ANKARA, May 24 (Reuters) - Turkey banned alcohol advertisingand tightened restrictions on its sale on Friday, drawingcriticism from secular Turks as well as the country's brewingindustry.

ANKARA, May 24 (Reuters) - Turkey banned alcohol advertising and tightened restrictions on its sale on Friday, drawing criticism from secular Turks as well as the country's brewing industry.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's parliament has passed legislation to ban all advertising of alcohol and tighten restrictions on sales in the mainly Muslim but secular country. The legislation, adopted on Friday, bans the sale of alcoholic drinks

ANKARA, May 24 (Reuters) - Turkey banned alcohol advertisingand increased restrictions on alcohol sales on Friday in a movelikely to anger secularist Turks who accuse the government ofhaving an Islamic agenda.

Turkey and the European Union have pledged to press ahead with Ankara's stalled bid to join the 27-nation bloc, seeking to rekindle cooled relations and meet common challenges ranging from the Syrian civil war to economic woes in the euro zone.

May 23 (Reuters) - Hormel Foods Corp reported a lower quarterly profit due to costs related to its Skippy acquisition, and higher grain costs and lower turkey meat prices at its Jennie-O Turkey stores.

ISTANBUL, May 23 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it may intervene to resolve an impasse paralysing mobile phone company Turkcell, which has been unable to agree the make-up of its management board or pay dividends due to a dispute between major s

ISTANBUL, May 23 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it may intervene to resolve an impasse paralysing mobile phone company Turkcell, which has been unable to agree the make-up of its management board or pay dividends due to a dispute between major s

ISTANBUL, May 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's Capital Markets Board may take steps to resolve a shareholder dispute at mobile phone company Turkcell, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told Turkish broadcaster Bloomberg HT on Thursday, without specifying the

ISTANBUL, May 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's Competition Board said on Thursday it would open a formal investigation into Turk Telekom after an initial probe of allegations that it had sold telephone charge cards to dealers at below cost levels.

ANKARA, May 22 (Reuters) - Scholars around the Muslim worldwere alarmed five years ago by news reports that Turkey planneda new, possibly heretical compilation of the Prophet Mohammad'ssayings that might scrap those it thought were out of date.

ISTANBUL, May 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's bid to create a regional power market is moving forward with preparations to add electricity futures and derivatives trading yet the appeal of tapping the country's rapid growth is tempered by caution about how t

ISTANBUL, May 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's bid to create aregional power market is moving forward with preparations to addelectricity futures and derivatives trading yet the appeal oftapping the country's rapid growth is tempered by caution abouthow the m

ISTANBUL, May 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's bid to create a regional power market is moving forward with preparations to add electricity futures and derivatives trading yet the appeal of tapping the...

ANKARA, May 22 (Reuters) - Turkey is looking to sign commercial contracts this year with Russian and U.S. companies operating in northern Iraq for joint oil and gas exploration, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Reuters.

ISTANBUL, May 22 (Reuters) - The Turkish parliament passed a "wealth amnesty" law late on Tuesday designed to lure back funds held abroad by affluent Turks without punitive taxes and fines.

ISTANBUL, May 21 (Reuters) - European energy exchanges ICE Endex and EEX are competing for a slice of Turkey's booming power market as the country prepares to open its first electricity exchange, executives from the companies said on Tuesday.

ISTANBUL, May 21 (Reuters) - Turkey's biggest mobile-phone operator Turkcell has played down the impact on its business of regulators' seizure of assets belonging to its parent company, the latest development in a complicated battle for control of th

SEOUL, May 21 (Reuters) - South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction said on Tuesday it had received an order worth 1.16 trillion won ($1.04 billion) from Turkey to build a refinery plant.

SEOUL, May 21 (Reuters) - South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction said on Tuesday it had received an order worth 1.16 trillion won ($1.04 billion) from Turkey to build a refinery plant.

The Mac maker is hoping to score a big iPad order from the Turkish government as the country hopes to bolster public education.

Turkey this week caught the markets attention on two occasions, the first, after Moody's upgraded Turkey's sovereign bond ratings to investment grade (Baa3), in line with Fitch at BBB- and above S&P at BB+. The second time occurred after

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR will spend up to $5 billion on its planned oil refinery in the west of Turkey and aims to begin production in mid-2017, the company's Turkey CEO Kenan Yavuz said on Monday.

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR will spend up to $5 billion on its planned oil refinery in the west of Turkey and aims to begin production in mid-2017, the company's Turkey CEO Kenan Yavuz said on Monday.

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's state energy firmSOCAR will spend up to $5 billion on its planned oil refinery inthe west of Turkey and aims to begin production in mid-2017, thecompany's Turkey CEO Kenan Yavuz said on Monday.

ANKARA, Turkey -- Two hot air balloons collided mid-air during a sightseeing tour of volcanic rock formations in Turkey on Monday, causing one of them...

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - A hot-air balloon flying overCappadocia, a tourist destination in central Turkey, crashedafter colliding with another balloonon Monday, killing aBrazilian passenger and injuring 24 other people, the Anatoliannews agency s

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - A hot-air balloon flying over Cappadocia, a tourist destination in central Turkey, crashed after colliding with another balloon on Monday, killing a Brazilian passenger and injuring 24 other people, the Anatolian news age

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of...

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of cash will it be?

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of...

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of...

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's Kazanci Holding has appointed Merrill Lynch to sell a 16.3 percent stake in its power producer Aksa Enerji to international investors, according to a statement on Monday.

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's Kazanci Holding has appointed Merrill Lynch to sell a 16.3 percent stake in its power producer Aksa Enerji to international investors, according to a statement on Monday.

ISTANBUL, May 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's Kazanci Holding has appointed Merrill Lynch to sell a 16.3 percent stake in its power producer Aksa Enerji to international investors, according to a statement...

Future of Iraq is just part of discussion about possible break-up of bits of Middle East, given new urgency by disintegration of Syria

SOFIA, May 18 (Reuters) - Bulgarian truck drivers lifted their traffic blockades at two major border checkpoints with Turkey late on Friday, saying a deal had been struck to end Turkish restrictions on their operations.

Turkey now has two coveted investment-grade ratings, a development that should expand the pool of potential buyers of its sovereign debt.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey had already significantly reduced its oil imports from Iran, which is under the choke of Western sanctions, and further cutbacks would depend on his country's

SOFIA, May 17 (Reuters) - Disgruntled Bulgarian truck drivers blocked traffic at two major border checkpoints with neighbouring Turkey on Friday to protest against what they said were Turkish restrictions to their operations.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey had already significantly reduced its oil imports from Iran, which is under the choke of U.S. sanctions, and further cutbacks would depend on his country's ene

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of...

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of cash will it be?

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of...

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of cash will it be?

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The coveted investment grade rating has arrived in Turkey and foreign capital may follow - possibly a lot of it. But here's the multi-million lira question: What kind of...

BAKU, May 17 (Reuters) - Azeri state energy firm SOCAR plans to borrow about $4 billion from foreign banks to finance construction of a refinery in Turkey, an company official said, a project that...

BAKU, May 17 (Reuters) - Azeri state energy firm SOCAR plans to borrow about $4 billion from foreign banks to finance construction of a refinery in Turkey, an company official said, a project that could provide a profitable outlet for its crude.

BAKU, May 17 (Reuters) - Azeri state energy firm SOCAR plans to borrow about $4 billion from foreign banks to finance construction of a refinery in Turkey, an company official said, a project that could provide a profitable outlet for its crude.

But are British firms making the most of the opportunity?