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The skyline of central Ankara
Image: Diego Cupolo/NurPhoto/picture allianceImage: Diego Cupolo/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey, located in Central Anatolia. It is Turkey's second-largest city behind Istanbul. It has been the capital of the Republic of Turkey since its founding in 1923, replacing Istanbul.

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All Content on this topic

A protester stands in front a burning Turkish truck

As Turkey, Syria thaw ties, unrest may derail reconciliation

Anti-Turkish protests in Syria and violence against Syrians in Turkey are casting a shadow on efforts to renew ties.
PoliticsJuly 3, 2024
Republican People's Party, or CHP, supporters cheer outside the City Hall in Ankara.

Turkey's opposition makes huge gains in local elections

The Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkey's main opposition party, has chalked up major gains in local elections.
PoliticsApril 1, 202402:54 min
Istanbul's mayor and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu speaks in front of supporters as they celebrate outside the main municipality building following municipal elections across Turkey, i

Turkish opposition surges in local polls blow to Erdogan

With nearly 100% of ballot of the votes counted the opposition CHP secured election victories in Istanbul and Ankara.
PoliticsApril 1, 2024
Election banners for AKP candidates including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seen displayed in Beyoglu neighbourhood of Istanbul

Turkey: Polls close in Erdogan's 'last election'

Analysts say Sunday's local elections are crucial for Turkey's opposition, facing an increasingly authoritarian regime.
PoliticsMarch 31, 2024
Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets the crowd with a wave at his party's campaign rally

Erdogan's farewell? Turkey's leader hints at retirement

Ahead of local elections, Turkey's president has said he is retiring from politics. Will he actually go through with it?
PoliticsMarch 14, 2024
Referee Halil Umut Meler falls to the ground as Koca punches him.

Turkey suspends top-flight football after referee attack

The president of Ankaragucu punched a referee in the face in what officials have called a "vile, inhumane" attack.
SportsDecember 12, 2023
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis shaking hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey's Erdogan vows 'new era' in ties with Greece

The Turkish president has pledged a "win-win" approach to relations with historic rival Greece during a visit to Athens.
PoliticsDecember 7, 2023
Three men surveying damaged infrastruture and a vehicle after a Turkish airstrike in northern Syria in November 2022

Turkey launches new attacks on PKK in Iraq

Ankara has said it will "neutralize" those behind a Sunday bomb attack. Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of war crimes.
ConflictsOctober 4, 2023
File picture of a Turkish police special operations member

Turkey arrests dozens over suspected links to PKK

Dozens of people with alleged links to Kurdish militants have been arrested in raids across Turkey.
Rule of LawOctober 3, 2023
Officials say a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside the interior ministry in the Turkish capital.

Suicide bombing rocks Turkish capital Ankara

Officials say a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside the interior ministry in the Turkish capital.
TerrorismOctober 1, 202301:16 min
Special police forces surround an armored vehicle near the Interior Ministry building in Ankara

Turkey: 'Terrorists' attack Interior Ministry in Ankara

The interior minister reportedly said two "terrorists" were dead after an attack on the ministry's gate.
ConflictsOctober 1, 2023
Headquarters of Republican People's Party in Istanbul

Turkish elections: 'Hope springs eternal'

The results of the May 14 election were sobering for the supporters of the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
PoliticsMay 20, 2023
File photo: a selection of newspapers at a newsstand in Geramny, with several Turkish publications visible among the selection.

Raid on Turkish journalists in Germany angers Ankara

Turkey has summoned Germany's ambassador after police raids against government-friendly journalists based in Germany.
PoliticsMay 17, 2023
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey: A 100-year-old democracy with ups and downs

The scheduled election in 2023 could usher in a turning point in Turkish history in the country's centenary year.
PoliticsJanuary 3, 2023
CIA Director William Burns

US and Russian spy chiefs hold talks in Ankara

CIA chief William Burns is warning Russia about the use of nuclear weapons, according to a White House official.
ConflictsNovember 14, 2022
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits the mausoleum of modern Turkey s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in Ankara, Turkey.

