US F-16

Turkey's foreign minister will visit the US on March 7-8 for talks on the Gaza and Ukraine wars and defense and energy, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Tuesday, as relations warm following a warplane deal and cooperation on NATO diplomacy.

The sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey will allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to continue pursuing "destabilizing practices," Socialists PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis said on Wednesday.
 
"The latest development with the approval of the new F-16 program from the US side to Turkey is a deeply negative development," he added.
 

On the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius it appears that Turkish President Erdogan is once again moving the goalposts when it comes to Sweden's NATO membership bid, attempting to put progress on Turkey's EU membership on the table as well.

Disputes with Greece can be peacefully resolved through dialogue, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, while expressing his optimism over the sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. 

Iraqi forces tightened the noose on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in its stronghold of Anbar on July 13 with a ground operation teed up by a record number of coalition air strikes.