Turkey

1 November 2019; AFP: Turkey started joint patrols with Russia in northern Syria Friday to verify whether Kurdish forces have withdrawn from a key border zone in compliance with a deal reached between the two governments.

The patrols, which began just before noon (1000 GMT), follow an agreement they signed in the Black Sea resort of Sochi last week which gave Kurdish forces 150 hours to withdraw from a band of territory along the border, in a process that Russia said was now complete.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish military forces captured 18 Syrian government soldiers in northeastern Syria, Turkey’s defense minister said Thursday, in one of the most dramatic examples of an increasingly muddled battleground following the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the area.

30 Oct 2019; MEMO: The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a genocide, a symbolic but historic vote instantly denounced by Turkey.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 405-11 in favor of a resolution asserting that it is US policy to commemorate as genocide the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. The Ottoman Empire was centered in present-day Turkey.

30 October 2019; AFP: The armies of Syria and Turkey traded deadly fire Tuesday for the first time since Ankara launched an anti-Kurdish offensive in early October, as Russia announced Kurdish forces had withdrawn from the key border area.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Kurdish forces had pulled back from the entire Turkish-Syrian border in accordance with a deal struck between Ankara and regime backer Moscow in Sochi earlier this month.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Talks between Turkish and Russian officials on developments in northeast Syria have concluded and the two delegations have “largely” reached an agreement, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar was quoted as saying by state media on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Russia had informed Turkey that the Syrian Kurdish YPG had left a planned “safe zone” within a deadline set by Ankara and Moscow. Under their agreement, Russia and Turkey were then due to start joint patrols.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s parliament will respond to U.S. resolutions recognizing the mass killings of Armenians as genocide and calling for sanctions against Turkey over its military operation in Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a genocide.

Turkey does not recognize the resolution, which has no value to Ankara, Erdogan said.

ISTANBUL, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Tuesday detained 26 people, including 12 Syrians, in northwestern Turkey over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, local media reported.

Police launched operations simultaneously in several locations in the province of Bursa to capture the suspects, the state-run TRT broadcaster said.

The Syrians will be sent to the repatriation center in Bursa for deportation, TRT added, without identifying the nationalities of the other detainees.

28 Oct 2019; AA: Millions of Turks across the country and abroad will celebrate on Tuesday the 96th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the republic's founder, on Oct. 29, 1923 officially declared the name of the nation and proclaimed the country's status as a republic.

A vote then took place in the Grand National Assembly, and Ataturk, a revolutionary statesman, was elected the first president of the Republic of Turkey by unanimous vote.

ISTANBUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's plan to resettle Syrians on recently-captured territory in Syria does not look feasible, analysts argued, as Ankara hopes to involve the United Nations for collection of funds for the project amid failure to find donors so far.

Ankara is planning to send back 1 million to 2 million Syrian refugees being sheltered on Turkish soil to a so-called safe zone being established on land seized by the Turkish military from the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria around mid-month.

ANKARA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish soldier was killed and five others wounded in northern Syria in an attack by the Syrian Kurdish group, Turkey's Defense Ministry said Sunday.

The casualties of the Turkish army were "a result of the harassment attacks committed by PKK/YPG terrorists against our elements conducting reconnaissance-surveillance activities in Ras al-Ain, the area of Operation Peace Spring," the ministry said in a statement.