German foreign minister did the right thing in Ankara

Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock was correct to point out Turkey's aggressive foreign policy. writes Ronald Meinardus
PoliticsJuly 31, 2022
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan hugs Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Erdogan's Saudi Arabia trip could be game changer

The landmark trip could affect the security situation for the entire region, from Iran to the war in Yemen.
PoliticsApril 29, 2022
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (l) seated with Russian President Vladimir Putin (r) in Sochi, Russia

Can Turkey mediate a deal between Russia and Ukraine?

The Black Sea nation has much to lose if Russia invades Ukraine. That is why President Erdogan wants to mediate.
ConflictsFebruary 2, 2022
Pro-nationalist demonstrators gesture during riots against refugees in Ankara

Is anti-refugee sentiment growing in Turkey?

In Turkey, refugees have been facing animosity. It is stoking fear in Istanbul's immigrant district of Yusufpasa.
MigrationAugust 18, 2021
Young Turks making the far-right extremist 'wolf salute'

Riots in Ankara: Xenophobia boils over

Refugees are increasingly the objects of hostility — as the riots in Ankara have shown.
SocietyAugust 14, 2021
DW The 77 Percent Magazin African Fabrics

The truth about African print

African prints are popular beyond Africa. But how African are they really?
SocietyApril 21, 202105:36 min
Turkish riot police

Turkey convicts dozens in mass trial over 2016 coup

Several former presidential guard officials were convicted of "violating the constitution."
Law and JusticeApril 7, 2021
external

EU sets out to reset Turkey Relations

Ilke Toygür of the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies tells Brent Goff that she believes the Ankara talks are an indication that the EU is moving away from the idea of Turkey joining the EU.
April 7, 202105:17 min
Kurds in Greece holding banner of former PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan

PKK executed 13 Turkish captives, Ankara claims

Turkey has accused the PKK of executing 13 kidnapped Turks in Iraq. The PKK blamed the deaths on Turkish airstrikes.
PoliticsFebruary 15, 2021
Sudanese students waving Turkish flags.

Turkey: Africa's 'anti-colonial benevolent brother'

Ankara's power in Africa shouldn't be overestimated, experts say.
PoliticsFebruary 4, 2021
Protesting mask-wearing students holding up signs

Ankara calls student protesters 'LGBT perverts'

An artwork seen by Turkish authorities as insulting Islam has increased tensions amid student protests.
PoliticsFebruary 4, 2021
Helmets, guns, and body armor left behind by Turkish soldiers at an Istanbul bridge following the failed coup

Turkey: Ex-generals jailed for life over coup attempt

A Turkish court sentences 92 defendants, including once high-ranking army officials, to life imprisonment.
Law and JusticeDecember 30, 2020
People outside Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque show Grey Wolves hand gesture with Turkish flag

France bans Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves

The ban on the far-right group comes amid rising tensions between Ankara and Paris over the fight against extremism.
PoliticsNovember 4, 2020
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey threatens Greece over disputed Mediterranean claims

Locked for weeks in a tense standoff, the crisis is the most serious in Turkish-Greek relations in decades.
PoliticsSeptember 6, 2020
Palace of Justice Ankara

Turkey sentences 121 people to life in prison for 2016 coup

A Turkish court has issued life imprisonment for "attempting to violate the constitution" in the failed 2016 coup.
PoliticsJune 26, 2020
German Embassy in Ankara

Asylum lawyer employed by Germany released by Turkish court

Yilmaz S., a lawyer working with the German Embassy in Ankara, was arrested by Turkish authorities in September 2019.
Law and JusticeMarch 12, 2020
Migranten an der türkisch-griechischen Grenze

Ankara, Athens use refugees in dangerous political game

Turkey and Greece are capitalizing on the turbulent border situation to further their own political agenda.
PoliticsMarch 6, 2020
Tear gas fired at Turkish-Greek border

