Syrian civil war

A high-level defense group meeting between Turkish and U.S. officials was held in Washington, D.C., Turkey's National Defense Ministry said on Nov. 17.

At the meeting, which the ministry said was conducted in a positive and constructive atmosphere, the delegations exchanged views on bilateral and regional defense and security issues, it added in a statement.

Turkish forces "neutralized" two YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry said on Nov. 13.

The terrorists were targeted by Turkish commandos when they tried to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring area, the ministry said on Twitter.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Nearly 470,000 Syrian have returned to their countries and more of them will go back when the conditions become ripe for their return, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said.

Turkey has deported a total of 8,585 terrorists of 102 nationalities since 2011 as part of the efforts to ensure the country's security within and across the border, the Interior Ministry announced on Oct. 30.

In a statement, the ministry said the terrorists had left their home countries to join ranks of terror groups such as ISIL or PYD/PKK.

Buildup follows spate of attacks by US-backed Kurdish forces – Campaign could also help Erdogan build up flagging support

"De facto terrorist statelets" would have emerged across Turkey's southern borders with Iraq and Syria had Ankara not conducted its anti-terror operations in recent years, the spokesman for AKP said on Oct. 28.

A Turkish soldier was killed in a terror attack in northern Iraq when an improvised explosive device planted by terrorists went off, Turkey's National Defense Ministry said on Oct. 28.

The attack occurred in the Operation Pençe-Yıldırım zone on Thursday and killed Turkish soldier Harun Çalışkan, the ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's Permanent Representative to the United Nations said on Oct. 28 that his country will not be lectured by those violating human rights and humanitarian laws. 

Feridun Sinirlioğlu was responding to his Chinese counterpart Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the U.N., who called on Ankara to comply with international humanitarian law in Syria.

The Turkish parliament on Oct. 26 passed a motion that extends authorization for the government's troop deployment in Iraq and Syria for another two years.

The motion underlined that the developments in the regions adjacent to Turkey's southern land borders and the risks and threats posed by the ongoing environment of conflict increasingly continue. 

Turkey's defense minister said he had a "positive" meeting with his Greek counterpart in Brussels, on the sidelines of a gathering of their NATO colleagues.

"We had a positive and constructive meeting with the Greek defense minister (Nikos Panagiotopoulos)," Hulusi Akar told reporters late on Oct. 22.

"We expect to see the positive results of this meeting in the coming days."