Turkish Consulate in Mosul

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has accused the government of being responsible for the rise in jihadist terror in Turkey and called on it to resign, after 39 people were killed in an attack in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Eve. 

The evacuation of the Süleyman ?ah tomb, and its relocation a hundred meters from the Turkish border, is a public relations disaster for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

The government had to relocate the historical artifact from ISIL to Kurdish-controlled Syrian soil The relocation of the Turkish tomb in Syria with an army operation overnight on Feb. 21 could be taken as the Turkish government?s second retreat regarding pressure from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq in the last six months.

As 2014 continued with instability in the Middle East, Turkey remained surrounded by tensions in the region. Turkey remained embroiled in frozen conflicts with Israel, Egypt and Syria, while opening a new page with the new administration in Iraq.

Turkey may find it hard to play a public role in the coalition the United States is building to strike at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Iraq and possibly Syria for fear the militant group might retaliate against dozens of Turks held hostage.

Muammer Taşdelen, a relative of three of the Turkish hostages kept in Mosul by jihadist militants nearly two months ago, and CHP deputy Umut Oran have filed a criminal complaint on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and bureaucrat Ömer Onhan.

The complaint includes malpractice and neglect.

Forty-nine Turkish citizens who have been held hostage by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for over 50 days will likely be freed in the next day or two, Turkey's Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said Aug. 2.

Efforts to rescue Turkish nationals who were kidnapped by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) last month are ongoing, President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan both said in Eid al-Fitr messages early July 28.

Iraqi Kurds have offered Turkey cooperation on the ongoing hostage crisis, particularly sharing intelligence information regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official has said. 

On the 21st day of their captivity, 32 Turkish truck drivers were released on July 3, by militants belonging to the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near Iraq’s second biggest city of Mosul in the north.