Tag Archives: Turkey

Police clashed with thousands of protesters in Istanbul’s Taksim Square after Prime Minister Erdogan ordered them to clear the area for a rally by the ruling AK party on Sunday. The governor of Istanbul claimed that “provocateurs” are now using guns in the protests. Erdogan said Turkish intelligence was looking into possible links between internal […]

Protests that began in Istanbul’s Taksim Square nearly two weeks ago against the authoritarian rule of Prime Minister Erdogan continued, with violence by both police and protesters. Three people have died and nearly 5,000 have been injured, many by the use of CR and tear gas, in the ongoing clashes. Protests have taken place in […]

The Interior Minister said more than 1,700 people had been arrested in antigovernment protests in 67 cities this week but that the majority have since been released. He claimed that 58 civilians and 115 security officers were wounded in the protests, but rights groups said several people were killed and hundreds injured. Amnesty International called […]

Turkish media reported that 12 members of the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front were captured in Adana, along with a total of two kilos (4,5 lb) of sarin gas; some reports claimed the suspects were planning to attack targets in Turkey, including Incirlik Air Base, but another said they were transporting chemical weapons to Syria. […]

Some 20 knife-wielding Islamists attacked 200 people staging a “kissing protest” in Ankara; at least protester was injured. The protest arose after authorities in Ankara, which is administered by the Islamist Freedom and Justice Party, admonished a couple for kissing in the street, and announced that subway passengers must obey moral codes. Although the police […]

Authorities arrested a Gendarmerie officer on suspicion of leaking documents on terrorist activity to the Turkish hacker group Redhack, which published the information on May 22. The leaked documents dealt with an alleged plan by an al Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria to execute a car bombing in Turkey. Interior Minister Muammer Güler confirmed the […]

Medet Onlu, a Turkish citizen of Chechen origin who assisted Chechen refugees, was shot dead in Ankara yesterday. Onlu had recently told a TV interviewer that the two Chechen brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings had been chosen as victims. An official from the ruling political party called for the “annihilation of atheists.” A […]

Turkey claimed that the twin bombings in Reyhanli were instigated by an “old Marxist terrorist organization” linked to the Assad regime. The Interior Minister said nine suspects had been arrested, all Turks, and claimed that the attack was not linked to al Qaeda, to the Syrian opposition, or to Syrian refugees. Prime Minister Erdogan alleged […]

Two car bombs exploded outside administrative buildings in the town of of Reyhanli, killing at least 40 people and injuring 100 more. A border crossing near Reyhanli was the site of a bombing in February that killed 14 people; the Syrian opposition alleged the attack had targeted one of their delegations.