Istanbul

In the Turkish city of Istanbul, police have continued a stepped-up campaign of random ID checks in immigrant neighborhoods. This week, officials acknowledged that 19,000 people have been deported over the past eight months. It’s not clear how many of them are Syrians.

Since February, hundreds of dolphins have been found dead off the coasts of Ukraine, Bulgaria and Turkey. Scientists have pointed to the war in Ukraine as a possible cause. Navy sonar systems used to locate other vessels create powerful sounds that may be disorienting the marine animals. 

Turkey’s ship watchers observe traffic in Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait to understand geopolitics — including the comings and goings of Russian ships amid war in Ukraine.

More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine in the violence of the past three weeks. At the same time, a smaller, more privileged migration route is emerging in eastern cities like Istanbul.

When the pandemic hit his home city of Istanbul, Ahmet Faruk picked up an old passion: drawing. He wandered around the city, looking for forgotten, underappreciated buildings. Then, he brought them to life on the pages of his sketchbook. Lately, he has been focusing on Islamic architecture, specifically, mosque domes and minarets.

Last week, 19 migrants froze to death near a Turkish village on the border with Greece. Their deaths shed new light on pushbacks, which witnesses say are routine.

Millions of people in Turkey are turning to risky cryptocurrency investments in the hopes of protecting their savings or bringing in a side income. But economist Steve Hanke calls it a "casino operation." "They’re not really investments," he said.

Iraqi Kurds fleeing the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq have made harrowing journeys to Western Europe. Now, many are being flown back to northern Iraq, often with little to restart their lives.

Millions of Syrians are wrestling with the tough choice to return to Syria after 10 years of civil war. In Turkey, the COVID-19 pandemic hit some Syrians so hard that they returned home, only to regret it.

Turkey is quickly becoming a global center of modest fashion — a retail sector that caters to women in Muslim countries who often seek out clothing with more coverage than mainstream brands tend to offer.