Türkiye

After announcing they would disarm, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) destroyed their weapons in northern Iraq.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the country has begun a new era as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began to disarm after a four-decade armed conflict that killed more than 40,000 people.

In an address to his party, Justice and Development (AKP), Erdogan said on Saturday that the “scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending”.

“Decades of sorrow, tears and distress came to an end. Turkiye turned that page as of yesterday,” Erdogan said.

“Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkiye have been flung wide open,” the president added.

In a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, 30 PKK members burned their weapons, marking a hugely symbolic step towards ending their armed campaign against Turkiye.

During Friday’s ceremony, senior PKK figure Bese Hozat read out a statement at the Jasana cave in the town of Dukan, 60 km (37 miles) northwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish of Iraq’s north, announcing the group’s decision to disarm.

“We voluntarily destroy our weapons, in your presence, as a step of goodwill and determination,” she said.

Since 1984, the PKK has been locked in armed conflict with the Turkish state and decided in May to disarm and disband after a public call from the group’s long-imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan said in a video earlier this week, which was recorded in June by the groups affiliated with Firat News Agency, that the move to disarm was a “ voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law” calling it a “historic gain”.

Further disarmament is expected to take place at a designated locations, which involves the coordination between Turkiye, Iraq and the Kurdish regional government in Iraq.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has begun the first steps towards disarmament, closing a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

A small ceremony was being held on Friday in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, where 20 to 30 PKK fighters were destroying their weapons rather than surrendering them to any government or authority. The symbolic process is being conducted under tight security and is expected to unfold throughout the summer.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has welcomed the development, declaring it as “totally ripping off and throwing away the bloody shackles that were put on our country’s legs”. Erdogan also said the move would benefit the entire region.

The move follows an announcement in May by the PKK that it would abandon its armed struggle.

For most of its history, the PKK has been labelled a “terrorist” group by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States.

More than 40,000 people were killed between 1984 and 2024, with thousands of Kurds fleeing the violence in southeastern Turkiye into cities further north.

In a video aired earlier this week but recorded in June by the PKK-linked Firat News Agency, the group’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan described the moment as “a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law”, calling it a “historic gain”.

Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement on Imrali Island in Turkiye since his capture in 1999. Despite his imprisonment, he remains a symbolic figure for the group and broader PKK offshoots across the region.

The disarmament is being closely monitored by members of Turkiye’s Kurdish DEM party, as well as Turkish media. Further phases will take place at designated locations involving coordination between Turkiye, Iraq and the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq.

The effect of the conflict has been deeply felt not only in Turkiye but across neighbouring countries, particularly Iraq, Syria and Iran, where the PKK and its affiliates have maintained a presence.

‘There’s a long way to go’

Reporting from Sulaimaniyah, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed described the event as “highly symbolic”, with senior figures from both the federal Iraqi government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government in attendance.

Abdelwahed noted that while this marks a significant moment, the road ahead remains uncertain. “This is just the beginning and it seems there’s a long way to go,” he explained. “The PKK also have demands, including the release of their leader Abdullah Ocalan. They want him to come here to northern Iraq and lead, as they say, the democratic process.”

Abdelwahed added that the development signals a major shift for Iraq, where the PKK was officially designated a banned organisation in April last year, following a high-level security meeting between Iraqi and Turkish officials.

Speaking from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu said Ankara views developments in Sulaimaniyah as a major step forward in ending the conflict that has dragged on for decades. “What is happening in Sulaimaniyah is being seen by Ankara as a critical breakthrough in the decade-long conflict that cost tens of thousands of lives, both from the Turkish side and the Kurdish side,” she said.

The move follows months of direct talks between Turkish officials and Ocalan.

Koseoglu highlighted the political significance of this moment within Turkiye. “This is an important step that Turkish President Erdogan approved this process,” she said, noting that even traditionally hardline groups have shifted position.

“The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which once denounced peace efforts as ‘treason’, now supports the process.”

