MEHMET GUZEL

People visit Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Historic domes of Hagia Sophia are renovated to protect the landmark from earthquakes
Turkey has begun a new phase in sweeping restorations of the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, focusing on preserving the monument’s historic domes from the threat of earthquakes.
 
People raise their mobile phones as they gather outside the City Hall to protest the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Thousands rally outside Istanbul city hall for 2nd night over mayor’s arrest
Thousands of people have gathered outside Istanbul’s city hall for a second consecutive night to rally against the arrest of the city’s popular mayor.
 
People gather outside the City Hall to protest the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Turkish police arrest Istanbul mayor, a key Erdogan rival, as government crackdown escalates
Turkish police have arrested Istanbul’s mayor — a popular opposition leader and key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and several other prominent figures as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links.
 
Women chant slogans during a protest marking International Women's Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
International Women’s Day protests demand equal rights and an end to discrimination, sexual violence
Women have taken to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.
 
A van, which is believed to carry Russian diplomats, leaves U.S. Consul General residence following a meeting with U.S. counterparts to discuss operation of embassies, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Russian and US diplomats meet in Istanbul for second round of talks
Russian and U.S. diplomats have held talks in Istanbul to discuss ways to normalize the operation of their respective embassies after rounds of diplomatic expulsions in recent years.
 
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a hotel at a ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Enes Ozkan/IHA via AP)
Witnesses describe chaos and panic at Turkish ski resort as fire ripped through hotel where 79 died
Witnesses have described standing helplessly and paralyzed by the horror of people screaming for help or jumping out of windows as flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort.
 
People gather to celebrate the Syrian government's fall in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
The warm Turkish welcome for refugees is ending and Syrians are worried
 
Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Turkey at the Oncupinar border gate, near the town of Kilis, southern Turkey, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Hundreds of Syrians line up at Turkish border crossings as Erdogan expects more to go home
Hundreds of Syrian refugees have gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkey, eagerly anticipating their return to Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.
 
Activists some holding banners with Turkish writing that read, " Children should not be killed , so they can eat candies", " I couldn't play with my toys because I was killed" and " If I had not been killed this toy would have been my sleeping friend " during a protest outside the courthouse where dozens of Turkish healthcare workers including doctors and nurses go on trial for fraud and causing the deaths of 10 infants, in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday Nov, 18, 2024.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Health workers go on trial in Turkey accused of private care scheme linked to 10 infant deaths
Doctors, nurses and an ambulance driver are among health care workers on trial accused of causing at least 10 infant deaths linked to a scheme to defraud Turkey’s social security system.
 
People, mostly Turkish nationals, disembark from Turkish TCG Sancaktar military ship after being evacuated from Lebanon's capital Beirut to Turkey, in Mersin port, southern Turkey, early Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish citizens fleeing Lebanon mourn the homes and family left behind
Two evacuation ships have docked at the Turkish port of Mersin, bringing Turkish citizens and their families back from Lebanon amid an escalation of the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
 
Turkish citizens walk to board Turkish military ships evacuating them from Lebanon to Turkey, in Beirut port on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkey’s navy starts to evacuate its citizens from Beirut as Israel battles Hezbollah
The first of over 2,000 evacuees in Beirut are boarding a Turkish military ship sent to provide aid to Lebanon and evacuate Turkish citizens and some foreigners from the country being hit by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.
 
Media members and relatives gather outside the family house of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26 year-old Turkish-American activist killed by the Israeli military, in the City of Didim, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Father of Turkish-American activist wants US probe into her killing by Israeli soldiers
The father of the Turkish-American activist killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank has welcomed Turkey’s decision to initiate an independent investigation into her death and called on the United States to do the same.
 
Supporters of the Lebanese Communist party take a selfie, as they march during a demonstration to mark International Labor Day or May Day, in Beirut, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Despite the tense situation and ongoing clashes on Lebanon's border with Israel over the past seven months, hundreds of protesters marched through Beirut's streets to mark International Workers' Day. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Pro-Palestinian banners. Blazing Olympic rings. Workers’ May Day rallies confront turbulent times
Workers and activists around the world are marking May Day with largely peaceful rallies against rising prices and calling for greater rights. Pro-Palestinian sentiments are also on display.
 
