Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Iran on Wednesday in a sign of warming ties between the two neighbours who support rival camps in Syria but both strongly oppose last week’s Iraqi Kurdish vote for independence. Source: Middle East Online
Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that Ankara has sent military personnel to Russia for training on the operation of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. “We sent our specialists to Russia for training on operating the S-400, training starts from today and will continue for several months,” he said. Source: Ehamedya
Eight Turkish military aircraft on Tuesday carried out 34 violations of Greek national airspace in the northeastern, central and southeastern Aegean, according to defense sources who reported one mock dogfight between Greek and Turkish aircraft. Source: Ekathimerini
An Islamic State offshoot has amassed around 5,000 militants in northern Afghanistan on the border of post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, the director of Russia’s FSB has warned, adding that many of them have fought in Syria. “Especially worrying is re-deployment of terrorist groups into northern provinces of Afghanistan,” Alexander Bortnikov told chiefs of ex-Soviet intelligence services in Dushanbe. He warned that ‘Wilayat Khorasan’, a local Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) affiliate, had managed to gather 5,000 fighters in the area. Source: RT
