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VARNA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - European Union leaders said talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday offered no answers to a long list of concerns including over Turkey's intervention in Syria and the jailing of journalists at home. At a summit that host Bulgaria described as "charged with great tension", the bloc vowed to keep funds flowing for a refugee deal with Ankara, but disappointed Turkish demands for deeper trade ties or visa-free travel to Europe. Despite criticism from European governments of what many view as Erdogan's growing authoritarianism, EU leaders left the door open to Turkey's stalled bid for...

DONETSK, May 12. /ITAR-TASS/. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has made a plea asking to be accepted into the Russian Federation, the republic’s co-leader, Denis Pushilin, told a news conference on Monday. “We, the people of the Donetsk People’s Republic, relying on the results of the May 11, 2014 referendum and the declaration of independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic, declare that from now on the Donetsk People’s Republic is a sovereign state,” Pushilin said. “Proceeding from the will expressed by the DPR people and for the sake of restoring historical justice we are asking Russia to consider the...

MOSCOW, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Leader of the A Just Russia Party Sergei Mironov told Channel One on Sunday the State Duma, lower house of Russia’s parliament, will quickly approve all laws on Crimea’s accession to Russia. “We’ll approve all laws as soon as reasonably possible,” Mironov said. “All will happen strictly and quickly. Our Crimean brothers should not doubt,” he said.

SIMFEROPOL, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Crimean premier Sergey Aksyonov told Channel One a delegation of Crimea’s parliament would leave for Moscow on March 17 to work with Russian colleagues on the accession to Russia. “The Crimean parliament will gather for an extraordinary session at 10:00 on March 17 to approve the results of the referendum. In the afternoon the parliament’s delegation will leave for Moscow for further consultations with Russian colleagues over the accession to Russia as a constituent entity,” Aksyonov said.

European leaders gathering in Brussels are expected to agree to start EU accession talks with Turkey, at a summit which opens on Thursday. European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso has urged them to reject any half measures when they discuss the Turkish membership bid. Mr Barroso said if the EU was to start talks, it should be on full membership, with no last-minute conditions. But he urged Turkey to "go the extra mile" and recognise EU member Cyprus. Mr Barroso asked what kind of message Turkey was sending if it did not recognise all the members of the club it...

Throughout the 1990s, Turkish foreign policy analysts had an easy job. After all, Turkish foreign policy was predictable. Ankara cooperated enthusiastically with Washington, whether in the Middle East or in the Balkans. Turkey aligned itself with Israel and kept at arms length from Middle Eastern neighbors such as Syria and Iran. In Europe, Ankara traded heavily with the European Union (EU) but did not allow the EU to dictate foreign policy. The European Union's frequent allegations and criticism of human rights abuses in Turkey, especially with regard to Turkey's fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan) terrorists, soured...