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Turkey

Turkey

May 10, 2026

Ankara 3:32 pm

23°C

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 06: A man poses for a photograph in front of the newly unveiled, Turkish made intercontinental ballistic missile Yildirimhan at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. The International Defence and Aerospace Exhibition, showcased Turkish and foreign companies new products and technology. The expo was dominated by UAV products as modern warfare increasingly shifts to drone and unmanned technologies. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Analysis

From drones to deterrence: Turkey's ICBM missile signals bigger ambitions

Turkey’s planned test of a 6,000-kilometer missile could boost Ankara’s defense industry prestige, strengthen its deterrence messaging and feed a powerful domestic narrative of technological self-reliance, but it also raises questions about cost, timing and NATO protection.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

How ‘dog mom’ vacuum cleaner ad sparked culture war in Turkey

A Mother’s Day advertisement featuring a “dog mom” triggered a backlash from conservative media, government officials and regulators, turning a soft consumer campaign into a flashpoint over motherhood, declining birth rates, stray dogs and even antisemitism.

Latest News

Turkey, Japan launch defense industry partnership with eye on drones

People look at a drone on display at the Baykar exhibit at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Saudi FM in Turkey as Ankara, Riyadh step up coordination amid Iran war

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara, May 6, 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

Russia treads lightly in Syrian deadlock

Moscow is reacting with marked restraint to the escalation around Ain Issa, even seeming to play along with Ankara, though Turkey and the Syrian National Army have no reason to conduct offensive operations in the area.

Mountain of debt growing under the rug in Turkey

Turkey’s loan expansion has helped resuscitate the economy, but at the expense of an alarming surge in consumer and corporate debt.

Supporters of imprisoned Selahattin Demirtas, Presidential candidate and leader of People's Democratic Party (HDP) hold masks as they march, during a rally in Ankara, on June 19, 2018. (Photo by ADEM ALTAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Europe human rights court calls on Turkey to release Demirtas

Europe’s top human rights court ruled Wednesday for the "immediate release" of Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who has been imprisoned for more than four years in Turkey on terror-related charges.

Activists stand in front of a tank and hold up signs reading "stop exports of weapons" to protest against plans of German military technology group Rheinmetall to built a tank factory in Turkey, on April 26, 2017 in front of the Bundestag in Berlin. / AFP PHOTO / John MACDOUGALL (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany opposes arms embargo against Turkey

Greece has called for European leaders to apply stronger pressure on Ankara over its actions in the eastern Mediterranean, but the appeals have largely fallen on deaf ears.

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Is Turkey on course of foreign policy shift with pan-Turkist flavor?

Ankara appears to be mulling a US-friendly foreign policy revision to counter Iran and Russia in the Caucasus and Black Sea regions, but such a shift will not be without geopolitical risks elsewhere.

Syrian-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and members of the Rojava Forces Defence Units walk near the town of Faysh Khabur, which lies in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region near the three-way border crossing between Iraq-Syria-Turkey on March 29, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

KRG asks US forces to deploy along Kurdish-controlled part of Iraqi-Syrian border

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s deputy chief of staff outlined why the Kurdish region's government wants US forces stationed in and around the Fish Khabur border crossing.

Women take part in a demonstration against the Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Farmajo in Mogadishu on December 15, 2020 accused of interferences in the electoral process. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP) / The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo by STRINGER has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [a demonstration against the Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Farmajo] instead of [a demonstration against the Somali Prime Minister]. Please immediately remove the erroneous me

Somalian opposition irked by Turkish support ahead of presidential elections

Turkey’s support to Somalia, a focal point of Ankara’s Africa outreach, has become increasingly controversial as the Somalian opposition fears that the president could use it to rig the upcoming elections.

A demonstrator holds a picture of HDP lawmaker Leyla Guven during a protest against the detention of three opposition lawmakers, in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 6, 2020. - Turkish police on June 4, 2020 detained three opposition lawmakers after the parliament stripped them of their jobs, triggering furious charges that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is seeking to further consolidate authoritarian rule. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP) (Photo by YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey sentences former opposition MP to 22 years in prison

A Turkish court Monday sentenced Leyla Guven, a deputy with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who was stripped of her parliamentary seat and legal immunity in June, to more than 22 years in prison on terrorism-related charges.

Co-chairmans of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Pervin Buldan (C-R) and Mithat Sancar (C-L) hold a press conference with their parliament members as they boycott the first sessiom of the Grand National Assembly's 27th term following the arrest of 82 people, including members of their party, outside the Parliament building in Ankara on October 1, 2020. - Turkish prosecutors on October 1 issued arrest warrants for 82 people, including a mayor and several former lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish H

Turkey’s Kurdish party target of tug of war between Islamists, ultra-nationalists

As Turkey's ruling party and its nationalist ally face a deeper legitimacy crisis, pressure on Kurdish politics is intensifying.

Iraq, KRG, Turkey find common ground in response to PKK

Kurdish group increasingly isolated; meanwhile, Syrian Kurds boxed in by Turkey, Russia and Assad.

Turkish court extends detention of philanthropist Osman Kavala

Kavala is charged with espionage and "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” in connection with the failed 2016 coup.

Pompeo says Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 violates NATO agreements

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a phone call that Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system is a threat to the United States. .