Ft.com | By Daniel Dombey in Washington

President Barack Obama has personally warned Turkey’s prime minister that unless Ankara shifts its position on Israel and Iran it stands little chance of obtaining the US weapons it wants to buy.

Hürriyet Daily News - ISTANBUL

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the chairman of a group of respected global statesmen, has reportedly called on the Turkish prime minister to take action to bring about a solution to the Kurdish question.

Kurdistan Commentary

PRESS RELEASE: TURKISH EMBASSY IN LONDON REFUSES LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP TUTU

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and EROL ISRAFIL (AP)

ISTANBUL — On the practice range one day, a Turkish military officer noticed that one of the conscripts under his command, an ethnic Kurd, had a good eye.

Guardian.co.uk | Martin Chulov in Baghdad

Tariq Aziz is slumped on a tattered brown sofa seat cradling his walking stick and cigarettes, his gaunt face topped, incongruously for a practising Christian, by a Muslim prayer cap. It is perhaps only the familiar black-ringed spectacles that signal to the visitor that this was Iraq's former face to the world – Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, his most powerful deputy.

Guardian.co.uk | Martin Chulov in Baghdad

Saddam Hussein's most loyal deputy, Tariq Aziz, has accused Barack Obama of 'leaving Iraq to the wolves' by pressing ahead with a withdrawal of combat troops in the face of festering instability and a surge in violence.

Bbc.co.uk | By Jonathan Head, Istanbul

Thirty supporters of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) are going on trial in south-eastern Turkey, eight months after they returned from exile.

Todayszaman.com | with wires | Istanbul

Mourners in Malatya on Tuesday bid their last farewell to journalist and short-story writer Evrim Alataş, who died on Monday after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

Guardian.co.uk | Robert Tait in Istanbul

A 15-year-old Turkish girl who was arrested at a demonstration in support of a banned Kurdish group has been jailed for nearly eight years after being convicted of "terrorist" offences, including allegedly throwing stones at police.

AFP / Expatica.com

President Nicolas Sarkozy says the Kurdish migrants who have just been released will be expelled from France if they are not genuine asylum seekers.

Bloomberg.com | By Tom Lavell

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-largest airline, may resume flights to Baghdad after 20 years as economic-growth prospects boost air-travel demand.

AP.org

Los Angeles, Jan 9 - Iranian classical singer Shahram Nazeri, dubbed "Iran's Pavarotti," was released after being held overnight for questioning by authorities in Tehran.

Upi.com

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Dec. 1 (UPI) - Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party residing in Iraqi refugee camps will not return to Turkey until conditions are satisfactory, representatives said.

Nytimes.com | By JAMES GLANZ and WALTER GIBBS

OSLO — Peter W. Galbraith, an influential former American ambassador, is a powerful voice on Iraq who helped shape the views of policy makers like Joseph R. Biden Jr. and John Kerry. In the summer of 2005, he was also an adviser to the Kurdish regional government as Iraq wrote its Constitution — tough and sensitive talks not least because of issues like how Iraq would divide its vast oil wealth.

Rudaw.net

ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — A large number of Kurdish officials, foreign diplomats and Dutch citizens attended the official opening of the Netherlands Consulate in Erbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Monday, October 12.

Foreignpolicy.com | NICK DANFORTH

Chances of Turkey and the Kurds reaching a rapprochement are at their highest in 25 years. But what does that mean for Turkification -- and what concessions are the Turks willing to make?

PRNewswire via COMTEX

WASHINGTON, On Friday, September 4, 2009, Kurds and their supporters will be gathering at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (from 12:00pm-2:00pm) to protest the arrest of Kurdish folk singer, poet and activist Sivan Perwer and demand a formal apology from Canadian PM Stephen Harper to Sivan Perwer and to the Kurdish people. A similar demonstration, sponsored by Toronto Kurdish House, is being held on Saturday, September 5, 2009 at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Street (Queens Park) in Toronto from 5:30pm until 8:00pm.