Turkish Muslims will celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in the week starting Nov. 29 this year following a date change made by the new chair of the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), Ali Erbaş.
Comment(s)9/21/2017
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not claim that U.S. President Donald Trump apologized to him over a brawl involving Turkish security officers, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın stated on Sept. 21.
Berlin does not want different groups from Turkey to spy on each other in the country, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had told Deutsche Welle in an interview on the eve of the general election in the European powerhouse.
Istanbul's main Atatürk Airport was reopened to traffic on Sept. 21 after a private jet crashed on the runway, causing authorities to suspend flights, the head of Turkish Airlines said on Twitter.
The Turkish army entered the fourth day of a military drill on the Iraqi border on Sept. 21, Doğan News Agency has reported.
Turkey’s top security board and the cabinet will convene on Sept. 22 in a bid to announce measures to be taken in the event the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) goes forward with holding the independence referendum on Sept. 25
Turkey, Iran and Iraq have agreed to consider taking “coordinated counter-measures” against the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government’s (KRG) bid to hold independence referendum at a trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting in New York, days before the Sept. 25 vote in northern Iraq.
MİT and police have brought three female Syrian Kurdish PYD militants, who wished to surrender to the Turkish security forces, from an Aleppo neighborhood controlled by the PYD to Kilis
Top bosses have called for the continuation of the negotiations for a Customs Union deal update with the European Union due to political tensions, as this deal has brought about many positive developments in many fields rather than only in the area of trade in the last two decades.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 20 warned the United States over the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have orchestrated the deadly coup attempt of July 15, 2016, saying they would eventually see the real face of the organization
The U.S. dollar rose sharply against the Turkish Lira late on Sept. 20 after the Federal Reserve unveiled plans to wind down its crisis-era stimulus and hinted at another interest rate hike before the end of the year.
A group of Nigerian migrants on Sept. 21 made a press statement in Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Avenue to draw attention to human rights violations in their home country’s Biafra region.
LOCAL
HATAY
An artillery shell fired from an area controlled by the Syrian regime landed near a rural area in the Yayladağı district of the southern province of Hatay on the afternoon of Sept. 21
Comment(s) 9/21/2017
ISTANBUL
At least one person was injured on Sept. 21 when a shootout broke out between rival gangs at Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse.
Fourteen lawyers of imprisoned hunger-striking educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça were arrested by a court order on Sept. 20, broadcaster CNN Türk reported on Sept. 21.
WASHINGTON - Reuters
The United States “strongly opposes” the planned independence referendum by Iraqi Kurds and urges Iraqi Kurdish leaders to engage in negotiations with the Baghdad government instead, the U.S. State Department said on Sept 20.
MOSCOW – The Associated Press
Russia has issued a stern warning to U.S. forces and their allies in Syria, saying it has deployed Russian special forces alongside Syrian government troops in the battle for the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province and that Moscow would retaliate if the Russians come under fire.
TUNCELİ – Doğan News Agency
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) held a march on Sept. 20 in the eastern province of Tunceli, formerly known as Dersim, to protest planned hydroelectric plants (HES) and dam projects in the region’s picturesque Munzur Valley.
İsmail Saymaz – ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court on Sept. 20 ordered the Interior Ministry pay compensation amounting to 734,162 Turkish Liras ($209,000) over the killing of Uğur Kurt, who was shot by police during a funeral ceremony in an Alevi worship house, or cemevi in 2014.
SEOUL – Reuters
Seoul approves an aid package for North, saying that the issue is separate from politics, as North Korea foreign minister compares US leader Trump to a ‘dog barking,
ANKARA
Turkey’s monthly consumer confidence index was lower in September, according to official data released on Sept. 21.
ANKARA - Anadolu Agency
Turkey’s gross debt stock stood at 820.5 billion Turkish Liras (approximately $238.5 billion) at the end of August, the Undersecretariat of the Treasury announced on Sept. 20.
OPINION - all the columnists »
Trying to woo nationalists, fascists, religious fanatics and such segments of the Greek Cypriot society that delivered oaths on hand grenades to “drink Turkish Cypriot society,” repeating at every opportunity that the “majority cannot succumb to the minority,” and at the same time trying to fool Turks with some empty “we want federation” rhetoric must be a very tiring occupation.
Comment(s)9/22/2017
In the 15th Istanbul Biennial, the theme grabs you almost as much as the works of art.
“Ever since Lausanne, we have dreamed of establishing a state,” Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) leader Massoud Barzani said in 2016 during a visit to the U.S.
Is there anyone following the news in Turkey who is not worried about the country’s future and its economy in terms of income distribution?
Unlike the nerve-jangling elections earlier this year in the Netherlands, France and Britain, Germany’s has been notably dull.
The 26th Istanbul Criminal Court on Sept. 19 rejected demands to release a group of journalists and writers who have been in jail for more than a year, in a case into the “media leg” of the Gülen network.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is the government that has come closest to solving Turkey’s Kurdish problem. It is also the government that has helped bring the prospect of an “independent Kurdish state” closest to reality, though obviously this is an unintended consequence of its mistaken policies.
The head of Turkey’s top official religious body, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), has recently been changed by the government, but it seems that the change has not had any effect on the institution’s anti-secularism stance.
Shipwrecks from 1,000-2,700 years ago were discovered on southern coasts. Officials think they do not need to be removed and can be protected in their original place
The Monumental Fountain (Nymphaeum) in the ancient city of Side has been undergoing restoration since 2004, and it will soon finally be completed and opened to visitors
A two-month-old fawn, which has been found by locals in the western province of Afyonkarahisar after she lost her mother because it was blind, has undergone cataract surgery in the Afyon Kocatepe University (AKU) Veterinary Faculty Health Application and Research Center.
FOLDED CORNER - ‘The New Sultan: Erdoğan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey’ by Soner Çağaptay (IB Tauris, 240 pages, $25)
It wasn’t exactly instant karma when Beatle John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, heard about a Polish beverage company’s new drink called “John Lemon.” She threatened legal action alleging that it infringed on the trademark of her late husband.
A fire on marine explorer Jacques Cousteau's iconic ship Calypso has delayed the vessel's restoration by between six to eight months, a representative of the Cousteau Society said on Sept. 20.
Tombs found in a necropolis in Van’s Çavuştepe Castle reveal information about the burial customs of the Urartians. Excavations found the skeletons of a man, woman and a horse
Tools used by people in daily life have been unearthed in a structure in the ancient city of Patara. A fork and a mirror frame are among the most interesting pieces of tools
The Istanbul Modern Cinema will present a film program to run parallel to the 15th Istanbul Biennial, which takes “a good neighbor” as its theme.