James Mattis

Situated in the middle of a crisis-prone neighborhood, Turkey can hardly ignore developments around itself for long. But that is exactly what has happened, as it has been focused on domestic politics since 2014 with a seemingly constant election cycle. 

Secretary of Defense James Mattis is on a Mideast tour to “continue efforts to strengthen regional security architectures.” While his meetings in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel are likely to attract most of the press coverage, his discussions in Qatar Saturday could be the most consequential.

Turkey has repeated its offer to the U.S. to jointly stage the long-anticipated Raqqa operation with the inclusion of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and including Arab forces within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Defense Minister Fikri Işık said on April 21. 

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has ordered the military to start work on reviewing the US's overall nuclear weapons policy document that will guide the Trump administration's purchases, deployment and management of nuclear weapons.

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık has paid a quick visit to Washington in order to propose a new plan over an operation to liberate Syria's Raqqa from jihadists without making use of Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) forces. 

A heavy loaded foreign policy agenda is awaiting Turkey in the post-referendum era, regardless of the result on April 16. 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov began tense talks in Moscow on Wednesday as the two sides locked horns over an alleged Syrian chemical attack and subsequent missile strike by Washington.

Security concerns have been raised about plans to carry out major servicing work on the UK’s new F-35 fighter jets in Turkey.

SNP MP George Kerevan is to call for an inquiry into the policy in the light of last year’s attempted coup in Turkey and tensions with its Nato partners.

Major repairs to RAF combat jets have previously been carried out in the UK.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said on Thursday that he would like to discuss with US authorities the possibility of extending the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) between the two countries from one year to five years, or even more.

Turkey has suggested what it calls a "Mosul model" for the potential Raqqa operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), highlighting that Raqqa is also a predominantly Arab city that must be saved by mostly Arab forces.