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

Turkey

Turkey

November 12, 2026

Ankara 1:33 am

6°C

People walk past a Bitcoin sign at the entrance of a cryptocurrency exchange office on Nov. 8, 2024, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Watchdog urges Turkey to tighten digital asset rules for $144B crypto economy

A review of Turkey’s crypto-asset regulations by the Financial Stability Board acknowledged significant progress made by local authorities but called for further measures to address potential risks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Central Bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu attend a signing ceremony with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on Nov. 24, 2021. ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s banking watchdog chief submits resignation amid fund scandal

Turkey’s government is facing growing criticism over regulators’ failure to prevent a fund scandal involving more than $20 billion.

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.

Latest News

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

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Steel factory explosion in western Turkey kills at least 16

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)

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

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

Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) speaks with her daughter Sumeyye Erdogan, during the 125th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Buenos Aires, on September 7, 2013. The host of the 2020 Olympic Games will be contested between Tokyo and Istanbul in a second round of voting after Madrid was eliminated in dramatic fashion from the race after the first round of voting by International Olympic Committee (IOC) members. AFP PHOTO / DANIEL GARCIA (Photo credit should re

Is Erdogan's daughter running for office?

Critics say an effort to shield Turkey's first family from corruption investigations lies behind the expected move to win President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's daughter a seat in Ankara.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the media at the Presidential Palace in Ankara January 12, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4L5BP

Erdogan aims to create stronger presidential system

The ruling Justice and Development Party needs sufficient votes in June to draft a constitution that fulfills President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s dream of becoming Turkey’s sole leader.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters ride their vehicles along a road on Mount Sinjar December 22, 2014. On Sunday, Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the Sinjar back from Islamic State after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it. Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in Islamic State's surprise offensive in August. Picture taken December 22, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4J2WC

Kurdish rivalry delays victory in Sinjar

Kurdish forces celebrated a joint victory at Kobani, but they have become rivals in the fight against the Islamic State in the Mount Sinjar area.

Supporters hold up a portrait of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan while waving Turkish and AK Party (AKP) flags during an election rally in Istanbul March 23, 2014. Erdogan, rallying hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters in Istanbul, said on Sunday that political enemies accusing him of corruption would be crushed by their own immorality. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3I96X

What turned Erdogan against the West?

The Turkish ruling party’s fast-rising anti-Western rhetoric may be a reaction to Western “meddling in our domestic affairs” rather than opposition to the West’s “imperialist” foreign policy.

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos leaves the Syriza offices after a meeting with Syriza's leader on January 26, 2015. The small Greek nationalist Independent Greeks party will join a coalition government under anti-austerity party Syriza, their leader said on January 26, 2015. "From this moment on there is a government, we will give a vote of confidence to the new prime minister," Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos said after meeting Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, the winner of Sunday's general

Ankara turns wary eye on Greece's new defense minister

Greece's new Defense Minister Kammenos led the Turkish and Greek navies and air forces into an unfriendly confrontation on Jan. 30, in what Ankara hopes was a one-time provocation.

Syrian refugees who live in the streets stand in a public garden in central Ankara on November 23, 2014. There are about 2 million Syrian refugees who fled the civil war in their country living in Turkey . AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Beating exposes brutal realities for Turkey's street children

Turkey has made tremendous progress in lowing child mortality, but poverty leaves Kurdish and Syrian refugee children vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.

Israeli soldiers stand on concrete blocks near the border with Lebanon January 29, 2015. Israel and Hezbollah signalled on Thursday their rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria last week. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR4NHGX

Hezbollah, Israel claim victory, reset deterrence

Nasrallah steps back from confrontation with Israel after attack; Iran sanctions in perspective; Netanyahu plan may backfire; Kurdish victory in Kobani a setback for Turkey; Are Iraqi Kurdish land grabs sowing future conflict?

Human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney arrives to attend a hearing at the European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, January 28, 2015. Clooney and her colleague Robertson will represent Armenia during a hearing on the case of Dogu Perincek, Chairman of the Turkish Workers Party, against Switzerland. Perincek was found guilty of racial discrimination by a Swiss Police Court for having publicly denied the characterisation of genocide, without calling into question the existence of massacres and deporta

Amal Clooney attracts attention at Armenian genocide trial

The case before the European Court of Human Rights concerns the right of Dogu Perincek, the leader of the Turkish Workers Party, to deny that Armenians had suffered a genocide.

Turkey’s Central Bank caves on interest rates

Under fire from the government and the president, Turkey’s Central Bank has abandoned its cautious approach and moved to lower interest rates.

Demonstrators hold placards with some featuring a picture of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a protest against internet censorship in Istanbul May 15, 2011. Thousands of people marched in central Istanbul to protest against the government's plan to filter the internet. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) TEMPLATE OUT - RTR2MG6Y

Why is Turkey censoring lingerie, antique books?

Turkey's Web watchdog is turning into a "wicked" censorship monster that can arbitrarily target any website, from global prosperity indexes to LGBT forums.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (L) receives a gift from Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (R) after addressing a joint news conference in Somalia's capital Mogadishu January 25, 2015. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan travelled to the Somali capital Mogadishu under heavy security on Sunday, making his second visit in four years to promise further investment in the country as it struggles to rebuild after two decades of conflict. REUTERS/Feisal Omar (SOMALIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4MTPA

Erdogan's Africa tour

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose aspirations for regional leadership have failed, has begun trying to acquire leadership of the Islamic world on his Africa tour.

People gather to celebrate in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, after Kurdish forces said they took full control of the Syrian town of Kobani, January 27, 2015. Kurdish forces battled Islamic State fighters outside Kobani on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, a day after Kurds said they took full control of the northern Syrian town following a four-month battle. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4N6SW

Kurdish victory in Kobani defeat for Turkish policy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressly ruled out the northern Iraq model for Syria's Kurds.