Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said that Sweden should not expect support from Ankara on its NATO bid in response to anti-Islam protests that took place in Sweden over the weekend. Demonstrators burned Qurans in front of the Turkish embassy on...
Turkish FM Tells Blinken US Should Approve $20 Billion F-16 Deal
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday that the US should approve a $20 billion F-16 sale to Turkey despite objections from some members of Congress. "As we said together before, this is not only for Turkey but...
Turkey Says Unlikely to Approve Sweden, Finland NATO Bids Before June
A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara is unlikely to approve Sweden and Finland joining NATO before June. Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Sweden needs time before it can codify new counterterrorism measures into law, changes Ankara wants to...
Sen. Menendez Says He Won’t Approve F-16 Sale to Turkey
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has come out against a potential F-16 sale to Turkey that was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday. The report said that the Biden administration is preparing to notify Congress of...
Syria’s Assad Tells Russia Any Deal With Turkey Must Result in Turkish Withdrawal
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a Russian envoy on Thursday that any rapprochement with Turkey must result in Turkish forces withdrawing from Syrian territory. Alexander Lavrentiev, Russia's special envoy for Syria, was in Damascus discussing Moscow's efforts to...
Sweden Says It Can’t Meet Some of Turkey’s Demands to Join NATO
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sunday that Turkey has made demands for Sweden that it cannot fulfill as part of Ankara's conditions for the Nordic nation to join NATO. "Turkey confirms that we have done what we said we would do. But they also say that...
Erdogan Tells Putin He Wants to Mediate a ‘Lasting Peace’ in Ukraine
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and said Ankara was ready to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv to reach a "lasting peace" in Ukraine. "Erdogan stated that as Turkey, we are ready to facilitate and mediate...
US Says It Opposes Countries Normalizing With Assad After Syria-Turkey Talks
The State Department on Tuesday said that the US opposes other countries normalizing with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad following high-level talks between Syria and Turkey. The defense ministers of Syria and Turkey met in Moscow at the end of...
Turkey, Syria Defense Ministers Hold First Meeting Since 2011
The defense ministers of Syria, Turkey, and Russia held talks in Moscow on Wednesday in a sign of thawing relations between Ankara and Damascus. The conversation between Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and his Syrian counterpart, Ali Mahmoud Abbas, is believed to...
Turkey Says Sweden Blocking Extradition of Journalist Is ‘Very Negative’
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday said the decision by Sweden's Supreme Court to block the extradition of an exiled Turkish journalist is a "very negative" development. Turkey is seeking extraditions from Sweden as a requirement for the country to...