The pro-Kurdish DEM Party is playing a key facilitation role, and the main opposition CHP – once highly critical of earlier peace attempts – now says it supports efforts to achieve peace, noted Koseoglu.

‘If the PKK leaves, there won’t be any shelling’

In northern Iraq, where the fighting has often spilled over, civilians are cautiously hopeful.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed visited communities in the mountainous district of Amedi, near the Turkish border, where villages have been caught in the crossfire.

“Here in northern Iraq, the PKK controls hundreds of villages spread across the semi-autonomous Kurdish region,” said Abdelwahed. “Some have been turned into battlefields, severely limiting access to farmland and making life even more difficult for displaced families who are desperate to return home.”

Shirwan Sirkli, a local farmer, told Al Jazeera that the conflict destroyed his family’s livelihood. “My farm was burned down by shelling as Turkish forces and the PKK brought their conflict to our lands. My brother also lost his $300,000 worth of sheep ranches. Many of our neighbours have left the village – only 35 out of about 100 families remain.”

Turkish military operations in the area have intensified in recent years, with Ankara establishing outposts across the border and frequently attacking PKK positions.

“The presence of PKK fighters in the area has only brought disaster to us,” said Ahmad Saadullah, a local community leader, speaking to Al Jazeera. “If they leave, there won’t be any shelling. We would like to see the peace deal implemented on the ground so we can reclaim our land and live in peace.”

Influential leader records message from prison, saying ‘care and sensitivity’ needed for peace process.

Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has announced the end of the group’s armed struggle against Turkiye, calling for a full shift to democratic politics.

The jailed leader relayed his message via a video recording dated June, which was aired by the PKK-aligned Firat News Agency on Wednesday, describing the shift as a “historic gain”.

“This represents a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law,” said Ocalan, who has been in prison since 1999, but remains a hugely influential figure among Kurds in Turkiye and beyond.

He said the process of voluntary disarmament of Kurdish PKK fighters and the creation of a Turkish parliamentary committee to oversee the peace process would be “crucial”.

“Care and sensitivity are essential,” he said, adding that details of the disarmament process would be “determined and implemented swiftly”.

Ocalan’s message was released just days before the first PKK disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq.

Back in May, the PKK had already announced it was disbanding after more than 40 years of armed struggle against the Turkish state.

The announcement came two months after Ocalan, also known as “Appo” – Kurdish for Uncle – called on the group to disarm in February.

For most of its history, the PKK has been labelled a “terrorist” group by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States.

Ocalan was born to a poor Kurdish farming family in 1948, in Omerli, Sanliurfa, a Kurdish-majority part of Turkiye.

It was after studying political science at Ankara University that he became politically active, founding the PKK in 1978.

Six years later, the group launched a separatist rebellion against Turkiye under his command.

More than 40,000 people were killed between 1984 and 2024, with thousands of Kurds fleeing the violence in southeastern Turkiye into cities further north.

Three have died as blaze continues to rage in southern coastal area of Dortyol in Hatay province, which borders Syria.

A forestry worker injured in a wildfire in the western Turkish province of Izmir has died from his injuries, raising the death toll in recent days from the fires to three, as the blaze in villages of the Odemis district was brought under control but emergency crews continued to battle one in a province bordering Syria.

Worker Ragip Sahin “who was injured while fighting the fire in Odemis and was being treated in hospital, has died”, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on Saturday in a post on X. Yumakli also said the blaze in Odemis had been brought under control by Friday evening alongside six other wildfires, mostly in western and central Turkiye.

He added that firefighters were still trying to control a blaze in the southern coastal area of Dortyol in Hatay province.

Turkiye was mostly spared the recent searing heatwaves that engulfed the rest of southern Europe, but firefighters have battled more than 600 fires since June 26 in the drought-hit nation, which have been prompted by high winds.

The fire in Odemis, about 100km (60 miles) east of the resort city of Izmir, had on Thursday killed a bedridden 81-year-old man and a backhoe operator who died while helping firefighting efforts.

