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☆ The extraordinary ancient secret places hidden under Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Lisa Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Less obviously visible but equally impressive are the historical treasures, some more than 12,000 years old, that can be found underground. Unlike the Basilica, this underground chamber was completely forgotten about until less than 15 years ago. Other than locals herding their livestock through the ruins of a garrison city dating to the 6th century, few people went there. Now, the site has given up numerous treasures including rock-cut tombs, an olive processing workshop and a series of underground cisterns. Yeraltı, literally meaning underground, was originally a dungeon in the basement of a fort built by the Byzantines in the 8th century CE.

Persons: James Bond, Theodosius II, Theodosius, Derinkuyu, tufa, émigrés, Han, Rümeli Han, Sarıcazade Ragıp Pasha, Sultan Abdülhamid II’s, Sancaklar, Göbeklitepe, Yeraltı, –, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Grand Vizier Bahir Mustafa Paşa, dervish Organizations: CNN, Love, UNESCO, Şanlıurfa Archaeology Locations: Turkey, Europe, Asia, Russia, Faith, Istanbul, Constantinople, Fatih, Belgrade Forest, Valens, Dara, Mardin, Nevşehir, Cappadocia, Derinkuyu, Taksim, stairwells, Sancaklar, Büyükçekmece, Mecca, Göbeklitepe, everyone’s, Şanlıurfa, Karaköy, Yeraltı, Ottoman, Grand

☆ Ankara blast echoes past attacks in Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Members of Turkish Police Special Forces secure the area near the Interior Ministry following a bomb attack in Ankara, Turkey October 1, 2023. Turkey blamed Kurdish militants for the Istanbul blast, which reminded Turks of a wave of attacks carried out by various militant groups in Turkish cities between mid-2015 and early 2017. June 28, 2016 - A triple suicide bombing and a gun attack killed 45 people and wounded more than 160 people at Istanbul's main airport. March 19, 2016 - A suicide bomber killed four people in a busy shopping district of Istiklal Street in the heart of Istanbul. Sept 8, 2015 - Kurdish militants killed 15 police officers in two bombings in eastern Turkish provinces of Mardin and Igdir.

Persons: Cagla, Tayyip Erdogan, Azra Ceylan, Canan, Gareth Jones, William Maclean Organizations: Turkish Police Special Forces, Ministry, REUTERS, Authorities, Kurdistan Workers Party, Islamic State, Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, Islamic, Explosives, Thomson Locations: Ankara, Turkey, Istanbul, Turkish, Izmir, Kayseri, Turkey's, Gaziantep, Islamic State, Istanbul's, Diyarbakir, Istiklal, Iranian, Mardin, Igdir, Suruc, Syrian, Gdansk

☆ More repression, yet more resistance: Iran one year after the Mahsa Amini protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on Sept. 20, 2022. Roughly one year ago, the death of a young Kurdish Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini in police custody lit the fuse that would set off months of protests that rocked Iran and its hardline government, creating the greatest challenge to its rule in decades. Amini, just 22 years old, was arrested for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, the headscarf women are required to wear under Iran's highly conservative Islamic Republic. Iranian authorities claimed no wrongdoing and said Amini died of a heart attack; but her family, and masses of Iranians, accused the government of a cover-up. The protests spread across the country and evolved from being focused on women's rights to demanding the downfall of the entire Iranian regime.

Persons: Mahsa, Amini, Behnam ben Taleblu Organizations: Islamic, Foundation for Defense, Democracies, CNBC Locations: Iranian, Tehran, Istanbul, Kurdish Iranian, Iran, Islamic Republic

☆ Police detain 50 after Pride march in Istanbul
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Turkey's LGBT+ community gather for a pride parade, banned by local authorities, in central Istanbul, Turkey, June 25, 2023. REUTERS/Dilara SenkayaISTANBUL, June 25 (Reuters) - Turkish police detained at least 50 people on Sunday after Istanbul's LGBT community held their annual Pride march. They chanted slogans while organisers read a statement to mark Pride week. "We don't accept this hate and denial policy," Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week said in their statement. In the coastal city of Izmir, the country's third largest, police detained at least 44 people on Sunday after authorities banned the Pride march, Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week said.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Davut Gul, Dilara, Huseyin Hayatsever, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Turkish, Sunday, Pride, Police, Amnesty, Twitter, Bulent Usta, Thomson Locations: Istanbul, Turkey, Dilara, ISTANBUL, Mistik Park, Sisli, Izmir

