Turkey

PHILADELPHIA — Less than an hour before the 8 p.m. tipoff, Philadelphia 76ers employees are scurrying around the Wells Fargo Center, hoping this Saturday night unfolds as planned. It's late March, and the team is handing out Allen Iverson bobblehead dolls. Iverson himself is scheduled to attend, a rare public appearance for the 37-year-old former NBA superstar. He'll be introduced during a pregame ceremony and then watch the game from Sixers chief executive Adam Aron's suite.

ANKARA, Turkey — Officials say a container of fuel being smuggled into Turkey from Syria has exploded, killing 10 people. The governor's office in Hatay province said Friday's blast occurred in Tunisma village when the smuggler set the tank on fire after realizing Turkish security forces had rushed to the scene. Hatay is the Turkish border province where two car bombs exploded in the town of Reyhanli last week, killing 51 people. Turkish authorities have blamed Syrian intelligence for that...

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a critical U.S. ally in the Muslim world, is struggling with the crisis in Syria, which has strained his country's fast-growing economy, swamped it with hundreds of thousands of refugees and created unusually public friction with Washington. The urgency of Erdogan's concerns over Syria was underscored by Saturday's car bombings that killed 46 people in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, where thousands of Syrian refugees have taken shelter.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan projected a united front Thursday on Syria, keeping stark differences about how much the U.S. should intervene behind closed doors as they looked to Russia and the global community to close ranks behind efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Under a pair of umbrellas outside a drizzly White House, the two leaders offered no hints about new actions either country would take, but pledged to keep upping the...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and Turkey will keep ramping up pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, but there's "no magic formula" to stop his violence. At a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the White House Rose Garden, Obama says the only way to resolve the crisis is for Assad to hand over power to a transitional government. "We're going to keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working...

They are unlikely partners: a cool and unflappable U.S. president and a proud, sometimes hot-tempered Turkish prime minister. But they have developed a working relationship that is one of the most important but least discussed developments shaping this year of change in the Arab world. If you're looking for factors that can keep the Arab Awakening from turning into a nightmare, the U.S.-Turkey partnership is mildly reassuring. President Obama and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have worked closely to...

BEIRUT — Turkey said on Sunday that it would step up its efforts to persuade the international community to do more to end the war in Syria, after investigators said they had found evidence that the regime in Damascus was behind the car bombing in a Turkish border town that killed 46 people. But Turkish officials also made it clear that they do not intend to retaliate for the attack, which has exposed the risks for Turkey in supporting the Syrian rebels battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad . The...

ISTANBUL As President Obama was feeling his way in foreign policy during his first months in office, he decided to cultivate a friendship with Turkey's headstrong prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan . Over the past year, this investment in Turkey has begun to pay some big dividends — anchoring U.S. policy in a region that sometimes seems adrift. Erdogan's clout was on display this week as he hosted a meeting here of the World Economic Forum (WEF) that celebrated the stability of the "Turkish model" of Muslim democracy amid the...

Regarding Soner Cagaptay's Feb. 2 op-ed, " Turkey's Turn From the West ": Mr. Cagaptay's piece contained grossly misleading information purporting to be evidence of Turkey's turning its back on the West. Since 2002, the AK Party has pursued a vigorous regional policy that aims to correct an anomaly of the Cold War era. Turkey strives to reintegrate itself into the Balkans, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean. Far from being a choice, this is a necessity because of our geography.

Defrosting: If you intend to brine a frozen bird, defrost it in the fridge by submerging it in the brine for two days before cooking. Brining: This disrupts the muscle tissue, tenderizes the dark meat and adds flavor. Soaking the turkey in a light brine (3 to 6 percent salt by weight) for a day or two will give a juicier result. Dry-salting: Except for light brining, all salting draws water from the meat. It also adds flavor, kills bacteria and breaks down proteins, reducing the cooking time and making the meat seem juicier.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and Turkey will keep ramping up pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, but there's "no magic formula" to stop his violence. At a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the White House Rose Garden, Obama says the only way to resolve the crisis is for Assad to hand over power to a transitional government. "We're going to keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working...

YAYLADAGI, Turkey — Facing one of the world's largest refugee crises in decades, Turkish officials are urgently appealing for international financial assistance and calling on wealthy nations, particularly the United States and the countries of Europe, to start accepting large numbers of Syrian refugees. The stance marks a shift for the Turkish government, which had long insisted that Ankara would manage and pay for the refu­gee crisis on its own as a matter of national...

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey says its state-run petroleum company has reached a deal with U.S. company Exxon Mobil to explore for oil in northern Iraq.  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that the deal was a "step toward exploring for oil" in Iraq's Kurdish region. He said details of the deal would be revealed after his visit to the United States on Thursday. Both the United States and the Iraqi central government oppose allowing Iraq's Kurdistan...

ANKARA, Turkey — Four more people have been detained in connection with two car bomb attacks that killed dozens in a Turkish town near the Syrian border, bringing the number of suspects in custody to 13, Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday. Syria again rejected Turkey's contention it was involved, condemning the attacks and offering to conduct a joint investigation of an attack it has blamed on Turkey. Police were still searching for six other wanted suspects,...

HEROR, Iraq — Bringing their rifles and hand grenades, the first Kurdish fighters crossed Tuesday from Turkey into northern Iraq as part of a peace deal to end a long uprising despite Iraqi objections to the transfer. The rebels' retreat to bases in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region is a key stage in the peace process between the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and the Ankara government, aimed at ending one of the world's bloodiest insurgencies. The PKK...

REYHANLI, Turkey — Anti-government protests flared for a third day on Monday in Turkish town devastated by two powerful car bombs near the Syrian border, and some Turks accused their leader of putting the nation's security at risk by backing the rebels fighting Syria's government. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will "not refrain" from responding to twin car bombings it has blamed on Syria, but that his government will be cautious and avoid being drawn into its...

Turkey's political crisis has taken a turn for the worse. The chief prosecutor, who has accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of anti-secular statements and actions, has presented his argument to the Constitutional Court. The court is expected soon to bar Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from politics and disband his party. The only result this struggle can produce is political instability in an important U.S. ally. Yet the U.S. government has been curiously quiet about this assault on Turkey's democracy.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN has been the protagonist of an epic liberalization of politics in Turkey. The victory of his mildly Islamist AK Party in a 2002 general election was itself a breakthrough; even more so was his government's defeat of repeated attempts by the military and courts to remove it from power. Mr. Erdogan is pushing through historic reforms of Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority and recently took a major step toward opening the country's border with Armenia. Yet, as his tenure lengthens, it is...

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a critical U.S. ally in the Muslim world, is struggling with the crisis in Syria, which has strained his country's fast-growing economy, swamped it with hundreds of thousands of refugees and created unusually public friction with Washington. The urgency of Erdogan's concerns over Syria was underscored by Saturday's car bombings that killed 46 people in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, where thousands of Syrian refugees have taken shelter.

BEIRUT — Syria's main opposition bloc wants to consult its allies before deciding on joining a U.S.-Russia initiative to negotiate a peaceful transition in Syria, its leader said Monday. The U.S. and Russia called last week for an international conference to start talks that would be accompanied by a cease-fire. The two nations are on opposite sides of the Syria conflict, and this marks their first serious joint attempt at Syria diplomacy in a year. The time,...