Turkey - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Turkey

Turkey

September 6, 2026

Ankara 6:54 am

18°C

TAI Hurjet

Analysis

With Hurjet test, Turkey seeks defense dominance beyond drones

With export revenue from the supersonic crewed aircraft, Ankara plans to fund next-generation projects and gain strategic diplomatic and military leverage across NATO and the region.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesperson, gives a press conference at the Presidential Complex, Ankara, May 25, 2022.

Turkey and Greece's intelligence chiefs hold rare talks: What to know

The meeting comes after Turkey recently warned Greece over what it called an arms race in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US sanctions Turkey-based bank over Iran ties

The Treasury Department said Golden Global Bank was facilitating transactions for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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.

Latest News

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan set Mecca Alliance into motion

Mecca Alliance

Analysis

Why Turkey welcomes Israel-Syria talks despite mounting red lines

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.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Culture

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

Barcelona

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

A Turkish soldier in historical uniform stands at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Canakkale, as part of the Gallipoli campaign in Gallipoli March 18, 2015. Turkish jets flew overhead and warships cut through rough waters in the Dardanelles Straits on Wednesday to mark the centenary of one of the Ottoman Empire's final victories, as fascination with the imperial past flourishes under President Tayyip Erdogan. Record numbers of Turks have flocked to these headlands in recent years to

Gallipoli centenary marks another snub for Turkish minorities

Hundreds of non-Muslim soldiers killed in the Gallipoli campaign 100 years ago were ignored in elaborate centenary observances.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc addresses the Turkish Parliament in Ankara October 31, 2013. Four female lawmakers from Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling party wore their Islamic head scarves in parliament on Thursday in a challenge to the country's secular tradition. Four female lawmakers, Nurcan Dalbudak, Sevde Beyazit Kacar, Gulay Samanci and Gonul Bekin Sahkulubey, from Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling party AKP wore their Islamic head scarves in parliament on Thursday in a challenge to the cou

AKP cracks inflict collateral damage on the Kurdish issue

Bulent Arinc-Melih Gokcek dispute reveals fissures in the ruling AKP ahead of the June 7 election; the Turkish military reiterates its determination to fight the PKK.

Syrians wait at a checkpoint at the Syrian border crossing of Bab al-Hawa on the Syrian-Turkish border in Idlib Governorate January 21, 2015. REUTERS/Abed Kontar (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4MD3V

Are Turkey's young IS recruits now a domestic threat?

Young Turks are increasingly attracted to the Islamic State's radical doctrines, believing their own country's brand of political Islam to be superficial, yet the Turkish government remains unconcerned with the increasing radicalization.

Militant Islamist fighters waving flags, travel in vehicles as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted pictures online on Sunday of people waving black flags from car

Is Turkey doing all it can to secure its border?

Reports of 11 foreign medics joining the Islamic State have raised fresh questions on Turkey's enforcement of its Syrian border.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attend the Extraordinary Congress of the ruling AK Party (AKP) to choose a new leader of the party, ahead of Erdogan's inauguration as president, in Ankara August 27, 2014. Turkish president-elect Erdogan said on Wednesday he would ask incoming prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu to form a new government on Thursday, and a new cabinet of ministers would be announced the following day. REUTERS/Rasit Aydogan/Pool (TURKEY - Tags: POL

AKP's internal tensions finally erupt

The underlying question in the Justice and Development Party's internal feud, is whether President Erdogan will have absolute power in his party or whether detractors will be able to express respectful disagreement.

Shi'ite fighters known as Hashid Shaabi walk as smoke rises from an explosives-laden military vehicle driven by an Islamic State suicide bomber which exploded during an attack on the southern edge of Tikrit March 12, 2015. Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi'ite militia exchanged fire sporadically with Islamic State fighters in Tikrit on Thursday, a day after they pushed into Saddam Hussein's home city in their biggest offensive yet against the militants. A Reuters photographer saw one car bomb explode on

PM Barzani: Shiite militias should be regulated

In an interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addresses the fight against IS, the rise of the Iraqi Shiite militias and relations with Baghdad.

A police officer stands guard in front of the Bardo Museum in Tunis March 24, 2015. The national museum reopened on Tuesday, almost a week after a militant attack which killed 20 foreign visitors. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi - RTR4UMIW

The Islamic State in Africa

The Islamic State presence in the depth of the African continent was strengthened after Nigerian movement Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the terrorist group.

People take part in a protest against President Bashar al-Assad in the tribal province of Deir al-Zor, eastern Syria, July 22, 2011. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Syria after Friday prayers, activists and witnesses say, in widening pro-democracy protests against a violent military crackdown to crush a four month uprising. REUTERS/Handout (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLI

After four years, Syrian revolution continues

Syrian rebels say that the shift to armed movements against Bashar al-Assad’s regime has pushed people away from the main purpose of the revolution that started in 2011 and called for achieving justice, equality and freedom for all.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (R) and Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan attend a signing ceremony in Kiev March 20, 2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich - RTR4U7NX

Erdogan’s delicate balancing act in Kiev

Ankara is not prepared to spoil ties with Russia over Ukraine.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, March 3, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4RUU4

Erdogan grows more radical

Erdogan’s hard-line nationalist and anti-Western rhetoric has become more unrelenting ahead of Turkey’s general elections, but electoral concerns are not the sole reason behind the escalation.

Kurdish women dance during a wedding ceremony at Yekmal village in the mountains of Hakkari on June 24, 2012. Hakkari is a province situated in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, located at the juncture of Iraq and Iran. Mounts Cilo and Sat are the two towering ranges that dominate the topography. The population of Hakkari is mainly Kurdish. Winters are cold and harsh, and summers are hot and dry. Because of the extreme geographic conditions of the region, agriculture as a means of livelihood is limited

Big love in Turkey

The approval of applications to run in the June elections by three polygamous candidates of the Turkish People's Democracy Party indicates that while the practice is illegal, the idea of marrying multiple wives could be acceptable by society.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan takes part in a welcoming ceremony in Kiev March 20, 2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich - RTR4U5UG

Turkey sidelines itself in US-led coalition against IS

Turkey prefers to be a "reluctant subcontractor" rather than active participant in the international coalition against the Islamic State; US envoy seems to contradict Kerry on Syria diplomacy; Israel faces possible "diplomatic siege" after election; majority of Americans back US negotiations with Iran; Al-Monitor endorses new global standards to protect freelance journalists.