Violence generated by the Syrian conflict spilled across both the Turkish and Lebanese borders on Monday and into Tuesday, deepening worries not just that chaos will splash beyond Syria but also that other actors may be drawn into the fighting. A series of incidents erupted between Turkey and Syria, including one that saw Syrian...

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Turkish officials over the weekend and on Monday deepened their efforts to cut the country off from Twitter, despite being met with quite literally global ridicule last week for trying and conspicuously failing to stifle public use of the popular microblogging service. “Fortunately, the people of this world, including Turkey, are strong, and democracy...

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Turkey watchers spent much of last Friday piling on the country’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) for their decision late Thursday to ban Twitter – Erdogan’s exact phrase was that he was going to “eradicate” the microblogging service – amid widespread and successful...

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Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government on Thursday blocked access to Twitter, just hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “eradicate” the microblogging service and bragged about having obtained a court order enabling him to do so. Erdogan – who until recently had been hailed by some U.S. foreign policy analysts...

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The Hamas-supporting prime minister of Turkey and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) continue to find themselves on the uncomfortable end of a growing anti-government backlash. Street protests have swelled in recent weeks as the Islamist-Authoritarian regime has brutally jailed critics and political rivals, and continued to deploy force against...

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Various outlets have focused in recent days on specific sectors being eyed by investors as Iranian markets are reopened to the world under the terms of the interim Joint Plan of Action (JPA), even as President Barack Obama on Wednesday extended some sanctions after informing Congress that the Islamic Republic “continue[d] to pose an...

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At least two people died on Wednesday in Turkey as police forces moved to quell the worst civil unrest to grip the country since last summer’s mass protests, with The Guardian assessing that the deaths had “set the mood in Turkey further on edge” and “highlighted the deepening polarisation of Turkish politics.” The protests were...

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The Wall Street Journal yesterday conveyed assessments from top financial experts describing Iran as “Turkey with oil” and outlining “a growing consensus that the withdrawal of sanctions on [Iran]… would be a huge boon for the country, the region and for investors who get in early.” “Tehran feels like Ankara did in 2004,” Mr....

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A second set of audio recordings purporting to be wiretaps of phone conversations between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son Bilal – this time with Erdogan instructing Bilal to hold out for more money in a business deal – was anonymously uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, days after a...

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Ongoing political warfare in Turkey – which has pitted the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) against rival Islamists linked to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – has generated renewed calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after the publication of audio recordings that seemed to document Erodgan and...

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