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
Will Erdogan be Turkey’s next Ataturk? Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to partly admire, and imitate, the methods Ataturk used to accumulate and consolidate power. Turkey
Trade, security concerns bring Turkey, Israel closer Turkish-Israeli relations are still far from normalized, but developments in the region are converging the two countries' security and economic interests. Palestine
Turkish truckers try to get on the road again With the dangers and difficulties now inherent in transiting in Iraq and Syria, the Turkish transportation sector is looking for alternative routes to Middle Eastern markets. Legacy: Gulf
Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul sues for fraud The defrauding of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul reflects how vulnerable minorities are in Turkey. Turkey
What should West expect from Erdogan as president? The United States and others in the West are speculating about what Turkish foreign policy might look like under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose nomination speech left no doubt about his strong Islamic inclinations. Turkey
Turkey assesses losses from Iraqi market Turkish officials, politicians and traders are trying to calculate Turkey's losses in the Iraqi market after the ISIS takeover of Mosul and other Iraqi cities. Iraq
Erdogan looks for first-round knockout in presidential contest Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will use all his power to clinch a first-round victory in the presidential race on Aug. 10, which is not assured. Turkey
Turkish judiciary bulwark against authoritarian tilt The Turkish judiciary emerges as a block on a trend toward more centralized power by Prime Minister Erdogan. Turkey
Erdogan’s path of 'illiberal democracy' To understand where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking Turkey, look to Latin America. Turkey
Turks come to Israel in record numbers The strengthening of business ties between the two countries results in an increase in Turkish citizens arriving in Israel, Israeli officials say. Israel
Would Turkey accept a Kurdish state? As the likelihood of an independent Kurdish state on Turkey’s eastern border grows, Ankara is losing its historical resistance to the idea. Iraq
The Syria disconnect in US Iraq policy Iraq welcomes Syrian airstrikes on ISIS; Aleppo’s water crisis. Saudi Arabia