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One Armenian citizen was killed and another two injured in a brawl in Istanbul’s Fatih district in the evening of June 14.
Hambardzum Harutyunyan, 36, died of a stab wound at the scene. His son Garnik Hambardzumyan, 11, and friend Martin, 30, were rushed to hospital after being stabbed, TRT Haber reports.
Martin told Istanbul police that three unknown men attacked them. The assailants fled immediately after the attack. A criminal case was opened. An investigation is underway.
ISTANBUL
Demonstrators battled police around Istanbul and around the country late June 8 in protest at the Turkish state after soldiers opened fire on locals angered at the construction of new police stations in the southeastern district of Lice, killing two and wounding others.
Ramazan Baran, 26, and Baki Akdemir, 50, both died from gunshot wounds when the military opened fire in Lice.
Clashes continued throughout the night in the flashpoint Istanbul neighborhoods of Gazi and Okmeydanı, where anti-terrorism police staged a dawn raid on June 9 at several 
addresses in the neighborhood. The raids were the latest incident in the quarter, which has been marked by tension for months, especially after police killed 15-year-old Berkin Elvan during the Gezi protests as well as 30-year-old Uğur Kurt during a funeral last month.
In Gazi, police attacked protesters as they sought to march to the local police station on İsmet Paşa Avenue. Protesters responded with Molotov cocktails and other projectiles during battles that lasted throughout the night into June 9.
There were also violent protests in Ankara’s Tuzluçayır neighborhood, with one protester reportedly suffering broken teeth after being struck by a plastic bullet fired by police.
Protesters in the mostly Alevi neighborhood also allegedly torched a public bus, prompting Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, to take to Twitter and accuse the “terrorists” of destroying public property.
Gökçek demanded that the residents of the area inform on the protesters. “Residents of Tuzluçayır, the task is now yours: You must give the police the names of these terrorists, one by one,” he said. “The state (which is yours) will win its rights by force.”
During demonstrations on June 8, right-wing groups allegedly attacked protesters marking the Lice incidents in the central provinces of Sivas and Tokat, with five activists reportedly suffering injuries in Sivas.
Source: hurriyetdailynews
REUTERS / AP / / ISTANBUL
Police used tear gas and water cannon on Saturday to push back crowds of protesters who defied a warning by Turkey’s prime minister and gathered in 
İstanbul and Ankara on the anniversary of last year’s nationwide anti-government demonstrations.
Riot police fired tear gas on hundreds of protesters on a main pedestrian street leading to İstanbul’s main square, Taksim, following a stand-off with police. Clashes also erupted in the capital Ankara, where police used water cannons against a group of stone-throwing protesters.
Doğan new agency video footage showed police, some in plain clothes, detaining several people in the two cities.
Abdülbaki Boğa, of the Human Rights Association, told The Associated Press at least 83 people were detained and 14 people were injured in İstanbul alone.
Large numbers of police blocked access to Taksim, and news reports earlier said authorities planned to deploy some 25,000 police officers and up to 50 anti-riot water cannon vehicles around the city to thwart the demonstrations.
Large numbers of police blocked access to Taksim, and news reports earlier said authorities planned to deploy some 25,000 police officers and up to 50 anti-riot water cannon vehicles around the city to thwart the demonstrations. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned activists to keep away from the square, saying authorities were under strict orders to prevent protests.
“I am calling on my people: don’t fall for this trap. This is not an innocent environmental action,” Erdoğan said.
In late May and June last year, hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets denouncing Erdoğan’s increasingly autocratic leadership and demanding more democratic freedoms. The protests were sparked by opposition to government plans to uproot trees at Taksim Square’s Gezi Park and build a shopping center.
Fanned by outrage over the often brutal reaction by police, the demonstrations soon spread to other cities and developed into Turkey’s biggest protests in decades. Thousands were wounded and at least 12 people have died in anti-government protests in the past year.
Despite the ban, hundreds of people tried to reach Taksim.
In a speech in İstanbul earlier, Erdoğan said: “If you go there, our security forces are under strict orders, they will do whatever is necessary from A to Z. You won’t be able to go to Gezi like the last time. You have to obey the laws. If you don’t, the state will do whatever is necessary.”
