She’s an accused jihadist originally from Brittany who spent 10 years in Syria, including five as a prisoner. French prosecutors say König acted as a social media recruiter of sorts for ISIS.
country: Turkey
Stay updated with comprehensive news on Turkey from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on Turkish politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Istanbul, Turkish history, and cultural events.
It’s 122° F at the kebab grill. My mother has been standing there for 35 years, and I’ve been joining her there every day now, even though I’m still at university. Because that’s our form of resistance.
Hamza Aydin challenged orthodox teachings and was hounded out of his university. His story reveals how Erdogan’s Turkey wields religion as a political weapon, reaching from Ankara to German mosques.
Europe, Iran and global powers are meeting in Istanbul on Friday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. The talks may determine whether dialogue or confrontation will shape their future relations. It’s also a reminder that diplomacy is a better way than war to settle disputes.
One month after the imprisonment of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a key rival to President Erdogan, the Silivri penitentiary — where political opponents are crowded together — has come to symbolize a country where justice bows to the shifting winds of politics.
The Kurdish PKK’s historic decision to lay down its arms is just the latest sign that armed struggle has not lived up to its promises of liberation, and now appears to be on its last breaths across the region.
Erdogan and Macron’s strange interaction at a recent summit in Albania is a good opportunity to look back at some of the weirdest hand-to-hand encounters between world leaders.
Church leaders push for a common Easter date, as they seek to bridge centuries-old divisions between Eastern and Western Christian traditions.
Massive crowds are not letting up in Turkey, in a standoff amid a climate of growing authoritarianism, fueled by Donald Trump’s victory.
Facing protests over the arrest of Istanbul’s opposition mayor, the Turkish government has found its culprits: Greece and Israel, two obstacles to its ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean.
As protests continue against the arrest of Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, there’s no doubt that Turkey is in a dark chapter of its history — and a common story in authoritarian and populist regimes. But the protests also show that the will for democracy is alive.
Thirty-one countries gathered in Paris — without the United States — to coordinate their support for Ukraine during this critical time. This unprecedented “soft NATO” initiative comes as Washington turns its back on its allies. And two main leaders emerge.
When Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested, it sent shockwaves through Turkey, igniting fears that no opposition figure was safe. But instead of silencing dissent, Erdoğan’s crackdown has sparked a nationwide movement that could shape the country’s political future.
In both Israel and Turkey, the rulers’ shift toward “illiberal” policies has sparked a backlash from parts of society. In both cases, leaders are targeting checks and balances, feeling emboldened by a similar trend unfolding in the United States under Donald Trump.
After an attack on soldiers by supporters of the former Assad regime, a wave of violence has left more than 1,300 dead in the Alawite region, the Assad stronghold. The transitional president is calling for unity, but he must reassure minorities and rein in his more radical supporters.
The imprisoned founder of the Kurdish Workers’ Party, Abdullah Ocalan, has called on his supporters to lay down their arms and dissolve the party. This peace initiative could have repercussions beyond Turkey, reaching Syria as well.
Hijab is merely a custom that, by force of tradition, has turned into a religious symbol — nothing more. The early Quranic interpreters, who favored transmission over reason due to their limited knowledge and weak analytical abilities at the time, interpreted the so-called “verses of hijab” without considering their historical context or the reasons behind their revelation.
Currently, the majority of Turkey’s fish currently comes from cultivation, also known as fish farming, compared to just 10% two decades ago. The short-sightedness of this shift risks eliminating fishing output from both the farms and the open seas along Turkey’s 5,200 miles of coastline.
Following the collapse of the Assad regime, Tunisia and other countries are concerned about the return of thousands of jihadist nationals believed to have been held in Syria. Amid overcrowded prisons and fears of extremism, what are governments in Tunis and other Arab countries doing to prepare for their potential return?
Regime change in Syria is a big point Turkey has scored against its regional rival the Islamic Republic of Iran, which may soon be pushed out of another crucial sector, trade and transportation in the Caucasus, Shahram Sabzevari writes in Kayhan-London.
