Persecution of Christians

Israel's domestic security service said on Feb. 15 it had barred the country's Ironi Nahariya basketball team from playing a Europe Cup match in Turkey, due to "exceptional" safety concerns.

Nahariya had been scheduled to play Gaziantep away in a round of 16 second leg game on Feb. 22, after beating the Turkish side 96-75 in Israel.

The first meetings since Donald Trump entered office as president are being held this week between the Turkish government and the new U.S. administration. 

Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ümit Yalçın arrived in Washington on Feb. 13 as part of initial political discussions with the new Trump cadre.

A prosecutor has sought 46 aggravated life sentences each for suspects in a case launched into the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack on Istanbul's Atatürk Airport that left 45 people dead on June 28, 2016. 

An Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who attacked a famous nightclub at the heart of Istanbul has reportedly asked to be given a death sentence in his testimony. 

Uzbek-origin Abdulkadir Masharipov, who killed 39 people and wounded 65 others, said that "it would be good if he was given capital punishment," daily Sabah reported on Feb. 13.

Security forces in the southern province of Adana have foiled a potential Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terror attack targeting Europe with the arrest of two suspected militants who were preparing a "sensational" attack, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. 

Prosecutors investigating a group of suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have alleged that a school has been founded in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli district to disseminate ISIL's jihadist ideology to school-age children, daily Vatan has reported Feb. 10. 

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) offered a bounty of $1 million for a Danish woman who spent a year fighting ISIS with Kurdish forces in the Middle East. The woman, however, is facing jail time in her home country Denmark for violating travel ban and going to the Middle East to battle jihadists.

Two Canadian Senators are campaigning for the recognition of the Pontian Greek Genocide in the Canadian Senate.

A prosecutor's indictment has stated that an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant conducted reconnaissance for possible attacks on the Turkish Parliament, local ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters, and mosques, Doğan News Agency reported on Feb. 8.

An Ankara court has arrested the wife of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bomber in the hearing of the case into the jihadist organization's twin bomb attack in the Turkish capital on Oct. 10, 2015, which killed over 100 people and wounded many others.