15 August: Turkish officials are trying to clarify Iranian reports that they have captured the second in command of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) Murat Karayilan (Todays Zaman)

Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have signed a "Treaty of Ethernal Friendship", at the end of a State Visit of Azerbaijani President, Ilham  Aliyev, to Tashkent. On August 23, a ceremony for the signing and exchange of documents between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent with the participation of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The Treaty marks a high point in relations between the two countries, as a confidant Azerbaijan widen its relations with Central Asia and its countries, whilst Uzbekistan seeks to consolidate new routes to the wider world. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the “Treaty on Eternal Friendship between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Uzbekistan” and the “Decision of the Third Meeting of the Supreme Interstate Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Uzbekistan”. President Mirzozayev said, ''The current state visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan is, without exaggeration, of historic significance. We have spoken about this several times today, because everything we sign and every agreement we reach represents a historic milestone in bilateral cooperation. Today, we signed the Treaty on Eternal Friendship. Just imagine the level to which our relations have reached between our regions, businesses, governments and parliaments. This is not simply a document; it reflects our shared commitment to deepening cooperation, expanding opportunities for interaction and building a common future.'' (Click picture to read more)

In response to Israel's policy of occupation and destruction, around one hundred former representatives of France and the United Kingdom urge their governments to act through a series of sanctions aimed at safeguarding the rule of law. A coalition of 102 former French and British diplomats is calling on their countries to jointly sanction Israel, warning in an open letter that Israeli policy in occupied Palestinian territory threatens to permanently erase the possibility of a Palestinian state. France and the United Kingdom “must act together to uphold international law in Palestine”, said the letter published on Saturday by French outlet Le Monde. It urged the two governments to push for “equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians”. The signatories include former British ambassadors to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock and Emyr Jones Parry, and former French Middle East directors, Yves Aubin de la Messuziere and Denis Bauchard, drawing on decades of diplomatic postings across the region. “Palestinian house demolitions and rampant settler violence – with the connivance of the Israeli army and police – amount to ethnic cleansing,” said the letter. “The world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy,” it added. Such language, said Nicholas Hopton, a former UK ambassador to Iran, Qatar and Yemen and one of the signatories, was not invented by the diplomats themselves. “The words are not our own,” he told Al Jazeera. “They are taken from the international legal bodies, the UN, those who have been observing from a neutral position and with expertise.” (click image to read in full)