Turkey

Turkish President Abdullah Gul ended a two-day official visit to Baku on August 17 with the signing of a strategic partnership agreement, but the details remain a guessing game. Local analysts say that they are left to conclude that the trip, coming a few days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Armenia, was meant mostly for consultations.

Tourists from around the world routinely trek 1,200 meters up into the mountains near the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon to take in the marvel of a monastery seemingly suspended from a cliff face. But for many, the marvel of Sümela Monastery lies in its symbolism.

Fazil Say, Turkey's most famous concert pianist, is no stranger to controversy. But he has rarely ruffled as many feathers as he did recently, when he launched into a searing attack on one of Turkey's most popular forms of music.

A biannual meeting of leading Turkish political and military officials seems to be turning into a test of strength.

Longtime Azerbaijani ally Turkey appears to be taking on a larger role in supporting the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an Azerbaijani exclave sandwiched between Armenia and Iran. The first steps in this intensified cooperation are taking shape just months after plans for rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia went into cold storage.

The stage erupts into flashing blue and white light. The music is thunderous. A little girl from Mozambique appears, dressed in a traditional costume.

"Hello Turkey,” she shouts in Turkish, the microphone fastened behind her right ear, Houston ground control-style. "Turkey," she shouts again, "I want to see your hands."

On the picturesque island of Buyukada in the Marmara Sea about an hour’s ferry ride from Istanbul, tourists climb a steep track through pine trees to peer through locked gates at the decaying remains of an old Greek orphanage.