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...A Guardian report from 11 countries tracks how US waste makes its way across the world – and overwhelms the poorest nations
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
Continue reading...More than 40 international volunteers – a third of them British – who fought in Syria against the Islamic State terror group have written to the home secretary, Sajid Javid, to condemn his plans to prosecute UK citizens who remain in the country.
Four British families whose sons or daughters were killed fighting Isis have also signed the letter, raising concerns that Javid is “criminalising” those who risked their lives supporting the US-led coalition which two months ago defeated the IS caliphate.
Continue reading...Ozcan Keles accused of spreading propaganda, in latest targeting of Erdoğan critics
A British barrister who has given evidence to parliament is facing possible extradition to Turkey on terrorism charges over his Twitter activity.
Ozcan Keles, who is of Turkish descent and holds UK citizenship, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Monday accused of spreading propaganda online.
Continue reading...Dispute likely to escalate after Nicosia said it would seek to arrest anyone caught drilling
Tensions over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean have risen sharply after Turkey said it would “exercise its sovereign rights” to drill off Cyprus in flagrant defiance of warnings from western allies.
As the dispute over potential gas reserves intensified, Ankara insisted its state-of-the-art drilling ship, the Fatih, and its support vessels would begin operations in waters viewed by the EU as being within the island’s exclusive economic zone.
Continue reading...Press freedom watchdog hails ruling by court in Turkish-occupied territory
Press freedom defenders have reacted with jubilation after a judge in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus acquitted two journalists accused of insulting Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
A court threw out charges of defamation against Şener Levent and Ali Osman Tabak brought after the small-circulation daily Afrika published a cartoon depicting a Greek statue urinating on Erdoğan’s head.
Continue reading...Hatice Cengiz criticises lack of action and calls for sanctions on Saudi Arabia
Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed at a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey last year, has said she could not believe that no one had yet faced serious consequences for the crime.
“I cannot understand that the world still has not done anything about this,” she said in emotional testimony to a US Congress hearing on press freedom and the dangers of reporting on human rights. “I still cannot make human sense of it. I still cannot understand. I still feel that I’ll wake up.”
Continue reading...The NBA playoffs have been swept up in diplomatic drama, with US senator Ron Wyden expressing concern for the safety of Portland Trail Blazers player Enes Kanter if his team play the Toronto Raptors in the NBA finals.
Kanter is a fierce critic of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him the “Hitler of our Century”. The Turkish authorities in turn have accused Kanter of having links with an armed group behind a failed coup in the country in 2016. Last year, Kanter missed a trip to London with his then team the New York Knicks, saying he feared he could be “killed by Turkish spies”.
Continue reading...Twelve healthcare centres destroyed in bombardment of Idlib province
Renewed bombardment in north-west Syria that has displaced 200,000 people and destroyed 12 healthcare centres could have been sparked by Russia and Turkish moves to entrench their zones of influence as the seven-year conflict winds down, according to regional diplomats.
The bombardment in Idlib province began two weeks ago and has intensified in recent days, prompting rescue workers to describe an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
Continue reading...Members of Republican People’s party say ruling AKP fears losing billions in grants to charities tied to government
Members of Turkey’s main opposition party have claimed a government bid to safeguard billions of dollars in grants to foundations that form a key part of its political apparatus is linked to moves to re-run the vote for Istanbul mayor, which the ruling party lost in March for the first time in a generation.
The highly contentious decision has continued to draw claims of an emerging “dictatorship” in Turkey and an electoral process increasingly subverted by the country’s political elite under president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since it was announced on Monday night.
Continue reading...Police and protesters have clashed in cities across Europe as tens of thousands of trade unionists, anti-capitalists and other demonstrators march in traditional May Day rallies. The worst confrontations were in Paris, where riot police fired teargas and stingball grenades as a 40,000-strong crowd marched from Montparnasse station to Place d'Italie
Continue reading...Turkish police said they had arrested a Syrian national who was planning retaliation for New Zealand mosque attack
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has cast doubt on a possible plot to target Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli despite the arrest of a man with suspected links to Islamic State by Turkish police.
The suspect, a Syrian national, was arrested after a police operation in Osmaniye and was among several Isis members detained.
Continue reading...Turkey’s ruling party claims vote marred by ‘irregularities’ and ‘organised crimes’
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) has said it will demand a rerun of Istanbul’s disputed mayoral election, in the most definitive sign yet that the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is unwilling to accept a loss in the city where his political career began.
Local elections across Turkey on 31 March delivered shock initial results that appeared to show the AKP had narrowly lost control of Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, loosening Islamist control of Turkey’s two most important cities for the first time in 25 years.
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