Turkey - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Turkey

Turkey

June 11, 2026

Ankara 12:30 pm

24°C

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan buttons up his jacket during a press conference after the conclusion of the G20 Leaders' Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on November 23, 2025.

Explainer

Turkey-Israel tensions flare over Syria, Lebanon, East Med: What to know

The Turkish president has accused Israel of threatening Turkey through its military actions in Syria, Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean, triggering a sharp exchange with the Israeli prime minister.

Aamir QURESHI / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Turkey names new envoys to Iran, Oman, Qatar in regional reshuffle

Turkey’s latest ambassadorial changes mark a partial return to career diplomacy in Tehran and the Gulf as Ankara maintains a balancing act amid the Iran war.

Latest News

Analysis

Turkey's probe into pro-secular tycoon goes beyond crude Kurdish joke

Rahmi Koc

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Explainer

Saudi Arabia, Turkey advance plans to revive historic Hejaz Railway

An old locomotive sits outside the Hejaz rail station in old Damascus on February 23, 2010. The Hejaz railway ran from Damascucs to Medina in Saudi Arabia and was part of the Ottoman railway network. AFP PHOTO/LOUAI BESHARA (Photo credit should read LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Will Pashinyan’s victory in Armenia be enough to unlock peace with Turkey, Azerbaijan?

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Sept. 24, 2024.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

A journalist stands in front of a poster featuring jailed businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala during a press conference of his lawyers on October 31, 2018. - Osman Kavala was arrested a year ago by Turkish authorities and has still to be charged with an offence. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Still no charges for Turkey's top philanthropist after year behind bars

Turkish philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala has spent a year behind bars, but the judiciary has yet to explain why he's still in jail.

U.S. President Donald Trump closes his eyes in prayer along with Pastor Andrew Brunson, after his release from two years of Turkish detention, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, U.S., October 13, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Theiler TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC18ECD30AF0

Intel: How Turkey sanctions relief risks leaving remaining US prisoners out to dry

PA, Turkey closer than ever

The death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi seems to have strengthened Turkey's position in the regional competition with Saudi Arabia.

Turkish prosecutor shares grisly details of Khashoggi killing

Turkey is pressing on with its campaign to force the kingdom to admit its culpability in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan leave after a news conference at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch - RC1176EAE300

Is the Turkish-German spring illusive?

Turkey and Germany are demonstrating willingness to set aside political rows and focus on economic ties, but the thaw in the relationship guarantees neither the investments Turkey expects nor the solution of accumulated problems.

Jailed businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala's lawyers attend a press conference on October 31, 2018 to ask Osman Kavala's release, - Osman Kavala was arrested a year ago by Turkish authorities and has still to be charged with an offence. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Lawyers demand freedom for Turkey's Osman Kavala after year in prison

Turkey’s best-known public intellectual Osman Kavala has been held in pre-trial detention without even an indictment in what his lawyers believe constitutes “torture” and observers say is an attempt to stifle dissent.

A crane is seen at the construction site of a new building in Zeytinburnu, a middle-class residential neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey September 24, 2018. Picture taken September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RC1742CAB9D0

Turkey’s crisis-hit construction sector threatens big fallout

Once a driving force of economic growth, Turkey’s construction sector is among the first victims of the country’s economic turmoil, threatening a contagion effect on an array of other sectors.

The U.S. flag flutters on a military vehicle in Manbej countryside, Syria May 12, 2018. REUTERS/Aboud Hamam - RC1B2D4114E0

Northern Syria heats up as next likely US-Turkey flashpoint

Despite speculation that Turkey and the United States might repair their tense relations now that one key issue is settled, an Erdogan adviser called Turkey's shelling east of the Euphrates River “a friendly message to the US.”

Saudi public prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb arrives at Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 30, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RC1ECBB267E0

Intel: Why Turkey refuses to share Khashoggi evidence with Saudis

Turkey holds evidence back from Saudi investigators as it tries to get Riyadh to extradite suspects and reveal the location of Khashoggi's body.

One vote, three corpses

How a referendum in Turkey tore apart a village and a family

A picture taken on April 30, 2018 shows an electoral banner for the Iraqi Turkmen Front hanging beneath the flags of Iraq (L) and the Iraqi Turkmen (C, white crescent and stars on a blue background) above a pedestrian crossing in the oil-rich and multi-ethnic northern city of Kirkuk. - The past seven months have seen a dramatic turn of events in Kirkuk, the "Jerusalem of Kurdistan", where hopes of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan were dashed after Baghdad retaliated against a referendum held in September. (

Why Iraqi Turkmens are excluded from the new government

Iraqi Turkmens say they have been excluded from the new Iraqi government because they refuse to follow a sectarian approach to politics.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, his wife Emine Erdogan and officials make a virtual plane take off during the official opening ceremony of Istanbul's new airport, in Istanbul, Turkey, October 29, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RC189236A290

Erdogan inaugurates Istanbul’s new airport as 'monument to victory'

The airport is set to eventually become the world’s biggest, making Turkey a global transportation hub, but critics lament the environmental and economic costs as well as the plight of the laborers who built it.