☆ U.S. issues another warning of possible terrorist attacks in Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Turkey warned Americans on Monday of possible attacks against churches, synagogues, and diplomatic missions in Istanbul, marking its second such notice in four days, following Koran-burning incidents in Europe. In an updated security alert, the U.S. embassy said "possible imminent retaliatory attacks by terrorists" could take place in areas frequented by Westerners, especially the city's Beyoglu, Galata, Taksim, and Istiklal neighbourhoods. On Friday, several embassies in Ankara including those of the United States, Germany, France and Italy issued security alerts over possible retaliatory attacks against places of worship, following separate incidents in which the Muslim holy book, the Koran, was burned in Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark. On Saturday, Turkey warned its citizens against "possible Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist attacks" in the United States and Europe. Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Weapons for Russia, anti-government protests and the nuclear deal: What lies ahead for Iran in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The Biden administration went from encouraging negotiations on reviving the Iranian nuclear deal to levying more sanctions on Tehran and condemning it for providing lethal weapons and training to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. Iran's Foreign Ministry denies knowing about Iranian weapons transfers to Russia, despite evidence of Iranian-made drones wreaking havoc on Ukrainian cities. Sergei Savostyanov | AFP | Getty Images"2023 is going to be a pivotal year for Iran," Ali Vaez, Iran project director at non-profit Crisis Group, told CNBC. The nuclear deal: too far gone? Ukraine has blamed Iran for providing Russia with drones, which have been used to attack Kyiv.

☆ Iran's state media denies abolition of 'morality police' as three-day strike begins
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty ImagesSome Western media outlets are facing backlash from Iranian activists over headlines printed Sunday saying that Iran was abolishing its "morality police." Many Iranian anti-government activists now feat it will distract from three days of major strikes around the country. What's more, the higher branches of Iran's government have not confirmed it, and Iranian state media has denied any abolition of the morality police. "In reality morality police have been inactive since protests started, but there is no substantive news on their future." "This disinfo was propagated today to distract media attention from the 3 days of major protests in Iran which begin tomo.

☆ Iran says 40 foreigners arrested for taking part in antigovernment protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on September 20, 2022. Iran's judiciary spokesperson reportedly said Tuesday that 40 foreign nationals have been detained for participating in recent anti-regime protests. The individuals whose nationalities have not been revealed were arrested in accordance with Iranian laws, Iran's judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said in a regular news briefing, state media Mehr News reported. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had in earlier stages of the protest blamed foreign "enemies" for orchestrating what he termed as "riots." In late September, nine Europeans from France, Sweden, Italy, Germany among other countries were arrested by the Iranian government for their involvement in the protests.

☆ Turkish air strikes target Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Turkish defence ministry said early on Sunday it carried out air strikes on outlawed Kurdish militant bases in northern Syria and northern Iraq, which it said were used to carry out attacks on Turkey. The strikes targeted bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey says is a wing of the PKK, the ministry added in a statement. Turkey said on Tuesday it plans to pursue targets in northern Syria after it completes a cross-border operation against the PKK militants in Iraq, following a deadly bomb last weekend in Istanbul. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said late Saturday that Turkish aircraft shelled two villages populated with internally displaced people in northern Syria. Turkey has conducted three incursions so far into northern Syria against the YPG militia.

