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Zeynep Bilginsoy is an award-winning producer and journalist based in Istanbul, Turkey.
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GUARDIAN - Feminism in pictures: illustrated stories of women’s rights around the world. Three female artists, from Kenya, Brazil and Turkey, describe how their creative vision helped them draw attention to the fight for equality.
AP — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection in a runoff Sunday, following a nail-biter first round two weeks earlier. Having secured another five years, Erdogan now faces a host of domestic challenges in a deeply divided country, from a battered economy to pressure for the repatriation of Syrian refugees to the need to rebuild after a devastating earthquake. Here’s a look at the challenges ahead.
AP — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection Sunday, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade as the country reels from high inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that leveled entire cities.
AP — Turkish voters will head back to the polls in two weeks for a runoff election to decide if conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or his main rival will lead a country struggling with sky-high inflation as it plays a key role in NATO expansion and in the Middle East.
AP — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power 20 years ago riding a wave of public outrage toward the previous government’s handling of a deadly earthquake. Now, three months away from an election, Erdogan’s political future could hinge on how the public perceives his government’s response to a similarly devastating natural disaster.
AP — Turkey has for years tempted fate by not enforcing modern construction codes while allowing — and in some cases, encouraging — a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, experts say. The lax enforcement, which experts in geology and engineering have long warned about, is gaining renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of this week’s devastating earthquakes.
AP — Turkey’s president has suggested his country might approve Finland’s application for NATO membership before taking any action on Sweden’s, while the Turkish government issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia.
AP — Turkey’s president cast serious doubt on NATO’s expansion Monday after warning Sweden not to expect support for its bid for membership into the military alliance following weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.
AP — The attack on a central avenue in Istanbul is a stark reminder of the bombings in Turkish cities between 2015 and 2017 that crushed the public’s sense of security and heralded a new phase in Turkey’s decades-long fight against outlawed Kurdish groups. Here’s a look at the militant groups, the nearly four-decade conflict and its political implications.
AP — A bomb rocked a bustling pedestrian avenue in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday, killing six people, wounding several dozen and leaving panicked people to flee the fiery blast or huddle in cafes and shops.
AP — Funerals for miners killed in a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey began Saturday as officials raised the death toll to at least 41 people. There were 110 miners working several hundred meters below ground at the time of the explosion on Friday evening.
AP — Turkey’s parliament passed a contentious bill Thursday that amends press and social media laws with the stated aim of combatting fake news and disinformation. Critics fear that as elections loom, the measure will be used to further crack down on social media and independent reporting.
AP — Panic and anxiety gripped members of Turkey's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities when several thousand demonstrators marched in Istanbul last weekend to demand a ban on what they consider gay propaganda and to outlaw LGBTQ organizations.
AP — Three more ships carrying thousands of tons of corn left Ukrainian ports Friday and traveled mined waters toward inspection of their delayed cargo, a sign that an international deal to export grain held up since Russia invaded Ukraine was slowly progressing. But major hurdles lie ahead to get food to the countries that need it most.
AP — Turkey’s media watchdog has banned access to the Turkish services of U.S. public service broadcaster Voice of America and German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, prompting complaints of censorship.
AP — Just two days after agreeing to lift deal-breaking objections to Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession, Turkey’s leader warned Thursday that Ankara could still block the process if the two countries fail to fully meet his expectations.
AP — When the leaders of Finland, Sweden and Turkey met with NATO’s chief Tuesday, the potential for progress was hard to predict. Some remained pessimistic the meeting would lessen Turkey’s objections to the Nordic pair’s historic request to join NATO. Nearly three hours into Tuesday’s talks and with no word of an agreement, journalists were invited to witness the nations’ foreign ministers sign a joint memorandum.
AP — In northern Syria, residents are bracing for a new fight. With the world’s attention focused on the war in Ukraine, Turkey’s leader says he’s planning a major military operation to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters and create a long sought-after buffer zone in the border area.
AP — Turkey’s wildfires have left little behind, turning green forests into ashen, barren hills. The destruction is being intensely felt by Turkey’s beekeepers, who have lost thousands of hives as well as the pine trees and the insects their bees depend on.
AP — A coal-fueled power plant in southwest Turkey and nearby residential areas were being evacuated Wednesday evening as flames from a wildfire reached the plant, a mayor and local reporters said as sirens from the plant could be heard blaring.
AP — Wildfires raged near Turkey’s holiday beach destinations of Antalya and Mugla and in the surrounding countryside for a fifth day Sunday as the discovery of more bodies raised the death toll to eight while villagers lost their homes and animals.
AP — A video promoting tourism in Turkey amid the pandemic has caused an uproar on social media for showing tourism employees wearing masks that read “Enjoy, I’m vaccinated.”
AP — As cases and deaths soar, Turkey’s president has instructed people to stay home for nearly three weeks and shut down many businesses as part of the country’s strictest COVID-19 measures yet. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not announce a stimulus package to offset the economic impact of the new restrictions, which opposition parties decried Tuesday.
AP — The systematic killing and deportation of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 20th century was “genocide,” the United States formally declared on Saturday, as President Joe Biden used that precise word after the White House had avoided it for decades for fear of alienating ally Turkey.
AP — U.S. President Joe Biden has called Turkey’s abandonment of an international agreement aimed at preventing violence against women “deeply disappointing.”
AP — Turkey withdrew early Saturday from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first country to sign 10 years ago and that bears the name of its largest city.
AP — Two students have been arrested in Turkey on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values for a poster depicting Islam’s most sacred site with LGBT flags. Their arrest late Saturday came after top Turkish officials slammed the poster, displayed at an exhibition in Turkey’s most prestigious Bogazici University.
AP — Turkey’s president on Monday announced the country’s most widespread lockdown so far amid a surge in COVID-19 infections, extending curfews to weeknights and putting a full lockdown in place over the weekends.
AP — Rescue workers in western Turkey extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building Sunday, some 34 hours after a strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea struck Turkey and Greece, killing at least 75 people and injuring close to 1,000.
AP — Three young children and their mother were rescued alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in western Turkey on Saturday, some 23 hours after a powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea killed at least 39 people and injured more than 800 others. One of the children died soon after being rescued, while a fourth child was still trapped.
AP — Turkey is massing troops near a town in northern Syria held by a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force, a war monitor said as Turkish media reported Sunday new reinforcements crossing the borders.
AP — Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held plenty of grand opening ceremonies in his 15 years at Turkey’s helm. On Monday he will unveil one of his prized jewels — Istanbul New Airport — a megaproject that has been dogged by concerns about labor rights, environmental issues and Turkey’s weakening economy.
AP — Turkish officials have an audio recording of the alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Apple Watch he wore when he walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago, a pro-government Turkish newspaper reported Saturday.
AP — An American pastor flew out of Turkey on Friday after a Turkish court convicted him of terror links but freed him from house arrest, removing a major irritant in fraught ties between two NATO allies still strained by disagreements over Syria, Iran and a host of other issues.
AP — Surveillance footage aired by Turkish media on Wednesday purports to show a team of Saudis arriving in Istanbul the day Jamal Khashoggi went missing, a black van leaving the Saudi Consulate after he entered, and the team checking out and departing the country later that night.
AP — Relations between Turkey and Russia are cozy, prompting worries in the West of a potentially critical rift in the NATO alliance. But Turkey’s president may be engaged in a balancing act, tactically turning to Russia as ties with the United States further deteriorate over the detention of an American pastor.
AP — The 8-year-old Syrian girl, quietly crying in an Istanbul clinic, was overwhelmed by the new set of prosthetic legs she had just received and taken aback by the cameras pointed at her by journalists attending the fitting.
AP — Days before his victory in last weekend’s elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled his plans for a revamped state structure of administrative offices, policy councils and ministries. A visual representation of it on the official news agency brought comparisons to a “solar system” — with all bodies orbiting around the president.
AP — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was proclaimed the winner early Monday of a landmark election that ushers in a government system granting the president sweeping new powers and which critics say will cement what they call a one-man rule.
AP — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has never lost an election, is taking a gamble that will consolidate his hold on power in Turkey if he emerges victorious from Sunday’s landmark presidential and parliamentary vote.
AP — Turkish voters will vote Sunday in a historic double election for the presidency and parliament. It will either solidify President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on the nation of 81 million people, or restrain his political ambitions.
AP — A Turkish court on Wednesday convicted journalists and other senior staff members from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper on terror charges, in a case that has exacerbated concerns over press freedom.
AP — An American pastor imprisoned in Turkey is going on trial for alleged terror ties and spying in a case that has increased tensions between Washington and Ankara. Andrew Craig Brunson, a 50-year-old evangelical pastor from North Carolina, is facing up to 35 years in prison on charges of “committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member” and “espionage.”
AP — A man suspected of raping a sleeping 4-year-old girl during a wedding in southern Turkey narrowly escaped a neighborhood lynching attempt, sparking a public outcry and calls for the government to prevent and more severely punish child sexual abuse.
AP — Four more Turkish soldiers have been killed in northern Syria, the Turkish military announced late Saturday, bringing the day’s death toll to 11 in what has been the most lethal day since Ankara’s offensive on Syrian Kurdish militia began.
AP — Turkey said eight of its troops were killed Saturday in Ankara’s military operation against a Syrian Kurdish militia, the deadliest day in the two-week-old offensive in the enclave of Afrin, while in another part of Syria, al-Qaida-linked militants downed a Russian fighter jet, then shot and killed the pilot.
AP — Turkey has launched an air and ground campaign into Afrin, a Kurdish-controlled enclave in northwestern Syria. Codenamed “Operation Olive Branch,” it’s the latest chapter in a decades-long conflict between Turkey and Kurdish militants. Here’s a look at why this is happening now and what’s at stake.
AP — A commercial airplane that skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey dangled precariously Sunday off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few feet from the Black Sea.
AP — Breaking with years of courting the U.S., Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for the United Nations to replace Washington as a Mideast mediator and suggested he might not cooperate with the Trump administration’s much-anticipated effort to hammer out an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
AP — The U.S. said Sunday it was suspending non-immigrant visa services at its diplomatic facilities in Turkey following the arrest of a consulate employee, prompting Turkey to halt visa services in the U.S.
AP — The Turkish parliament on Saturday renewed a bill allowing the military to intervene in Iraq and Syria if faced with national security threats — a move seen as a final warning to Iraqi Kurds to call off their Monday independence referendum.
AP — Students in Turkey are returning to school Monday where they will be taught evolution for the last time in their biology classes. Next fall, evolution and Charles Darwin will be scrapped from their textbooks.
AP — A media advocacy group on Monday accused Turkey’s president of trying to silence the country’s main opposition newspaper and the free press generally, as the second hearing in the trial of staff members of the paper began Monday.
AP — Turkey’s president reiterated Saturday that new cross-border operations into Syria are in the works as the country boosts its military presence along the border against threats from Kurdish militants in war-torn Syria.
AP — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “rip the heads off” of terror groups and coup-plotters who tried to end his more than decade-long rule on Saturday, as Turkey marked the anniversary of the country’s crushed military coup with a series of rallies and other commemorative events.
AP — A year ago Saturday, a group of Turkish soldiers using tanks, warplanes and helicopters launched a plot to overthrow Turkey’s president and government. The coup attempt failed, but the fallout continues a year later. Here is an account of how the July 15-16 coup unfolded.
AP — The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party completed a 25-day “March for Justice” from the capital Ankara to Istanbul Sunday and joined hundreds of thousands of supporters at a rally against a large-scale government crackdown on opponents.
AP — Turkey’s main opposition party set off on a 25-day march from the capital to an Istanbul prison to protest the conviction of one of its lawmakers. Thousands took to the streets in Ankara, drawing criticism from the country’s president.
AP — A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced a prominent opposition lawmaker to 25 years in prison on espionage charges, prompting an outcry from his party.
AP — Turkey has told the United States it will not join in any military operations that include Kurdish fighters in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday, while vowing to strike the U.S.-backed Kurds if they threaten Turkey’s security.
AP — Turkish police detained the chief editor and at least 11 senior staff of Turkey’s opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper on Monday, a move that signals a widening crackdown on dissenting voices.
AP — A suicide attack at Istanbul’s busy Ataturk Airport Tuesday killed dozens and wounded more than 140 as Turkish officials blamed the carnage at the international terminal on three suspected Islamic State group militants.
CNN — Pro-Kurdish lawyer Tahir Elci, president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association in southeastern Turkey and a leading human rights defender, was killed while making a press statement Saturday.
CNN — Two prominent Turkish journalists have been arrested on charges of espionage and aiding an armed terrorist organization.