Brussels - The European Union's executive body is set Wednesday to give its verdict on the progress Turkey and a number of Balkan states have made towards joining the union, and to sum up the state of the bloc's relations with Russia.

"We want to see Turkey focus truly and with determination on its European journey, with a clear sense of direction. Preparing for future membership means creating new opportunities for citizens in a more open society," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said in a speech Tuesday.

Ankara - Turkey's minister for women's affairs on Monday lashed out at a British television documentary in which the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, bluffed her way into state-run orphanages in Turkey and reported being disgusted by conditions there.

Women's Affairs Minister Nimet Cubukcu said the reports, which showed Ferguson entering the orphanages without permission, had damaged diplomatic relations. Cubukcu disputed Ferguson's claims and said the orphanages in question were open to visits by diplomats and non-governmental charities.

Ankara - Two people were injured in an explosion in the south-eastern Turkey city of Hakkari Saturday, a day before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to visit the city, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The cause of the explosion at the Hakkari offices of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) was not immediately known.

Tensions in the predominantly Kurdish-populated south-east Turkey have been high in recent weeks with a number of protests against the government ahead of local elections next year.

Istanbul - European countries like to view Turkey as a bridge between the West and the Orient.

But as the Islamic-conservative AKP government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan grows in self-confidence, it is looking beyond this, anxious to build its regional muscle alongside Iran to form a presence that the Arab and southern Caucasian states cannot ignore.

"Turkey is in the front row when it comes to Middle East issues," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan stressed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) regional meeting his country has been hosting.

Ankara - Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on Friday expressed optimism that long-running disputes between Turkey and Armenia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan can be resolved and that Turkey was determined to push forward in the interests of regional peace.

"These two tracks could move fast because there is good political will," Babacan said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Istanbul.

Istanbul - The influence of the US and the EU in the Middle East and the Caucasus is dwindling, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Friday.

Speaking on the edges of the World Economic Forum meeting in Istanbul, Mottaki said the most recent Western attempts to intervene in the Caucasus following August's war in Georgia were "fruitless."

Regional efforts to solve the crisis would function better without them, he said.

"Perhaps what has recently occurred in Lebanon could serve as a model for the solution of conflicts by countries from within the region," said Mottaki.