Turkey

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Danish Police Arrest 8, Foil Terror Plot

Officials say the men, with Mideastern backgrounds, are tied to Al Qaeda

(Newser) - Danish police have arrested eight men they say were plotting a terror attack and were tied to Al Qaeda. The arrest comes after months of surveillance, an intelligence official told a press conference in Copenhagen today, but he declined to say what country was the target of the attack. "...

Turkish Army Blasts Incoming President

Fears of a coup return as former Islamist ascends to top job

(Newser) - Turkey is heading for a showdown over the relation of the state and Islam as Abdullah Gul, who has been the subject of bitter protests, was named president of Turkey in a parliamentary election today. The nomination of Gul, the foreign minister and a practicing Muslim whose wife wears a...

Arrest Marks TJX Hack Case Breakthrough

Ukrainian man captured in Turkey called key to massive scheme

(Newser) - A Ukrainian-born man believed to have helped arrange the sale of credit card numbers stolen from TJX is in custody, investigators say, and his arrest may help crack the largest case of corporate data theft on record. He was selling thousands of  stolen numbers, the Boston Globe reports, but it's...

Hijacking Ends Peacefully in Turkey
Hijacking Ends Peacefully
in Turkey

Hijacking Ends Peacefully in Turkey

Pair protesting US surrender after passengers and pilots flee

(Newser) - Two hijackers of a Turkish plane claiming to be protesting US foreign policy surrendered yesterday after nearly all 136 people on board fled from the tarmac unharmed and the rest were released, the BBC reports. The men, believed to be a Turkish national and a Palestinian, tried to force their...

Foes Gear to Fight New Bid By Ex-Islamist to Lead Turkey

Critics fear extreme religious shift for nation

(Newser) - Turkish secularists are bracing for another clash over the presidential candidacy of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a devout Muslim and one-time Islamist party member who critics fear plans to enforce extreme religious principals in public life. The last time he was nominated as the ruling party's candidate, just three months...

Muslim Creationists Damn Darwin
Muslim Creationists Damn Darwin

Muslim Creationists Damn Darwin

Turkish anti-evolution tract distributed worldwide

(Newser) - A Muslim group in Turkey is widely disseminating a 768-page tome that slams evolution and promotes Islam-inflected creationism, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The Council of Europe has issued warnings—particularly to schools—against the "Atlas of Creation," which has been published in 80 countries and 59 languages.

Turkish Elections Boost PM
Turkish Elections
Boost PM

Turkish Elections Boost PM

Islamist-rooted, pro-EU ruling party sees mandate in results

(Newser) - Turkey’s ruling party dominated parliamentary elections today despite its perceived threat to the nation’s entrenched secularism. The elections were moved up after the secular opposition foiled PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's attempt to install an ex-Islamist ally as president. The results, seen as a mandate for the AKP, also...

Sarkozy Says 'Non' to Turkey's Euro Hopes

France hopes to block full membership bid

(Newser) - France is threatening to block Turkey's full membership in the European Union this month and hopes to push the nation into a "privileged partnership" short of complete participation, the Financial Times reports. It's the first time new French President Nicolas Sarkozy will flex his political muscle in an EU...

Turks, Kurds in Tense Standoff at Iraqi Border

Both sides want US support in dispute over separatist insurgents

(Newser) - As the Turkish military continued its aggressive saber-rattling along the border with Iraq this week, the US finds itself in a tough spot. The Turks want a green light to go after Kurdish separatist guerrillas hiding in northern Iraq; the Kurds want protection. “Now the U.S. has to...

Turkey Menaces Kurds
Turkey Menaces Kurds

Turkey Menaces Kurds

Buildup along border makes U.S., Iraq nervous

(Newser) - Turkish troops and tanks amassing along the border with Iraq are ready to go after Kurdish separatist guerrillas as soon as they get the order, the country's top general said yesterday. The US, Iraq and the EU are all urging Turkey not to launch the offensive, which could destabilize Northern...