In a video on X, Odemis Mayor Mustafa Turan said the fire had ravaged about 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of land. “The fire came violently to this area, there is nothing left to burn. About 5,000 hectares was reduced to ashes,” said Turan.

On Monday, rescuers evacuated more than 50,000 people to escape a string of fires.

“According to the authorities, the fires that lasted for four days started in Tusurman village … you can still see smoke coming out from this evacuated village,” said Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Odemis.

“Nothing is left in this village, no one is living here and there is nothing left to reside in. After the fires erupted due to electrical cables in this village, it quickly spread to the nearby villages on this side and then to other villages. Just on the first night [of the wildfires], authorities had to evacuate five villages,” she added.

“For citizens of Turkiye living in the valleys and forests, life is becoming more difficult every year as climate change brings more wildfires. And this year, wildfires came earlier than expected to Turkiye,” said Koseoglu.

Turkiye sends help to Syria

In the meantime, in Hatay province, which borders Syria, emergency crews continued fighting a blaze that broke out Friday afternoon in the Dortyol district near a residential area and rapidly intensified due to strong winds, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Some 920 homes had been evacuated as a precaution against the advancing flames, Governor Mustafa Musatli said late Friday.

Turkiye also sent two firefighting aircraft on Saturday to help neighbouring Syria battle wildfires in its northwest Latakia region.

Eleven fire trucks and water support vehicles were also dispatched, according to Raed al-Saleh, the Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management.

Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 44 suspects have been detained in relation to 65 fires that broke out across the country, which led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and damaged some 200 homes.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) website, there have been 96 wildfires in Turkiye this year that have ravaged more than 49,652 hectares (122,700 acres) of land.

Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkiye to take measures to tackle the problem.

No casualties in Greece as fires in southern Crete and the port of Rafina are put out; two die after blaze in western Turkiye.

A wildfire on the Greek island of Crete that forced the evacuation of 5,000 people has been extinguished, officials say.

Some 230 firefighters and six helicopters worked at the scene near the resort town of Ierapetra, where residents had to leave their homes and visitors their accommodation on Wednesday evening.

Reporting from the nearby village of Agia Fotia, Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos said there was “no active fire front” by Friday morning. Still, he added, helicopters were operating in the area to ensure there were no flare-ups.

The fire left forest trees and some olive trees burned but caused no casualties. Two local MPs told Al Jazeera efforts were under way for the return of the people who were evacuated after the blaze broke out.

Elsewhere in mainland Greece, a fire fanned by strong winds that erupted near the port town of Rafina, about 30km (18 miles) east of the capital, Athens, was brought under control on Thursday evening, authorities said.

However, firefighting crews remained on alert as winds remained strong.

The fire, which led to the evacuation of 300 people, destroyed a few houses and vehicles, local mayor Dimitris Markou told public broadcaster ERT.

It also disrupted ferries to and from tourist islands in the western Aegean Sea.

Greece has so far been spared the heatwave roasting parts of Europe, particularly Spain, Portugal and France. But starting this weekend, temperatures will rise and reach up to 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas of the country.

Two dead in Turkiye

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Turkiye, a local forestry worker was killed while trying to contain a fire near the western town of Odemis, while an 81-year-old resident died from smoke inhalation, authorities said.

These were the first deaths in a series of wildfires that have forced thousands of people to flee.

Separately, hundreds of firefighters, supported by aircraft and helicopters, were deployed to battle a wildfire near the Aegean coastal town of Cesme, a popular vacation destination about 190km (120 miles) west of Odemis.

That fire, which began on Wednesday, forced the evacuation of three neighbourhoods and led to road closures. Television footage showed flames racing through dry vegetation on both sides of a highway.

Over the past week, Turkiye has battled hundreds of wildfires fuelled by strong winds, extreme heat and low humidity.

The blazes have damaged or destroyed about 200 homes.

Hot dry weather is not unusual for Greece and Turkiye at this time of year. Devastating summer wildfires are common in both countries, with experts warning that climate change is intensifying conditions.

