Turkish Armed Forces

Turkish Armed Forces ready to serve on order if sending troops to Libya required, says National Defense Ministry spokeswoman

The Kurdish formations, which are part of the armed forces of Democratic Syria, have left the security zone set up by Ankara in northern Syria. This was announced by US Vice President Mike Pence.

"We received a message from the Kurdish commander that all their armed forces had been withdrawn from the security zone under the control of the Turkish armed forces," Pence said.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has conveyed Turkey's intention to establish patrol bases with the United States in northeastern Syria in a bid to efficiently conduct ground patrol missions in the safe zone in the same way the Turkish Armed Forces has done in the fight against the PKK in northern Iraq.

The pension fund of the Turkish Armed Forces has reached a preliminary agreement to acquire U.K.-based industrial giant British Steel, said a written statement on Aug. 16.

By George Gilson

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar today threatened the Republic of Cyprus with a heavy price if it does not agree to the co-administration with Ankara of the island's huge hydrocarbons deposits.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Aug. 7 that talks with the United States aimed at averting a Turkish military intervention into northern Syria had been "positive," according to state news agency Anadolu.

In a further escalation of tensions with Cyprus, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has ruled out any possibility that Ankara will give up its guarantor status on the island and said that it will continue its illegal drilling activities there.
Turkey, Akar said, is a guarantor power on Cyprus and "will continue to use this right as it has in the past."

The Turkish Defense Ministry has posted a video on Twitter taken by unmanned aircraft of its drillships in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Members of the Turkish Armed Forces' Ottoman military band, called "Mehter" in Turkish, performed traditional ceremonial music in New York's iconic Times Square on June 8.

Referring to the presence "once in a while" of his country's ships in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has reportedly said he hopes that war will not break out in the Eastern Mediterranean.