Jarabulus offensive

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has gone to the U.S. for the first time since the July 15 failed coup attempt. The New York trip has special importance because the person Erdoğan declares is behind the coup attempt, Fethullah Gülen, is living and being protected in the U.S.

The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has been the source of a rift between Turkey and the United States over its designation as a terrorist organization by the former, was not aiming to establish a Kurdish state in Syria, the party's head has said.

Outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants kidnapped four people, including two civilians, in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Sept. 21, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Hakkari Governor Cüneyit Orhan Toprak confirmed that PKK militants intercepted a civilian vehicle near Doğanlı village in the province's Çukurca district.

Ankara has vowed to support the Free Syrian Army (FSA) with regards to the Turkey-backed rebels' efforts to clear their own lands in northern Syria of both jihadists and Syrian Kurdish forces. 

Turkey will not deploy its own infantry in Syria to retake the northern city of al-Bab from jihadists but it will use Ankara-backed Syrian rebels, Defense Minister Fikri Işık said Sept. 21. 

"Our current planning is that we will conduct the operation with fighters of the Free Syrian Army [FSA]. Thus, we do not plan to join this operation with our own infantries," Işık said. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 20 called on world leaders at the United Nations to take measures against the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen's "terrorist network" that he said threatened their security. 

Turkish troops have entered their fourth week in Syria. Most security and intelligence analysts believe Turkey has managed the process successfully so far. But there are dark clouds on the horizon that may force a policy change.

The United States should "not harbor a terrorist" like the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is believed to have orchestrated the failed coup attempt of July 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Reuters in an interview on Sept. 19, adding that his activities should be banned around the world. 

Fear is not the correct response to terrorism, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Sept. 20 while addressing the 26th Universal Postal Congress in Istanbul. 

"You cannot be safe by running away from terrorism. You cannot get rid of it by fearing it. No spot in the world is safe," the prime minister said.  

A worker was killed after receiving an electric shock early on Sept. 20 while doing maintenance work in Istanbul's Marmaray rail, which connects the city's European and Asian sides in a tunnel under the Bosphorus.