The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hit out at the United Nations on Wednesday, questioning the efficacy of the world intergovernmental organisation in light of its failure to stop fighting in Gaza. Addressing lawmakers from his ruling AK party, Erdoğan said: ‘Let alone stopping the genocide, the United Nations could not even protect its own personnel or aid workers.’ He added: ‘Not only humanity but also the United Nations died along with its spirit in Gaza’. Erdoğan’s comments came as the UN security council met to discuss a deadly Israeli attack on a displacement camp west of Rafah ..read more

Turkey’s president hit out at event, saying it encourages ‘gender neutralisation’ and ‘social corruption’ Turkey’s president has taken a swipe at the Eurovision song contest, accusing the annual event of allegedly encouraging “gender neutralisation” and threatening the traditional family. In a speech after a cabinet meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described participants at the contest as the “Trojan horses of social corruption” and said his government was right to keep Turkey out of the pan-European pop competition since 2012 ..read more

American Museum of Natural History says Dr Lorenzo Prendini was working on research project and ‘has arrived safely home’ A curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York who was detained in Istanbul on Monday while allegedly attempting to smuggle spider and scorpion samples out of Turkey has been released. In statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the museum said Dr Lorenzo Prendini, curator of arachnida and myriapoda, had arrived back in New York ..read more

Expert with American Museum of Natural History held in Istanbul after allegedly trying to take about 1,500 samples A scorpion and spider expert with the American Museum of Natural History was detained in Istanbul on Monday while allegedly attempting to smuggle samples of both arachnida groups out of Turkey. Lorenzo Prendini was held by police at Istanbul airport for allegedly trying to take about 1,500 samples out of the country, Turkish media reported ..read more

A Boeing cargo plane has been forced to land at Istanbul airport without its front landing gear, in the latest setback for the embattled plane-maker. No one was hurt in the incident, in a flight operated by the delivery company FedEx, Turkey’s transport ministry said. The Boeing 767 aircraft, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday, informed the traffic control tower at Istanbul airport that its landing gear had failed to open and it landed with guidance from the tower, with emergency services standing by, the ministry said. The ministry did not say why the landing gear had fa ..read more

Incident involving Boeing 767 jet operated by FedEx comes amid intense scrutiny of troubled planemaker A Boeing cargo plane has been forced to land at Istanbul airport without its front landing gear, in the latest setback for the embattled planemaker. Nobody was hurt in the incident, in a flight operated by the delivery company FedEx, according to Turkey’s transport ministry ..read more

Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 years Olive oil prices are set to climb further this year – heading to more than £16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin – amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade. Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as part of the natural cycle of olive growth is expected to offset an improving situation in Spain and Italy, where trees have suffered from extreme heat and drought in recent years as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on harvests ..read more

Authoritarian governments are extending their pursuit of critics far beyond their borders Forty-five years ago, the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed in London with a poison-tipped umbrella as he made his way home from work. The horrifying case transfixed the British public. So transnational repression is not new, including on British shores. But unless its target is unusually high-profile, or it uses startling tactics such as those employed by Markov’s killers – or in the attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal – much of it passes with minimal attention. Do you have an opinion on the ..read more

Threats from the state have led many journalists across the world to flee their home countries to report from elsewhere. But for many the intimidation did not stop when they left Illustrations by Joe McKendry Fardad Farahzad, journalist, Iran International ..read more

Israeli foreign minister strongly criticises decision by President Erdoğan, accusing him of acting like a ‘dictator’ Turkey has halted all trade with Israel, citing the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territories, which prompted strong criticism from the Israeli foreign minister. “Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” Turkey’s trade ministry said late on Thursday ..read more