Turks Finger Kurds Over Bombing
Turks Finger Kurds Over Bombing

Turks Finger Kurds Over Bombing

Iraq-based separatist group blamed, boosting tensions

(Newser) - Turkish authorities identified the suicide bomber in Tuesday's Ankara bombing yesterday, and pointed the finger at the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group headquartered in northern iraq. The Financial Times reports  the bombing  has renewed calls for Turkey to attack guerrilla bases in Kurdistan, a move which would have serious repercussions...

Bombing Rocks Turkish Capital
Bombing Rocks Turkish Capital

Bombing Rocks Turkish Capital

Ankara attack may prompt move against Kurdish militants on Iraqi border

(Newser) - An explosion shocked the Turkish capital yesterday, killing six and injuring at least 100 in a busy marketplace. The bombing comes at a delicate time for the country, the New York Times observes, as Parliament clash with the governing party over the place of Islam in the secular democracy.

Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea

Tension between secularism, democracy roils Turkey

(Newser) - If the choice is between somewhat more religion in public life and democracy in Turkey, choose the latter, argues the Economist. The ruling party's choice of an Islamist candidate, Abdullah Gul, for president set off a familiar confrontation between the Turkish military and the political establishment. The Economist asks, "...

Turkish Candidate Bows Out
Turkish Candidate
Bows Out

Turkish Candidate Bows Out

Dispute over presidential election highlights serious rifts

(Newser) - Turkish presidential candidate Abdullah Gul threw in the towel yesterday after secularist legislators boycotted the election for the second time in nine days in reaction to Gul's pro-Islamist record. The partisan standoff portends a bitter clash between secularists who generally populate Turkey's urban areas and the ruling AK party in...

Turkish PM Backs Election Overhaul
Turkish PM Backs Election Overhaul

Turkish PM Backs Election Overhaul

Court annuls vote with sole Islamist candidate for president

(Newser) - Turkey's prime minister put his weight behind a new, popular presidential vote, hours after a court invalidated Friday's election by parliament. The secular opposition had boycotted that vote because of the Islamist background of the lone candidate, foreign minister Abdullah Gul.

Million Turks Rally for Secularism
Million Turks Rally for Secularism

Million Turks Rally for Secularism

(Newser) - Secular Turks staged an enormous rally yesterday amid a constitutional crisis over the election of the next president, the BBC reports. As many as a million protesters turned out in Istanbul to oppose ruling-party candidate Abdullah Gul, who they're afraid is orchestrating an Islamic coup in the country even as...

Turkish Band Faces Jail in YouTube Flap

Fan's video of 7-year-old song dissing entrance exams runs afoul of officials

(Newser) - A seven-year-old song resurrected on YouTube has five punk rockers facing time in a Turkish prison. The song, an anti-authoritarian rant against the Turkish college entrance exam by the band Deli, was the sound track to a video posted by a fan, who lip-synched the lyrics while jumping around frantically...

Turks threaten action in Iraq against Kurds

U.S. scrambling to head off strikes that could derail effectiveness of surge

(Newser) - Turkey is threatening military intervention against leftist Kurdish guerrillas said to be massing in northern Iraq, planning to attack targets across their border. Washington is trying to placate the Turks, fearing that a Turkish incursion would further destabilize the fledgling Iraqi government.

The Uncontainable Kurds
The Uncontainable Kurds

The Uncontainable Kurds

(Newser) - Tehran resident and frequent commentator on Iran, Christopher de Bellaigue, travels west to Turkey to examine the status of Kurds in Turkey. He describes how some have become the fully assimilated Turks that the government so much wanted them to become; but that many have maintained a separate ethnic and...

Turkey Bans YouTube
Turkey
Bans
YouTube

Turkey Bans YouTube

Greek videos are "insulting to Turkishness"

(Newser) - A Turkish court banned YouTube on Wednesday after Greek videos on the site insulted Turks—in particular Ataturk, the country's modern founding father—calling them homosexuals. The videos, part of an escalating "virtual war" between Greek and Turkish citizens belittling each other, were deemed an insult to Turkishness, a...

Stories 641 - 660 | << Prev