Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has said that the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq has been represented in a trilateral mechanism involving U.S., Turkish and Iraqi officials created earlier this year for cooperation against the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Iraq.

The Iraqi Embassy in Ankara said they notified the Turkish Foreign Ministry of Sinjari's name as well as the name of Shirwan al-Waili, who was recently appointed by Baghdad as Iraq's special envoy for countering the PKK, the agency also reported. The agency, however, cited anonymous sources who said that to date nobody having such a title or name has participated in meetings between U.S. and Turkish officials up.

The deficit in the finances of social security institutions is constantly increasing, despite attempts to narrow the gap.

Next year's allocation from the central budget to cover the social security deficit is expected to amount to 5 percent of gross national product (GNP). Although estimated at 4.3 percent at the beginning of the year, this year's figure will remain at 4.1 percent. The allocation from next year's budget is expected to exceed $20.5 billion, a 28.1 percent increase over this year's funding of $16 billion.

The world of Turkish politics did not cease its regime debates on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, the Ramadan holiday, with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer warning that Turkey's top priority should be protecting the principles of Kemal Atatürk, founder of the secular republic.

“Approaches that contradict the pro-enlightenment line of the Atatürk republic and its basic values should be avoided, and the protection of Atatürk's principles should be taken as a top priority,” Sezer said in his message celebrating the religious feast.Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç also raised political concerns in his feast message, calling for “common sense” against those who attempt to ruin stability and peace by creating unnecessary tension in the country.Eid al-Fitr, which starts the end of the holy month of Ramadan, also heralds an official three-day holiday beginning today. Dozens took to the roads over the weekend for family reunions or holidays in tourist resorts during the feast, meaning, as in previous years, traffic accidents that spoil the mood of the holiday. Police officials in Turkey this week said that during the religious holidays of the past 26 years, 3,725 people have died in 4,534 traffic accidents.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, taking some time off since being hospitalized on Tuesday for hypoglycemia, is spending the holiday in the Aegean resort town of Marmaris.

A continued deadlock over which attack helicopter to purchase between the military and the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) may lead to the decision to buy both U.S and non-U.S. helicopters in order to solve the problem, analysts say.In late June, the Defense Industry Executive Committee -- whose members include the prime minister, the chief of general staff and the defense minister -- narrowed down the competitors in the multibillion-dollar program for up to 90 gunships to two.

The short-listed candidates included the Italian-British AgustaWestland, maker of the A129 Mangusta International, and Denel Aviation of South Africa, maker of the Rooivalk CSH-2, in a contest for the purchase and co-production of an initial batch of 30 attack helicopters, worth around $1.5 billion. The number of aircraft is planned to rise to between 50 and 90.The army, upset by repeated delays in Turkey's subsequent attack helicopter programs, wants to be able to operate the gunships as soon as possible. Moreover, under a joint production scheme with either AgustaWestland or Denel, it will take a considerably long time for the new platforms to enter into service. In addition, the army and the General Staff have doubts over the feasibility and effectiveness of the joint production plan, whose elements include local design and manufacture of some key components, including the mission computer, a critical device integrating the platform's avionic and electronic systems.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen expressed optimism on Wednesday that the European Union would continue membership negotiations with Turkey and avoid a breakdown in talks over the pace of the country's reforms. “We're working very hard to find a solution so we can continue negotiations with Turkey. I hope that a reasonable solution will be found, and I hope it will be found this autumn,” he said in the European Parliament.Yet, in comments made public Wednesday, Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos has warned of a “serious problem” in negotiations with Turkey about EU membership unless it opens its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic by the end of the year. He said Turkey could not dictate or impose conditions on the EU. “If there is lack of political will to implement its European obligations, a really serious problem in Turkey's relations with the EU arises, and there is a real possibility for the two trains to collide,” Papadopoulos said. Until Turkey complies, Greek Cyprus is using its EU veto to block the opening of any new “chapters,” or policy areas, with Turkey.The Greek Cypriot leader's comments came at a banquet on Tuesday for visiting Estonian Prime Minister Andus Ansip. Vanhanen, meanwhile, also said the EU was working on a “new kind of initiative” to solve the situation but gave no details. He said the Turkish issue will be the most difficult of the final months of Finland's EU presidency, which ends on Dec. 31. He avoided indicating whether the EU would break off talks if Turkey did not open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus by the end of the year as required.

The allocation of an aid package designed to help the economy of Turkish Cyprus has received final approval from European Union member states, despite opposition from Spain, a country generally known as a staunch supporter of Turkey's bid to join the EU.

The 200 million euro aid package, designed to help the economy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), was approved with a qualified majority vote at the EU's technical committee meeting last Friday. To Ankara's surprise, Spain was one of the four countries that voted against the aid package. The others were Greece, Greek Cyprus and Slovakia.

Spain's move to block the aid package for the Turkish Cypriots came as a shock, sources close to Turkey said, adding it had been expected that Greek Cyprus would be the lone opponents of the proposal.

When Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül visited Spain in March, both ruling and opposition parties in the Mediterranean country voiced support for Ankara's accession to the 25-nation bloc, saying that predominantly Muslim Turkey would enrich the largely Christian EU.

