Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey is awaiting the next move from the United States on Ankara's request to buy F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits after ratifying Sweden's NATO membership bid, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Turkey's president finally approved Sweden's bid to join NATO on Thursday, ending months of delay and leaving only Hungary standing in the way of Stockholm's membership of the military alliance.

The US ambassador to Turkey said he anticipates that President Tayyip Erdogan will give a final sign-off on Sweden's NATO membership within days, triggering rapid steps toward US Congress endorsing a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan decried on Wednesday efforts to spread "rumors" meant to undermine economic progress, in an apparent endorsement of Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, who had criticized a recent press report about her family.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was set to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss the widening conflict in Gaza and energy cooperation between the two neighbors.

Raisi had twice postponed his visit, initially set for November, over scheduling issues and attacks in Iran's southeastern city of Kerman.

Turkey's parliament is widely expected to approve Sweden's NATO membership bid on Tuesday, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance.

Turkey is providing documents for a case brought by South Africa against Israel at the UN's top court on a charge of committing genocide against Palestinian civilians, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Erdogan said that Turkey will continue to provide documents, mostly visuals, on Israel's attacks on Gaza.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday named former environment minister Murat Kurum as the ruling AK Party's candidate in Istanbul's mayoral election in March, bidding to win back control of Turkey's largest city.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the leaders of Turkey and Greece on Saturday at the start of a week-long trip aimed at calming tensions that have spiked across the Middle East since Israel's war with Hamas began in October.

Earlier, the head of American diplomacy had met in Constantinople with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan