Ibrahim Sedef discovers to his cost that they don’t just settle for the bear necessities
A beekeeper in Turkey who was harassed by a particularly persistent group of bears has discovered a profound truth: the animals have very expensive tastes when it comes to honey.
Ibrahim Sedef, an engineer from Trabzon, north-east of Ankara on the Turkey’s Black Sea coast, struggled to keep his bee hives out of the hands of local bears, despite building storage houses and metal cages.
Continue reading...The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Vladimir Putin have underscored their close links with ice cream as they opened a major Russian air show. Erdoğan was the Russian president's guest of honour at the opening of the MAKS aviation show outside Moscow. The two leaders stopped at an ice cream stand for refreshments and Erdoğan was heard asking Putin, 'Will you pay for me?', to which Putin responded: 'Of course, you're my guest.'
Continue reading...Government pressure leaves agency silent despite claims of forced returns of LGBT refugees and others under police crackdown
When summer began, Ward’s* biggest worry was her sick boyfriend.
A Syrian with a gentle voice, and all her identity documents in order, Ward thought she could convince doctors in Istanbul, where she lived, to see her boyfriend, another refugee, without papers.
Continue reading...Move by insurgents in Khan Sheikhun marks a milestone for Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold
Insurgent groups have withdrawn from Khan Sheikhun in north-west Syria, clearing the way for pro-government forces to enter the town, in a milestone moment in the war for Idlib province, the country’s last major rebel stronghold.
The development came hours after Turkey deployed tanks and armoured cars deep into Syria, partly in response to days of advances by forces fighting on behalf of the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad.
Continue reading...Reported strike came after large number of Turkish forces crossed border into Idlib province
Turkey has sent significant numbers of tanks and troops deep into Syria in an apparent bid to reinforce the town of Khan Sheikhun, where 92 people died in a 2017 sarin gas attack, one of the war’s most infamous atrocities.
Columns of Turkish forces, amounting to Ankara’s largest incursion into Syria of the eight-year conflict, crossed the southern border into Idlib province early on Monday, accompanied by Arab proxy forces.
Continue reading...New funds thought to be enough to secure a sale to widening list of interested private bidders
The government has moved to rescue British Steel with a financial support package worth as much as £300m that ministers believe will be enough to secure backing from a private bidder.
It is understood that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has agreed to substantially increase support to bidders for British Steel, which employs more than 4,000 people, after months of wrangling following the company’s collapse into administration.
Continue reading...Lack of detail and strong opposition from Kurds means plan is unlikely to provide solution to region’s problems
The announcement by Turkey and the US that they will set up a safe zone in Kurdish-run north-eastern Syria allays fears of an imminent Turkish incursion into the country, but will strain Washington’s ties with a force that helped defeat Islamic State.
The announcement came as Ankara was finalising a troop buildup along its southern border, which it shares with Syrian Kurds. On Sunday, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had threatened to invade within the next fortnight, creating a conundrum for Washington, which views both the Turks and the Kurds as allies and has increasingly struggled to keep them from conflict.
Continue reading...Autocratic rule, increased media restrictions and use of mass surveillance affect almost half global population, researchers find
Nearly half the world’s people are living in countries where their freedom of speech and right to privacy are being eroded, researchers have found.
“Strongman” regimes seeking to squash voices of dissent and solidify political power are increasingly monitoring citizens through technology, cracking down on protests and jailing journalists, according to a ranking of 198 countries on issues including mass surveillance and data privacy.
Continue reading...Regime says it is cracking down on anything linked to Fethullah Gülen, the Muslim cleric it blames for 2016’s attempted coup
More than 300,000 books have been removed from Turkish schools and libraries and destroyed since the attempted coup of 2016, according to Turkey’s ministry of education.
Turkey’s education minister Ziya Selçuk announced last week that 301,878 books had been destroyed as the government cracks down on anything linked to Fethullah Gülen, the US-based Muslim cleric who is accused by Turkey of instigating 2016’s failed military coup. Gülen has denied involvement.
Continue reading...Lives put at risk as thousands face forcible return to warzones under air attack
Countries neighbouring the still rumbling Syrian war are rounding up hundreds of workers and sending many back to volatile parts of the country, raising fears of mass deportations that will imperil large numbers of refugees.
Syrians living in Istanbul and Beirut have been targeted by immigration authorities in recent weeks, with more than 1,000 detained in Turkey’s biggest city last weekend and given 30 days to leave.
