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Turkey

Turkey

November 11, 2026

Ankara 4:32 pm

11°C

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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

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during his meeting with mukhtars at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, November 26, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX1VY0U

Turkey lobbyists bring Ankara’s war with Gulen to Washington

Ankara has hired a British law firm to go after Erdogan’s main rival in his self-imposed US exile.

Turkey-Israel dialogue works 'miracle' for Istanbul’s Jews

Turkey’s Jews hold an unprecedented public celebration of Hanukkah amid renewed efforts to normalize Turkish-Israeli ties.

Demonstrators cover their faces as they clash with riot police during a protest against the curfew in Sur district, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, December 14, 2015. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a protest against a security crackdown in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Monday, witnesses said, while curfews were declared elsewhere in the region. Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has been beset by unrest in recent months as security forces battle Kurdi

Are clashes spreading to western Turkey?

If pressure on the PKK becomes too intense in the clashes in the southeast, there are signs the group might mobilize its proxies to spread violence to western Turkey.

Despite strict alcohol regulations, taverna culture alive in Turkey

Despite increasing alcohol prices and draconian regulations for alcohol licenses, traditional and modern versions of meyhanes are flourishing, offering Turks a place to gather and share raki.

Holidaymakers rest at a beach in the resort town of Bodrum July 14, 2014. As families splash in the sea and lounge in the sun, thoughts of politics and civic duty are a world away for most Turks holidaying on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Only the most committed opponents of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan leave the beach to queue in a sweltering council building nearby to register to vote in next month's presidential election to prevent what they see as the country's slide towards authoritarianism. Th

Why Turkey’s beaches, hard liquor are losing allure among Iranians

The deteriorating security situation in eastern Turkey coupled with Ankara's hostile rhetoric toward Iran is decreasing the allure of Turkey's liberal beach resorts among Iranians.

Turkey’s foreign policy prospects for 2016 not so promising

Analysts say the AKP government has itself to blame for Turkey’s loss of prestige and influence in its region, where it has more rivals than friends today.

Amid financial hardship, Erdogan looks to Qatar as 'rich daddy'

Turkey’s leadership, increasingly isolated in the region amid spats with Russia and Iraq, knocks on the doors of Israel and Qatar, with the latter providing much-needed foreign investment.

Cyberattacks reveal Turkey’s weaknesses

Computer servers in Turkey have been the targets of a major cyberattack for the past two weeks.

Turkey goes all in on drones

Ankara is rushing to manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles for economic, political and military reasons, but Turkey needs to develop a drone doctrine and consider the ethical ramifications before their use proliferates.

War-weary Kurds return to bunkers in Cizre

Kurdish residents of a town cut off from the outside world tell Al-Monitor of their "primitive" existence in basement shelters as Turkish soldiers and police battle Kurdish militants entrenched in residential areas.

Turkey's religious conservatives bemoan 'dangers of Christmas'

Christmas and New Year's festivities have become an indication of hard-core religious conservatives’ fear of increasing secularization in Turkey.

Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra drive a tank on Al-Khazan frontline of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province May 17, 2014. REUTERS/Hamid Khatib (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3PM99

Jordan’s Syria blacklist blasted by key players

Wide criticism has already emerged of the Jordanian list of terrorist groups in Syria, and some observers believe the initiative never had a chance.