Izmir’s airport suspends flights, and authorities evacuate residents as strong winds fan blaze in the western province.

Turkiye has evacuated four villages and two neighbourhoods in its western province of Izmir as firefighters battle wildfires for the second day, according to local authorities.

Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on Monday that the blaze was fanned overnight by winds reaching 40-50kmph (25-30mph) in Kuyucak and Doganbey areas of Izmir.

Helicopters, fire-extinguishing aircraft and other vehicles, and more than 1,000 people were trying to extinguish the fires, Yumakli told reporters in Izmir.

Operations at Izmir Adnan Menderes airport were suspended due to the fire, Turkish media reported.

Media footage showed teams using tractors with water trailers and helicopters carrying water, as smoke billowed over hills marked with charred trees.

Earlier, strong winds grounded the helicopters, leaving two water-bombing aircraft and a large ground crew struggling to battle the flames.

The first fire broke out on Sunday between the districts of Seferihisar and Menderes in Izmir, spreading swiftly due to winds of up to 117kmph (75mph), according to Governor Suleyman Elban.

Five neighbourhoods in Seferihisar have been evacuated as the fire approaches residential areas, the governor added.

Residents in the village of Urkmez were forced to cut trees to create firebreaks and protect their homes, a witness told the AFP news agency over the phone.

A separate blaze ignited at a landfill in Gaziemir, 13km (8 miles) from central Izmir, spreading to nearby woodland and threatening the Otokent industrial zone, home to several car dealerships.

One dealership was seen ablaze in footage broadcast by Turkish channel NTV.

Turkiye’s coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires, as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists relate to climate change. Last year, the same area in Izmir was also hit by a massive wildfire.

Elsewhere

Across Southern Europe, firefighters were also mobilised as people sought shelter from the punishing temperatures of a heatwave that is set to intensify in the coming days.

In France, wildfires broke out in the Corbieres area of Aude in the southwest, where temperatures topped 40C (104F), forcing the evacuation of a campsite and abbey as a precaution.

Last week, Greek firefighters had to battle a forest blaze on the coast south of Athens that forced some evacuations.

Several areas in the southern half of Portugal, including Lisbon, were also under a red warning until Monday night, said the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere.

Moscow and Kyiv say their respective soldiers are returning home without specifying number of released prisoners.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war as the two countries continue to trade attacks, despite diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Officials in Moscow and Kyiv confirmed the swap on Thursday but did not disclose the number of prisoners released.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that the “warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service” were returning home.

“Most of them had been in captivity since 2022. We are doing everything possible to find each person, to verify the information on every name,” he said.

“We must bring all our people home. I thank everyone who is helping us in this effort.”

At the same time, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Telegram that another group of Russian soldiers had returned from Ukraine.

“Currently, Russian servicemen are on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance,” the ministry said.

The soldiers will then be taken to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation, the ministry added.

During their direct meeting in Turkiye on June 2, Russia and Ukraine pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers in one of the few points that both sides have agreed upon and shown cooperation since the war began in 2022.

But future talks to discuss a path to end the war have stalled as the gulf between Moscow and Kyiv has remained unchanged.

Russia has repeatedly said any territory it has taken during the war must be retained to achieve a ceasefire. However, Kyiv has rejected giving up its land.

Amid the latest prisoner exchange, Russian air strikes on Ukraine killed at least one person and wounded two others in the southern region of Kherson, according to the regional mayor.

Moreover, Russia announced that its forces had captured two Ukrainian villages in the Donetsk region as Ukraine’s army chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, ordered defensive lines to be built faster as Russian forces take more ground towards the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy signed an accord on Thursday with the Council of Europe to put top Russian officials on trial for the invasion of Ukraine.

Nikol Pashinyan’s visit marks Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is on a rare visit to Istanbul to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what Yerevan has described as a “historic” step towards regional peace.

The visit forms part of the two countries’ efforts to normalise ties strained over historical disputes and Ankara’s alliance with Azerbaijan, which has been in a long-simmering conflict with Armenia.

