Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu explains why his party has so far refused to be part of the ongoing peace effort. DHA photo Turkey’s main opposition head, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized government’s regional policies, and referred to their efforts making the analogy “a surrogate mother for new formations in the Middle East". While explaining his p ...

PM Erdoğan made a statement saying the final decision on the deployment of Patriot missiles along the Turkish border with Syria will be taken after meetings with a NATO delegation, currently in Turkey for survey. Earlier Iran had criticised Turkey for deciding to deploy Patriot missiles in Turkey. Erdoğan slammed Iran saying the Turkish state takes orders from its people, only. Erdoğan went on to say “Have ...

The leaders of the rebel Free Syrian Army said today they have moved their command center from Turkey to Syria with the aim of uniting rebels and speeding up the fall of President Bashar Assad's regime. Brig. Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, who heads the FSA's Military Council, told The Associated Press that the group made the move last week. He would not say where the new headquarters is located. The FSA has been ...

A clear majority of Turks are against a military intervention to put a halt to the violence in Syria, according to a recent poll by the German Marshall Fund. Some 57 percent of Turkish respondents in the Transatlantic Trends survey categorically rejected a Turkish invasion after being asked: “Recently, there has been discussion of the desirability of intervening in Syria, where the government has been using ...

The well-known CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour held an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul in which the two discussed the 18-month crisis in Syria while also touching on a number of other topics, including weapons of mass destruction and the suspected nuclear program in Iran. When asked what he thought about the United States' involvement in solely providing "nonle ...

The unrest in the Middle East and Syria in specific seems to escalating each and every day in spite of all the (useless) efforts spent by UN officials to put and end to it. Syria, on the contrary to many predictions as to Assad would leave the country to give way to a new administration and regime (certainly) to take over the country has been resisting all the pressure from the SYRIAN ARMY OF FREEDOM (rebel ...

"The increased terror attacks in Turkey is the price for the country's support for the 'Syrian people,' according to Iraq's exiled vice president Tariq al-Hashemi. Escalation in the terrorist activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey is to be expected, because of Turkey's allying itself with the Syrian people against the al-Assad regime, fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashem ...

Forming an international coalition to impose a partial no-fly zone over Syria, in order to provide protection for the Syrian population on the run from the civil war ongoing in the country, has been under discussion among Western allies for the last few weeks, Turkish official sources confirmed to the Hürriyet Daily News on Aug. 24. The confirmation came after French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had ...

Washington and Ankara sit down for an ‘operational planning’ meeting to discuss aid options amid their continued bid to overthrow Syria’s government FM Davutoğlu says Turkey can handle no more than 100,000 Syrian refugees. AP photoWith clashes between Syrian security forces and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) intensifying, senior Turkish and American officials met yesterday in a first “operational planning” meet ...

Iran says Gaziantep attack no surprise, US condemns it An Iranian official has made a statement implying that Turkey risked becoming the target of attacks like the one that occurred in Gaziantep on Monday by intervening in Syria, while the US has condemned the attack. Turkish news portal ntvmsnbc.com reported on Wednesday that Hossein Nakavi, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's National Security and F ...

Iran's supreme leader has ordered attack on West, Turkey. Western intelligence officials have claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has allegedly given orders to launch attacks on Western countries, including Turkey, the Daily Telegraph has reported. The order stemmed from fears that the Bashar al-Assad, a long-time Iranian ally, may fall, the report said. Khamanei personally commission ...

Turkey says it can take no more than 100,000 Syrian refugees Turkey cannot handle more than 100,000 Syrian refugees and instead proposes a UN buffer zone inside Syria to shelter them, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in remarks published Monday. "If the number of refugees increases to 100,000, we will not be able to shelter them in Turkey. We have to welcome them in Syrian territory" under UN a ...

The two-day extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca ended early on Thursday morning with a decision to suspend Syria's membership in the 57-nation organization, despite objections from Iran. Following the summit, Gul came together with Turkish reporters accompanying him on his visit to Saudi Arabia. Stating that the conference reached its aim, Gul said, "All the leader ...

Clinton: Syria mustn’t become PKK havenISTANBUL Syria must not become a haven for outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants battling Turkey, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Aug. 11 during a visit to Turkey. “We share Turkey’s determination that Syria must not become a haven for PKK terrorists whether now or after the departure of the [Bashar] al-Assad regime,” Clinton told a joint new ...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Istanbul for talks on the Syrian conflict on Saturday as fighting for control of the strategic city of Aleppo raged just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Turkey's southern border. Clinton was to discuss with Turkish leaders boosting support for the Syrian opposition after Washington gave up on securing action at the UN Security Council against President Bashar al-As ...

Turkish Foreign Ministry strongly condemned comments by the top Iranian army officer blaming Ankara for the bloodshed in Syria and warning Turkey it would be next, as baseless and inappropriate, on the eve of Iranian foreign minister’s snap visit to Ankara for talks on 48 of its citizens taken hostage in Syria. “We strongly condemn statements of baseless accusations and inappropriate threats against our cou ...

Kılıçdaroğlu slams FM on foreign policy Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is the most helpless foreign minister Turkey has ever had, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said Aug. 3. “I am saying he is the most helpless foreign minister because his starting vision was to have ‘zero problems’ with neighbors, but his ending point has been contention with everyone,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in an ...

A critical meeting held prior to Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's departure today for Erbil brought National Intelligence Organization Undersecretary (MİT) Hakan Fidan, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and Turkey’s Ambassador to Baghdad Yunus Demirer together to discuss the messages Turkey intends to deliver to Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in North ...

Erdoğan held a telephone conversation with U.S. President Obama to discuss the recent developments in Syria. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan made a telephone call to United States' President Barack Obama yesterday to discuss the current developments in Syria. The 36-minute conversation was the first time the two had spoken since meeting in Mexico on June 19th. During the critical discussion, transpiring just ...

Turkish military convoy heads for Syrian border: reports Turkey sent a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying troops, missile batteries and armored vehicles to the border with Syria today amid growing concern in Turkey about security on its southern frontier, news reports and witnesses said. It was the latest in a series of deployments in the region in recent weeks. There has been no indication that Turkish f ...

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu recently criticized the government's stance on Syria, saying Turkey is now "a country in trouble." "We do not want our people to pay the price for Western interests," Kılıçdaroğlu said. "We do not want Turkey to be dragged into the swamp." "In summary, we do not want war," he added. Kılıçdaroğlu likened the AKP's stance to "shooting someone else's bird with someone ...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Syria of letting Turkey's Kurdish rebels operate inside the north of the country and warned that Ankara would not hesitate to strike against them. "In the north, it (President Bashar al-Assad's regime) has allotted five provinces to the Kurds, to the terrorist organisation," Erdogan said on Turkish television late Wednesday, referring to the Kurdistan Work ...

Turkey has a natural right to intervene in Syria if terrorist formations pose a threat in the area" Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday after groups affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) gained control of Syrian towns along Turkey’s border. "If there are formations that are being set up right now that results in a certain terrorist act, then it is ou most natural ...