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Turkey has vowed to reinforce its military presence in northern Cyprus, where it already has about 40,000 troops, adding to tensions with its historic foe Greece. In a televised interview late Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled that Turkey would boost its military presence on the island. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu affirmed the plan today. “We will send both troops and arms to the island to protect the Turkish Cypriot community,” Cavusoglu said in the Aegean town of Denizli. The Turkish statements follow Washington’s decision earlier this month to lift defense trade restrictions on Cyprus for fiscal year 2023....

Erdogan’s comments may have come as a response to a remark from Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos, who in June claimed that Turkey was "aware" of the "heavy cost" that Turkey faced in military engagements with Athens. Turkey has accused Greece of stationing troops on islands in the Aegean in violation of peace treaties between the NATO neighbors. "Your occupation of the islands does not bind us," Erdogan said. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in June indicated that his country would challenge any Greek claims over the islands if they continued stationing troops throughout the region... But Panagiotopolous insisted that...

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid thanked Turkey on Thursday for helping foil an Iranian plot to harm Israelis in Istanbul and said the effort was still under way.Turkish authorities arrested five Iranians suspected of planning attacks on Israelis ahead of Lapid’s visit, Turkish media reports said earlier in the day...Lapid arrived in Turkey on Thursday for talks with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu as the two countries press ahead with efforts to repair ties...Police seized two pistols and two silencers in searches conducted in houses and hotels where the suspects were staying, according to the report...Earlier this month, Israel issued a...

(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) The White House has revoked its support for the Eastern Mediterranean pipeline, a 1,900km project that will transport natural gas from an Israeli-owned offshore drilling site to Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus, The Gatestone Institute reported. The Biden administration discussed the decision with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but apparently did not include the pipeline’s main beneficiaries—Israel, Greece, Egypt or Cyprus—in the talks. The White House said the EastMed pipeline will harm its “climate goals” and escalate tensions in the region without serving viable economic interests, Keep Talking Greece reported. Erdoğan has opposed the EastMed pipeline because...

Biden's decision — reportedly coordinated with Turkey but reached without consulting Israel, Greece or Cyprus, the main countries involved in the project — undercuts three of the strongest American allies in the Mediterranean region.EastMed's cancellation — variously described as a "disastrous decision," a "strategic mistake" and an act of "appeasement" of Erdoğan — represents a major geopolitical victory for the Turkish strongman.The EastMed pipeline has been in the works for more than a decade. The Israel-Greece-Cyprus project — joined by Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia — has long been seen as a way to diversify natural gas supplies...

On Monday, June 21, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that his recent meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels opens a "new era" in diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to Erdogan, there are no problems in relations between Turkey and the United States that cannot be solved, and there are much more areas for cooperation. Biden expressed the hope that countries can make real progress. At the same time, the parties did not agree on problematic issues, such as the acquisition by Turkey of Russian S-400 anti-missile systems, violation of...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday not to yield to "pirates" and to keep searching for energy in disputed eastern Mediterranean waters despite EU pressure to stop. Long-seated suspicions between regional powers resurfaced when Turkey sent a research vessel accompanied by warships off the Greek island of Kastellorizo last week. The European Union urged Turkey to "immediately" halt on Sunday and NATO said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his "concern" in a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday. But Erdogan sounded undeterred. "We're 100 percent right on this issue," the Turkish leader said on a...

The U.S. President Donald Trump did not oppose a deal struck between the Syrian Kurdish-led forces, Russia and the Syrian government in Damascus to protect against a Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria, the commander of the force said as his fighters battled a new push by Ankara-backed fighters to seize a strategic border town. The commander of the Kurdish-led forces, Mazloum Abdi, said Trump essentially gave the go-ahead for the deal in a phone call Monday. The Kurds’ deal, announced Sunday, came after Trump ordered U.S. troops to step aside as Turkey launched its attack last week. Under the agreement,...

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke on Monday with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and reiterated Washington’s insistence on protecting its allies in Syria, as it withdraws forces from that country.In a phone conversation with Cavusoglu, Pompeo emphasized “the importance that the United States places on the protection of forces that worked with the United States and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS,” according to a summary of their discussion issued by State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino.The principle US ally in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria has been the Syrian...

Much of the world focused its attention on the Tehran summit last week between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in the hope that the three “Astana partners” could prevent a bloodbath in Idlib, in northwestern Syria.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu issued promising statements before the Sept. 7 summit, expressing his belief that a crisis would be averted in the last opposition stronghold. The summit not only failed to achieve this, but also highlighted Turkish and Russian differences over Syria. This comes at a time when Ankara and Moscow are keen to highlight their burgeoning...

It is not clear at this stage what effect President Donald Trump’s nomination of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state will have on Turkish-American ties, already strained over a number of seemingly intractable issues.What is clear, though, is that Ankara is rattled with Trump’s choice. The reason is a tweet by Pompeo during the coup attempt in July 2016 in which he likened Turkey, alongside Iran, to a “totalitarian Islamic dictatorship.” The implication of the tweet, which Pompeo later deleted, appeared to be that the attempted coup — which had still not failed at the time of the message — may have been an auspicious event. It only served to reinforce the...

The United Nations general assembly has delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump, voting by a huge majority to reject his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it. Despite the warning, 128 members voted on Thursday in favour of the resolution supporting the long-standing international consensus that the status of Jerusalem – which is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians – can only be settled...

RUSH: Nikki Haley, our U.N. ambassador, had the tweet of the year. Nikki Haley tweeted the following: “At the U.N. we’re always asked to do more & give more,” meaning America. The U.N., we, the United States. We’re always asked to do more and give more. “So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don’t expect those we’ve helped to target us. On Thurs there’ll be a vote criticizing our choice. The U.S. will be taking names.” That is her tweet about the vote today at the U.N....

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a measure critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s warning that the move could put funding for their nations and the global body at risk. The nonbinding UN resolution passed on Thursday by a vote of 128-9, with 35 nations abstaining. Key U.S. allies backing the measure over Trump’s threats included the U.K., France, Italy, Japan and Germany. The U.S. was joined in opposition by countries including Guatemala, Nauru and Micronesia. Abstentions included Australia, Canada and Argentina. “The United States will...