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Turkey

September 4, 2026

Ankara 7:17 am

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Mecca Alliance

Israel, Greece sign $3.5 billion air-defense deal: What to know

Against the backdrop of growing tensions with Turkey, Israel signed one of its largest-ever defense industry deals to supply Greece with advanced air defense systems.

Mecca Alliance

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan set Mecca Alliance into motion

The three countries are moving to formalize military coordination under the newly named Mecca Alliance amid renewed hostilities between Iran and the US.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrive for a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Feb. 4, 2025.

Analysis

Why Turkey welcomes Israel-Syria talks despite mounting red lines

Turkey supports US-backed Israel-Syria talks but sees little prospect of a lasting accommodation until the Israeli elections.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Barcelona

Culture

In divided Cyprus, FC Barcelona youth camp sparks new dispute: What to know

A planned Barca Academy camp in northern Cyprus has offered more fuel to the controversy over the island’s unresolved divide, rasing tensions over recognition, access and international isolation.

Latest News

Top European court says Kavala case exposes erosion of judicial independence in Turkey

Omer Messinger/Getty Images

Explainer

Turkey’s Kurdish peace process moves to implementation: What to know and what’s next

Equality and Democracy Party lawmakers

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

Turkey’s Kurdish leader: We will struggle on in parliament ‘till the end’

Turkey’s top Kurdish political leader tells Al-Monitor his party remains committed to a political struggle despite government efforts to crush the party in parliament.

With spread of IS-like tactics, urban warfare in Turkey grows bloodier

Turkish officials believe Kurdish militants leading clashes in the southeast have learned techniques used by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and the Islamic State in Kobani.

Co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas (C) attends a ceremony to mark the ninth anniversary of the killing of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTX232RL

Armenian animosity rekindled through PKK terror

The Justice and Development Party’s repeated insults that Kurds are considered Armenians are aimed at labeling the pro-Kurdish HDP as non-Muslim, and to justify the heavy attacks on border towns in the southeast of Turkey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, September 21, 2015. Netanyahu said his visit to Moscow on Monday was aimed at preventing clashes between Russian and Israeli military forces in the Middle East. REUTERS/Ivan Sekretarev/Pool - RTS25BW

Why Israel needs Putin more than it needs Erdogan

Reconciliation with Turkey is stalled, possibly due to Israeli-Russian security interests regarding Syria, Lebanon and Hezbollah, as well as Russian hostility to Israeli-Turkish rapprochement.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reviews an honor guard during a ceremonial reception in Abuja, Nigeria March 2, 2016 REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde - RTS8YZO

Erdogan's conquest of Africa

Turkey hopes that more muscular foreign policy moves in the Gulf and Africa will help neutralize increasing pressure from a Russia-led alliance.

Will Africa cheer up Turkey’s troubled exporters?

Turkey scrambles for trade opportunities in Africa to make up for major losses in economic ties with Iran, Iraq, Syria and Russia.

Sibel Yigitalp (L), a parliamentarian from the the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and Abdullah Akengin, a former local mayor, holds a sit-in protest against the curfew in Sur district, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, December 18, 2015. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar - RTX1ZABH

Will Turkey oust Kurdish deputies from parliament?

The events surrounding the Feb. 17 bombing in Ankara have sparked a furor against Kurdish members of Turkey’s parliament as many political forces threaten to shut them out of the political scene.

Should Turkey's military, civilian contractors be treated differently?

Civilian personnel working for the Turkish military hope to achieve equal footing with their military counterparts as a nationwide conversation unfolds in the wake of the Ankara bombing.

A digger works on the stream bed of the river Papart in Artvin province, northern Turkey, February 21, 2010. A civil initiative calling themselves "Brotherhood of the Rivers" is struggling to stop hydro power plant projects in Artvin province which they believe will damage the natural habitat badly. Turkey's Electricity Market Regulatory Authority has approved 357 hydro power plant projects in the last three years, said Turkey's Chamber of Electrical Engineer. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: ENERGY ENV

Green activists, and their livestock, send Turkish miners packing

Turkish fauna comes to the aid of flora as thousands of protesters — and their livestock — send a mining company packing, at least for now.

A demonstrator holds newspaper read "Black day of the press" during a protest outside the Cumhuriyet newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey, November 27, 2015. Around 2,000 people protested on Friday over the arrest of two prominent journalists on charges of espionage and terrorist propaganda, a case that has revived long-standing criticism of Turkey's record on press freedom under President Tayyip Erdogan. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTX1W3XS

Has Erdogan confused freedom of expression with spying?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes a swipe at the authority of Turkey's high court by criticizing its decision to free journalists he says are spies.

Members of the interim government of democratic self-administered party stand after declaring a provincial government, in the city of Amuda near Hasaka January 21, 2014. Kurds in Syria declared a provincial government in the north of the country on Tuesday, consolidating their geographic and political presence on the eve of peace talks in Switzerland at which they will not be represented. The municipal council will run affairs in one of three administrative districts set up by Kurds, who have seized upon t

Syrian Kurdish leader calls for federal state

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Akram Hesso, the Kurdish head of Syria's Jazeera canton, spoke about the Syrian Kurds' relations with regional and international players as well as a model for federal rule in Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addresses the media in Ankara, Turkey February 20, 2016, as he is flanked by his deputies Tugrul Turkes (L), Numan Kurtulmus (2nd L) and Interior Minister Efkan Ala (R). Turkey is to tighten security across the country, and especially the capital, following a car bombing that killed 28 people in Ankara this week, Davutoglu said on Saturday. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX27U3T

How much support did Turkey provide to Syrian opposition?

The Turkish prime minister claimed that Turkey has done more than Arab countries to aid the Syrian rebels, though he stopped short of providing details about Turkey's "support."