Tayyip Erdogan

The government extended the powers of the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) and linked it directly to President Tayyip Erdoğan with a new state of emergency decree issued on Aug. 25. The MİT undersecretary (the chief of the agency) previously reported directly to the prime minister, but will now report only to the president.

Turkey will never be a member of the European Union as long as it is governed by Tayyip Erdogan, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, accusing the Turkish president of failing to take accession talks with the bloc seriously.

The U.S. military alliance against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is "not a choice but a necessity."

Meral Akşener, a former deputy speaker of the Turkish Parliament, stated on Aug.

Before departing for his visit to Jordan on Aug. 21, President Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey and Iran could soon carry out joint military operations against "terrorist organizations" in Iraq.

Negotiations on the Cyprus problem have ended are in no way frozen or stalled according to Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs Omer Celik.

Speaking to reporters following a meeting with his British Counterpart, Alan Duncan, Celik expressed regret at the collapse of the Cyprus talks at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana of July 7.

Iran's chief of general staff, Major General Mohammad Hossein Bageri, became the first Iranian top soldier since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 to visit Turkey on Aug. 15. Bageri held talks with his Turkish counterpart General Hulusi Akar, but not only with Akar.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Aug. 16 that her country "will not pursue" an upgrading of the European Union's Customs Union with Turkey due to ongoing political tensions.

"Esteemed President," said Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım toward the end to his speech at the Aug. 14 ceremony celebrating the 16th anniversary of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) in Ankara, "in recent speeches you have mentioned 'metal fatigue' in our [party] organization. But I believe this fatigue will pass away as quickly as spring fatigue.

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) celebrates its 16th anniversary in Ankara today, Aug. 14.

I was there when the party was founded by former Istanbul mayor Tayyip Erdoğan as an offspring of the Islamic-conservative Milli Görüş movement led by Necmettin Erbakan.