Foreign policy of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government

Serbia "feels Turkey as its friend - while we are friends of both Turkey and the Turkish people," President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday.

Vucic made the comments during a joint news conference with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held after their meeting in Belgrade.

Turkey will take "stronger steps" over the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum held last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

Tanjug is reporting this, citing Reuters, and adding that Erdogan said his country had already taken "some measures in coordination with the Iraqi central government (and Iran)."

We do not yet know whether U.S. President Donald Trump's Sept. 21 message - in which he said he had "become close friends" with President Tayyip Erdoğan and relations between the two countries were "at their best level ever" - really is good news for those hoping for an improvement in Turkish-American relations.

American writers in Turkey infamously get their ideas from our taxi drivers, so I make a point of returning the favor when I am in the U.S. Usually, you say the name of your country and the taxi driver tells you what that name currently resonates with in the capitol.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar will pay separate visits to Iran in the coming days amid rising tension over the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) bid to hold an independence referendum on Sept. 25 and continued efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. 

Turkey has already paid a deposit to Russia for the purchase of the S-400 anti-ballistic missile system despite opposition from its NATO allies, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, underlining that both Ankara and Moscow were committed to accomplish the sale process of the high-tech defense equipment. 

Turkey will never be a member of the European Union as long as it is governed by Tayyip Erdogan, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, accusing the Turkish president of failing to take accession talks with the bloc seriously.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made 86 foreign visits since August 2014 when he came to the country's top seat, with Saudi Arabia being his top destination, according to information gathered by the state-run Anadolu Agency. 

By Aykan Erdemir & Merve Tahiroglu *

Ankara is a "crucial" trade partner for Moscow, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday, according to TRT News. 

"Multi-dimensional cooperation of our countries is developing," Novak said while in Turkey's Aegean province of Izmir during an address at opening day of the 86th Izmir International Fair, where Russia is attending as a partner country.