☆ Turkish air strikes hit villages in northern Syria, SDF says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 20 (Reuters) - Turkish aircraft shelled two villages populated with internally displaced people in northern Syria, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Twitter late on Saturday. Turkey said on Tuesday it plans to pursue targets in northern Syria after it completes a cross-border operation against outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Iraq, following a deadly bomb last weekend in Istanbul. "In addition to the Dahir al-Arab village, which is populated with Ras al-Ain IDPs who were also forcibly displaced by the Turkish occupation in 2019," he added. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast on the busy pedestrian avenue, and the PKK and SDF have denied involvement. Turkey has conducted three incursions so far into northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which it says is a wing of the PKK.

☆ Bulgaria charges five people in connection with Istanbul blast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A man, charged for supporting terrorist acts in connection with an explosion in central Istanbul, is escorted to the courtroom, Sofia, Bulgaria, November 19, 2022. REUTERS/StringerSOFIA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Bulgarian prosecutors have charged five people for supporting terrorist acts in connection with an explosion in central Istanbul that killed six people on Nov. 13, the country's chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev said on Saturday. The charges are in two groups - for supporting terrorist acts in another country, namely the attack in Istanbul, and for human trafficking," Geshev said. Turkish prosecutors have already asked for some of the suspected accomplices in the blast to be extradited, Geshev added. The Turkish government swiftly blamed Kurdish militants for the blast and police have said the suspected bomber was trained by Kurdish militants in Syria.

The attack that killed six people on a busy Istanbul street on Sunday has brought national security back on the political agenda. With Turkey quick to accuse Syria-based Kurdish militants for the latest attack, analysts say Erdogan may now press for another cross-border campaign into northern Syria after three such incursions since 2016. Were Sunday's attack followed by more, Peker expected outcomes including a rapid escalation of "counter-terrorism operations, particularly against the PKK and the YPG". The YPG, espousing the same ideology as the PKK, has established control over swathes of northern Syria since war began there in 2011. In a November re-run - following that spate of violence and two major Islamic State bomb attacks - AK Party won comfortably.

☆ Turkey to pursue targets in Syria, official says after Istanbul blast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Orhan Coskun | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ANKARA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Turkey plans to pursue targets in northern Syria after it completes a cross-border operation against outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Iraq, a senior official said on Tuesday, after a deadly weekend bomb in Istanbul. The government has blamed Kurdish militants for the blast on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue on Sunday that killed six people and injured more than 80. Threats posed by Kurdish militants or Islamic State on Turkey are unacceptable, the official told Reuters, adding that Ankara will clear threats along its southern border "one way or another." "Syria is a national security problem for Turkey. Turkey has conducted three incursions so far into northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which it says is a wing of the PKK.

☆ Fact Check-Years-old video of Istanbul explosion mistaken for 2022 attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A CCTV clip from 2016 of an explosion in Istanbul has been mistaken by some social media users for footage of the blast that killed six people in the same city in November 2022. The clip shows an explosion ripping through a pedestrian street and knocking multiple people to the ground. It was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter on Nov. 13 to suggest it showed the moment of the bomb attack that day (here , here and here). Six people were killed and 81 injured in the Nov. 13, 2022, attack on the same avenue which was crowded as usual with weekend shoppers, tourists and families. The CCTV clip is from 2016.

☆ Turkey blames blast on Kurdish militants and arrests dozens, including suspected bomber
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Turkey blamed Kurdish militants on Monday for an explosion that killed six people on a busy Istanbul shopping street, and police detained a Syrian woman suspected of having planted the bomb among a sweep of 47 arrests. Istanbul police named the suspected bomber as Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian national, who was detained in an overnight raid in the city’s Kucukcekmece district. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were responsible for the blast on Istiklal Avenue on Sunday, an incident that recalled similar attacks in years past. According to Istanbul police, Albashir said during questioning that she was trained by Kurdish militants and entered Turkey through Afrin, another northern Syrian town. Istanbul has been attacked in the past by Kurdish, Islamist and leftist militants.

