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Turkey

Turkey

August 20, 2026

Ankara 10:45 pm

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Turkey signals restraint as war of words with Israel escalates over Syria

The Turkish president’s top communications aide says Ankara will not be drawn into the Israeli government's “games” as Washington pushes a Turkey-Israel-Syria deconfliction mechanism.

President Ahmad al-Sharaa meets Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar at the People’s Palace in Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 19, 2026.

Turkey looks to expand Syria energy footprint into oil, gas

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said state oil giant TPAO and private companies are ready to explore for oil and gas onshore and offshore in Syria.

Latest News

Analysis

Netanyahu yields to Trump on Gaza, betting Hamas won’t disarm

Ohad Zwigenberg / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Sudan ramps up Saudi Arabia, Turkey contacts amid growing Red Sea cooperation

Sudanese army soldier stands in front of a tank

Analysis

How Israel's rivalry, defense deals prompted Turkey to join Mecca pact

Fireworks explode over Islamabad

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov casts his ballot as he votes during Russia's presidential election at a polling station in the settlement of Tsentoroy, outside Grozny, March 18, 2018.

Why Turkey is in crosshairs of Chechen leader

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s latest threats to Ankara have betrayed the undercurrent tensions between Ankara and Moscow that have been simmering for a while.

A customer shops for alcoholic beverages at a supermarket ahead of a 17-day nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, in Istanbul on April 29, 2021.

Turkey cracks down on bootleg alcohol ahead of New Year celebrations

Following news of bootleg-related deaths, the Interior Ministry launched Operation Alcohol across the country, while critics say the government uses these high-profile operations to demonize alcohol consumption.

Syria Kurds

Turkey’s attack on Syrian Kurds aims to deepen intra-Kurdish rift

The Christmas day attack on members of the Syrian Revolutionary Youth marks a new level of escalation in Ankara's ongoing military campaign against Kurdish groups linked to the US-supported autonomous administration in northeast Syria.

Turkey lira

Turks keep holding on to dollars as mistrust in Erdogan lingers

Ankara’s currency-defense scheme has stopped the lira’s nosedive for now, but there is no tangible sign that a return to the lira has begun to reverse the alarming dollarization in the country.

Ukrainian servicemen take part in the joint Rapid Trident military exercises with the United States and other NATO countries nor far from Lviv on Sept. 24, 2021, as tensions with Russia remain high over the Kremlin-backed insurgency in the country's east.

Turkey urges Russia to moderate demands on NATO over Ukraine

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is offering to mediate the crisis, but its not clear Turkey has enough leverage to do so effectively.

Women hold a banner with the picture of Deniz Poyraz who was killed at Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Izmir headquarters, June 19, 2021.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party seeks justice for murdered party volunteer

The Peoples’ Democratic Party charges that the prosecutors are reluctant to fully investigate the links of the health worker who attacked the party’s office in June.

Syria Idlib

Currency crisis threatens Turkey's Syria strategy

Turkey’s economic turmoil might challenge Ankara's grip over opposition-held areas in Syria, where in-house rivalries among the armed factions over financial resources have escalated.

Women shop bread at a market in Ankara on Dec. 20, 2021.

Bread prices ring alarm bells in Turkey

For low-income households, bread and its price have become all the more important now that their purchasing power has melted amid the slump of the Turkish lira and surging inflation.

Didem Kinali

Turkey’s belly dancers can't shake government TV censors

Gone are the days where belly dancers appeared on Turkish TVs as part of the country's New Year's Eve celebrations.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

Intel: US concerned over Iran, Turkey, UAE-supplied drones in Ethiopia war

Ethiopia's government has rejected calls for a cease-fire after routing Tigray rebels with the help of high-tech foreign drones.

The Horn of Africa

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Erdogan’s new economic plan no remedy for lost purchasing power

Even as Ankara rolls out a new scheme to contain the country’s currency crisis, the severe losses of millions of low-and middle-income Turks appears irreversible.

Turkey economy

Why have AKP elites lost touch with reality?

The presidential system’s negligence of Turkey’s realities has turned what would be a difficult economic and political era anyway into one that is also dark and dangerous.