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.
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.
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
LOCAL
ISTANBUL
At least one person was injured on Sept. 21 when a shootout broke out between rival gangs at Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse.
Comment(s) 9/21/2017
CRIME
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.
BARCELONA
Spain’s central government braced for a second day of protests in Barcelona yesterday as separatists called for “permanent mobilization” after Madrid dealt yet another blow to preparations for an outlawed referendum on independence.
OPINION - all the columnists »
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.
Students who began eighth grade on Sept. 18 will be very well prepared for life.
Reading the accusations in the indictment, listening to the defense of the suspect and evaluating all the evidence is fundamental when trying to express an objective opinion about a legal case that is continuing.
The pressure on Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is building as the date for the Sept. 25 referendum on independence nears; unsurprisingly, Turkey’s attitude is also hardening considerably.
Technological advancement is good for any country. But there are some technologies that set the countries that have them apart from those that don’t.
Following a series of largely unproductive and uninspiring phone calls, statements and meetings between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump over the past nine months, Thursday’s meeting between the two heads of state on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly comes at what is perhaps the most critical test of the limits of the Trump-Erdoğan relationship.
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.
Pop singers Avril Lavigne and Bruno Mars topped a list of celebrities on Sept. 19 ranked the most dangerous to search for online because of results that could expose fans to malicious websites.
The 4th Istanbul Coffee Festival will be organized between Sept. 21 and 24 at Küçükçiftlikpark. The event will feature workshops and seminars related to coffee, live performances and talks with coffee experts and the world’s leading baristas.
Comment(s)9/19/2017
Göller Yöresi is one of the most important habitats for storks during their migration period in Turkey, which is home to two species of storks, white and black storks
Comment(s)9/20/2017