Courts and the law

Turkey's Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya speaks to media after arriving at the Ataturk International airport on March 12, 2017, in Istanbul.

Erdogan aide named suspect in Turkey financial scandal

Former AKP deputy chairwoman Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya is facing allegations of being linked to a market manipulation scandal.

Youths play the daf, an Iranian frame drum, during a protest demanding the right to education in the Kurdish language in Al-Qamishli, Syria, on September 22, 2026. The demonstrations follow a decision by the Syrian Interim Government to allocate only Kurdish language classes in schools. (Photo by Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Syria's Kurds, Arabs find common cause in battle for language rights

As Kurdish students protest language restrictions, unexpected alliances are emerging between Syria’s Kurds and Arabs.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Former Assad official sentenced to 60 years in US for torture

Samir Ousman Alsheikh was convicted by a jury in March of three counts of torture, one count of conspiracy to commit torture, visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud.

Vyacheslav PROKOFYEV / AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's Erdogan to run for 'final' third term in 2028, adviser says

If Turkey's parliament votes to move the next election up during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s second term, he could constitutionally run for third.

Latest News

After gun found in lake, French police probe link to 2012 Iraqi family murder

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Top European court says Kavala case exposes erosion of judicial independence in Turkey

Omer Messinger/Getty Images

Israel tightens election safeguards as public distrust surges: What to know

ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

In first, Lebanon to hand over former Syrian general to Sharaa government

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on Aug. 18, 2026, shows Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan (C) during the sentencing of Wassim al-Assad.

US sanctions International Criminal Court president, top lawyer

The sanctions come a month after Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the court "brick by brick."

FADEL itani / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Who benefits from Lebanon’s amnesty law and why it is controversial

The law, initially intended to ease prison overcrowding, could see the release of Islamists accused of killing soldiers and allow Lebanese exiled to Israel return to the country.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

Lebanon becomes first Arab country to abolish death penalty

Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc walked out of Tuesday’s session in protest of the measure.

Bashar Al Assad

Syrian court sentences Bashar al-Assad, brother to death for war crimes

Ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher al-Assad were both sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes along with several other defendants.

Fighters with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) line up to put their weapons into a pit during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025.

Analysis

How Turkey's PKK amnesty law entwines Kurds' hopes with Erdogan's ambitions

The first legislation to emerge from direct negotiations with Abdullah Ocalan offers a path to ending Turkey's war with the PKK while potentially giving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the votes he needs to remain in power for a third term.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon’s Riad Salameh hospitalized as arrest roils Beirut: What to know

Lebanon's former Central Bank governor, Riad Salameh, was taken from prison to a hospital over his deteriorating health.

This photograph shows a banner featuring photos of Iranian protesters allegedly killed by the regime during a demonstration at the Ergife Palace Hotel to condemn the silence of Western governments in the face of the growing wave of Iranian political executions, in Rome, on July 16, 2026.

Iran hangs 2 over alleged Mossad ties as executions mount: What to know

Rights groups have warned that Iran may step up executions with the resumption of the war in the region.

Ozgur Ozel

Analysis

What challenges await Erdogan’s new rival and Turkey’s new opposition party?

Ousted main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel's bid to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan depends on surviving a widening legal crackdown and reconciling deep ideological, nationalist and Kurdish divisions within his own coalition.

Halil Karaveli

By Halil Karaveli

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Ousted party leader Ozgur Ozel waves to supporters from atop a police water cannon vehicle after being forcibly evicted by police from his party’s headquarters on May 24, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.

Top ally of Turkey’s Erdogan backs state funding for Ozel’s breakaway party

Devlet Bahceli’s suggestion exposes a more nuanced position within the country’s governing alliance over the ongoing legal crackdown against Turkey’s main opposition.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a primary-night watch party for NYC Congressional candidate Claire Valdez at 99 Scott Studio on June 23, 2026 in the East Williamsburg neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City.

Analysis

Why Mamdani concluded he can’t arrest Israel’s PM Netanyahu

The New York City mayor said he lacks the "legal authority" to arrest the Israeli premier based on the ICC warrant, likely due to laws pertaining to the United Nations and the court, but the ordeal could increase pressure on Israel over the case.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Ozgu Ozel

Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel could launch new party by August

Ozgur Ozel’s remarks on a potential new party came as the legal crackdown on the main opposition widened further this week with the arrest and suspension of the mayor of Cankaya, one of the party’s most secure and symbolically important strongholds in the heart of Ankara.

Visitors stand inside Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul on April 14, 2025.

Russian couple faces deportation from Turkey after Bible reading at Hagia Sophia

The couple were detained after reading from the Bible inside the Istanbul landmark, which remains one of Christianity’s most important historic sites despite its conversion into a mosque.