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Turkey

Turkey

August 25, 2026

Ankara 5:32 pm

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A Turkish soldier from the 1st Border Regiment Command looks out over the border wall to Syria during alert drills at a military outpost on the Turkey/Syria border on March 2, 2017 in Kilis, Turkey.

Analysis

Why Turkey sees Israeli strikes in Syria as warning over its military role, Mecca Pact

Ankara views Israel’s latest strikes in Syria as part of a broader effort to curb Turkey’s military influence in Damascus and a challenge to its regional defense partnerships.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Turkey/Syria border

Analysis

Turkey bets on US deconfliction as Israel widens Syria red lines

As Washington pushes a new deconfliction mechanism between Turkey and Israel, the Jewish state shows little incentive to accept tighter constraints on its freedom of action in Syria, experts say.

Ezgi Akin

Rina Bassist

By Ezgi Akin , Rina Bassist

Latest News

Analysis

Israel fears Turkey’s Syria ambitions and doubts Trump will stop them

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 7: U.S. President Donald Trump (L)shakes hands with with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) during a formal arrival at the Bestepe Presidential Palace during the NATO summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Emrah Gurel - Pool/Getty Images)

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

Turkey seeks Interpol Red Notices for Netanyahu over Gaza flotilla

Murat Kocabas / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

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

Burhaanettin Duran

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

ERBIL, IRAQ - JUNE 10: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (2L) meets KDP Leader Masoud Barzani (2R) in Erbil, Iraq on June 10, 2019. (Photo by Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Iraqi Kurds actively support Ankara’s fight against the PKK

Spurred by the killing of a Turkish Consulate staffer in Erbil last month, the Iraqi Kurdish administration is stepping up its cooperation with Turkey to rein in PKK activities in northern Iraq.

An officer of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) stands guard near the Syrian-Iraq border October 31, 2012. Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani warned Kurds in Syria against being sucked into the "fires of discord," urging them to preserve Kurdish unity as tensions between rival factions threaten to spillover into violence. Syria's Kurds see the war ravaging their country as an unprecedented opportunity to gain the kind of freedoms enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighbouring Iraq, where they

Feuding Syrian Kurdish political blocs dance around rapprochement

As French and US initiatives for intra-Kurdish rapprochement in Syria stall, it seems that piecemeal defections from the Kurdish National Council to the Kurdish autonomous administration in the north of the country are the rule of the day.

Beats for women: Turkey's star hijabi DJ leads dance revolution

Turkey's popular DJ Safir says women love the freedom of her all-female shows regardless of their politics or ideology.

Officials attend a session of the peace talks on Syria in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan August 2, 2019. REUTERS/Mukhtar Kholdorbekov - RC11F7E4FF00

Astana talks show Russia eager to keep plugging away at Idlib

The new round of Syria talks in Kazakhstan produced a cease-fire in Idlib and the promise for a constitutional committee due to be announced in September, but will all of this ultimately happen?

Russian servicemen sit in the cabins of S-400 missile air defence systems in Tverskaya Street before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in central Moscow, Russia April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva - RC1E849FD530

US leniency on S-400 offers Turkey chance to repair economy

The US president's reluctance to impose sanctions following Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system has created a window of opportunity for officials to restructure the nation’s ailing economy.

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 18: Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul, Head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) of Turkey Hakan Fidan and Grand Unity Party (BBP) Chairman Mustafa Destici attend the funeral of Turkish diplomat Osman Kose, who was martyred in an armed attack in Iraq's Erbil, at Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Mosque in Ankara, Turkey on July 18, 2

Is this a new era in Turkey's fight against PKK?

Targeted killings of PKK Central Committee member Diyar Gharib Muhammed in Qandil on June 27 and Turkish intelligence agency-affiliated Turkish diplomat Osman Kose in Erbil on July 17 mark a major shift in the characteristics of the armed conflict between Turkey and the outlawed Kurdish militant group.

People hold scarf banners reading " Do not touch my teacher" during a demonstration outside of Istanbul's courthouse and before a trial of two academics on July 16, 2019. - Fusun Ustel was also detained on May 8, 2019 after being sentenced to 15 months in prison for having signed the peace petition in 2016 with 1,127 other Turkish academics. Tuna Altinel, an official of the French state, is being prosecuted in his country as hundreds of other academics for having signed in 2016 the "petition for peace" whic

Court ruling highlights divide in Turkish academia

Though most of Turkey's academic world is applauding the Constitutional Court ruling that charges against their pro-peace colleagues violated their freedom of expression, a vocal pro-state minority feels otherwise.

Two Syrian refugees walk along fences in Nizip refugee camp, near the Turkish-Syrian border in Gaziantep province, Turkey, November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RC19B9EC1810

Has Turkey’s policy on Syrian refugees started to backfire?

The Syrian refugee question is set to pose a major political headache for Erdogan in the coming period.

Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul chief Canan Kaftancioglu (L) waves to supporters as she stands on a stage to deliver a speech on July 18, 2019 after her trial in Istanbul. - Kaftancioglu faces up to 17 years in prison for allegedly 'insulting the Turkish President' in tweets posted between 2012 and 2017. The trial will resume on September 6, 2019. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP) (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Cost of doing politics endless harassment for leftist women in Turkey

Young female politician Canan Kaftancioglu is perceived as the reason for Erdogan’s loss of Istanbul after 25 years and the president is determined to see her punished.

Syrian Turkmen groups return from Turkey to support opposition

Turkey has encouraged Syrian Turkmen organizations to move to Syrian areas controlled by anti-regime militias.

Syria’s Kurds feel brunt of Turkish-US crisis

Turkey is sending military reinforcements to its border with Syria after two missiles were recently launched from Syria toward a border city, portending an imminent Turkish offensive in the area.

Syrian refugees stroll at a refugee camp in Osmaniye, Turkey, May 17, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - S1BETFDMXFAA

Officials deny Syrian deportation reports as anti-refugee sentiments grow in Turkey

As a rising number of Syrians claim they were illegitimately deported to war-torn Idlib province, Turkish officials say refugee policies remain unchanged.