“This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Turkiye at this level. All regional issues will be discussed,” Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters on Friday. “The risks of war [with Azerbaijan] are currently minimal, and we must work to neutralise them. Pashinyan’s visit to Turkiye is a step in that direction.”

Pashinyan’s visit comes a day after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks in Turkiye with Erdogan, during which he praised the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance as “a significant factor, not only regionally but also globally”, and Erdogan reiterated his support for “the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia”.

Baku and Yerevan agreed on the text of a peace deal in March, but Baku has since outlined a host of demands, including changes to Armenia’s constitution, that it wants met before it will sign the document.

Pashinyan is scheduled to meet Erdogan at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace at 15:00 GMT, Erdogan’s office said.

An Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told the AFP news agency that the pair will discuss efforts to sign a comprehensive peace treaty.

The regional fallout from the Israel-Iran conflict, which began last Friday when Israel launched several waves of air strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and military sites, will also be discussed.

Armenia and Turkiye have never established formal diplomatic ties, and their shared border has been closed since 1993.

Attempts at normalisation

Relations between the two nations have been historically strained over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire – atrocities historians and Yerevan say amount to genocide. Turkiye rejects the label, contending that while many people died in that era, the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest.

Ankara has also backed its close ally, Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia. This region, which had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia in the late 1980s. In 2020, Turkiye backed Azerbaijan in its second war with Armenia, which ended after six weeks with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Pashinyan has actively sought to normalise relations with both Baku and Ankara.

Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys in late 2021 to lead a normalisation process, and resumed commercial flights in 2022 after a two-year pause.

Earlier this year, Pashinyan announced Armenia would halt its campaign for international recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide – a major concession to Turkiye that sparked widespread criticism at home.

Pashinyan’s first visit to Turkiye was to attend Erdogan’s inauguration in 2023.

This is Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation. Turkiye and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and open their shared border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.

It is a conflict that has the potential to ignite the entire Middle East. Israel has been attacking Iran, saying Tehran’s nuclear programme poses an existential threat.

Iran, for its part, has responded with a barrage of retaliatory attacks.

But now, what role can the global community play?

China, Russia and Turkiye have condemned Israel’s actions.

Beijing and Moscow maintain economic and political ties with both Iran and Israel.

So, what, if anything, can these powers do to end the conflict?

And is there a shift in dynamics in the region?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Barin Kayaoglu – Chair and assistant professor of American studies at the Social Sciences University of Ankara
Glenn Carle – Former CIA officer and deputy national intelligence officer for Transnational Threats at the National Intelligence Council
Nikolay Surkov – Assistant professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations

Russia has confirmed it will send a delegation to Istanbul, but Kyiv has not yet accepted the proposal.

Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, according to officials, as Ukraine ordered the evacuation of 11 more villages in its Sumy region bordering Russia.

Russian troops launched an estimated 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine on Friday and overnight, the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday, adding that three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage.

The attacks came amid uncertainty over whether Kyiv will take part in a new round of peace talks early next week in Istanbul.

In the Russian attacks on Saturday, a child was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhia region, and another was injured, Zaporizhia’s Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

“One house was destroyed. The shockwave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram.

A man was also killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

Moscow did not comment on either attack.

Meanwhile, authorities in Ukraine’s Sumy region said they were evacuating 11 villages within a roughly 30-kilometre (19-mile) range from the Russian border.

“The decision was made in view of the constant threat to civilian life as a result of shelling of border communities,” the regional administration said on social media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine’s top army chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, said on Saturday that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area.

Syrskii added that Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia’s Kursk region – a statement Moscow has repeatedly denied.

The evacuations and attacks came just two days before a possible meeting between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul, as Washington called on both countries to end the three-year war.

Russia has confirmed it will send a delegation, but Kyiv has not yet accepted the proposal, warning the talks would not yield results unless the Kremlin provided its peace terms in advance.

