Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Turkey on Wednesday, in a visit that comes at a critical moment as the U.S. tries to smooth over thorny relations after last month’s failed coup. Mr. Biden, the first senior White House official to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since the takeover attempt, is seeking to blunt accusations from some Turkish officials that the U.S. helped facilitate the uprising by a segment of the Turkish armed forces. He wants to focus on the nations’ strategic alliance on counterterrorism and stability in neighboring Syria, a senior administration official said.

Ankara withdrew the Turkish ambassador to Austria Kadria Ecvet Tezcan. Turkey made withdrawal due to the fact that Austria has loudly criticized the recent events in Turkey. At the press conference, Turkish Foreign Minister accused Austria of being a center of racism and Islamophobia and in supporting the Kurdish terrorist groups. The appeal of a diplomat is probably related to the demonstration in Vienna by Kurdish outlawed PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê)‎, which is considered a terrorist group by the Government in Ankara, the US, and the EU.

On Thursday, August 23, Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) took control of most strategic locations in Hasakah in North-east Syria from government forces. A ceasefire entered into force on 2PM, local time, allowing the government to leave the city and relocate to military bases in its vicinity. YPG units prevailed despite several days of government air strikes. In one incident, an American special forces unit was almost hit by a bomb, prodding the US Department of Defence to demand a cessation of all aerial military operation in Hasakah region.

A bomber targeted a wedding guests as they danced in the street, last night in Gaziantep, Turkey. The bomb wounded 69 people, Mr Erdogan added, 17 of them seriously. Mr Erdogan said the so-called Islamic State (IS) was behind the attack, which targeted a Kurdish wedding party. Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, is known to have several IS cells. He added that the bomb was carried out by a 12 to 14-year-old child. IS is known to have operatives in Gaziantep.

A prominent Iranian lawmaker confirmed Wednesday that Russia is using an Iranian air base for airstrikes in Syria, as Moscow said another wave of airstrikes launched from the Islamic Republic struck the east of the war-ravaged country.The comments by Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, are the first official acknowledgment that Russian planes are flying out of Iran’s Shahid Nojeh Air Base.

On Friday, August 19, The Turkish Parliament has ratified a deal on the normalisation of relations with Israel. The deal was signed on June 28, 2016, but its ratification was delayed by an attempted coup d’état in Turkey. Under its provisions, both countries will exchange ambassadors, end all sanctions against each other, while Israel will pay out $20 mln in compensation to families of killed during an Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in exchange for having all outstanding legal claims dropped. Israel has also agreed to enable the transfer of humanitarian and developmental aid to the Gaza Strip, while Turkey has promised to pressure Hamas to release 4 captured Israelis and limits its activity on Turkish territory.