A traveler pets the dog Kuki while walking with handler through Istanbul Airport in Turkey, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Istanbul Airport has made five new hires to provide stress-free travel experience for anxious passengers: therapy dogs that are ready to offer support with snuggles, belly rubs and sloppy kisses. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Istanbul airport provides anxious travelers with paw-sitive experience by hiring 5 therapy dogs
Istanbul Airport has made five new hires to provide a stress-free travel experience for anxious passengers: therapy dogs that are ready to offer support with snuggles, belly rubs and sloppy kisses.
 
Security officers check the site where two attackers were killed outside a courthouse in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. Two people were shot dead while trying to attack a courthouse in Istanbul on Tuesday, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
3 people killed in alleged extremist attack at Turkey’s largest courthouse
Two people attacked Turkey’s largest courthouse before being shot dead in an exchange of fire that also left one other person dead and five wounded.
 
Nuriye Cihan, bottom, mother of Tuncer Cihan who was killed on an attack to a Catholic church, mourns next to Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, left, during a funeral ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during a Sunday Mass that killed one person. (Sercan Ozkurnazli/Dia Images via AP)
The Islamic State group claims responsibility for the Istanbul church attack that killed one person
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during Mass that killed one person.
 
Turkish police officers stand guard in a cordoned off area outside the Santa Maria church, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. Two masked assailants attacked a church in Istanbul during Sunday services, killing one person, Turkish officials said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
2 masked men kill a person in attack on Catholic church in Istanbul. Officials detain 2 ISIS members
Turkish officials say two masked assailants attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul, killing one person.
 
Mesut Ceki, center, a courier rights association member and colleague of Turkish motorcycle courier Yunus Emre Gocer, talks to journalist outside the Justice court in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. A court in Istanbul on Tuesday convicted the son of Somalia's president over the death of a motorcycle courier and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison. The sentence, however, was immediately commuted to a fine. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Turkish court convicts Somalia president’s son over motorcyclist’s death, commutes sentence to fine
A Turkish court has convicted the son of Somalia’s president over the death of a motorcycle courier and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison. It then commuted the sentence to a fine equal to $910.
 
A European Cave Rescue Association (ECRA) member, goes down into the Morca cave near Anamur, southern Turkey, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. Turkish and international cave rescue experts are working to save an American speleologist trapped at a depth of more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) in a cave in southern Turkey after he became ill. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Rescuers may soon try to remove a sick American researcher from 3,000 feet down in a Turkish cave
Turkish officials say rescue crews are waiting for doctors to give the go-ahead for an operation to move out an American researcher who fell ill almost 1,000 meters — more than 3,000 feet — below the entrance of a cave.
 
Turkish health workers start getting 2nd anti-COVID-19 shots
Turkey has started administering the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac company to health care workers across the country.
 
Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia opens as a mosque for Muslim prayers
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has fulfilled a dream of his Islamic-oriented youth and joined hundreds of worshipers for the first Muslim prayers in 86 years inside Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia.
 
Turkish patrol kills Syrian protester amid shaky truce
A Turkish military vehicle has run over and killed a Syrian protester as it drove through an angry crowd that was pelting a joint Turkish-Russian patrol in northeastern Syria with stones and shoes.
 
Illegal construction blamed in Istanbul building collapse
Turkish officials have blamed illegal construction for the collapse of a building in Istanbul as the overall death toll rose to 18.
 
Syrian girl born without legs gets new prosthetics in Turkey
An eight-year-old Syrian girl who was born without legs has been fitted with prosthetic limbs in Turkey after word of her plight spread on social media.
 
Turkey: Istanbul nightclub attacker confessed after capture
The accused perpetrator of a New Year’s nightclub attack in Istanbul has confessed and his fingerprints are a match, Turkish authorities said Tuesday.
 
Turkey: Reaching limits but will keep taking in refugees
Turkey says it has reached the end of its “capacity to absorb” refugees but will continue taking them in, as it faces mounting pressure to open its border to tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled a government onslaught.