Zelenskyy said Saturday it was still not clear what Moscow was planning to achieve at the meeting and that so far, it did not “look very serious”.

The meeting comes after the US and the EU agreed to lift sanctions to allow the civil war-hit country to recover and rebuild.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in Istanbul as Western sanctions on Syria are lifted.

The two leaders were pictured by Turkiye’s state media shaking hands after an official reception and joining for a meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Saturday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, National Intelligence Organisation director Ibrahim Kalin, and secretary of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun were part of the talks, which were closed to the press.

Al-Sharaa, who enjoyed sweeping Turkish backing in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was accompanied by his Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

The Syrian interim leader was also received by Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, in early February, in what was his second international trip after a visit to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The two sides have been discussing deepening bilateral relations and the reconstruction of Syria, as regional allies helped convince United States President Donald Trump to lift devastating sanctions imposed on Syria.

Washington on Friday lifted the first sanctions as part of the drive announced by Trump during his regional tour earlier this month. The European Union has also followed suit, lifting economic sanctions to help with Syria’s recovery after years of civil war.

The new Syrian government has welcomed the lifting of the sanctions, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday describing the move as a “positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.

The first of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed in 1979, when Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, was in power. But they were hugely levelled up after the al-Assad government launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011, which triggered the country’s civil war.

The sanctions targeted any entity or company working with the al-Assad establishment, including those involved in rebuilding the country.

Russia and Ukraine are poised for talks in Turkiye on Thursday, even though the prospects of President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting directly for the first time in three years were dashed by the Kremlin late on Wednesday.

United States President Donald Trump, who had earlier indicated that he might join the negotiations, will also not attend, according to American officials.

Here’s what we know about the talks, what prompted them, who’s expected to attend, and why the negotiations matter:

Why are the talks being held?

On Sunday, Putin proposed the idea of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Turkiye, instead of the rounds of indirect talks that the US and others have tried to mediate between the neighbours at war. Putin referenced direct talks that took place in 2022 while pitching for their resumption.

“It was not Russia that broke off negotiations in 2022. It was Kyiv. Nevertheless, we are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” Putin said on Sunday.

In February 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after, Russia and Ukraine held talks in the Turkish capital, Istanbul.

According to Zelenskyy, the talks fell apart because Russia demanded that Ukraine concede the Donbas region, which spans Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions – parts of which Russia occupied during its invasion. Zelenskyy added that Russia wanted Ukraine to surrender long-range weaponry, make constitutional amendments to declare neutrality and significantly reduce its armed forces. “There were never any negotiations; it was an ultimatum from a murderer,” Zelenskyy said at the time.

While Zelenskyy had earlier held that any peace agreement would require Russia to give up Ukrainian territory it had occupied, in December last year, Zelenskyy said the “hot phase” of the war could end if NATO offered security guarantees for the part of Ukraine currently under Kyiv’s control.

He added that the return of land that Russia has occupied could be diplomatically negotiated later.

“The pressure that the US has exerted to attempt to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine has evolved over time,” Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera. “It appears that the most recent elements in that evolution, particularly in terms of European solidarity with Ukraine, have led Russia to engage in direct talks.”

Putin’s recent push for talks came a day after Ukraine’s four major European allies gave Putin an ultimatum to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face renewed sanctions. This ultimatum came after leaders of the European countries, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland, visited Kyiv.

They gave Putin a deadline until May 12. On Sunday, May 11, Putin – without committing to a ceasefire – said: “We are committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine. Their purpose is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict, to establish a long-term, lasting peace for the historical perspective.”

Where are they being held?

The talks are being held in the Turkish city of Istanbul, which straddles the boundary between Asia and Europe.

What role did Trump play in this?

The four European leaders – Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Poland’s Donald Tusk – said that they had briefed Trump about their ultimatum to Russia over a phone call and suggested that he was on board.

But after Putin called for direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow, Trump issued a statement on his Truth Social platform asking Ukraine to meet with Russia “immediately”.

