Brett McGurk

Three Turkish soldiers were killed and four others were wounded during an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) on two Turkish tanks late on Sept. 6 as Turkish forces push deeper into Syrian soil.

The attack took place near the Syrian town of al-Rai on the 14th day of Turkey's Euphrates Shield operation in northern Syria, the Turkish military announced Sept. 6.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu met with two senior United States diplomats on March 23 to discuss ongoing efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and to resolve the Syrian problem through peaceful means. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for a suicide attack with an explosive-laden fuel tanker on an Iraqi police checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least 60 people, as Iraqi forces make preparations to launch an operation against ISIL to take Mosul back. 

U.S. President Barack Obama's Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Brett McGurk was in Baghdad on March 3 to hold talks. 

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said in a statement that McGurk arrived in Baghdad to meet with senior Iraqi government and security officials, along with representatives from the U.S.-led coalition. 

Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) should be excluded from a recently declared cessation of hostilities in Syria, just like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said.

President Barack Obama's special envoy to the global counter-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition stressed Turkey's important role in the fight against ISIL, stating it was impossible for the United States to "succeed without Turkey," during a White House press briefing on Feb. 23.

As Turkish artillery started pounding Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) military positions in Syria on Feb. 13, it became clear what Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu meant last week when he said: "Just wait, you'll see." 

Turkey has made good strides in securing its border with Syria, President Barack Obama's envoy to the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition said on Feb. 10.      

Distress in Ankara is growing as more support is declared by Turkey's major ally, the United States, for the Syrian Kurdish group the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The Turkish government considers the PYD to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is officially designated a terrorist group by both the U.S. and the EU.

The United States has reiterated that it does not perceive the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organization, while adding that it understands ally Turkey's concerns regarding the organization, a few days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an asked the U.S. to either support Ankara or the PYD.