About: Kurds
Turkey frees journalist Altan after European rights court ruling
A Turkish court on Wednesday (14 April) released journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan after more than four years in prison on charges of involvement in a failed 2016 coup attempt that he had always denied.
EU chiefs press Erdogan on rights while stressing better ties
The European Union's top two officials on Tuesday (6 April) expressed deep worries about human rights in Turkey while voicing hope for stronger ties in their first meeting in a year with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Jailed Kurdish leader calls on Turkish opposition to unite against Erdogan
Former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtaş, jailed since 2016 despite Western calls for his release, said the Turkish opposition should unite against rising oppression and moves to divide them, including a court case to ban his party.
EU ‘deeply concerned’ over crackdown on pro-Kurdish party, Turkey rebuffs criticism
Turkey on Thursday (18 March) told foreign countries to keep out of its domestic affairs after Western powers uniformly condemned its bid to shut down the main pro-Kurdish party.
Turkey moves to ban pro-Kurdish HDP party
Turkey's pro-Kurdish party was fighting for its political survival on Wednesday (17 March) after a prosecutor asked the country's top court to shut it down for alleged links to militants waging a deadly insurgency against the state.
‘Peace more powerful than war’, Pope Francis says in Iraq’s ruined city of Mosul
Pope Francis heard Muslim and Christian residents in the ruined Iraqi city of Mosul tell of their lives under brutal Islamic State rule, blessing their vow to rise up from ashes and promising them “fraternity is more durable than fratricide.”
Facing Biden, Erdogan extends olive branch to EU
Facing a potentially hostile US administration, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is trying to break his isolation by mending EU relations, torn by what the bloc views as his bellicose foreign policy.
Turkish FM says the EU has ‘over-politicised’ accession negotiations
The EU has “excessively politicised” the negotiations between Ankara and Brussels, Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told EURACTIV’s partner EFE in a written interview, calling on the bloc to take a more positive approach. He reiterated his country’s...
Erdogan slams European rights court’s ruling in support of Kurdish leader
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday (23 December) blasted the top European rights court's call for Turkey to release Kurdish political leader Selahattin Demirtaş after four years in jail.
A Biden administration is bad news for Turkey’s Erdogan
Donald Trump’s lackadaisical approach to Turkey's President Recep Erdoğan gave him an opening for an aggressive and revisionist set of policies that pushed the boundaries of Turkey’s relations with America and Europe, writes Henri J Barkey.
Austria to file charges against Turkish spy
Austria will file charges against a person who has confessed to spying for Turkey's secret service, and authorities are investigating more suspected espionage activities, its interior minister said, warning Turkey this would not be tolerated.
German government criticises Turkey’s Syria invasion
The Turkish invasion into the Kurdish region lacked "legitimacy under international law". Berlin's development ministry wants to help in northern Syria because of COVID-19. EURACTIV's media partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.
Turkey, Austria trade barbs over Kurdish-Turkish clashes in Vienna
Austria and Turkey accused each other on Monday (29 June) of responding inappropriately to clashes between Kurdish and Turkish protesters in Vienna last week, further straining relations.
Erdogan is bullying Europe because Trump gave him the green light
The show which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is playing now with the migrant crisis is, to a great extent, the result of the green light he got from Trump last October when the US troops withdrew from Syria.
Turkey says will not stop Syrian refugees reaching Europe after troops killed
Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish official said, as Ankara responded on Friday (28 February) to the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an air strike by Syrian government forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib region.
Russia tells Turkey to refrain from provocative statements on Syria
Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday (13 February) called on Turkey to refrain from making provocative statements about events in Syria amid rising tensions over the Syrian province of Idlib.
Turkey hits back after Syrian shells kill Turkish troops
Turkey said on Monday (2 February) its military hit dozens of Syrian government targets after eight Turkish military personnel were killed by shelling in Idlib in northwest Syria, where fighting threatens to test ties between Ankara and Moscow.
French, Dutch smash huge migrant smuggling ring to UK
French and Dutch police arrested 23 people on suspicion of smuggling 10,000 Kurdish migrants to Britain in refrigerated lorries and rubber boats, Europe's judicial agency said Wednesday (22 January).
Turkey mulls sending allied Syrian fighters to Libya
Turkey is considering sending allied Syrian fighters to Libya as part of its planned military support for the embattled government in Tripoli, four senior Turkish sources said on Monday (30 December), with one adding that Ankara was leaning toward the idea.
US Senate committee approves Turkey sanctions bill
A US Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday (11 December) to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, seeking to push President Trump to take a harder line against Ankara.
Russia balks at Turkish idea of new Syrian military operation
Russia said on Tuesday (19 November) it was bewildered by a Turkish pledge to conduct a new military operation in northern Syria if the area was not cleared of people Ankara calls terrorists, warning that any such move would damage efforts to stabilise the region.
Turkey says it will send most IS detainees to their home countries by year-end
Turkey will have repatriated most of its Islamic State detainees to their home countries by the end of the year, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on Tuesday (19 November), a week after Turkish authorities began the repatriation programme.
Despite ‘wonderful’ meeting, Trump and Erdogan fail to resolve conflicts
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (13 November) pushed Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan to walk away from the purchase of a Russian missile defence system, calling it a “very serious challenge” to bilateral ties, even though he described a meeting between the two leaders as “wonderful.”