As she did most afternoons, Pinar Unluer was waiting to collect her six-year-old son from his school in Turkey’s Aegean city of Izmir. She was then shot dead in broad daylight only metres away from the school, by a man whose marriage proposal she had rejected. The 29-year-old was among 210 Turkish women killed or … Read more
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party was on Sunday to address a mass rally in Istanbul at the culmination of an almost month-long march, in a rare challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), launched an unprecedented 450-kilometre (280 mile) trek on June 15 … Read more
On the buzzing Taksim Square of Istanbul, the focal point of the modern city, a giant disused building looms over visitors, its glass windows broken and a few tattered advertising banners flapping disconsolately in the breeze. This is the Ataturk Cultural Centre (AKM), opened in 1969 to realise the dream of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa … Read more
A woman was slapped while she sat on a bus in Turkey after a man allegedly asked her if she was not ‘ashamed’ to wear shorts during Ramadan. In shocking video footage, 21-year-old student Asena Melisa Sağlam can be seen sitting peacefully at the back of the bus in Istanbul before it begins to slow down … Read more
Erdogan, founded the AKP in 2001 and led it to victory in an election a year later President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to fight Turkey’s enemies at home and abroad on Sunday as he was re-elected leader of the ruling AK Party. This makes him the first Turk in nearly 70 years to serve simultaneously … Read more
The Turkish government is to ban several popular television dating shows which do not fit in with ‘traditions and customs’. Matchmaking reality shows like Ne Çikarsa Bahtina (Luck of the Draw) are very popular in Turkey but there have been tens of thousands of complaints and the ruling AKP sees them as out of kilter with … Read more