Ahead of the protests, CNN correspondent Ivan Watson said he was detained briefly during a live broadcast. He said that police had kneed him and that an officer later apologized.
Turkey’s association of journalists condemned his detention and called the police action “shameful.”
A report this week by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights said that more than 5,600 demonstrators were being prosecuted for involvement in the protests while no one responsible for the violence against protesters had been sentenced.
The Turkish authorities “are actively engaging in a witch hunt against those who participated in the protests or spoke out,” said the federation’s president, Karim Lahidji.
ISTANBUL
A group of demonstrators take a ‘selfie’ picture in front of a water cannon truck during May Day. AA Photo
Some 25,000 police officers and 50 water cannon trucks (TOMAs) have been assigned to prevent demonstrations marking the anniversary of the Gezi Park protests this weekend in Istanbul, with the city’s governor warning that no gathering will be allowed in the Taksim area.
“Groups in small numbers could try to reach their own aims. But we will take measures against it,” Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters on May 28, while denying that the tight security measures meant that Taksim Square would be closed.
“We are not closing down Taksim at all. But when there is a difficult situation, measures are taken as a process of a couple of hours or a day. One would wish that both Taksim and Gezi Park will be full of people as they are right now,” Mutlu said.
The Istanbul Police Department is set for a heavy police deployment around Taksim Square to prevent gatherings on May 31. Unlike on May Day, access to Taksim will not be blocked by metal barricades, though public transport to the square, including metro lines, will be canceled. Some 25,000 riot police will be assigned to both Taksim and the roads connecting to the iconic square.
Along with 50 TOMAs and a large number of armored vehicles, helicopters will also be dispatched to conduct air surveillance.
May 31 marks the first anniversary of the brutal dawn crackdown to evacuate Gezi Park, which triggered 24 hours of unrest and intense police violence in Taksim, sparking nationwide protests throughout last summer.
May/28/2014
ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency
Three people were killed in an attack on the car of former Motherland Party (ANAP) deputy Adnan Yıldız, in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district, on April 15.
The former deputy’s wife and daughter, who were traveling in the car, were both killed in the shooting, while Yıldız and his son were injured and rushed to hospital.
One of the assailants was also killed after the former deputy and his son returned fire. The second assailant, who was also injured, has been detained by police.
oth attackers approached the car on motorcycles to steal a suitcase belonging to Yıldız, Doğan News Agency reported. But Yıldız refused to hand over the bag, producing a gun instead before the assailants opened fire, the report said.
The motive for the attack remains unclear, but according to Doğan News Agency, the assailants reportedly own a jewelry store and currency exchange office in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district.
Yıldız was twice elected to Parliament for ANAP. During his terms, he alleged that he had been blackmailed by the head of a criminal gang for $100,000.
By Toygun Atilla ISTANBUL / Hürriyet
The financial crime unit of the Istanbul Police Department has raided the firms of a corporation reportedly linked to the Gülen movement.
Police officers raided Kaynak Holding’s headquarters in Üsküdar’s Bulgurlu neighborhood and Bağcılar’s Mahmutbey neighborhood early on March 27, confiscating documents and computers. The inspection continued until the morning.
Kaynak Holding is a corporation with almost 7,000 employees and 1.5 billion Turkish Liras in annual revenue. It has 23 firms in 16 business sectors, operating in the areas of education, publications, cargo and information technology.
The raid was triggered by an informant who reportedly works as a manager for the corporation. The operation is focused on Sürat Kargo and the firms related to information technology, it has been learned.
Kanaltürk license cancelled
Meanwhile, the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) has canceled the national broadcast license of Kanaltürk television in a move that will significantly reduce Kanaltürk’s advertising revenue. The channel is one of many inspired by Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen movement and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ally-turned-nemesis.
March/27/2014
ISTANBUL
Istanbul and Ankara police staged morning raids today as part of a probe into tender fraud and bribery operation allegations, detaining at least 37 people, daily Hürriyet reported on its website.
The sons of three Cabinet members, Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar, are among the detained. Barış Güler, Salih Kaan Çağlayan and Abdullah Oğuz Bayraktar were detained on accusations of bribery, the report said.