EU calls for no-fly zone over northeastern Syria

As the EU's top diplomats met to discuss tensions with Ankara, Borrell suggested NATO or the UN implement a no-fly zone.
PoliticsMarch 5, 2020
Members of the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the "White Helmets", recover bodies in the town of Maaret Misrin following Syrian government forces airstrikes

Germany pledges millions in aid for Idlib conflict

However, Germany's foreign minister has attached strict conditions to the additional funds for the UN.
PoliticsMarch 5, 2020
A migrant runs as Greek security forces intervene at the border between Turkey and Greece

Migrants clash with Greek police at Turkey, Europe border

Migrants threw rocks and other objects at police officers, resulting in one injury.
PoliticsMarch 1, 2020
President of Turkey and leader of Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Erdogan to meet Merkel, Putin and Macron for Idlib summit

The leaders will meet on March 5 to discuss the conflict in Idlib following an escalation of violence in the region.
PoliticsFebruary 22, 2020
Fokus Europa Türkei Müllfahrer Bibliothek

Turkey: the garbage men's library

Garbagemen in Ankara have created a library out of books that they found in the trash.
SocietyDecember 11, 201903:27 min
Maas and Cavusoglu

Germany protests lawyer's arrest in Turkey

Turkey's arrest of a lawyer working for Germany has drawn a protest from Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
PoliticsNovember 23, 2019
The sign outside the German embassy in Ankara

Turkey arrests German embassy lawyer

German officials fear "sensitive" asylum files in his possession may now be in the hands of Turkish intelligence.
PoliticsNovember 20, 2019
Islamic State flags in a propaganda photo

Turkey and 'Islamic State' — is Ankara doing enough?

The IS leader's killing near Turkey's border has raised concern Ankara isn't doing enough to fight terrorism.
ConflictsNovember 5, 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holds a speech

Majority of Germans want Turkey out of NATO: survey

A new survey shows that 58% of Germans want Turkey expelled from NATO over the recent military offensive in Syria.
PoliticsOctober 29, 2019
Turkish President Erdogan gives a press conference

Erdogan threatens to 'clear out' Kurds

The Turkish leader's comments come as rights groups accuse Ankara of war crimes.
PoliticsOctober 26, 2019
external

Syrian refugees in Turkey

People in Istanbul voice their views on the influx of Syrian refugees in Turkey.
September 16, 201900:50 min
Lawyers at IHD sitting behind a table with microphones

Turkey: Families seek their abducted relatives

A number of people in Turkey are believed to have been disappeared after the attempted 2016 coup.
PoliticsAugust 4, 2019
Wahlplakat von Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Inside Europe: A setback for Turkey's Erdogan

Local elections in Turkey have delivered a huge setback to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His AK party has lost control of the capital, Ankara and looks set to lose Istanbul. The elections were widely seen as a crucial test of Erdogan's leadership and his reputation of electoral invincibility has been damaged. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
PoliticsApril 5, 201904:36 min
DW's Erkan Arikan

A weak showing for strongman politics

Erkan Arikan
The AKP's drastic losses in Turkey's local elections reveal cracks in the armor for the Recep Tayyip Erdogan era.
PoliticsApril 1, 2019
An opposition supporter celebrates after early results in municipal elections in Ankara, Turkey

Erdogan's party challenges election results

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party is challenging the result of local elections in Ankara and Istanbul.
PoliticsApril 1, 2019
An official checks ballot papers during local elections in Ankara, Turkey

Erdogan faces test to keep cities

Polls have closed in Turkey's local elections, which are seen as a "referendum" on Recep Tayyip Erdogan's leadership.
PoliticsMarch 31, 2019
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul

Turkey's local elections pose test for Erdogan

Local elections in Turkey have caused concern for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party.
PoliticsMarch 30, 2019
Flags of Turkey and United States

US Consulate worker spy trial begins in Turkey

Metin Topuz has been accused of espionage and "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and constitution."
Law and JusticeMarch 26, 2019