musiclover

Iran has raised the prospect of a quick and comprehensive resolution of its nuclear dispute with the West if the US and its allies make a gesture of goodwill by starting to lift sanctions by the time the two sides meet again next month. The offer came after Iran and the big powers held an apparently productive meeting in Istanbul over the weekend.

Observers said many obstacles remain to any agreement, but the two sides described the talks as positive, and set a date of 23 May for their next meeting in Baghdad.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that he is optimistic about the Istanbul talks between Iran and the six major powers.

“We with (U.S. Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton talked about the situation around Iran’s nuclear program. We place certain hopes on the meeting of the six parties and Iranian representatives, which will be held in Istanbul on April 14,” Lavrov told reporters aboard the plane on the flight from Washington to Moscow, according to Russia and India Report.

A key summit on Syria is set to gather Western and Middle Eastern heavyweights in Istanbul on Sunday, with deep confusion remaining over how the year-long turmoil will be ended, amid rifts within both the international community and the Syrian opposition.  More >

Turkish police detained more than two dozen Libyans after they occupied and ransacked the Libyan consulate in Istanbul on Friday to protest at a lack of financial support from their government while in Turkey for medical treatment.

Scuffles broke out and protesters threw stones, as riot police dispersed a crowd of around 70 supporters outside the building and sealed off the surrounding streets, near Istanbul’s landmark Taksim Square.

Turkey’s reform monitoring group will discuss reforms on the road to European Union (EU) membership. The 25th meeting of the Reform Monitoring Group began in Istanbul on Friday. Turkey’s EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis attended the opening session of the meeting.

“We will discuss reforms on road to EU and some problems we are facing in our negotiation process with the EU,” Bagis said.

A woman who was allegedly carrying a bomb inside her bag died after the explosives went off in Istanbul’s Sancaktepe district at around 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 9. Police are reportedly on the hunt for another alleged bomber who ran away from the scene on foot.

Law enforcement officials found two identity cards bearing different names on the body of the dead woman, who was reportedly around 20 to 25 years old. The dead woman’s body, torn to pieces in the blast, was taken to the Forensics Institute after preliminary examinations, reported the Doğan news agency.

The new order allows Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Türk to strengthen its partnership of over forty years with IETT, more than 50 percent of whose vehicles are Mercedes-Benz products. With its fleet of around 3,000 city buses, IETT is dedicated to providing reliable and environ-mentally friendly passenger transport in the metropolis, Istanbul. IETT, which was established in 1871, operates light rail systems, subways, regular-service buses, and utilizes the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) mobility concept.

The sea of Marmara shimmered to my right, a pod of dolphins played improbably in the ferry-and tankers-choked Bosporus strait, and minarets pierced my jet-lag fog on my first Istanbul evening. More >