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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing a tough re-election battle in May made tougher by criticism linked to the devastating earthquake. Rumors are swirling that he might delay the election, even though it’s simply not in his Constitutional powers.
A reflection of what the Feb. 6 earthquake exposes deep problems in Turkish public life over the past two decades, and what we can expect in the coming months and years.
The government in Ankara doesn’t want to question the cause of the high death toll in the earthquake that struck along the Turkey-Syria border. But one Turkish writer says it’s time to assign responsibility right now.
Across the border from the epicenter in Turkey, the Syrian region of Idlib is home to millions of people displaced by the 12-year-long civil war. The victims there risk not getting assistance because of the interests of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, reminding the world of one of the great unresolved conflicts of our times.
On the diplomatic and political level, no world leader speaks more regularly with Vladimir Putin than his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. But the growing closeness of Russia and Turkey can also be measured in the economic data. And the 2022 numbers are stunning.
Turkey’s objections to Swedish membership of NATO may mean that Finland joins first. But as he approaches his highly contested reelection bid at home, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready to use the issue to his advantage.
The six-hectare gardens in the center of Istanbul, which are more than 1,500 years old, have helped feed the city’s residents over the centuries and are connected with its religious history. But current city management has a restoration project that could disrupt a unique urban ecosystem.
Turkey heads to the polls in June in elections that decide the country’s future direction. It is a referendum on President Erdoğan, but also a challenge for the divided opposition. Much is at stake in a country roiled by multiple crises and declining trust in its leaders.
Many lives have been lost, rights trampled and dreams crushed. But through the haze, the world took the right turn on many fronts this past year, from Ukraine to Iran to China. Trying to take stock amid the suffering.
Nearly a century since the post-Ottoman reform of the Turkish alphabet, which replaced the Arabic letters with Latin based ones, the issues it evokes on both the personal and political level are still very much alive.
Turkey heads to the polls next year as it faces its worst economic crisis in decades. Disillusioned by corruption, many young people have already left. However, Turkey’s disaffected young expats are still very attached to their country, and could offer the best hope for a new future for the country.
Many migrants want to enter the EU via the Greece-Turkey border. Time and again, it is the scene of violence, and the EU border guard Frontex is also said to be involved. Die Welt managed to visit a place that is off-limits for journalists and usually remains hidden from the public.
In Turkey, resentment against Syrian refugees is growing. And President Erdogan – once their patron – is now busy seeking good relations with the man the Syrians fled, the dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Hundreds of thousands of men have left Russia since partial mobilization was announced. Turkey, which still has air routes open with Moscow, is one of their top choices. But life is far from easy once they land.
Europe needs new energy sources. One alternative to Russian gas could be in the eastern Mediterranean. But with Turkey also actively exploring the region for reserves, the potential for conflict is high.
Turkey is home to the largest Uyghur diaspora in the world. The Muslim minority group, which is persecuted in China, sees the Turks as “cousins”. But as the country’s economy grows increasingly dependent on Beijing, Erdogan is holding his tongue about human rights abuses — and he is not alone.
As the leaders of Turkey, Iran and Russia meet to discuss the situation in Syria, the West is closely watching Turkish President Erdoğan’s moves on Kurdish separatists in northern Syria, now that Moscow is focused on Ukraine.
Nights of Plague is the latest book by the Turkish Nobel Prize winner, a fictional rendering based on historical reality that draws parallels (political and health-wise) between the past and the present.
After more than a month of fighting, a fresh round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine has begun in Istanbul in the hope that progress can be made. Following weeks of fruitless talks in Belarus, negotiations were hosted by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who made a short opening statement telling both sides: “The world is waiting for good news, and good news from you.” Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter. The very fact that talks have moved from Belarus, a key Russian ally, […]
Erdogan has long sought to mould young Turks into a so-called ‘pious generation’ for his brand of Islamic political rule. Now it seems he has failed, as the younger generation longs for what that the president refuses to grant them. In next year’s elections, their votes may prove decisive.
Iran’s clerical regime is able to sabotage asylum applications, prompt deportations and, failing that, beat and murder Iranian political refugees in Turkey.
A decade after the Arab Spring, the Islamist political movement driven by the Muslim Brotherhood, from Egypt to Morocco and beyond, continues to flirt with more extreme Salafist elements to build popular support — and continues to show its utter incapacity to properly run a national government.
As Turkey fears the EU closing ranks over defense, Turkish President Erdogan is looking to Boris Johnson as a post-Brexit ally, especially as Angela Merkel steps aside. This could undermine the deal where Ankara limits refugee entry into Europe, and other dossiers too.
The four million Syrians living in Turkey were already facing great difficulties, and the pandemic only made their lives more uncertain. But there’s another truth they know must face.
MOSCOW — For the first time, the U.S. Congress has recognized the mass killings and deportations in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 as genocide. So why now? It doesn’t seem that the United States has anything really to gain from the country of Armenia. Two of the four borders of the country are […]
ISTANBUL — One of the more prestigious duties for the pilots of the Turkish Air Forces during the Cold War years was the “nuclear watch.” The four main air bases in Turkey had been housing U.S. nuclear warheads since the beginning of the 1960’s. The nuclear class planes piloted by Turks were assigned to drop […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said he favored restoring the death penalty. It would bring back an ugly face of Turkey, both politically and morally.
Ekrem Imamoglu’s victory in the recent rerun election in Istanbul was a breath of fresh air for Turkish democracy. But to really recover lost ground, the country needs a new set of rules, writes Yakup Kepenek.
For the first time in 25 years, the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not be running Turkey’s biggest city. With his landmark victory in Sunday’s election rerun, Ekrem Imamoglu will be the new mayor of Istanbul, with significance that reaches well beyond the city’s 15 million residents. Imamoglu, who won easily 54% to […]
Turkey’s president first burst on the scene in 1994 when he was elected mayor of Istanbul. Now, his party tries to hold the city.
In Algeria, the Bouteflika clan was driven out of power. In Turkey, Erdogan’s AKP has “only” lost ground in the big cities. In both cases, the government’s legitimacy is being deeply questioned, in a context of economic recession and democratic demands.
Turkey’s politics has been shaken up after President Erdogan’s ruling AKP lost major cities in nationwide municipal elections. Results in the biggest city hang in the balance.
With no other elections set for the coming years and the AKP party’s increasing use of bully tactics, Turkey’s local poll is a last chance to send a true political message.
The indictments filed against prominent liberal figures after the 2013 Gezi park protests show the government doesn’t care about defending the constitution.
As Turkey takes sole responsibility from UNHCR for processing the asylum claims of Afghans and other non-Syrians, it must register them and allow them to access their basic rights.
-Analysis- Turkey is a country with extreme social differences. If the inflation rate rises, the lira tumbles and price stickers in supermarkets are rewritten daily, which means those who already have little can afford less and less. The current currency crisis is making the poor even poorer. But it will not spare the rich for […]
Ince, a social democrat, is now the opposition’s leading presidential candidate. With support from Kurdish voters, he may even force a runoff.
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a historic visit to Rome on Monday, the first time a Turkish leader has met the Pope at the Vatican in nearly six decades. But the visit to Italy, which included meetings with top Italian leaders, comes as Turkey’s military is engaged in heavy conflict with Kurdish […]
Turkish schools are taking steps to cultivate a ‘pious generation’ by rewriting history and placing a greater emphasis on religion.
A government crackdown on dissent in Turkish cinema is transforming filmmaking and destroying careers.