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

Turkey

Turkey

November 12, 2026

Ankara 9:05 pm

14°C

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his son Bilal Erdogan (R) stay on the stage during Istanbul Youth Festival in Istanbul on May 4, 2017.

Explainer

Bilal Erdogan, floated as father’s possible successor, visits Lebanon: What to know

Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is in Lebanon for a three-day visit that will include meetings with officials and religious leaders, as well as stops in Sunni-majority cities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh of Libya on the sidelines of the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Antalya, Turkey, on Nov. 12, 2026.

Turkey hosts Libya’s Hifter, Erdogan meets Tripoli PM as unity push gains pace

Ankara is expanding ties with Libya’s eastern leadership while seeking to protect its agreements with Tripoli under a potential power-sharing arrangement.

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.

Latest News

Turkey’s banking watchdog chief submits resignation amid fund scandal

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

Explainer

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

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

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

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

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

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry steps out of an SUV as he prepares to depart from the Mukataa following a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah July 19, 2013. REUTERS/ Mandel Ngan/Pool (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11S5Q

Kerry’s Best Kept Secret On the Middle East

The US uses its “invisible hand” for the latest mini-breakthrough in Israel.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addresses the media in Ankara June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX10M6J

Ankara Warns Against Kurdish Autonomy in Syria

While the Kurdistan Democratic Union (PYD) takes control of Syrian territory close to the Turkish border, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warns Kurds against declaring an autonomous Kurdistan.

An oil tanker passes through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea in Istanbul September 1, 2012. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: ENERGY MARITIME) - RTR37D2S

Turkey Adds Fuel to Fight Of Iraqi Kurds for Independence

Despite Turkey’s age-old fear of Kurdish independence in contiguous regions near its border, energy ties are growing between Turkey and Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

People sit outside a cafe in Baghdad December 1, 2011. The last 13,000 U.S. troops will pull out of Iraq by the end of the year. Violence in the country has dropped sharply since the heights of sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007, but at least 10 people were killed in a bombing just north of the capital Baghdad. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT SOCIETY) - RTR2UPPL

New Religious Campaign Targets Baghdad's Cafes

Authorities in Baghdad have begun to encroach on personal freedoms, closing cafes even when they only serve coffee and tea after Ramadan fasting is over.

An Egyptian holds a banner against President Mohammed Morsi, comparing him with Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo October 19, 2012. Hundreds of Egyptian liberals and leftists rallied in Cairo on Friday to demand that Islamists stop foisting their ideas upon society, saying the days of one-party rule ended with the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR39C52

Reality Check For Egypt’s Revolution

The co-founder of Egypt’s Al Dostor, National Association for Change and El Ghad Parties argues that the new government is on the right path of compromise.

Turkey Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a conference in Ankara, June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX10S1B

No Longer 'Sick Man,' Turkey Is Lonely, Tired

Just as it was branded as the “sick man of Europe" in the 19th century, Turkey is now called the “lonely man of Middle East,” spelling serious consequences for the entire regional system.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani (L) talk as they hold a joint news conference in Baghdad, July 7, 2013. Barzani visited Baghdad on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in a symbolic step to resolve disputes between the central government and the autonomous region over land and oil. The visit follows an equally rare trip by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who met Barzani in Kurdistan last month, breaking ice between leaders who have repeated

Iraqi MP: Maliki, Barzani Close to Solving Oil Dispute

Rapport between Baghdad and Erbil seems relatively warm as the two governments continue to settle oil disputes.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul (R) wave as they arrive at a groundbreaking ceremony for the third Bosphorus bridge linking the European and Asian sides of Istanbul May 29, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION POLITICS) - RTX1050K

Erdogan's Symbolism Might Spell Trouble With Arabs

A series of statements and actions by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and AKP members could sound ominous if their symbolism is understood.

Indonesian workers ready to fly to Saudi Arabia to work as maids wait at a shelter during a police inspection in Bekasi, Indonesia's West Java province, June 22, 2011. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decide to apply a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia be effect on August 1 after a 54-year-old Indonesian maid was beheaded on Saturday, convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, Yudhoyono said on Thursday on a live TV broadcast. Picture taken June 22, 2011. REUTERS/Sulth

Maid in Saudi Arabia

Human trafficking and abuse of domestic workers continue in the kingdom.

Anti-government protesters, who call themselves ''anti-capitalist Muslims'', shout slogans during a demonstration in Istanbul June 23, 2013. The European Union is on the verge of scrapping a new round of membership talks with Turkey, a move that would further undermine Ankara's already slim hopes of joining the bloc and damage its relations with Brussels. Germany, the EU's biggest economic power, is blocking efforts to revive Turkey's EU membership bid, partly because of its handling of anti-government prot

Why Turkey Has 'Anti-Capitalist Muslims'

İhsan Eliaçık, the group's leader, believes that the Islamic duty is not just caring for the poor, but overthrowing the capitalist “system” that he thinks makes them poor.

Protesters shout slogans as they block the main Istiklal street in central Istanbul late July 8, 2013. Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon on Monday at protesters who tried to defy a closure order and enter an Istanbul park at the centre of protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Gezi Park was only open for a few hours after Istanbul's governor allowed people back in, following often violent protests last month against plans to redevelop the area, when riot police ordered it s

Turkey’s 'Erdogan Problem'

Although Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in September 2012 that he won’t run for parliamentary office again, his decisions on his next step will determine the future of Turkish politics.

People walk past a display board at a currency exchange office in Istanbul July 11, 2013. Turkey's central bank faced calls on Thursday to raise interest rates to steady the embattled lira despite political pressure from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to keep rates low - a dilemma which could put the bank's credibility at stake. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTX11JW3

Erdogan Flips on Turkey’s 'Interest Lobby'

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had blamed the “interest lobby,” or domestic and foreign financial institutions, for the Gezi Park protests, but now he is raising interest rates.