Turkey, Kazakhstan to increase cooperation in terror fight: Erdoğan

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 9 that Ankara and Astana would increase cooperation in fight against terror organizations, particularly the Gülen network, widely believed to have been behind last year's failed coup attempt. "As Turkey, we are carrying out our struggle with FETO (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization) not just for ourselves but also for the security of our friends and brothers. I want to thank the Elder (Nazarbayev) for his support in this process. God wiling, we will eliminate this gang which threatens the national security of both countries by working in cooperation. We will further increase our cooperation at the point of fighting against terror organizations such as DEASH (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), FETO and al-Qaeda in the coming period," Erdoğan told a joint press meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana.

Erdoğan arrived on Sept. 9 morning in the Kazakh capital for a two-day visit. "It is an occasion of bliss to be in Astana on the 25th anniversary of our bilateral relations," Erdoğan said during his meeting with Nazarbayev, part of which was open to the media.  "Here is a second home to us, we feel at home. We are making an effort to improve our political, military, commercial, cultural, and economic relations each passing day," he added.  Erdoğan also mentioned the Sept. 14 Astana summit, saying it was crucial to the Geneva peace talks process.  The Geneva talks on Syria are expected to take place after those in Astana, but there is no scheduled date.  Several rounds of subsequent peace talks -- in both Geneva and Kazakh capital Astana -- have so far failed to end the Syrian conflict, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed to date.  Turkey and Iran...