Middle East editor @business, previously editorial staff @newyorker. Opinions my own
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Articles by Murat Oztaskin
Turkey Seizes Popular Opposition TV Broadcaster in Dawn Raid
Source: Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- HalkTV, one of Turkey’s most-watched opposition television channels, was taken over by a government appointee after police raided its offices early Wednesday and ended its live broadcast.
Turkey’s Erdogan Captures City His Party Never Won in Elections
Photographer: Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidency/Anadolu/Getty Images (Bloomberg) -- The mayor of Izmir joined President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, handing it control of Turkey’s third-largest city and an opposition stronghold it’s never...
Russian Tycoon Kremlev Says Trump Jr. Paid Back Wedding Tab
Source: Getty Images (Bloomberg) -- Umar Kremlev said US President Donald Trump’s son had repaid the money the Russian tycoon had spent on post-wedding celebrations he hosted as a gift.
School Shooting in Western Turkey Leaves 11 Students Wounded
(Bloomberg) -- An attacker opened fire outside a high school in western Turkey Tuesday morning, wounding 11 students, two of them critically.
Turkey Prices Cool Further in August, Raising Rate-Cut Prospect
Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- Turkish inflation slowed more than expected last month, strengthening the case for an interest-rate cut as early as September.
Turkey Says Cargo Ship Likely Sunk After Tanker Collision
(Bloomberg) -- A cargo ship has likely sunk off the coast of Turkey after colliding with a tanker loaded with oil products, the country’s Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
Turkey passes law to achieve peace with Kurdish separatists
ISTANBUL - Turkish lawmakers adopted legislation laying out the dissolution of a Kurdish separatist group and paving the way for one of the world's longest insurgencies to come to an end. The law, which parliament passed late Monday, calls for the full disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, commonly known as the PKK, and allows for amnesty to some of its former militants.
Turkey passes law to achieve peace with Kurdish separatists
ISTANBUL - Turkish lawmakers adopted legislation laying out the dissolution of a Kurdish separatist group and paving the way for one of the world's longest insurgencies to come to an end. The law, which parliament passed late Monday, calls for the full disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, commonly known as the PKK, and allows for amnesty to some of its former militants.
Turkey Passes Law to End 40-Year Conflict With Kurdish Militants
Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- Turkish lawmakers approved conditional amnesties for members of a Kurdish separatist group in an attempt to end one of the world’s longest insurgencies.
Turkey Detains Mayor Who Won Erdogan’s Conservative Stronghold
Photographer: Osman Orsal/Xinhua/Getty Images (Bloomberg) -- Turkey detained a rising opposition mayor who wrested control of one of Istanbul’s most symbolically important conservative districts, widening a crackdown that has already reshaped the...
Turkey Issued Bribery Due Diligence Warning by OECD Group Original
The OECD Working Group on Bribery criticized Turkey’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, according to an e-mailed statement.
Turkey’s Simsek Says Iran War Oil Shock Threatens Inflation Plan
Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said an oil-price shock triggered by the war in Iran risks temporarily derailing the government’s disinflation program.
Turkish opposition stages rally, announces campaign to defeat Erdogan
Turkish opposition stages rally, announces campaign to defeat Erdogan (washingtonpost.com) Turkish opposition stages rally, announces campaign to defeat Erdogan By Murat Oztaskin; Rick Noack 2025032920194800 ISTANBUL — Growing anger over the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key political challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, erupted Saturday into one of the biggest demonstrations Turkey has seen in years.
Turkey’s Winemakers Are Resurrecting the Wines of Millennia Past
What it takes — and what it means — to save some of the world’s oldest extant grape varieties in a country that barely drinks wine Several years ago, the Turkish winemaker Seyit Karagozoglu was walking through a familiar vineyard when he noticed something odd. Karagozoglu, who’s done more work with indigenous grapes than any other producer in Turkey, was searching for old-vine sidalan, an ancient variety yielding a greenish-gold wine of strong minerality.
Can You Save One Species by Annoying Another?
The man with the binoculars is Tim Shields, a conservation biologist whose mission concerns an entirely different animal, the desert tortoise. It’s estimated that the reptiles have roamed the area in and around the Mojave for more than fifteen million years, though within the past century their existence has been threatened by climate change, habitat loss, and a peculiar import that arrived with human encroachment: ravens. “There’s a fairly simple mathematical relationship.
‘A Can of Gasoline Under Indian Law’ | Murat Oztaskin
Four years ago Lisa Blatt argued a case before the Supreme Court called Carpenter v. Murphy. It rested on whether a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation who was convicted of murder was under the criminal jurisdiction of Oklahoma or the federal government—a question that itself depended on whether a swath of eastern Oklahoma was considered Creek land. Blatt represented the state, against tribal interests.
Como Erdogan reconquistou o sul da Turquia arrasado pelo terremoto
NURDAGI, Turquia — Próximo ao centro desta pequena cidade no sul da Turquia, um pai e seus filhos carregavam portas e janelas que tinham recolhido de um prédio residencial abandonado até um caminhão à espera, esmagando cacos de vidro ao caminhar. A rua, antes delineada por edifícios altos, era definida agora por terrenos repletos de escombros. No fim da via, um posto de gasolina ainda funcionava.
