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Turkey

Turkey

August 21, 2026

Ankara 5:16 am

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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

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's war of attrition against Syria's Kurds

Alongside shelling and drones, Turkey is weaponizing water supplies in northeast Syria, turning an already horrible situation into a nightmare

Netflix's "The Club."

Why was cosmopolitan Istanbul so threatening to Turkish identity?

A new Netflix series has kicked off conversations on long-hushed questions about Turkish identity.

"The Club," a Netflix series released on Nov. 5, looks at the turbulent past of the Jewish community in Turkey in the 1950s.

Netflix series awakens ghosts of past for Turkey's Jews

"The Club" explores the old wounds of Turkey’s minuscule Jewish community, from lost Ladino songs to the wealth stolen by a draconian 1942 tax.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a ceremony at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Turkish Republic's Founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during the 83rd anniversary of his death, in Ankara on Nov. 10, 2021.

Erdogan woos Armenia with regional cooperation proposal

A transport corridor for Azerbaijan via Armenian territory — a plan that has stoked Turkey’s strategic ambitions in the region — remains on paper a year on, but that’s not the only obstacle to normalization between the three neighbors.

Mordy and Natali Oknin are seen in this undated photo.

Israel seeks release of couple arrested for espionage in Istanbul

In an incident that threatens to further strain Turkey-Israel relations, Jerusalem is working to secure the release of an Israeli couple arrested in Istanbul Friday after reportedly taking photos of a presidential residence.

A picture taken on Nov. 12, 2021 shows migrants in a camp on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region. - Hundreds of desperate migrants are trapped in freezing temperatures on the border and the presence of troops from both sides has raised fears of a confrontation.

Airlines suspend Belarus-bound travel for Middle East migrants

Turkish Airlines and Iraqi Airlines restricting flights to Minsk for citizens of Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Burak Kara/Getty Images

Turks demand protection after woman killed with sword

In the wake of a headline-making femicide in Istanbul, activists and politicians have revived calls to return to the Istanbul Convention.

Police check approaching vehicles at a checkpoint along a road leading toward the border with Belarus on Nov. 10, 2021, near Kuznica, Poland.

Turkish Airlines denies fueling Belarus-Poland migration crisis

After EU officials threatened to blacklist airlines facilitating travel for asylum-seekers amassing at the Poland-Belarus border, Turkish Airlines denied links to the bloc’s latest migration crisis.

Supporters of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

Muslim Brotherhood exiles in Turkey face uncertain future

The rapprochement between Ankara and Cairo has catalyzed internal rifts between exiled leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mazlum Kobane (Mazlum Abdi), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syrian Kurdish commander says Russia opposes further Turkish land grabs

Mazlum Kobane, commander in chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, also says Damascus is not yet ready for negotiations.

Turkish author and Nobel Prize in literature winner Orhan Pamuk.

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk faces probe for insulting Turkey’s founder

Following an Istanbul court’s decision to launch an investigation into “Nights of Plague,” the recent novel by Orhan Pamuk, many writers and activists are rallying to support the Nobel laureate.

ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s Kurds revive fight for language rights

Many Kurdish groups have joined forces to promote the Kurdish language and press Ankara for greater language rights.