Işık

An online campaign by a 21-year-old woman has prompted the Defense Ministry to change its decision barring women students from entering navy, air force and non-commissioned officer schools.

The Parliament Speaker's Office has refused to respond to a question registered by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) regarding an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) video showing two Turkish soldiers being burned to death. 

Turkey hopes the new U.S. administration will change its policy of cooperation with the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık said on Jan. 12.

He reiterated that he believed the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) was a "terrorist organization."

The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) delivered Turkey's indigenous infantry rifle (MPT-76) to the Defense Ministry on Jan. 11. 

Turkey has invited Iraq's Chief of General Staff Osman al-Ghanimi to Ankara for talks on both anti-terror fight and the status of the Bashiqa camp after Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's key visit to Baghdad over the weekend. 

Two Turkish soldiers who went missing in action during the Turkish Armed Forces' Euphrates Shield Operation in Syria in November 2016 have been confirmed to have been killed, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 10.

The military announced late on Nov. 29, 2016, that contact with two soldiers deployed in Syria as part of the operation had been lost. 

The United States has made a strategic mistake by cooperating with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Defense Minister Fikri Işık said Jan. 6.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) wants to spread fear through a video it published online which showed two men dressed in Turkish military uniforms burn to death, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Dec. 27. 

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık sent a message of condolence to his Russian counterpart on Dec. 25, Sergei Shoigu, after a Russian plane crashed in the Black Sea, reportedly killing all on board.

Sixteen soldiers who were killed in al-Bab in northern Syria as part of Turkey's four-month-long military operation to secure its border were laid to rest on Dec. 23 in 14 provinces across the country.