Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Best-selling Turkish crime writer Ahmet Ümit may have set his latest novel in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, but he says its themes are very much of the present day: A drift towards authoritarianism and erosion of freedom of expression. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has highlighted the ambition to build the assertive "Kanal Istanbul" project, which foresees the building of a giant canal on Istanbul's European side to ease the aquatic traffic of the city's busy Bosphorus Strait, "regardless of what anyone says."

The Turkish Prime Ministry has sent the national assembly the summaries of proceedings against eight members of parliament, four each from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), in order for their legislative immunities to be lifted.

A senior Turkish official has confirmed that Ankara had officially requested Germany criminally prosecute a comedian for allegedly insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an in a poem.

The long-awaited new Be?ikta? stadium was inaugurated in a ceremony on April 10 with the attendance of politicians at the highest level, including President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu. Black eagles' supporters, however, were denied entry to the tribunes of their new home pitch due to tight security measures. 

The economic bureaucracy in Turkey has been reshuffling in a dramatic fashion over the last couple of years, as some contradicting views have appeared and grown in the country's administration, creating a kind of "dual-administration" in Ankara. 

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta? has criticized the government's plans to strip "terrorist sympathizers" of their citizenship, saying that a similar "junta" practice took place during "Hitler's fascism" and Turkey's coup eras.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that "a Turkish factor" might also be involved in the recent renewal of clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region controlled by ethnic Armenian separatists and surrounded by Azerbaijan.

In an interview with Rossiya 24 TV station on Saturday, quoted by RIA Novosti, Medvedev assumed that violence could possibly be fuelled from "abroad".

"Give up on PYD and instead let us fight against ISIL along with the Turkmen and Arab groups." This was the proposal made by the Turkish officials to their American counterparts last week during President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's trip to the U.S. In return for the intervention of Turkish troops on the ground, they asked for American air cover.

Give up on the Democratic Union Party [PYD] and instead let us fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] along with the Turkmen and Arab groups." This was the proposal made by the Turkish officials to their American counterparts last week during President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's trip to the U.S.