World roundup: August 10 2026
Stories from Iran, Sudan, the European Union, and elsewhere
TODAY IN HISTORY
August 10, 1270: Amhara leader Yekuno Amlak is crowned “Emperor of Ethiopia” under the regal name Tesfa Iyasus, having led a rebellion that overthrew the ruling Zagwe dynasty. Yekuno Amlak founded the Solomonic dynasty, so called because it claimed descent (absent any credible evidence) from the biblical Israelite King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The “House of Solomon” expanded Ethiopia’s borders to and beyond those of the present day nation, and ruled the empire until the military coup that ousted Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.
August 10, 1920: The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Sèvres, formally withdrawing from World War I and surrendering to the Allied Powers. The terms, which required the empire to give up not only all of its Arab territory but most of its Anatolian territory as well, were so lopsided that they quickly sparked the Turkish War of Independence. The new Republic of Turkey emerged victorious from that war, and the terms of the ensuing 1923 Treaty of Lausanne superseded Sèvres.
MIDDLE EAST
TURKEY
The Turkish parliament passed a bill granting partial amnesty/commutation to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters on Monday. As we have discussed previously, the measure suspends prison sentences for hundreds of people convicted of belonging to or aiding the PKK, though it doesn’t cover serious/violent offenses. Some 3500 prisoners could be released in an initial phase. The measure should advance the PKK peace process. However, it expressly excludes the group’s founder, Abdullah Öcalan, though the PKK is insisting that he be freed from Turkish custody. His status may be emerging as a significant sticking point in the overall process.