How Erdogan won Turkey’s earthquake-shattered south
Comment on this story Comment NURDAGI, Turkey — Near the center of this small town in southern Turkey, a father and his boys carried doors and windows they had salvaged from an abandoned apartment building to a waiting truck, glass crunching under their feet. The street, once lined with multistory buildings, was now defined by flat rubble lots. At the end of the road, a functioning gas station still stood.
Erdogan's fate in the balance as Turkish voters head to the polls
The race is being closely watched around the world. Kilicdaroglu has promised to usher Turkey, a NATO member, into a new era by revitalizing democracy after years of government repression and refreshing ties with Turkey's allies in the West. For his part, Erdogan has tried to highlight the strides Turkey took under his rule, as a country modernized by megaprojects like bridges and airports, and a global power that produced military weapons sought by foreign governments.
Sending Help Instead of the Police in Albuquerque
Martin and Curtis were following a tip from a local nonprofit about a man who’d expressed an interest in housing vouchers. Behind the restaurant, they drove past dirt lots strewn with bottles and clothing. Near a short concrete wall, there were two charred tree stumps. It seemed that someone had set them on fire to stay warm, but the area was deserted. It was late morning at the end of November, and the air temperature hovered around forty degrees. Overnight, it had dropped well below freezing.
A Filmmaker’s Journey to the Heart of War in Ukraine
Before the war, Parfan and her husband, Ilya, lived in Kyiv but would typically escape the city’s dark, cold months by wintering in Dahab, Egypt, a small resort town on the Red Sea. It was there, last February, that they watched troops storm into their country. “You feel like you don’t have any will, any power,” Parfan told me, about being away.
'Without language, we are nothing': New Mexico to pay Native-language teachers equally
Click arrow to listen to story: When New Mexico house representative Derrick Lente was growing up in the eighties and nineties, he was immersed in the indigenous Southern Tiwa dialect spoken by his family. He heard it in Sandia Pueblo, north of Albuquerque, where he stayed with his mom during the week, and in Isleta Pueblo, south of Albuquerque, where he stayed with his father over the weekends. His parents had to be his Tiwa teachers because there were none in the schools of nearby Bernalillo.
The Ecological Destruction from the Border Wall, in “American Scar”
In 2016, Donald Trump energized his Presidential campaign with three words: “Build the wall.” On the campaign trail, Trump insisted that Mexico would pay for the project, but once in office he looked to a more likely source of funding, Congress, which for two years declined to offer the money—a battle which eventually sparked the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Sha’Carri Richardson Tackles Time in “Sub Eleven Seconds”
One, two, three, four. Sha’Carri Richardson, the American track star, counts up to ten. Her coach, Dennis Mitchell, does the same. We follow along on a clock on the track and see it’s perfectly in synch—that they have made the general unit theirs.
New Mexico’s first Native family court points to success keeping kids in tribal communities
Veronica Krupnick, a member of the Hopi Tribe who also has Navajo and Jemez Pueblo heritage, was six years old when she entered New Mexico’s child welfare system, ultimately severing her connections to her family, community and culture. “It felt like my whole world was completely different,” said Krupnick, now 26 and a program coordinator for foster youth advocacy with New Mexico’s court-appointed special advocates.
The First Christmas Following a Divorce
The weather outside is frightful, and the weather inside is no different. It’s Christmas Eve, 1983, in a small village in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec. A man, Denis, waits anxiously in his car outside the guest-filled home of his ex-wife, where he’s come to pick up his two small children. It’s the house where he celebrated the past several Christmases, with what up until recently had been his family, too.
A Young Female Boxer’s Recovery and Rise
A girl was asleep in a room at a hospital in Los Angeles, a place she’d been in and out of for nearly three years. Her parents recall that, as they watched over her one day, a man walked in and said, “I’m looking for Meryland Gonzalez. I want to pray for her, with your permission.” Her parents agreed, held each other’s hands, and closed their eyes. When they opened them again, the man was gone.
How to Cook Big Hunks of Meat in Your Backyard
Before bagged charcoal or propane grills, big joints of meat were cooked outside with more elemental materials: burning logs, ashes and coals, hot stones. If you can procure a few easy-to-find hardware-store items, it’s surprisingly simple to re-create a “barbecue” from millennia past. For whole shoulders, whole legs, rib racks, and more, here’s a low-tech, approachable option for primitive cooking in your backyard. Let It Hang Cooking meat above an open fire is as old as dirt itself.
How to Cook Big Hunks of Meat in Your Backyard
Before bagged charcoal or propane grills, big joints of meat were cooked outside with more elemental materials: burning logs, ashes and coals, hot stones. If you can procure a few easy-to-find hardware-store items, it’s surprisingly simple to re-create a “barbecue” from millennia past. For whole shoulders, whole legs, rib racks, and more, here’s a low-tech, approachable option for primitive cooking in your backyard.
