firefighter" on the Lebanese crisis, is pursuing its grand strategy of centring itself in regional discussions not only as a "city planner" but as a global architect.

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Israel-Syria Analysis: The Importance of Damascus for the Israeli-Palestinian Talks

Considering efforts to bring Syrians and Israelis to the negotiation table, we said on 17 September:

To strengthen Ramallah’s hand at the negotiation table and to give a regional dimension for the Israel-Palestine talks, the Obama Administration is bringing in another strategy: Israeli-Syrian talks. These would serve both as a back-up measure to prevent radicalism and as an implicit pressure on both the Palestinians and Israelis. 

We then asked whether this wass a "waste of time", given both Damascus' ties with Tehran and the US intention to use Syrian-Israeli talks as a tool for success of the Israeli-Palestinian discussions. We left the door open for a regional settlement as long as Damascus can get deal beyond return of the Golan Heights to Syra.

Following US special envoy George Mitchell's visit to Damascus on 16 September, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will see Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in New York on Monday. "A comprehensive peace has to include the Syria-Israel track. It’s absolutely essential that Syria be part of this process," Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeff Feltman told reporters.

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