Stunning reports of positive exchanges between the long imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government, coupled with the collapse of the Syrian regime, are reshaping the dynamics for the Kurds scattered across the Middle East. But beware of betrayal.
Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Israel are reshaping the Middle East in a possible, bigger deal involving a peace deal in Ukraine. With the regional militias and Syria out of the strategic equation, is the next step removing the Tehran regime?
Replacing the dominant roles of Russia and Iran exerting influence over Syria, following the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey and Israel are best positioned to divide up their respective roles on the territory of the shared neighbor.
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What Syria’s Future Means For Jordan
Amman and its allies, much like the skeptical secular Syrian opposition, await tangible actions on the ground to match the promises of pragmatist rhetoric from Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who is marketing himself as a statesman committed to building an inclusive new Syria that’s a good neighbor after abandoning extremist ideologies.
Bashar al-Assad’s fall raises short-term questions about the fate of Russian generals sent to Syria after failures in Ukraine, but also deeper reflections on Moscow’s war on multiple fronts.
The Americans already have direct contact, and the French are arriving tomorrow. While remaining “vigilant” about the Islamist nature of Syria’s new rulers, Western nations are reestablishing ties with Damascus to support a return to stability. Turkey, however, is already one step ahead.
Taking advantage of the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey, the United States and Israel separately carried out airstrikes on targets in different areas of the country, each with its own agenda. The reclaiming Syria’s sovereignty will be one of the most important and complex challenges facing the country’s new rulers.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, use of the term “evil” has increased. The more heinous and public the murder, the more the evil of the murderer would be revealed and “the world” would be pushed to intervene. Yet in both Syria and Gaza, that world has been satisfied with symbolic responses.
Turkey has become increasingly concerned about Israel’s expansionist ambitions, both for peace in the region and the Turkish claims to contested territory, given Israeli officials’ comments about “Greater Israel.”
Profanity is a kind of national sport in Turkey. But it can also be risky business, sometimes leading to lawsuits or even death. One political scientist researching Turkey’s unique way of conjuring curse words explains what the country’s inventive slurs reveal about its fears and prejudices.
November 9 marks 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Once seen as a step toward open borders, walls and fences now span a quarter of the world’s land borders today. It’s central to what’s being called the “rebordering” among nations around the world.
At a recent festival honoring Syria’s pistachio production, officials made promises about returning pistachio lands to their owners. Yet activists and displaced farmers say their lands are being auctioned off to Ba’ath Party elites, regime forces and their militias.
The question of who will succeed Yahya Sinwar is essentially a question of whether Hamas will return from its “Iranian exile” and embrace the Muslim Brotherhood.
Turkey is the top world producer of hazelnuts. Yet, very little trickles down to its producers, and to Turkey in general. One Italian company, in particular, reaps the rewards of its harvest.
Has social media become a breeding ground for racism ? Elon Musk has turned Twitter (now called X) into his own opinion platform, giving free rein to disinformation and weakening fact checking and user moderation. Meanwhile, the AI feeding the platform’s algorithm is built on harmful, racist bias, writes Cem Say for independent Turkish daily Oksijen.
The numbers are troubling but also still unclear. Are more people dying in the quest for cheaper medical services — often plastic surgery — that Turkey has become a magnet for. It’s time to check more closely.
Critics are right to denounce crooked politicians or elected leaders for undermining the democratic system of checks and balances. But defending those checks and balances is not the key to restoring democracy — because people’s pervasive distrust and discontent with politics is a much deeper problem to address.
Thousands of Turks who want to come to Germany are having their visa requests denied. Asylum influencers show them how to get in and how to navigate welfare and benefits.
Scenes of violence against Syrian refugees are no longer unusual in Turkey, a country marked by rising nationalism amid a deepening economic crisis.
The October 7 attack and Israel’s brutal response have left a trail of devastation, which materializes in very different tragedies for Palestine and Israel, a story of missed opportunity for Turkey — and a tragicomedy of U.S. leadership.