French troops in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide trained Rwandan soldiers and militia responsible for most of the killings and joked with them, an government inquiry commission heard on Wednesday.Rwanda's Tutsi President Paul Kagame, whose government came to power after the genocide, has accused France of training and arming Hutu militias who were the main force behind a 100-day slaughter that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.France had replaced ex-colonial power Belgium as Rwanda's main Western backer. When Kagame's Tutsi-dominated rebel army launched its war against the Hutu authorities in the early 1990s, France sent soldiers to Kigali.France helped stop the advance of Kagame's forces and then stayed on, as military advisers, up to the start of the genocide.Kigali says France backed the government of Rwanda's former President Juvenal Habyarimana, providing military training for government forces, despite knowing that some within the leadership were planning to use the troops to commit genocide.

The U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) seems to be leading the fierce competition over selling around 100 fighter aircraft to the Turkish Air Force over the next 15-20 years, with Europe's Eurofighter Typhoon lagging behind, procurement and military officials said. In recent months the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in favor of an idea to go for a combined solution: Proceed with an ongoing partnership in the F-35 JSF program and join the European Eurofighter consortium for other strategic purposes related to Turkey's European Union membership aspirations. But the military command recently told the government's defense agency that it favored only the F-35 JSF solution for the Air Force's future requirements, the officials said. In addition to locally produced military equipment used by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the navy mostly belongs to the German school, while the army's inventory includes a mixture of U.S., European and other weapons systems. But the Turkish Air Force has always been a strong follower of the U.S. tradition in domains ranging from aircraft and weapons to training. And Turkey's current F-16, F-4E and F-5 fighter squadrons are exclusively U.S.-designed. The Eurofighter already is in service, while mass production of the F-35, now called the Lightning II, will begin in several years.Together with the United States and seven other Western allies, Turkey has been a member of the JSF's ongoing system development and demonstration phase since 2002, agreeing to pay $175 million.

Turkish Football Federation (TFF) Chairman Haluk Ulusoy, his two former deputies Ata Aksu and Orhan Saka, and former Financial Affairs Coordinator Haldun Kozakoğlu have been charged with spending TFF money on themselves and others in violation of regulations.The charges, filed by the Ankara Prosecutor's Office, carry a prison term of up to 11 years, three months, with a minimum sentence of one year, nine months.The indictment, prepared by Prosecutor Abdullah Şan, said TFF officials should be as careful with the money of the TFF as they would be when spending their own money.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stepped up his criticism of Turkey's reform efforts on Thursday, warning of the risk of a “traumatic stop” to Ankara's accession talks with the European Union. “I'm sorry to say it, but things are going badly,” Barroso told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “We're at a critical moment. The reforms in Turkey are proceeding very slowly and today I don't see the progress I would have hoped for.”In Ankara, Rene van der Linden, the chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, appeared to take a softer line, urging Brussels to take into account that Ankara's progress, albeit slow, was "in the right direction." But in a meeting with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, the Dutch Christian Democrat pressed Ankara to improve freedom of expression.He hinted that it might not look good for Turkey to condemn the French National Assembly's passage of a controversial bill to criminalize denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians on the grounds of freedom of expression while it still retains laws that restrict free speech.However, Gül responded with a clarification, saying that there was no law in the Turkish codes criminalizing denial of the alleged genocide and emphasizing that differing views could be freely explained.The EU, which Turkey aspires to join, is pressing Ankara to change, or even totally abolish, Article 301, under which numerous intellectuals, writers, publishers and others -- some of whom for comments on the alleged genocide -- have landed in the court.

A senior diplomat has responded harshly to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso's recent remarks critical of Turkey's reform pace as he described Brussels' repetitive calls on Turkey as “incompatible with fairness and justice.”

“I'm sorry to say it, but things are going badly,” Barroso told Italian daily Corriere della Sera earlier this week. “We're at a critical moment. The reforms in Turkey are proceeding very slowly and today I don't see the progress I would have hoped for.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Namık Tan stated that it was not possible for Turkey to agree with Barroso's view, when he was reminded of Barroso's remarks at a weekly press conference on Friday.

Noting that the bloc had wrapped up the screening phase in negotiations earlier this month, Tan said the technical process of negotiations was moving forward extremely systematically. In an effort to illustrate Turkey's determination regarding the reform process, he also noted that the Turkish Parliament had convened ahead of schedule last month in order to complete a reform package.

“However, if [the EU] wants to bring in further speed in this process and is eager for problems to be overcome quickly, then the EU should also fulfill its responsibilities,” Tan said, referring to EU pledges to ease the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots -- pledges dating back to two years ago.

“Constantly reiterating the same calls on Turkey without remembering these responsibilities at all is not a situation that is very compatible with fairness and justice,” he said, referring to the EU's responsibilities that stem from those pledges.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has sought the assistance of his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Customs fines some scotch whisky companies are facing in Turkey, it was learned on Friday.Speaking at a press conference in Parliament, Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy parliamentary group leader Kemal Anadol said Blair had asked Erdoğan in a letter to suspend the tax fines imposed on international companies that export whisky to Turkey. Anadol said that Blair writes in the letter: “We agreed that I would write to you about the problems of Diageo and other exporters of spirits, particularly Scotch whisky. The argument is essentially about differential pricing between spirits imported for retail and duty free markets.”Blair continues by noting that if Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State, finds against the companies and the courts seek to impose the original penalties demanded by Customs ($500 million), the companies would have no choice but to close down their operations in Turkey and that this would affect bilateral trade relations between Turkey and Britain and even those with the European Union. Anadol said that in the letter, dated June 26 of this year, Blair had the temerity to complain to the Turkish prime minister about a high judicial organ and that the letter proved that international companies could demand tax privileges from the state. Speaking about the issue later on Friday, State Minister for Trade Kursad Tüzmen said it was natural for ministers and prime ministers to get involved in the international affairs of domestic companies.