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...
Finland Doesn’t Have a Clear Date on When Turkey Will Approve NATO Bid
Finland's foreign minister said Thursday that while there's been progress alleviating Turkey's concerns on Finland's and Sweden's NATO bids, there is still no "clear date" on when Ankara will ratify their memberships. "What we are still missing is the clear date, a...
Turkey Sets Deadline for SDF Withdrawal from Northern Syria
Turkey has set a deadline for the withdrawal of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from areas of northern Syria near the Turkish border, a Turkish source told Al Jazeera. Both the US and Russia are trying to avert a Turkish invasion of northern...
Turkey Says Finland Must Lift Arms Embargo to Join NATO
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Finland must declare an end to the arms embargo it imposed on Turkey in order for the Nordic nation to join NATO. Both Finland and Sweden placed export controls on Turkey in 2019 in response to a Turkish...