Turkey (and Beyond) Live: A Peace Deal with the PKK?

Prime Minister Erdogan1200 GMT:Palestine. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has suspended its operations in the Gaza Strip after demonstrators stormed its headquarters after a number of aid cutbacks caused the agency to withhold some cash handouts earlier this week.

Although cash disbursements will be limited, the UNRWA said that food distribution will continue as normal once guarantees are given that their operations can continue “unhindered.”

1132 GMT:Iraq. A bomb attack in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Abu Ghraib has killed three soldiers while another bomb exploded near a vegetable stand in the city of Hillah (60 miles, 90 kilometres south of Baghdad) killing three civilians and wounding 15 bystanders.

1000 GMT: Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has met for the first time with the members of the "wise men commission", who are tasked with explaining the neogtiations with the insurgent Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to the public. 

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç had announced the list of “wise men” of intellectuals and public figures on Wednesday.

The move has not come without tension. The PKK leadership and opposition parties had asked for the group to be appointed by Parliament, not by Erdogan.

That issue is part of a wider question of supervision of the negotiations. The Government is insisting on a withdrawal overseen by the Ministry of Intellilgence and other security services, while the PKK wants Parliament to set out the procedure.

The commission will be active in seven regions across the country, but its duties are not yet clear.

On Tuesday, Erdoğan said, “We will listen to the views and suggestions of the people that are part of this delegation, consult with them and they will organize some events in [the country's] regions and get together with our citizens and local public opinion leaders.”