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

Turkey

Turkey

September 6, 2026

Ankara 9:49 am

24°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 photo illustration taken in Istanbul shows a U.S. 100 dollar banknote against Turkish lira banknotes of various denominations January 7, 2014. Turkey's lira slipped against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday as the government bond yield curve, which had briefly inverted on Tuesday because of speculation about an emergency rate hike to rescue the currency, returned to a positive slope. Picture taken January 7, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTX1761T

Turkish markets undergo two-month slump

A series of domestic and external risks, coupled with the global surge of the dollar, spur an alarming downturn in the Turkish economy.

Grand Mufti of Turkey Mehmet Gormez shakes hands with a onlooker after an inauguration ceremony in front of the Gazi Husrev Begova mosque in Sarajevo, November 15, 2012. Newly elected Husein Kavazovic is the 14th Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and will be on duty over the next seven years. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Tags: SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR3AFY0

Secular Turkey to build an 'International Islamic University'

Turkey’s International Islamic University could be a meaningful contribution to the Islamic world, but only if it is not dominated by the ultra-conservative school of jurisprudence and theology.

Turkish army special force members stand guard during the EFES-2010 military exercise in Izmir May 25, 2010. REUTERS/ Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY) - RTR2ECRC

Are Turkish troops trapped at Syrian tomb?

Turkish troops guarding the Tomb of Suleiman Shah, a Turkish enclave in Syria, are facing increased risks as Ankara refuses to evacuate them.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) leave a meeting at the president's office in Ankara September 12, 2014. Kerry met Turkish leaders on Friday to try to win support for U.S.-led military action against Islamic State, but Ankara's reluctance to play a frontline role showed the difficulty of building a coalition for a regional war. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR460SA

High stakes for Erdogan in fight against IS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turns hawkish on the Islamic State, but he is aware that the stakes are high if Ankara joins the war against the group.

Exclusive: PKK commander threatens to resume war

In an exclusive interview, the Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) top military commander, Cemil Bayik, says that Turkey has sabotaged the peace process and the PKK is ready to resume open conflict.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan makes a speech during the Istanbul Finance Summit in Istanbul Septemer 16, 2014. Turkey stepped up its criticism of credit rating agencies on Tuesday, with President Tayyip Erdogan warning it could cut ties with Moody's and Fitch and his prime minister saying the country did not have the ratings it deserves. Deputy Prime Minister Babacan, who is responsible for overseeing the economy, joined the chorus, telling a finance conference in Istanbul that objective evalua

Turkey threatens credit rating agencies

Turkey’s top leaders have threatened to cancel the contracts of credit rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s as financial markets get nervous at the prospect of Turkey being downgraded.

A man smokes his waterpipe at the Galata bridge in Istanbul, April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR3KG89

Turks dislike Islamic State, but would leave fight to others

A recent survey by Metropoll, a prominent Turkish polling company, indicates that only 1.3% of Turks are sympathetic toward the Islamic State.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the Climate Summit at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS ENVIRONMENT) - RTR47E2N

Erdogan says Turkey will join fight against Islamic State

Ankara is being forced to get off the fence and join allies against the growing threat from IS and similar groups.

A worker checks the valve gears in a natural gas control centre of Turkey's Petroleum and Pipeline Corporation, 35 km (22 miles) west of Ankara, February 14, 2012. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS ENERGY) - RTR2XU1J

What will Turkey do if Russia turns off gas?

The risk of Russia cutting gas supplies to Europe amid the Ukraine crisis has exposed Turkey’s energy vulnerability, with Istanbul, its most populous city and main industrial hub, dependent on Russian gas.

A group of men smuggle diesel fuel from Syria to Turkey hoping to sell it at a higher price, across the Al-Assi River in Darkush town, Idlib countryside May 26, 2013. REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX1026I

The truth about Turkey and Islamic State oil

While oil sales by the Islamic State across the Turkish border are a real problem, the Turkish government does not condone it.

A Turkish soldier stands guard as Syrian Kurds cross the border fence into Turkey near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, September 19, 2014. Several thousand Syrian Kurds began crossing into Turkey on Friday fleeing Islamic State fighters who advanced into their villages, prompting warnings of massacres from Kurdish leaders. Islamic State (IS) fighters have seized villages in northern Syria over the past two days and are besieging the mainly Kurdish town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani i

Can Turkey set up buffer zone inside Syria?

The idea of a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border has been revived again, but faces serious feasibility questions.

Turkey's Family Ministry shames singles in new ad

Turkey’s Family and Social Policies Ministry evokes comparisons to Islamist radicals after using the image of headless figures in a controversial campaign “to battle aloneness.”