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Turkey

Turkey

December 15, 2025

Ankara 4:29 pm

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Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides signs documents with Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport Fayez Rasamny, as Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, looks on during an agreement signing ceremony at the presidential palace of Baabda, east of Beirut, on Nov. 26, 2025.

Analysis

As Turkey’s East Med isolation deepens, will Ankara seek maritime Syria deal?

Lebanon-Cyprus maritime agreements have further increased Turkey and Turkish Cypriots’ isolation in the Eastern Mediterranean amid growing Cypriot-Greek-Israeli alignment.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

This picture taken on Aug. 23, 2019 in Istanbul shows a view of Turkish General Directorate of Mineral research and Exploration's (MTA) Oruc Reis seismic research vessel docked at Haydarpasa port, which searches for hydrocarbon, oil, natural gas and coal reserves at sea.

Analysis

Turkey moves into Somalia’s untapped oil, raises stakes in Horn of Africa

Turkey’s plan to start drilling in 2026 marks its most assertive bid yet to secure a strategic foothold in Somalia, as Mogadishu continues to fight an Islamist insurgency.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP via Getty Images

Ankara open to US mediation role in Turkey-Greece row with conditions: Source

A Turkish source told Al-Monitor that Ankara could be receptive to the idea of the US playing a role in easing tensions with Greece.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 07: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (L) talks to U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump is meeting with Netanyahu to discuss ongoing efforts to release Israeli hostages from Gaza and newly imposed U.S. tariffs. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Exclusive

Inside Netanyahu’s pressure campaign to block Turkey, Saudi Arabia from acquiring F-35s

On Dec. 1, Netanyahu met in his Jerusalem office with Frank St. John, chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin, lead contractor for the F-35's production.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Latest News

Turkey, US push toward $100B trade goal as Bolat heads to Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office at the White House on September 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump has signaled that the U.S. might lift a ban on F-35 sales to Turkey during Erdogan's first visit to the White House since 2019. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Analysis

Five ways Turkey could get back into US F-35 fighter jet program

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter takes off during an air show at the Teknofest festival at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Sept. 17, 2019.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Analysis

Differences over Hamas, Turkey and Iran overshadow Netanyahu-Trump summit

US President Donald Trump (L) greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the West Wing of the White House, Washington, Sept. 29, 2025.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

An undated photo shows a Kizilelma unmanned fighter jet taking flight.

Analysis

Turkey's Kizilelma fighter jet redefines capability in air warfare: What to know

The unmanned fighter jet logged the first such strike by a drone against another drone in flight, underscoring Ankara’s ambition for next-generation aircraft.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

WALL: Ipek Duben's works at Galerist (Photo, courtesy of Gallerist).

Culture

Turkish artist Ipek Duben’s early years return to the wall

In solo exhibition “'70-,” Istanbul-born artist Ipek Duben opens the files she once kept to herself, tracing the foundations of a five-decade career shaped by identity, power, gender and belonging.

Syrian Kurds lift placards and flags during a rally calling for an autonomous administration and Kurdish rights in Syria's predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Qamishli, on Sept. 17, 2025.

Ankara: Jailed PKK chief favors unitary Syria, no separate Kurdish defense force

The militant leader called for “police-like” security units in Syrian Democratic Forces areas during his landmark meeting with a Turkish parliamentary delegation, according to a transcript summary.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Turkey defense firms break record with $10B in revenues: SIPRI

Turkey set a new record with five companies in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's Top 100 for 2024, which included nine Middle Eastern countries for the first time amid conflict-driven arms demand.

A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City, on Sept. 6, 2025.

Interview

UNRWA plans Turkey office to boost Gaza, Syria aid as pledges dip

Speaking exclusively to Al-Monitor, UNRWA’s Tamara Alrifai said the upcoming Turkey office would help the agency to expand its operations not only in Gaza but also in Syria.

Tamara Alrifai

Cagri Izdar's mix of miniatures, puppets and and dance macabre (Photo Baris Ozcetin/Offgrid)

Culture

Young artists pull traditional Turkish art into zeitgeist

A new generation of young artists in Istanbul is transforming traditional Turkish arts — from miniature to tile — into sharp contemporary tools for exploring dystopia, environmental anxiety and social fragmentation.

Mansour Abbas, head of Israel's conservative Islamic Raam party, speaks to the press before casting his ballot at a polling station in the northern Israeli village of Maghar on November 1, 2022. - Israelis began voting in their fifth election in less than four years, with veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu campaigning for a comeback alongside far-right allies. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Trump’s Muslim Brotherhood move reignites Israel’s battle over Raam

Israeli officials hailed the decision by President Donald Trump to start the designation process of Muslim Brotherhood chapters, though the move risks generating havoc within Israeli politics.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Kurdish official Aldar Khalil, who played a key role in establishing Syria's semiautonomous Kurdish region in 2013, during an interview in Qamishli on Dec. 22, 2018.

Exclusive

Top PYD official Aldar Khalil: 'Syria is telling Kurds to separate'

Al-Monitor spoke exclusively to Aldar Khalil, a member of the executive council of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), which shares power in the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, about the halted talks between Syria’s transitional government and the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets Pope Leo XIV during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Ankara, Nov. 27, 2025.

In first foreign visit, Pope Leo meets Erdogan, urges Turkey to uphold pluralism

On his inaugural foreign visit to Turkey, Pope Leo called for respect for pluralism after meeting with the Turkish president.