Continue reading...For a reputed “strongman”, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems unusually nervous these days. A bombastic speech last week marking the third anniversary of a failed military putsch could not conceal his insecurity. He says he is using his sweeping powers as executive president to build a “new Turkey”. But it appears the old one is tiring of him fast.
“The 15th of July was an attempt to subject our nation to slavery,” Erdoğan declared. “But as much as we will never stop protecting our freedom and our future, those who lay traps for us will never cease their efforts.” It was a typical pitch, blending nationalism with scare stories of secret foes, foreign and domestic.
Continue reading...Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vows to find those behind attack on restaurant in city of Erbil
A gunman has killed a senior Turkish diplomat and a civilian in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, in a daytime attack inside a restaurant.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, vowed to find whoever was behind the “treacherous” attack. The dead man was identified by Iraqi media as the deputy consul for the region.
Continue reading...First S-400 parts delivered to military base outside Ankara as Washington considers sanctions
The first batch of a Russian S-400 missile defence system has arrived in Turkey, a development likely to anger the US and put the struggling Turkish economy at risk of new sanctions.
Three planes carrying equipment for the reported £1.6bn system arrived in Ankara from Russia on Friday, the Turkish defence ministry said.
Continue reading...A teenager catches a two-year-old girl after she fell from a second-floor window in Istanbul, Turkey. Feuzi Zabaat, 17, who was working nearby, says he was walking down the road when he saw a girl hanging from a window. 'I walked closer to her, and she fell. I held on to her'
Continue reading...As Ekrem İmamoğlu backers revel in victory, attention shifts to how the president will react
The last partygoers went home as the sun came up. Across Istanbul on Sunday night, hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters danced in the streets waving Turkish flags and brandishing glasses of beer and raki after their candidate for mayor delivered the most serious blow to the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his political career.
As municipal workers cleaned up on Monday morning, however, the front pages of Turkey’s pro-government newspapers downplayed the unprecedented success of the Republican People’s party (CHP) mayor-elect, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
Continue reading...High unemployment and living costs are driving people from the metropolis – but some rural residents aren’t happy about the new arrivals
Su Ava has been up since 5am. There have been new lambs to check on, goats, cats and dogs to feed, beehives to inspect, orders to fill, and she has also made a visit to her under-construction workshop.
Her current life making and selling cheese, honey and tahini in Turkey’s beautiful Çanakkale region could not be more different to her old one in Istanbul. The work can be exhausting but, Ava says, she would not give it up for anything.
Continue reading...Outside pick for opposition party built on voters’ good faith shown in March elections
Ekrem İmamoğlu was not a well-known figure in Turkish politics before March’s fateful local elections.
But by standing his ground in the fierce battle to become mayor of Istanbul, even after Turkey’s electoral board cancelled his victory, he has become President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most high profile challenger in years and the unexpected new hope for Turkish democracy.
Continue reading...Voters embrace CHP party campaign bridging religious, class and ethnic divides
Turkey’s opposition has won a high-stakes rerun of the Istanbul mayoral election, a serious blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and a landmark victory in a country where many feared democracy was failing.
Shortly after initial results pointing to a landslide win for the opposition coalition candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, emerged on Sunday evening, the candidate of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), Binali Yıldırım, conceded and congratulated his rival.
Continue reading...A shock mayoral win in March led the regime to void elections. Polls suggest a new ballot on Sunday may boost the anti-government vote
The graffiti appeared in Istanbul’s Gayrettepe neighbourhood one morning last month. It showed the word “justice” written on a piece of paper held up by a disembodied hand. With a lighter, the other hand was setting fire to it.
“Write down ‘justice’ on a bit of paper. And then burn its corners,” the tag read. Within a day it had vanished, painted over by a municipality cleaning team. For the Istanbul street artist who goes by the name of Pepe, work is a constant game of cat-and-mouse with authorities seeking to remove his political creations.
Continue reading...Gaziantep has grown by 30% due to newcomers fleeing the crisis across the border in Syria, but remains a model of tolerance and pragmatism
Imagine you live in a medium-sized city such as Birmingham or Milan. Now imagine that overnight the population increases by about 30%. The new people are mostly destitute, hungry and with nowhere to stay. They don’t even speak the language.
Then imagine that instead of driving them away, you make them welcome and accommodate them as best you can.
Continue reading...