☆ Turkey blames Istanbul blast on Kurdish militants, arrests 22, including bomber
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Police members transport the body of an unidentified person after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, Turkey, November 13, 2022. "We have evaluated that the instruction for the attack came from Kobani," Soylu said, adding that bomber had passed through Afrin, another region in northern Syria. Hundreds of people fled the historic Istiklal Avenue after the blast on Sunday, as ambulances and police raced in. Turkey has carried out three incursions in northern Syria against the YPG, with the latest in 2019, seizing hundreds of kilometres of land. Condemnations of the attack and condolences for the victims poured in from several countries including Azerbaijan, Britain, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Pakistan and Ukraine.

☆ Factbox: Deadly Istanbul blast echoes past attacks in Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 31, 2016 - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a New Year's Day mass shooting in which 39 people were killed after a lone gunman opened fire in a packed Istanbul nightclub. View of ambulances and police at the scene after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, Turkey, November 13, 2022. March 19, 2016 - A suicide bomber killed four people in a busy shopping district of Istiklal Street in the heart of Istanbul. Jan 12, 2016 - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul's historic heart in an attack then authorities blamed on Islamic State. Sept 8, 2015 - Kurdish militants killed 15 police officers in two bombings in eastern Turkish provinces of Mardin and Igdir.

☆ Person who left bomb causing Istanbul explosion arrested - Anadolu citing minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Nov 14 (Reuters) - The person who left the bomb that caused Istanbul's explosion was arrested by the police, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday according to state-run Anadolu agency's English-language Twitter account. Six people were killed and 81 others wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in Istiklal Avenue in central Istanbul in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that "smells like terrorism". read moreReporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Deadly Explosion Hits Busy Istanbul Pedestrian Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Jared Malsin | Elvan Kivilcim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ambulances at the scene after the explosion hit Istanbul’s Istiklal street. ISTANBUL—A bomb blast ripped through a busy pedestrian street in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday afternoon, killing at least six people and wounding 53 others, Turkey’s president saidThe blast occurred on Istiklal street, a vast canyon of a street lined with restaurants and shops on Istanbul’s European side. Sirens could be heard wailing in the aftermath of the explosion.

☆ Six dead, at least 81 injured in Istanbul blast and Turkish President Erdogan says it 'smells like terrorism'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

View of ambulances at the scene after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, Turkey, November 13, 2022. Six people were killed and 81 others wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that "smells like terrorism." Some four hours after the blast, Vice President Fuat Oktay and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu visited the site of the explosion. "We will resolve this matter very soon," Oktay told reporters. Vice President Oktay said, "We are evaluating it as an act of terror".

☆ At least one dead in blast in central Istanbul, cause unknown, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Ambulances and security is seen after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, Turkey, November 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kemal AslanISTANBUL, Nov 13 (Reuters) - An explosion in the centre of a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul left at least one dead and other people wounded and running from the scene of the fiery blast, according to the local governor, published videos and Turkish media. State broadcaster TRT and other media showed ambulances and police heading to the scene on Istanbul's popular Istiklal Street in the Beyoglu district. State-owned Anadolu agency said the cause of the blast was not yet known. Reporting by Azra Ceylan and Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Mikaeil Alizadeh, also known by her stage name Leo, an Iranian belly dancer living in Turkey, performs at a restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey October 14, 2022. Now she believes the anti-government protests will lead to the end of Tehran's "cruelty." The protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for violating strict codes requiring women to dress modestly in public, spread rapidly. She finally moved to Turkey in 2015 after a neighbour called the police and made prostitution accusations over the dance classes. Alizadeh said she got married in Turkey and now gives private lessons and performs at cultural and private events.

☆ Mass protests in Iran, sparked by woman's death in police custody, are the regime's biggest challenge in years
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Alleged eyewitnesses say they saw Amini being beaten to death by Iran's feared morality police. Appearing in public as a woman without the head covering is a criminal offense in Iran and carries the consequence of prison time. What this uprising has revealed is the complete illegitimacy of not only the Islamic Republic, but indeed of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, in the eyes of this new generation. Roham AlvandiThe U.S. responded by condemning the Iranian government's actions, and has imposed sanctions on Iran's morality police, who it blames for Amini's death. "Not just has Iran oppressed the women there," she added, "but it has made the world hate us."

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