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Bags went missing in Dubai floods, with embassy staff only able to retrieve one instrument and a handful of dress uniforms for defence force musiciansAustralia’s and New Zealand’s defence forces are once again coming together at Gallipoli – this time to ensure New Zealand’s military band can play on.The band’s luggage was among thousands of bags lost during last week’s Dubai floods, with embassy...

Turkish president says recent events between Iran and Israel should not allow Israel to ‘gain ground’ in GazaTurkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged Palestinians to unite amid Israel’s war in Gaza following hours-long talks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul on Saturday, his office said.Erdoğan has failed to establish a foothold as a mediator in the Gaza conflict that has roiled the region,...

Passengers had been trapped in mid-air overnight after a pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring othersThe last 43 of 174 people stranded in cable cars high above a mountain in southern Turkey have been brought to safety, nearly 23 hours after one pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring 10 when they plummeted...

Helicopters called in to rescue people after accident outside Turkish resort city of AntalyaOne person has been killed, seven injured and nearly 200 stranded in midair when a pylon supporting cable cars collapsed outside the Turkish resort city of Antalya.Helicopters equipped with night vision were called in to rescue 184 people still stranded in the cable car system’s cabins, Antalya mayor Muhittin Bocek said...

Romeyka descended from ancient Greek but may die out as it has no written form and is spoken by only a few thousand peopleAn endangered form of Greek that is spoken by only a few thousand people in remote mountain villages of northern Turkey has been described as a “living bridge” to the ancient world, after researchers identified characteristics that have more in common...

Ekrem Imamoğlu secures unexpected second term as Istanbul’s mayor, propelling the CHP to the centre of national politicsTurkey’s main opposition party dealt an unexpected blow to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule on Sunday with a sweeping victory in Turkey’s local elections, maintaining control of major cities including the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, where Ekrem Imamoğlu secured a second term as mayor.“My dear Istanbulites, you opened...

Rise of femicide follows country’s 2021 withdrawal from Council of Europe convention on preventing violence against womenSeven women were killed by their partners or ex-partners across Turkey on Tuesday, according to the television station Habertürk.“In total, seven women were savagely killed in İzmir, Bursa, Sakarya, Erzurum, Denizli and Istanbul,” Habertürk reported, listing the country’s major cities. Continue reading...

For Swedes it means a dramatic change of national identity, while the alliance gets greater control of the Baltic SeaJust a few short months ago, Sweden’s Nato membership seemed a very long way from being a done deal. Having submitted its application to join in May 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it seemed at times as though Stockholm might be left hanging interminably....

Hundreds of rescue workers searching for nine missing men in east of the country Hundreds of Turkish rescue workers were searching through a cyanide-laced field for nine mine workers who were swallowed by a landslide that rolled over their open pit on Tuesday.Images from the scene showed the landslide sweeping across a valley and crashing into a road where some of the workers were...

A year on from the devastation, questions remain about the pace of reconstruction amid the rubbleDays before the anniversary of twin earthquakes that devastated swaths of Turkey’s south-east on 6 February 2023, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan returned to Hatay province, the area worst hit by the destruction that killed at least 55,000 in Turkey and Syria. Standing on stage in a sports stadium on the...

Less well-off residents in the southern city of Antakya feel left out of the city’s rebuilding efforts• Read more: A year in the aftermath of Turkey’s earthquake – a photo essayRows of bright white marble gravestones dot a hillside on the outskirts of Antakya, some bearing the words “martyr of the earthquake”. The final resting place for the city’s dead will soon be overshadowed...

A 7.8-magnitude quake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria on 6 February 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and erasing entire cities. Then and now photographs show the scale of devastation and the enormity of the reconstructionOver 65 nightmarish seconds of the pre-dawn hours of 6 February 2023, the ground swallowed swathes of entire cities across south-east Turkey resulting in more than 50,000 deaths.Bridges...

Gunman, who was detained unharmed, was protesting about war in Gaza and had trapped seven workers for nearly nine hoursTurkish police have released seven workers taken hostage by a pro-Palestinian gunman at a plant near Istanbul owned by US consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in protest at the war in Gaza.Local officials said police staged a raid nearly nine hours into the standoff...

Boat drivers from former Soviet republics often have very little experience and no idea what they are doing is illegal, say NGOsPeople smugglers are increasingly recruiting people from former Soviet republics in central Asia to pilot boats carrying migrants from Turkey to Italy, say NGOs and lawyers.The migrants are taken by sea from Turkey to Italy, often using sailing boats, as an alternative to...

The sale follows Turkey’s decision to ratify Sweden’s NATO membershipThe Biden administration has announced its approved a $US23 billion deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s Nato membership, the state department said.The state department will now notify Congress of the agreement, as well as of a separate $8.6bn sale of 40 F-35s to Greece. Continue reading...

Vote leaves Hungary as only country still to ratify application made in response to Russian invasion of UkraineEurope live – latest updatesThe Turkish parliament has given its long-awaited approval to Sweden’s membership of Nato, bringing the Nordic country significantly closer to joining the western military alliance after months in limbo.Three months after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, submitted a bill on approving membership...

Hearing in Adiyaman involves 11 defendants accused of ‘conscious negligence’ while overseeing building’s constructionTurkey has opened the first major trial linked to the construction of buildings that crumbled in two earthquakes last year that claimed more than 50,000 lives.The hearing in the south-eastern city of Adiyaman involves 11 defendants accused of “conscious negligence” while overseeing the construction of the Isias hotel. Continue reading...

Galatasaray and Fenerbahce were set to play in Riyadh on FridayTribute to founder of modern Turkey was reportedly rejectedThe Turkish Super Cup final between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce scheduled to be played in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on Friday was postponed over what the clubs have described as “some problems” in the event’s organisation.At the heart of those issues, according to media reports, was the...

Siyabonga Twala, who has a British son, was barred from returning to UK a year ago and remains in limbo in AnkaraA man who remains stuck in Turkey a year after he was barred from returning to the UK with his British son has applied for a judicial review of the Home Office’s handling of his case.Siyabonga Twala has been in limbo in Ankara...