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

Turkey

Turkey

July 2, 2026

Ankara 1:01 pm

32°C

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud speaks during the launch of an offshore energy exploration at the port in Mogadishu on April 10, 2026.

Turkish jets strike al-Shabab targets in Somalia: What to know

A Somali Defense Ministry statement initially said Turkish F-16s carried out strikes on Al-Shabab targets before a later version referred only to “international partners.”

Syrian textile employees work in a textile workshop in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Jan. 30, 2025.

Explainer

Turkey eases job rules for 1M+ Syrians under temporary protection: What to know

The move, part of a broader easing of restrictions on Syrians living in Turkey, could allow roughly 1.1 million working-age Syrians to enter registered employment more easily as Ankara seeks to reduce informal labor and address workforce gaps.

KAREN MINASYAN / AFP via Getty Images

Turkey, Azerbaijan slam Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition as Yerevan mum

Ankara accused Israel of weaponizing history as Armenia avoided public comment amid delicate regional diplomacy.

Latest News

Analysis

Why Turkey and Egypt are deepening military ties amid regional turmoil

From (L-R) Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attend a meeting in Cairo on June 21, 2026.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Explainer

Israel's Armenian genocide recognition marks new front against Turkey

Members of the Jerusalem Armenian community hold placards as they march during commemorations for the 94th anniversary of mass killings of their kin under the Ottoman Empire, Jerusalem's Old City, April 24, 2009.

Trump hints at F-35 breakthrough with Turkey ahead of NATO summit

One of the first three US-made F-35 aircraft in Polish Air Force colors taxis along the runway at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Lask, central Poland, while fire-fighting vehicles perform a water salute on May 22, 2026.

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

Erdogan’s dictator defense

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responding to critics who label him a “dictator,” can improve his image by giving up practices that generate criticism.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters during his visit in Cologne May 24, 2014. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3QNX8

Turkey's Erdogan obsession

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's team should see that the hateful "Erdogano-centricity" of which they complain is mostly of Erdogan's making.

A picture taken on May 23, 2013 shows a beat-up and bruised doll diplayed during an exhibition that aims at raising public awareness of child abuse at Tel Avivs Rabin Square, Israel. AFP PHOTO/DAVID BUIMOVITCH (Photo credit should read DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images)

Child murders traumatize Turkey

A government proposal to toughen penalties for child abuse has failed to soothe public outrage in Turkey amid a surge in deadly violence against children.

A combination photo of a Turkish riot policeman using tear gas against a woman as people protest against the destruction of trees in a park brought about by a pedestrian project, in Taksim Square in central Istanbul May 28, 2013.In her red cotton summer dress, necklace and white bag slung over her shoulder she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party; but before her crouches a masked policeman firing teargas spray that sends her long hair billowing upwards. Endlessly shared on social media

Gezi anniversary reminder of Erdogan's nine lives

The one-year anniversary of the Gezi Park protests is another reminder of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's durability despite a series of crises.

Circassian men wearing traditional clothes pose for a photograph in a tea field during the visit of a delegation of diaspora Circassians in Golovinka, near Sochi October 15, 2013. Circassians are a people indigenous to the North Caucasus region, most of whom were scattered across the globe by a 19th century tsarist military campaign that caused the deaths of huge numbers. Many Circassians have called for the killings to be recognised as genocide, and have campaigned against the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, s

Turkey's Circassians jangle Russian nerves

Circassians in Turkey have grown bolder in speaking out about their 19th-century suffering and exile, irritating Russia and straining diaspora organizations.

Palestinian labourers wait to cross into Israel at dawn at Hashmonaim checkpoint near the West Bank village of Nilin, west of Ramallah March 14, 2013. Israel's system of checkpoints and restrictions in the occupied West Bank inflicts long-term damage on Palestinians' ability to compete in the global market, the World Bank said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - RTR3EYTV

Israel pushes West Bank toward economic disaster

Turning the West Bank into the economic twin of the Gaza Strip will provoke new threats to Israel's security, which is why the US administration leans toward cooperating with the new Palestinian unity government.

A security checkpoint guarded by Syrian Kurd Asaish officers (R) is seen at Derik in Al-Hasakah October 31, 2012. Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani warned Kurds in Syria against being sucked into the "fires of discord," urging them to preserve Kurdish unity as tensions between rival factions threaten to spillover into violence. Syria's Kurds see the war ravaging their country as an unprecedented opportunity to gain the kind of freedoms enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighbouring Iraq, where they live a

Syrian Kurdish mother killed at Turkish border

The killing of Saadet Dervis of Rojava by Turkish soldiers in front of her children while trying to cross the border into Syria has led to new scrutiny of Turkey’s Syria policy.

A view shows the Standard & Poor's building in New York's financial district February 5, 2013. The U.S. government is seeking more than $5 billion in a lawsuit against rating agency Standard & Poor's over mortgage bond ratings, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday. The civil suit against S&P and its parent McGraw-Hill Cos Inc is the first federal enforcement action against a credit rating agency over alleged illegal behavior related to the 2007-2009 U.S. financial crisis. REUTERS/Brendan McDerm

S&P dashes Turkey’s hopes, again

Standard & Poor's defies expectations for a positive revision of Turkey’s economic outlook, adding fresh chill to its troubled relations with Ankara.

A woman walks past a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) campaign poster for Iraq's parliamentary elections in Sulaimaniya April 28, 2014. Picture taken April 28, 2014. To match IRAQ-ELECTION/KURDS REUTERS/Jacob Russell (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3N0GU

Would PUK cut separate deal with Maliki?

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) did well in the Iraqi national elections, and may be flirting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to strengthen its hand in Iraqi Kurdish politics.

Supreme leaders of Iran, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khameni (R), are seen on the top of a hill from the Turkish side of the border near the Esendere crossing between Turkey and Iran on June 25, 2012 in Yuksekova, a district of the Turkish province of Hakkari. AFP PHOTO/BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/GettyImages)

Turkey locked in regional rivalry with Iran, Saudi Arabia

Differences over Egypt and Syria are far from resolved, despite some feints at strengthening regional cooperation.

Israeli soldiers stand on a field overlooking Syria in the Golan Heights March 19, 2014. Israel launched air strikes on Wednesday against Syrian military sites in response to a roadside bombing that wounded four of its soldiers, but both sides signalled they were not seeking further escalation. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3HQDT

Israel adjusts to Syrian insurgents on Golan border

Israel is assessing the consequences and contingencies for dealing with Syrian insurgents on its northern border and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's holding on to power.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY PHILIPPE ALFROY
A view of a vineyard near the Tamay Wine House on the island of Bozcaada in Turkey on September 4 ,2013. Off the coast from the mythical city of Troy, the Turkish island of Bozcaada has an ancient tradition of wine making that is both a source of cultural pride and important for local tourism. However many people on the wine-producing island feel their culture is now threatened by the conservative AKP ruling party's new legislation on alcohol which amongst other meas

Are Greeks returning to Turkey?

Ankara’s softening minority policies have encouraged several Greek families to return to their native lands in Turkey, but a genuine reconciliation requires farther-reaching steps.