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Turkey

Turkey

November 11, 2026

Ankara 11:41 am

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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

U.S. President Barack Obama walks out after speaking about the violence in Egypt while at his rental vacation home on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard in Chilmark August 15, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX12MDQ

Israel, Egypt, Gulf fear US betrayal

Israel has become part of an unexpected alliance with the Gulf countries, Egypt and Jordan, all disappointed by the US administration's lack of Middle East understanding.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani (L) and Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer (R), who had fled Turkey in the 1970s, greet people, as they are flanked by politicians and chidren during a ceremony in Diyarbakir November 16, 2013. The president of Iraqi Kurdistan called on Turkey's Kurds to back a flagging peace process with Ankara on Saturday, making his first visit to southeastern Turkey in two decades in a show of support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

An atmosphere of peace, not of farewell

Kurdistan Region of Iraq President Massoud Barzani joined Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a historic visit to Diyarbakir.

A demonstrator gestures as he stands behind burning barricades during a protest in the Tuzlucayir neighbourhood of Ankara September 9, 2013. Billed as a symbol of peace between two faiths, a new place of worship has turned Tuzlucayir, a poor suburb of Ankara, into a battleground and exposed wider sectarian tensions within Turkey. The project's blueprint envisages a Sunni mosque rising side by side with a new cemevi, or assembly house, to be used by Alevis, Turkey's biggest religious minority. But with its c

Turkey’s Alevi question

The government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to heal old wounds with Turkey’s Alevi community, while stepping back from sectarian regional policies.

Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) head Saleh Muslim speaks during a conference in Paris November 13, 2013. Islamist groups in northern Syria are weakening after months of fighting and Kurdish militias are gaining ground, top Kurdish leader Muslim said on Wednesday, vowing to continue their advances. To match SYRIA-KURDS/ REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX15C6C

Kurds divided over Syrian autonomy

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is proceeding with its plans for a transitional government in the Kurdistan region of western Syria, despite the opposition of the Kurdish National Council and Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.

Children play at the garden of Fatih College in Istanbul April 16, 2008. The 640-pupil school is run by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim preacher who advocates moderate Islam rooted in modern life, and whose teachings have inspired millions of Turks to forge a powerful socio-religious community active in publishing, charity and above all education. The Gulen movement has built up a network of some 800 schools around the world, teaching a full curriculum but with a strong focus on science and t

AKP, Gulen community in open war

The war between the AKP and its former de facto partner, the Gulen community, is heating up amid reports of government plans to shut prep schools, a sector where Gulenists are hugely influential.

A woman stands beside the coffin of a Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) soldier who died fighting the al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra in Qamishli November 14, 2013. Picture taken November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX15H58

Turkey backing off support for jihadists on Syria border

Turkey’s fading support for Syria’s jihadists is a boon for the PYD; Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu tells Al-Monitor Ankara never aided al-Qaeda-affiliated groups.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) and his wife Sare Davutoglu (L) walk with mayor Vladimir Talevski (R) in the centre of Bitola March 25, 2010. Davutoglu is on a two-day official visit to Macedonia. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski (MACEDONIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2C263

Wife of Turkey Foreign Minister says women’s rights improving

The Turkish Foreign Ministry sponsored an event on Monday to demonstrate concern about violence against women.

Turkish artist breaks stereotypes

Reknowned artist and well-known leftist Kutlug Ataman surprises with his support for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at a news conference at the end of the Iranian nuclear talks in Geneva November 10, 2013. Kerry said on Sunday that world powers had come closer during negotiations with Iran in Geneva to a deal on reining in its nuclear programme and that "with good work" the goal could be reached. REUTERS/Jason Reed (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX157AB

Time to close deal with Iran

An agreement with Iran would be a win, if not a breakthrough, for US interests and allies in the Middle East. (Updated)

Will Bulent Arinc, founding father of AKP, depart over dispute with Erdogan?

Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bulent Arinc, a voice of reason in Turkish politics, has signaled that he may retire after a very public dispute with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Of Greek fathers and Turkish sons

The racist comments of a senior opposition MP draw reactions from Turkey’s Greek minority, raising questions on how long the party’s neo-nationalists and true social democrats can coexist.

A Palestinian girl stands outside her torched house next to graffiti spray-painted on an outside wall of the home, in the West Bank village of Sinjil, near Ramallah November 14, 2013. Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian house on Thursday, leaving behind a message saying they were avenging the death of Eden Attias, an Israeli soldier killed by a Palestinian the previous day, residents said. The graffiti reads "Regards to Eden, Revenge!." REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNRES

Despite despair, no signs of third Palestinian intifada

The youth of the West Bank are tired of occupation, economic crisis and corruption, but with no charismatic leadership, they do not envisage a third intifada.