News stories by Joris Leverink

ANKARA, Turkey, Apr 19 (IPS) - Speaking to a group of lawyers in Ankara on April 5, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the controversial suggestion that Turkey should consider stripping citizenship of what he termed "supporters of terrorism". In his speech, broadcast live on television, the Turkish President stated that: "We need to be decisive to take all the necessary measures including stripping of citizenship for terror organisation supporters."

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Mar 14 (IPS) - On the evening of March 4, heavily armed police forced their way into the headquarters of the Turkish daily Zaman. The hundreds of protesters that had gathered in front of the building in an Istanbul suburb in solidarity with their newspaper were violently dispersed.

ARTVIN, Turkey, Mar 04 (IPS) - Over the past weeks, thousands of people across Turkey have protested against the planned construction of a gold mine in Cerattepe, close to the town of Artvin in the northeast of the country. Protesters fear that the mine will cause irreparable damage to the unique natural environment of the region.

TURKEY, Feb 04 (IPS) - The latest footage to come out of Sur, the historical district in Diyarbakir that has been under total lock down by Turkish armed forces for the past sixty days, shows a level of devastation one would sooner expect in Syria. In more ways than one – empty streets lined with debris, bombed-out buildings, tanks and soldiers shooting at invisible assailants – the situation in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeastern regions resembles a war zone.

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Dec 16 (IPS) - While the war in Syria continues to draw in more outside forces, the work towards finding a political solution to this five-year old conflict carries on. In the past week, no less than three separate conferences were organized by different clusters of opposition groups. Conferences were held in three places: Damascus, Dêrîk – a city in the Kurdish-controlled northern part of Syria – and Riyadh, the Saudi capital, respectively.

ISTANBUL, Oct 27 (IPS) - This Sunday, November 1, Turkey heads to the polls for the second time this year, to elect the 550 members of its Grand National Assembly. The snap elections were called for by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in late August when the different parties failed to form a coalition government after the June elections, in which the Justice and Development Party (AKP) had lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since its 13 years in power.