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

Turkey

Turkey

September 6, 2026

Ankara 3:26 pm

29°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

Turkish culture popular among Gaza Palestinians

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's support for Palestine, in particular Gaza, has prompted strong interest in Turkish culture among Gazans.

Demonstrators shout slogans as they hold up banners while staging a protest in central Istanbul December 11, 2004. Hundreds of protesters formed a human chain through the busy shopping street of Istiklal on Saturday to protest the recent killing of a 12-year-old boy and his father by security forces in Kiziltepe in the southeast Turkish province of Mardin which is now under investigation. Banner at left reads in Turkish "I am Turkish, Kurdish, Circassian and Laz from Turkey" and the banner at top right read

Turkey’s Laz awakening

Turkey’s Laz people are awakening to their language and culture, though it is still premature to speak of a “Laz Renaissance.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva November 24, 2013. Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough agreement early on Sunday to curb Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for limited sanctions relief, in a first step towards resolving a dangerous decade-old standoff. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY) - RTX15QM8

Iran deal recasts regional politics

The consequences of the agreement are already extending beyond Iran’s nuclear program.

National lottery sellers (L and C) chat on the main shopping and pedestrian street of Istiklal in central Istanbul September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX1428N

Surveys get personal in Turkey

For the first time in Turkish history, state institutions are conducting surveys on religion, further dividing citizens.

People take part in a commemoration ceremony to mark the anniversary of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, April 24, 2011. Armenia, backed by many historians and world parliaments, says some 1.5 million Armenians died during the upheavals that accompanied World War I and labels the events as genocide. On the other hand, Ankara rejects the term genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed. REUTE

Will Erdogan visit genocide memorial in 2015?

Turkey’s official position is not likely to change on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

Protesters clash with riot police during a protest against Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government's foreign policy on Syria, in Istanbul May 16, 2013. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZP3Y

Turkey's foreign policy reset will not be easy

Turkey’s allies still have misgivings about the recent past and direction of Turkish foreign policy.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting in Ankara November 29, 2013. Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package this week that will help transform the semi-autonomous region into an oil and gas powerhouse but infuriate a central Baghdad government wary of increasing Kurdish autonomy. The energy deal came in the early hours of a frosty Wednesday morning in Ankara, and was signed during a three-hour meeting between Kur

Erdogan's blacklist

The battle between Erdogan's party and Gulenist elites shows that cooperation with the Gulen Movement is no longer worth it to the AKP.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan greets members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara November 26, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15TOG

Turkey's constitution commission keeps working

Although the Turkish Constitution Reconciliation Commission has stalled in writing a new constitution, no political parties are eager to announce its end.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in Strelna near St. Petersburg, November 22, 2013. Putin said on Friday Western states must persuade the Syrian opposition to attend talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government which he said should take place as soon as possible. REUTERS/Aleksey Nikolskyi/RIA Novosti/Kremlin (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT)

ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RE

Turkey rebuilds ties to Russia on regional issues

Turkey reconsiders its relations with Russia, testing a more pragmatic approach to the region.

$Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses the media as he sits in front of a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of secular Turkey, at Esenboga Airport in Ankara November 21, 2013. A feud between Erdogan and an influential Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has spilled into the open months ahead of elections, highlighting fractures in the religiously conservative support base underpinning his decade in power. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTX15NGN$

Turkey’s AKP-Gulen conflict in context

The row over private tutoring halls between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Gulen community is just a smoke screen in their power struggle over controlling the state.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara November 26, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15TO8

Iran nuclear accord requires secular 'reset' of Turkey's foreign policy

In the aftermath of Iran's nuclear accord, Turkey can only play an effective regional role if it adopts a secular foreign policy.

A Kurdish village guard stands top of the hill in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak October 26, 2007. President Abdullah Gul warned Kurdish rebels on Thursday that Turkey's patience was running out after Turkish forces said they had repelled a guerrilla attack near the Iraqi border. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY) - RTR1VC7F

Turkey rethinks state-run Kurdish paramilitary force

If the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) gains traction, the status of the state-backed Kurdish village guards will be brought into question.