Newsletter: City Pulse Istanbul Nisantasi beyond the shop windows Also this week: Hopdaddy burgers, Ara Guler’s photographs and Istanbul’s apartment stories. By Nazlan Ertan In Izmir and Istanbul, reporting on culture
Costa Rica's Grynspan extends lead in UNSG poll as Nusseibeh places fourth The Costa Rican candidate received 12 encourage votes in Thursday's UN Security Council straw poll. United Arab Emirates
Turkey’s parliament ratifies Mecca pact in boost to Saudi Arabia Turkey will now decide the scope of military support for Saudi Arabia amid ongoing Iran-backed Houthi attacks on the kingdom. Turkey
Can Erdogan’s Baku visit fix Turkey-Azerbaijan rift? A dispute over religious dress in schools has exposed deeper tensions between the two allies, with energy, arms sales, Israel and financial interests adding to the strain. Turkey
Syria's increasingly congested skies In addition to warplanes over Syria, cruise missiles are now carving out airspace. Syria
Grew up Kurdish, forced to be Turkish, now called Armenian When loose-talking Turkish officials toss around the word "Armenian" like it's a slur, they incite further hatred toward minorities. Turkey
Russian market huge disappointment for Turkey Turkey’s hopes of replacing European countries as a major food exporter to Russia have been dashed. Turkey
Syrian Kurdish leader: Moscow wants to work with us A senior leader in the PYD is in Washington seeking more military support and expressing ambivalence about Russia’s latest intervention. Syria
Facts mingle with political fantasy in Ankara's Gulenist indictments An indictment alleging an attempted coup against Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party government follows the party's narrative of a sinister parallel state and its imperialist collaborators. Turkey
Erdogan's EU visit fails to produce results Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried to use his Brussels visit to enhance his own domestic political clout, but the Europeans were not very keen on helping him. Syria
Young guns rule their turf in Turkey Members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, a youth group linked to the PKK, control the streets by force of arms in some parts of southeastern Turkey. Turkey
Erdogan uses refugee issue for his own benefit in EU EU leaders' focus during Erdogan’s visit to Brussels was on stemming the flow of Syrian refugees, not on his authoritarian and undemocratic ways. Syria
Another Syrian nightmare, courtesy of the Russians Russian operations are rattling Turkey as militants fleeing Syria infiltrate Turkey. Syria
Russian intervention throws a wrench into Turkey's Syria plans Russian air superiority in Syria has destroyed Ankara's hopes for a safe zone in the north and "Syria without Assad." Syria
New gas fields add more heat to already simmering Mediterranean The recent gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have given the concerned countries, mainly Egypt, Turkey and Israel, a new urgency in settling their maritime border disputes. Egypt
An immigrant himself, Chobani yogurt founder becomes icon for refugees A Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, Hamdi Ulukaya became the founder and CEO of the top-selling Greek yogurt in the United States and has now pledged to donate much of his wealth to refugees. Turkey