Turkey has entered its first nationwide lockdown to force daily Covid cases below 5,000 so the country will ‘not be left behind’ during tourist season. People stocked up on groceries, filled markets and left cities for their hometowns or the southern coast on Thursday before the country entered its strictest lockdown of the pandemic. President … Read more
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said she felt hurt and alone when her colleague Charles Michel took the only seat for talks with Turkey’s Erdogan – leaving her perched on a sofa. The EU chiefs met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara for talks on tense EU-Turkey relations earlier this month. … Read more
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said there is ‘no such thing as LGBT’ after activists clashed with police during a month-long protest at an Istanbul university. ‘The LGBT, there is no such thing,’ Erdoğan said during a televised address to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) on Wednesday. ‘This country is… moral, and … Read more
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said there is ‘no such thing as LGBT’ after activists clashed with police during a month-long protest at an Istanbul university. ‘The LGBT, there is no such thing,’ Erdoğan said during a televised address to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) on Wednesday. ‘This country is… moral, and … Read more
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a boycott of French goods and compared Europe’s treatment of Muslims to the way Jews were treated before the Second World War. ‘You are in a real sense fascists, you are in a real sense the links in the chain of Nazism,’ Erdogan said Monday in a … Read more
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged French President Emmanuel Macron to have ‘mental checks’ after his comments on Islam. Today the backlash against President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on Islam intensified, with many Muslims demanding boycotts of France. Speaking after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on October 16 for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed to … Read more
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Greece to enter talks over disputed eastern Mediterranean territorial claims or face the consequences. At a hospital’s opening ceremony in Istanbul, he said: ‘They’re either going to understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or in the field with painful experiences.’ Ankara is currently facing off against Greece … Read more
Turkish President Recep Erdogan on Friday ordered another ancient Orthodox church that became a mosque and then a popular Istanbul museum to be converted back into a place of Muslim worship. The decision to transform the Kariye Museum into a mosque came just a month after a similarly controversial conversion for the UNESCO World Heritage-recognised … Read more
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to retaliate after suggesting a Turkish ship had been attacked in waters contested by Greece. The claim came hours after France sent two warships supported by fighter jets to the region experiencing mounting tensions, in an effort to back Greece. Speaking at an event to celebrate the 19th anniversary of … Read more
Turkey’s President Erdogan has transformed the former cathedral Hagia Sophia into a mosque to drum up support for his Islamic-rooted party – sparking fury from Christian groups and the US. On Friday Turkey’s highest administrative court issued a landmark ruling that will pave the way for the government to convert the sixth century building, which currently … Read more