How Florida’s Seminole Tribe Transformed Alligator Wrestling Into a Symbol of Independence
When an American alligator bites down, its jaws can exert up to three thousand pounds of force. In 2011, on a sunny day in the swamplands of South Florida, one bit Clinton Holt on the head. Holt is a Seminole alligator wrestler a few years retired. During a live wrestling show at a Native village, he held a gator’s mouth open with his hands and slowly inched his head inside, a crowd-pleaser stunt.
The Price of Performance, in “Character”
The socks are still thick and plush, even if they’re worn through in the soles. They’re gray, as are the pants above them, and the T-shirt above those. The hair of the man wearing them is starting to gray, too. “He’s the guy who’s been stifled. He’s been imprisoned. He’s been not allowed to be himself,” the man says, in the clear, deep voice of a performer. He’s talking about himself and the other men he’s been asked to be.
“USA v Scott” and the Fight to Prove That Humanitarian Aid Is Not a Crime
Warren is a volunteer with No More Deaths, a humanitarian-aid group that uses the building as a staging ground for remote drop-offs of water and other supplies for migrants trekking across the desert. When Warren encountered Sacaria-Goday and Perez-Villanueva, he offered them water and food and checked them for ailments, following the organization’s protocol.
Saying Goodbye During the Coronavirus Pandemic in “The Last Call”
In partnership with: This story and video were co-published with The New Yorker. Producers Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith captured this story while filming their newest FRONTLINE documentary, The Virus: What Went Wrong?, which will be broadcast on PBS and start streaming Tuesday, June 16, at 9:30/8:30c.
What Social Distancing Looks Like in Tehran
A new video shows how the coronavirus has transformed life in Iran, where Hassan Rouhani has announced that low-risk economic activities can soon resume. In Tehran, a worker in a hazmat suit ambles across a lot, carrying a stretcher like a briefcase. As the stretcher is thrown to the ground at the lot’s edge, you realize it’s just been used. The tile-like protrusions in the ground aren’t a decorative feature in a courtyard; they’re headstones, laid flat, in a graveyard.
The Coronavirus Is Devastating an Already Struggling Yellow-Cab Industry
In New York City, taxi-drivers who have withstood the ride-share surge and sky-high medallion prices are now seeing ridership plummet to new lows. Past the curled receipts at the base of the windshield, a trail of yellow cabs sits waiting at the curb outside Penn Station. Above Eighth Avenue, a sky of uniform gray mirrors the empty road below. “It’s a long line,” Richard Brown, a forty-six-year-old cabdriver, says. “Ain’t nobody moving.
The Harrowing, Two-Year Detention of a Transgender Asylum Seeker
In early June, officials from ICE took photographs of the transgender detainees at Cibola to share with the media. “It was a whole big lie,” Alejandra Barrera said. Photograph by Ron Rogers/ U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP The Cibola County Correctional Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, is situated at the edge of Milan, New Mexico, about eighty miles west of Albuquerque.
An Octogenarian Laces Up Her Sneakers for the New York City Marathon
Ginette Bedard, who started racing in marathons at the age of sixty-nine, says that running keeps her happy and feeling young. The bounds of the marathon are expanding. Earlier this month, the Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge, who holds the world record in the marathon—for completing a run, last year, in two hours and one minute—broke the event’s two-hour barrier, a feat previously thought impossible.
An Octagenarian Laces Up Her Sneakers for the New York City Marathon
Ginette Bedard, who started racing in marathons at the age of sixty-nine, says that running keeps her happy and feeling young. The bounds of the marathon are expanding. Earlier this month, the Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge, who holds the world record in the marathon—for completing a run, last year, in two hours and one minute—broke the event’s two-hour barrier, a feat previously thought impossible.
Greta Thunberg's Army at New York City's Climate Strike
On Friday, September 20th, three days before world leaders are set to meet at the United Nations for a much anticipated climate summit, protesters gathered in New York for the first of two international climate strikes, the second of which will happen next week. Before noon, an estimated 60,000 demonstrators had crowded in and around Foley Square, spilling onto the steps of City Hall, before marching down the narrow streets of Lower Manhattan to Battery Park, on the island’s southern tip.
“The Curve of Time,” a Mother’s Account of Cruising the Coast of British Columbia with Her Children
Read Starting in 1926, when she was widowed at the age of thirty-five, Muriel Wylie Blanchet packed her five young children into a twenty-five-foot boat and, for the next fifteen summers, they cruised the ragged, perforated coastline of British Columbia.
Naomie Harris is On a Roll
NAOMIE HARRIS' NEWEST film, Rampage, takes its inspiration from the 1980s video game of the same name. Old-school arcade fans will remember embodying a giant ape, itself the size of a modest skyscraper, and demolishing city after city into an ash-clouded ruin. The movie version, directed by Brad Peyton, which hits theaters in April, makes some surprising changes to the roles of villain and protagonist.
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