United States
On January 3, 2018, a jury in New York federal court found Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former executive at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank, guilty on charges that included bank fraud, conspiracies to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran and to commit money laundering. He was found not guilty on a money laundering charge. In a statement made after the verdict, counsel for Mehmet Hakan Atilla announced their intent to appeal. Mehmet Hakan Atilla’s sentencing, originally set for April 11, 2018, was first postponed to May 7, 2018 and then to May 16, 2018. On May 16, 2018, a New York judge sentenced Mehmet Hakan Atilla to 32 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.
On February 15-16, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made an official visit to Turkey and had several meetings with President Erdoğan and Minister Çavuşoğlu to discuss prominent issues in the public agenda of Turkey-U.S. relations. According to the joint statement released after the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their mutual commitment to each other’s security and defense.
On June 3-4, 2018, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington. During the meeting, the leaders discussed Turkey-U.S. bilateral relations, matters related to the presence of the PYD/YPG and the PKK terrorist groups in the Syrian city of Manbij and other regional matters. According to the joint statement released after the meeting, the ministers endorsed a road map and underlined their commitment to its implementation.
On July 25, 2018, American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who had been held in detention in Turkey on charges of committing crimes including spying for the PKK terror group and FETÖ, was moved from prison to house arrest, in accordance with a Turkish court ruling. In response to the detention of Brunson, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Turkey’s Ministers of Justice and Interior. On August 3, 2018, President Erdoğan ordered authorities to freeze the assets of two U.S. officials in Turkey. On August 10, 2018, Donald Trump announced on Twitter a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum against Turkey. On October 12, 2018, Brunson was sentenced to three years and one and a half months in prison, but his sentence was reduced to time served, he was released and his travel ban was lifted.
Russia
On April 3, 2018, President Erdoğan met in Ankara with President Putin, who came to Turkey to attend the Trilateral Summit on Syria and the 7th meeting of the Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council. During the press conference following the meeting, President Erdoğan stated that they discussed political, military, commercial, economic and cultural aspects of the bilateral relations between the two countries in the meeting.
On August 13-14, 2018 and on August 23-25, 2018, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov officially met and discussed bilateral issues as well as regional matters, particularly Syria.
On September 17, 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to create a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region.
Iraq
As of March 23, 2018, Turkey lifted its ban on flights to the Northern Iraqi city of Erbil, which had been implemented since September 25, 2017. However, the flight ban to another Northern Iraqi city, Sulaymaniyah, continues.
Syria
On January 29-30, 2018, the Syrian National Dialogue Congress was held in Sochi. Parties at this two-day congress agreed to form a constitutional committee, which will include the Government of Syrian Arab Republic delegation, Opposition representatives in the intra-Syrian talks, Syrian experts, civil society, independents, tribal leaders and women. According to a statement released after the Congress, a final agreement on the mandate and terms of reference, powers, rules of procedure, and selection criteria for the composition of the committee is to be reached in the Geneva process led by the United Nations. On May 14-15, 2018, the ninth round of Astana meetings was held, during which the participants reviewed the implementation of the de-escalation memorandum, as well as the establishment of the Constitutional Committee which was declared at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress. The participants also addressed the issues surrounding the fight against terrorism in Syria and improvement of humanitarian access. On July 30-31, 2018, the tenth round of Astana meetings was held in Sochi. Along with establishing the Constitutional Committee and other ongoing issues regarding Syria, the issue of the Idlib de-escalation area was a main component of the agenda during the meeting.
On April 4, 2018, trilateral summit was held with the participation of Turkish President Erdoğan, Russian President Putin and Iranian President Rouhani. In a joint statement released after the meeting, the three guarantor countries expressed their joint determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries.