Istanbul

Breaking with his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV declined to pray at the Blue Mosque of Istanbul on Saturday as he continued his first international tour as the Bishop of Rome.

Ukrainian delegation walked out of direct talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday, the second time the two sides have met face-to-face. 

Putin will not attend Monday’s proposed ceasefire talks in Turkey, Kremlin says, as Ukraine keeps whether it will attend an open question. 

Ukraine says it has handed Russia a “memorandum” on a proposed ceasefire, urging Moscow to do the same in return.

Ukraine laid out its pre-negotiation demands for this week’s talks, saying there must be a ceasefire before they begin.

Turkey has arrested over 1,100 people since the Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was apprehended on March 19, the country’s interior minister confirmed Monday

Protesters in the Turkish cities of Izmir, Istanbul, and the capital of Ankara clashed with police on Friday as protests against the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu grew larger and more intense.

The Russian delegation arrived at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, for further talks to normalise diplomatic contact.

Israelis in Europe warned to “categorically avoid” being visibly Jewish, yet finding an match to watch is becoming increasingly difficult.

An apartment building collapsed in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Sunday, killing one person and injuring eight.

Thousands of pro-Hamas rioters in Istanbul, Turkey, massed outside the Israeli consulate on Monday night and threw firebombs.

Turkey’s authoritarian Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this week converted the historic Chora Church in Istanbul into a mosque, outraging Christian leaders and drawing a mild rebuke from the Biden State Department.

Turkish police detained dozens of protesters in Istanbul on Wednesday when they ignored a ban on Communist “May Day” demonstrations.

A fire at an Istanbul nightclub during renovations on Tuesday killed at least 29 people, officials and reports said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP suffered their worst defeat in more than twenty years in local elections.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hoping to broker peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, warned on Tuesday that negotiations will only be possible if NATO avoids antagonizing Russia by expanding its membership and influence.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s shooting at a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul, marking the first ISIS attack in Turkey since 2017.

Two masked assailants attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during Sunday services, killing one person, Turkish officials said.

Angry mobs throughout the Middle East and North Africa targeted Israeli, American, French, and other Western embassies on Tuesday night.

Turkey’s top election authority announced on Monday an unprecedented second round of voting in its presidential race between Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and secularist challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday bumped the June presidential election ahead to May 14, ostensibly to avoid conflicting with the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and university entrance exams.

Thousands of women in Turkey defied an official ban to hold an International Women’s Day march in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Turkey for a second day on Friday railed against a group of Western countries that temporarily shut their consulates in Istanbul.

Thousands of protesters marched across Turkey this week after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a political rising star and major rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and banned from participating in politics.

A bomb exploded on a major pedestrian avenue in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday, killing six people and wounding dozens more.

Satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press on Tuesday revealed the much-celebrated first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal with its Russian invaders, officially bound for starving Lebanon, wound up in Syria instead.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, held its first Ramadan prayers in 88 years on Friday to mark the start of the Islamic month of fasting, after being converted into a mosque in 2020.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew called on Christians Sunday to “fervent prayer with all our hearts for the preservation of peace in Ukraine.”

Turkish authorities detained Samir Handal, a “person of great interest” for his alleged connection to the July 7 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, on Sunday at Istanbul Airport, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported Tuesday.

Istanbul police arrested about 20 people gathered in the city’s Taksim Square on Saturday to participate in the city’s annual LGBT pride event, which was once the largest such event in the Muslim world, Euro News reported on Sunday.

The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu for allegedly disrespecting an Ottoman sultan’s tomb, Turkish news outlet Ahval reported.

ISTANBUL — Turkey withdrew early Saturday from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first country to sign 10 years ago and which bears the name of its largest city.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey took offense at a U.S. statement that said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would promote religious freedom during an upcoming visit to Istanbul and called Wednesday on Washington to focus on racism and hate crimes in the United States instead.

The Greek Orthodox Church of the United States petitioned the United Nations on Tuesday to force Turkey into protecting Orthodox Christianity’s cultural heritage following the Turkish government’s unilateral decision to convert Istanbul’s landmark former cathedral Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ordered that a second ancient Christian church be turned into a fully functioning mosque, just one month after a similar decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia for Muslim worship.

Over 30 suspected Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus last week were passing through the country en route to Latin America, a Russian diplomat said on Monday.