ISTANBUL, October 28 (Reuters): Turkey said on Wednesday it will take legal and diplomatic steps in response to a caricature of President Tayyip Erdogan in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which officials called a "disgusting effort" to "spread its cultural racism and hatred". Turkish anger at the caricature added fuel to a row between Turkey and France about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, which flared after a teacher who had shown pupils the ca

ANKARA, October 27 (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint with Turkish authorities against Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders saying that he had insulted him on social media, state-owned Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday. Wilders is one of Europe's most prominent far-rightists and has been a key figure in shaping the immigration debate in the Netherlands over the past decade, although he has never been in government. On Saturd

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Friday that Turkey had been testing the S-400 air defence systems that it bought from Russia and said U.S. objections on the issue did not matter. Washington says Ankara's purchase of the Russian systems compromises NATO defences, and has threatened sanctions. An apparent firing test of S-400s test last week prompted a furious response from the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon. "(The tests) have been

ANKARA, October 6 (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan upbraided French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday over his comments last week pledging to fight "Islamist separatism", saying the remarks were "a clear provocation" and showed the French leader's "impertinence". Macron had said "Islamist separatism" was threatening to take control in some Muslim communities in France and a bill on the issue would be sent to parliament

ISTANBUL, October 6 (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that last week's European Union summit decisions were not sufficient to overcome problems in relations between Ankara and the bloc, his office said on Tuesday. EU leaders on Friday overcame concerns by Cyprus, which pushed for sanctions on Ankara, by assuring it that the bloc would punish Turkey if it continues oil and gas drilling in disputed areas of the Eastern Mediterran

YEREVAN/BAKU, October 6 (Reuters): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan of being the main instigator in the deadliest fighting between Armenian and Azeri forces for more than 25 years. In an interview published on Tuesday that is likely to exacerbate international frictions over the clashes in the South Caucasus region, Assad also said militants from Syria were being deployed to the conflict area. Turkey has denied involvement in the fi

YEREVAN/BAKU, September 28 (Reuters): Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated sharply on Monday in and around the mountain territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and at least 30 people were killed in a second day of heavy clashes. Forces of the two ex-Soviet neighbours pounded each other with rockets and artillery in the fiercest explosion of the decades-old conflict in more than a quarter of a century. Any move to all-out war could drag in major regional powers Russia and

ANKARA, September 27 (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called on Armenia's people to take hold of their future against "leadership that is dragging them to catastrophe and those using it like puppets", following clashes between Armenian and Azeri forces over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia on Sunday declared martial law and mobilised its male population after the clashes. Turkey has condemned Armenia for what it said were prov

ANKARA, September 22 (Reuters): A former Kurdish parliamentarian jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges has been handed an additional prison term for insulting President Tayyip Erdogan, two of her lawyers said. Sebahat Tuncel was sentenced last week to 11 months and 20 days for calling Erdogan an enemy of Kurds and women in a speech in 2016, comments one of her lawyers defended as legitimate criticism of a political opponent. Tuncel had served in Turkey's parliament

ISTANBUL, August 21 (Reuters): Turkey announced its biggest ever natural gas discovery on Friday, a 320 billion cubic metre (11.3 trillion cubic feet) Black Sea field which President Tayyip Erdogan said was part of even bigger reserves and could come onstream as soon as 2023. If the gas can be commercially extracted, the discovery could help Ankara cut its current dependence on imports - from countries such as Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan - for most of its energy needs. "

ISTANBUL, August 14 (Reuters): Turkey is considering suspending diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and withdrawing its ambassador over the Gulf state's accord to normalise ties with Israel, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. The Turkish foreign ministry said history would never forgive the UAE's "hypocritical behaviour" in agreeing such a deal, which recasts the order of Middle East politics. Under the U.S.-brokered, the first between Israe

ISTANBUL, August 5 (Reuters): President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party is considering whether to pull Turkey out of an international accord designed to protect women, party officials said, alarming campaigners who see the pact as key to combating rising domestic violence. The officials said the AKP is set to decide by next week whether to withdraw from the deal, just weeks after the vicious murder of a woman by an ex-boyfriend reignited a row over how to curb violence against wo

ISTANBUL, July 24 (Reuters): Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan joined thousands of worshippers at Hagia Sophia on Friday for the first prayers there since he declared the monument, revered by Christians and Muslims for almost 1,500 years, a mosque once again. Erdogan and his top ministers, wearing white facemasks as a precaution against COVID-19, knelt on blue carpets at the start of a ceremony which marks the return of Muslim worship to the ancient structure. An imam be

ANKARA, July 21 (Reuters): President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkish forces, which have carried out several incursions into northern Syria since 2016, would remain in the country until Syrians can live in freedom and safety. "Nowadays they are holding an election, a so-called election," Erdogan said of a parliamentary election on Sunday in Syria's government-controlled regions, after nearly a decade of civil war. "Until the Syrian people are free,

ISTANBUL, July 17 (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Friday for supporting forces based in eastern Libya, after Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Libyan tribesmen who called for Cairo to intervene in the civil war.   Turkey has been providing military aid to the Tripoli-based government in the Libya conflict, while Egypt, the UAE and Russia have backed its foes in a rival administration based in the e

MOSCOW, July 1 (Reuters): Russian President Vladimir Putin told his counterparts from Turkey and Iran on Wednesday that there was a need for peaceful dialogue between the opposing forces in Syria's civil war.   Putin also told Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani in a televised video conference that hot spots of terrorism still remain in Syria's Idlib and other regions.   "An inclusive inter-Syrian dialogue should be actively