NATO air defenses in the eastern Mediterranean shot down an Iranian ballistic missile on Wednesday as it headed toward Turkish airspace after crossing Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry reported. In a statement, the ministry said there were no casualties or injuries and added that Turkey reserves the right to respond to any hostile action against its territory.

Kobani, the Kurdish city that in 2014 became a global symbol of resistance against the Islamic State, is now experiencing another tragedy: daily survival under siege and extreme cold. Its population has been cut off from the world for six days. Surrounded by Turkey to the north and by Syrian government forces to the south, east, and west, the city has no water or electricity because the dam that supplies it is under the control of the Damascus government. Hospitals are on the verge of collapse, and schools and city squares have been converted into makeshift shelters. Half a million civilians are at risk of dying from hunger, disease, or cold if nothing is done.

A Glock 19, a semi-automatic pistol usually carried by police forces; a Beretta 92, a very similar handgun; and a Kalashnikov, the legendary Soviet assault rifle. In addition to ammunition, balaclavas and silencers. It was Sunday, July 27, and two officers of the Guardia Urbana saw a car driving erratically. They tried to stop it, and the car tried to flee. The chase descended Vallcarca Avenue in Barcelona and ended on República Argentina Street, when the officers managed to stop the car. In the trunk, they found the arsenal. It was driven by a man of Turkish origin who was eventually arrested, but after a few days he was back on the streets, accused of a weapons offense.

With a cover of greenish tones, The headless ear It is an album of the adventures of Tintin that appeared in Catalan in 1965, thanks to the translation of the brilliant Joaquim Ventalló and under the seal of Juventud, the publishing house of Josep Zendrera Data (to whom we dedicate a profile in this series). The story takes place in the republics of Nuevo Rico and San Teodoro, two fictional Andean countries in Latin America. One of the characters featured is an enigmatic businessman named Basil Bazaroff, who may seem like a figment of Hergé's imagination, but is actually a reflection of a real-life figure: the arms dealer Basil Bazaroff, the most important businessman in the world at the time.

Half the world was watching Vladimir Putin and the Russian president waited until the last minute to confirm what everyone suspected: that he will not be in Istanbul this Thursday to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, just as the Ukrainian president had proposedPutin doesn't consider Zelensky a valid interlocutor and proposed direct negotiations with Kiev solely to satisfy Donald Trump, but the Ukrainian leader left him out of the loop by doubling down.

The announcement this Monday of the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) marks a turning point in a conflict that has left more than 40,000 dead in Turkey since 1984. But far from closing a chapter, it opens a period full of unknowns about the future of the Kurdish question in Turkey and in the region. The decision was taken during the 12th congress of the PKK, held in northern Iraq, and responds to the call from their imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who from prison had urged in February to abandon the armed struggle. The group has declared that its historic mission has been fulfilled: the Kurdish cause has been given visibility, and that now the path must be democratic and peaceful.

Thousands of people demonstrated this Saturday in Istanbul in the largest protest so far against the arrest last week of the city's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival. AFP and Reuters report hundreds of thousands of participants and the largest demonstration in Turkey for more than a decade, and Efe reports that some 200,000 people filled the Maltepe esplanade, on the Asian side of the city. Özgür Özel, the leader of the opposition CHP party, of which Imamoglu is a member, puts the number of participants at more than two million.

Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul and a leading opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spent his first night in Silivri prison after the government suspended him from office on Sunday. The same day, Imamoglu was chosen as his party's candidate, the Kemalist CHP, for the 2028 presidential elections, with the support of 15 million voters in an open primary. Imamoglu was arrested on Wednesday on charges of "corruption" and "terrorist activity"", the textbook charges for attacking the political opposition in Turkey. The arrest has unleashed a wave of protests unprecedented in the last decade that has already resulted in 1,133 arrests, including several journalists. The opposition has announced that the protests will continue daily, despite police repression, and after six days of protests, Erdogan made a television speech to criticize the protests, calling them a "violent movement" and accusing the opposition of "provoking" the public. "The opposition is responsible for our injured police officers, our shopkeepers' broken windows, and public property. They will be held accountable for all of this, politically in Parliament and legally in the courts. "I think if they have any respect left, they will be ashamed of the damage they have done to the country," the president harangued from Ankara, insisting on the accusations of "corruption" against the imprisoned opposition leader. Imamoglu has had significant political capital since 2019 in President Erdogan's party. The AKP forced a rerun of the elections, claiming that the votes had not been counted properly, but the blow backfired, and Imamoglu won the second blow with a resounding 54% of the vote. Erdogan projects an image of a reigning father; in contrast, Imamoglu is a more relatable figure who presents himself as a victim of a conspiracy of the elites," notes Eduard Soler, a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and one of the most attentive observers of the situation in Turkey. So what danger does the mayor represent for the president? "Erdogan does not want to transform the Turkish political system into a tyrant. Imamoglu is, for him, a fearsome candidate," adds Soler. And that's why the deep state is doing everything possible to dismantle the only alternative to the ballot box that has emerged so far in the decade that Erdogan has been president, a position he assumed in 2014 after being prime minister since 2003.

Turkish police arrested Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Wednesday. He was arrested at his home in a massive police operation, an operation the opposition has called political harassment.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced on Saturday a complete ceasefire and future disarmament. The announcement comes two days after the founder and imprisoned leader of the Kurdish militia, Abdullah Öcalan calls to abandon armed struggle and move towards dissolving the organisation. "To pave the way for the call of leader Apo (Ocalan's nickname) for peace and democratic society, we declare a ceasefire, effective as of today," said a statement from the PKK. "None of our forces will carry out armed actions unless we are attacked," added the text, released by the news agency linked to the organisation ANF.

The founder and imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, has called for an end to armed struggle and a move towards the dissolution of the organisation. This move marks a milestone in the long and contentious confrontation between the Kurdish militia and the Turkish state. After more than four decades of struggle, this message, relayed on Tuesday, could drastically change the course of the relationship between the PKK and Turkey, as well as the dynamics in the Kurdish region and in Turkey's international relations.