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

Turkey

Turkey

November 11, 2026

Ankara 12:49 pm

9°C

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Explainer

Iran war pushes up coal use, complicating Turkey’s COP31 pledge

Turkey is asking world leaders at COP31 to back a global push to use more electricity, even as the Iran war has driven up natural gas prices and pushed some power producers back to coal.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey bars MP’s wife from travel after his fund scandal criticism: What to know

Opposition politicians and rights advocates described Yonca Verdioglu Sik’s brief detention as an attempt to intimidate her husband, opposition lawmaker Ahmet Sik, over his criticism of the government.

A steel worker works in front of giant iron melting pot in Kardemir Iron and Steel Factory in Karabuk, northwestern Turkey, Aug. 26 2005. (TARIK TINAZAY/AFP via Getty Images)

Steel factory explosion in western Turkey kills at least 16

Footage from the scene showed a huge plume of thick smoke spreading into the sky as flames engulfed a tall structure within the plant.

Latest News

Analysis

Will Democrats block Trump’s push to deliver Turkey F-35s, lift sanctions?

MEHMET ESER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Costa Rica's Grynspan extends lead in UNSG poll as Nusseibeh places fourth

United Arab Emirates

Turkey’s parliament ratifies Mecca pact in boost to Saudi Arabia

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses Turkish members of parliament during the opening of the parliamentary session at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, on Oct. 1, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

How Turkey's spies found new ways to escape oversight

Even as rumors continue as to who will replace Hakan Fidan, Turkey's national intelligence chief, the Turkish spy has found ways to expand his political power.

Erdogan engineers his own conquest of Istanbul

The 563rd celebration of Istanbul's conquest was overblown, much like the omnipresent pictures of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's head on giant posters.

Turkey faces multiple dilemmas in Syria

Ankara’s Kurdish phobia underlies its inability to come up with realistic strategies that will also serve its own long-term security interests.

Turkey's latest 'civilian coup'

A civilian takeover of the top management of OYAK, a company owned by Turkish military personnel, has raised questions.

Children inspect a damaged site after explosions hit a bus station in the Syrian city of Jableh May 23, 2016. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki - RTSFL9Y

Can US, Turkey keep up appearances in Syria?

Russia weighs escalation in Syria; CENTCOM commander seeks to balance Turkey, Syrian Kurds in campaign against Islamic State; return to Sur.

Can raw meat dish rescue Turkey from export slump?

By aggressively marketing raw “meat” ball appetizers to Europe and China, Turkey hopes to find new sources of foreign currency.

Is this the last nail in coffin of women, minors' rights in Turkey?

An AKP-led parliamentary commission releases a draft report on how to protect the sanctity of the family in Turkey by providing controversial suggestions.

Back home after clashes, Kurds in Turkey's Sur find only debris

Some look for their homes, others for the bodies of relatives as Kurdish civilians are finally allowed to return to devastated neighborhoods in Diyarbakir after months of clashes between Kurdish militants and the security forces.

How Turkey plans to boost home sales to foreigners

Preparations are underway to offer work permits in addition to residency to buyers of real estate in Turkey, and citizenship could be next on the table.

Meral Aksener (C), former interior minister and a lawmaker from Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), stands before the security barriers as police seal off a hotel, preventing dissidents from holding a party congress, in Ankara, Turkey, May 15, 2016. REUTERS/Tumay Berkin - RTSEDGJ

This woman may be biggest opposition to Erdogan

Meral Aksener, a rare female heavyweight in Turkish politics, may be the long-awaited leader to thwart Erdogan’s authoritarian ambitions.

Why an old-fashioned novel is trending among Turkey's youth

A romantic Turkish novel first published in 1943 has finally been translated into English this month after becoming a social media sensation, coinciding with the third anniversary of the Gezi Park protests that shook Turkey and its ruling party.

Fighters from the Democratic Forces of Syria drive to position themselves in Ghazila village after taking control of the town from Islamic State forces in the southern countryside of Hasaka, Syria February 17, 2016. Picture taken February 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTX27JLU

US, Kurds to clear path toward Raqqa, with or without Turkey

Because of Turkey's objections to Kurdish involvement, operational plans against the Islamic State keep changing.