Trump ran his campaign for the 2024 election on the promise to bring a swift end to the Ukraine war. The Trump administration held multiple meetings, starting February, with Russian and Ukrainian representatives separately in Saudi Arabia in attempts to broker a deal.

Also in April, the Trump administration indicated that it was taking a step back from providing security guarantees to Ukraine. The Trump administration said it wanted Europe to take the lead in supporting Ukraine’s defence instead, noting that the US had other priorities, including border security.

In recent weeks, however, Trump and his team, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have expressed growing frustration at the lack of meaningful progress in negotiations and have threatened to walk out of efforts to mediate peace.

Explaining his insistence that Ukraine join the May 15 Istanbul talks, Trump argued: “At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”

Who will be there?

“I supported President Trump with the idea of direct talks with Putin. I have openly expressed my readiness to meet. I will be in Turkiye. I hope that the Russians will not evade the meeting,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post on Monday.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy announced he will be in Ankara on Thursday, where he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The talks with Russia, however, are supposed to be held in Istanbul subsequently.

Trump has said he will send Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg to attend the talks in Istanbul.

Russia on Wednesday night announced its team for the meeting. Vladimir Medinsky, a close Putin aide and former culture minister who also led previous rounds of unsuccessful talks with Ukraine in 2022, will lead Moscow’s team. With him will be Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin and the director of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Igor Kostyukov.

Trump’s earlier offer to attend the talks himself had been welcomed by Kyiv. “All of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Turkiye. This is the right idea. We can change a lot,” Zelenskyy had said.

However, late on Wednesday, US officials clarified that Trump would not be attending.

The US president is currently in the Middle East, where he spent Wednesday in Qatar, after visiting Saudi Arabia a day earlier. On Thursday, Trump will be in the United Arab Emirates before returning to Washington.

What does Putin’s absence mean?

Zelenskyy had earlier said he would be present at the talks only if Putin also attended. “Putin is the one who determines everything in Russia, so he is the one who has to resolve the war. This is his war. Therefore, the negotiations should be with him,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Tuesday.

With Putin now no longer poised to attend, it is unclear if Zelenskyy will personally participate in the talks or whether he will leave it to his team to join the negotiations.

Yet, in many ways, Zelenskyy scored over Putin by throwing down the gauntlet and asking him to attend.

“Zelenskyy has presented a challenge to Russia to show that it has genuine interest; it is up to Russia whether it meets this challenge or not,” said Giles.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had also pledged to urge Putin to attend the talks.

What’s on the table?

It is difficult to predict what might specifically be discussed in the Turkiye talks.

“It would be rash to predict whether there will be any meaningful discussion at all, since the acceptable outcomes for both are still far apart,” Giles said. “Russia wants to neutralise Ukraine as an independent sovereign state, while Ukraine wants to survive.”

At the moment, Ukraine has proposed an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, while Russia has insisted that a series of its demands be accepted before it joins such a truce. Moscow said that it wants assurances over the monitoring mechanism for a ceasefire, and that a truce won’t be used by Ukraine to rearm and mobilise more soldiers. Instead, Putin has announced brief, unilateral ceasefires in recent days that Ukraine says Moscow never actually adhered to.

“We do not rule out that, during these negotiations, it will be possible to agree on some new truces, a new ceasefire and a real truce, which would be observed not only by Russia, but also by the Ukrainian side. [It] would be the first step, I repeat, to a long-term sustainable peace, and not a prologue to the continuation of the armed conflict,” Putin said on Sunday.

How significant are these talks?

Giles said that if the talks happen, “they will be a significant step forward”.

He added: “Anything that has been referred to as peace talks [ so far] has not been anything of the sort,” describing the two parallel discussions that the US has had with Russia and Ukraine.

On March 19, the US, Ukraine and Russia announced a 30-day ceasefire on attacks on Russian and Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and on March 25, they agreed on a Black Sea deal, halting the military use of commercial vessels and the use of force in the Black Sea. Both sides, however, traded blame for violating the terms of those agreements, which have now expired.