James Mattis

The Chief of the Pentagon, General James Mattis, has said that the US will be "accelerating the temp" of the fight against Daesh and that because of this civilian deaths should be seen as a "fact of life."

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said that using one terrorist group to destroy another is unworthy of serious states, as he commented on the United States' decision to arm the People's Protection Units (YPG) in the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Turkish and U.S. foreign ministers had a phone conversation early May 9 to discuss an upcoming meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump as well as developments in Syria, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.  

The United States is mulling over starting the much-anticipated Raqqa operation to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) immediately after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's first in-person meeting with President Donald Trump in mid-May, amid reports that the White House may give a green light for providing weapons to the Syrian Kurds in a more direct way. 

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.