Turkey

NATO’s Black Sea members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey joined four other alliance states in a multinational naval exercise on March 10 just across the water from the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia last year. The naval rapid reaction force in the Black Sea drills consists of a United States flagship, the guided missile cruiser  USS Vicksburg, …

“Turkey won’t be a part of an armed clash in Iraq or Syria. We can supply aid to Mosul, but we won’t be involved in a direct clash,” Davutoğlu said in his remarks to reporters en route to New York. However, he added that if there were to be a …

Two cargo planes carrying Turkish military aid to Iraqi soldiers arrived in Baghdad on March 3, a Turkish official said, stressing that the assistance includes non-lethal military equipment aid for 500 soldiers of the central government. The military aid includes camouflage desert caps, assault vests, helmets, sleeping bags, blankets for …

Kurdish militia pressed a big offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northeast Syria Feb. 25, cutting one of its supply lines from Iraq, as fears mounted for dozens of Christians abducted by the hardline group that recently beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts. The new Kurdish offensive …

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan decided Monday to withdraw the two protocols on normalization of relations with Turkey from the parliament. Over the last six years the two documents remained as mere ink on paper after they were signed in 2009 due to “lack of political will” on the Turkish side, …

Turkey and the United States have hammered out a deal for providing training and equipment to moderate opposition groups in Syria, a Turkish spokesman said here on Tuesday. Both sides are set to sign an agreement for a training and equipping program for Syrian opposition in the next few days, …

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said that Turkey and Pakistan will “continue their cooperation and solidarity in the fight against terror and Islamophobia” around the world. “We have a common position regarding terrorism and all Islamophobic attacks in different parts of the world,” Davutoğlu told a joint press conference …

Turkey decided to shut its embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, and evacuate its diplomatic staff as a result of the worsening security situation in the country. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had issued a new travel warning for Turkish citizens on Saturday, urging them to leave Yemen immediately.

Kurdish militants have wrestled control of 65 villages in Kobane’s countryside from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) control since Jan. 26 in northern Syria, according to a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) source. “Kurdish fighters are advancing rapidly because they know their area geographically very well and …

Turkey as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group observes all the steps taken to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is a serious obstacle to peace, stability, prosperity and broad cooperation in the South Caucasus, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Feb. 3. The ministry said Turkey is trying to increase the …