COMEDIAN TUBA ULU DETAINED OVER JOKE ABOUT OTTOMAN SULTAN SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT
Turkish comedian Tuba Ulu has been detained after a clip from one of her stand-up shows went viral on social media.
Analysis
In-Depth Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
TURKEY WORRIES ABOUT ISRAEL’S NEXT STEPS
Ankara is happy to see the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran as a significant first step, but worries it may not hold. The central fear focuses on Israel, which stayed silent through the night of negotiations only to issue a statement on Lebanon afterward.
INSIDE THE MHP TURMOIL: PARTY PURGE, MAFIA ALLEGATIONS, AND AN UNRESOLVED ASSASSINATION
Three seemingly separate stories — a party purge, a criminal network, and a political assassination — are converging into a single story with the ruling alliance partner MHP at its heart.
ALL TALK, NO ACTION ON TURKEY'S KURDISH PEACE PROCESS
No legal steps have been taken despite calls across the spectrum for progress in the Kurdish peace process. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli both called for momentum, and the DEM Party co-chair Bakırhan turned the question back on the government: 'Who exactly are they talking to?'
PRESSURE ON CHP MUNICIPALITIES CONTINUES TO MOUNT
A series of legal operations targeting CHP-run municipalities intensified on April 9 as CHP Chair Özgür Özel repeated calls for a by-election.
TURKEY NAMES NEITHER ISRAEL NOR ISIS AFTER TERROR ATTACK IN ISTANBUL
The breaking news pointed to an ISIS attack on Israel’s Istanbul Consulate on April 7, but the circumstances surrounding the attack remain hazy.
TARGETING THE CONSULATE OR TARGETING PERCEPTION?
“The plot of the terror act is amateurish, the implementation is professional,” a terrorism expert told me about the attack that took place in Istanbul on April 7.
CHANGING DYNAMICS OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL SECURITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON TURKEY
The Middle East is no longer simmering — it is boiling over. The genocide being carried out in Gaza, the attacks on the West Bank, the incursion into Syria, and the devastating assault on Lebanon have cemented one uncomfortable truth that much of the world is now willing to state openly: Israel has become the primary driver of instability in the region.
THE DEPARTURE OF YILMAZ ÖZDİL
'First the Bread Went Bad.' This was the first book by man of letters Oktay Akbal, a collection of stories about lives before and after World War II.
NO SIGN OF EXPLOSION ON CARGO PLANE CRASH IN GEORGIA
“It has been assessed that the life raft, having exited its housing, came into contact with the left tail-fuselage section of the aircraft, causing damage to the aircraft’s horizontal and vertical stabilizers, which may have led to the aircraft’s crash,” a Defense Ministry official said on the C-130 military aircraft that crashed on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border on Nov. 11, 2025.
EXERCISE BLUE HOMELAND: AT THREE SEAS WITH 15,000 TROOPS
Blue Homeland-26, one of the Turkish Armed Forces’ most extensive exercises this year, was conducted from April 3 to 9 in the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean, with the participation of 120 ships, 50 aircraft, and 15,000 personnel from the Naval, Land, and Air Force Commands, as well as the Coast Guard Command.
ROKETSAN UNVEILS ITS MOST POWERFUL BALLISTIC MISSILE
Turkey's most powerful ballistic missile made its public debut on April 7 — not through an official announcement, but through a presidential photo op at Roketsan's inauguration ceremony, with no details offered to guests or media.