Other detainees include Turkish construction tycoon Ali Ağaoğlu, Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan, Azerbaijani businessman Reza Zarrab, Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir and civil servants from the Environment Ministry and the Economy Ministry, according to Hürriyet.
The police and the prosecutor’s office have yet to make an official statement about the raids.
Speaking to reporters, Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu avoided giving any details about the operations. “It is not proper to make statements at the moment when the legal process is ongoing,” he said.
Environment Ministry General Manager Mehmet Ali Kahraman, Advisor to the Environment Minister Sadık Soylu, and Çağlayan’s executive assistants, Mustafa Behçet Kaynar and Onur Kaya, are among the detained.
Meanwhile, Minister Güler has canceled his program today, which was scheduled to take place in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. He was set to attend a signature ceremony for the establishment of a border gate and common customs gate between Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria.
Minister Çağlayan also canceled his program today following the operation. He was scheduled to attend a ceremony at 9:45 a.m. in the building of the Economy Ministry, where the Gölbaşı Education and Social Facility was set to have been transferred to the Family and Social Policies Ministry.
The operations were launched in response to allegations of rigging state tenders and bribery, Anadolu Agency reported. Hürriyet reported that the operations were the result of one year of surveillance.
The suspects are accused of accepting and facilitating bribes for some projects and getting construction permits for protected areas in exchange for money, the daily said.
Today’s simultaneous operations are part of three separate investigations, Doğan News Agency reported.
The investigations’ prosecutors are familiar names to the Turkish public. The operations are being headed by Istanbul deputy public prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, who is known for his work on the alleged deep-state Ergenekon coup plot case, and prosecutor Celal Kara. Kara was also a prosecutor in cases including the military espionage trial.
PM not informed about operation
The three prosecutors operating the three separate investigations did not inform the Istanbul Public Prosecutor about the operation and also did not enter the operation into the National Judiciary Network Information System (UYAP) system.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan avoided commenting on the morning’s corruption operation while answering reporters’ questions after a mass opening ceremony in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.
“It would not be right for me to speak before the legal process is finalized,” he said.
Erdoğan was not informed about the operations and learnt about it when the detainments started, daily Hürriyet reported, quoting an unnamed source from Ankara.
Halkbank came to the agenda in April when it denied the claims that it was carrying out any operations that could break sanctions on Iran.
Halkbank issued an official statement on April 21 to deny that it was in breach of sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, after local media recently reported some 47 deputies in the U.S. Senate had asked for sanctions on Halkbank.
The Turkish press had stated that the U.S. Senate had started a campaign against Turkey, accusing it of raising its trade volume with Iran despite the U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear program. The reports said the campaign was led by the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, along with the support of 47 deputies, who sent a letter to both the Secretary of State John Kerry and the Treasury Secretary Jack Lew recommending sanctions on Halkbank for its operations transferring gold to Iran.
Turkey, Iran’s biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Iran for energy imports in Turkish Liras, as sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros.
Turkey has closed the Öncüpınar border gate after an al Qaeda-affiliated opposition group clashed with units of the Arab- and Western-backed Free Syrian Army in 
the Syrian town of Azaz near the Turkish frontier. (Photo: İHA, Mehmet Ali Dağ)
30 September 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, İSTANBUL
According to a statement attributed to the radical extremist al-Qaeda-linked group, ISIL has given Erdoğan’s government a deadline of no later than next Monday, Oct. 7, to open the border crossings.
The organization also claimed responsibility for twin car bombings in the town of Reyhanlı in the southern province of Hatay which killed 53 people and wounded more than 100 in May. Reyhanlı is an important refuge point for Syrian refugees who have fled the violence in their country.
The confrontation in the town of Azaz in mid-September that preceded the closures was one of the most serious clashes between the al-Qaeda affiliate, made up mostly of foreign fighters, and the more ideologically moderate homegrown opposition forces trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
The struggle of ISIL, however, is less about ideology and more about a fight for territory, resources and the spoils of war — with armed ISIL fighters positioned to defend the town and a nearby opposition brigade trying to broker a cease-fire.
Turkey has been one of the strongest backers of the opposition forces in the two-and-a-half-year uprising against Assad. While it denies arming them, fighters including extremists have been able to cross its border into Syria.