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Turkey

Turkey

November 4, 2026

Ankara 3:28 am

12°C

Turkey probes Google’s AI search tools, orders protections for news websites

Turkey’s competition watchdog said it is assessing whether AI-generated answers appearing on Google Search divert traffic from news sites and impose unfair content-use terms.

A protestor holds a flag bearing a portrait of jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration of Kurdish people from all around Europe to mark the 27th anniversary of his arrest and to demand his liberation, in Strasbourg, Eastern France, on Feb. 14, 2026.

Turkey moves PKK leader Ocalan to prison villa as peace process faces new test

The move is expected to give the PKK leader a more direct role in negotiations, but deep divisions over disarmament and Kurdish rights continue to threaten the process.

OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu is pictured during a joint press conference with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Switzerland's Foreign Minister at Vienna International Airport on Feb. 6, 2026 in Schwechat, Lower Austria.

Explainer

Who is Feridun Sinirlioglu, Turkey’s candidate for UN chief?

The Turkish president's confidant enters the race for UN chief with decades of diplomatic experience marked by both praise and scrutiny.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading "Free Gaza, free world"

Analysis

Gaza progress, Syria pullback: What Turkey wants from Israel’s next government

Ankara sees room for limited improvement in ties if Israel’s next government eases Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and reduces military pressure on Syria.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Explainer

After EU rebuff, how Turkey is courting Egypt for maritime deal

Turkish Navy sailors wave their caps from the flight deck

Culture

Rock collapse near UNESCO-listed site in Turkey’s Cappadocia kills three

An view of the Uchisar settlement, east of Nevesehir in the province of the same name in central Turkey's historical Cappadocia region on Aug. 24, 2022.

Tornado kills 4 in Turkey’s Mediterranean tourism hub Antalya

Kepez

Saudi Arabia’s KBS, top Turkish and Pakistani officials hold rare meeting in Iran: What to know

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

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 Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani greet people during a ceremony in Diyarbakir November 16, 2013. The president of Iraqi Kurdistan called on Turkey's Kurds to back a flagging peace process with Ankara on Saturday, making his first visit to southeastern Turkey in two decades in a show of support for PM Erdogan. Barzani's trip to Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, comes as Ankara finalises billions of dollars of energy d

Erdogan-Barzani 'Diyarbakir encounter' milestone

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the first time ever, says "Kurdistan."

TURKEY'S CHIEF RABBI HALEVA ISTANBUL'S DEPUTY MUFTI IPEK AND SISLI DISTRICT MAYOR SARIGULATTEND CEREMONY IN ISTANBUL. Turkey's Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva (R) Istanbul's deputy Mufti Ismail Ipek (L) and Sisli District Mayor Mustafa Sarigul (C) attend December 14, 2003 the reopening ceremony of Beth Israel Synagogue and Nakiye Ipek Street which were destroyed in suicide bomb attacks in Istanbul last month. REUTERS/str - RTR8S82

Can Sarigul, the hope of Turkey's left, unseat Erdogan?

Some leftist commentators see Mustafa Sarigul as the best hope for the Turkish left, while others believe he is a mere 'hostage' in Erdogan's hands due to corruption allegations.

U.S. President Barack Obama walks out after speaking about the violence in Egypt while at his rental vacation home on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard in Chilmark August 15, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX12MDQ

Israel, Egypt, Gulf fear US betrayal

Israel has become part of an unexpected alliance with the Gulf countries, Egypt and Jordan, all disappointed by the US administration's lack of Middle East understanding.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani (L) and Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer (R), who had fled Turkey in the 1970s, greet people, as they are flanked by politicians and chidren during a ceremony in Diyarbakir November 16, 2013. The president of Iraqi Kurdistan called on Turkey's Kurds to back a flagging peace process with Ankara on Saturday, making his first visit to southeastern Turkey in two decades in a show of support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

An atmosphere of peace, not of farewell

Kurdistan Region of Iraq President Massoud Barzani joined Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a historic visit to Diyarbakir.

A demonstrator gestures as he stands behind burning barricades during a protest in the Tuzlucayir neighbourhood of Ankara September 9, 2013. Billed as a symbol of peace between two faiths, a new place of worship has turned Tuzlucayir, a poor suburb of Ankara, into a battleground and exposed wider sectarian tensions within Turkey. The project's blueprint envisages a Sunni mosque rising side by side with a new cemevi, or assembly house, to be used by Alevis, Turkey's biggest religious minority. But with its c

Turkey’s Alevi question

The government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to heal old wounds with Turkey’s Alevi community, while stepping back from sectarian regional policies.

Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) head Saleh Muslim speaks during a conference in Paris November 13, 2013. Islamist groups in northern Syria are weakening after months of fighting and Kurdish militias are gaining ground, top Kurdish leader Muslim said on Wednesday, vowing to continue their advances. To match SYRIA-KURDS/ REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX15C6C

Kurds divided over Syrian autonomy

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is proceeding with its plans for a transitional government in the Kurdistan region of western Syria, despite the opposition of the Kurdish National Council and Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.

Children play at the garden of Fatih College in Istanbul April 16, 2008. The 640-pupil school is run by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim preacher who advocates moderate Islam rooted in modern life, and whose teachings have inspired millions of Turks to forge a powerful socio-religious community active in publishing, charity and above all education. The Gulen movement has built up a network of some 800 schools around the world, teaching a full curriculum but with a strong focus on science and t

AKP, Gulen community in open war

The war between the AKP and its former de facto partner, the Gulen community, is heating up amid reports of government plans to shut prep schools, a sector where Gulenists are hugely influential.

A woman stands beside the coffin of a Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) soldier who died fighting the al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra in Qamishli November 14, 2013. Picture taken November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX15H58

Turkey backing off support for jihadists on Syria border

Turkey’s fading support for Syria’s jihadists is a boon for the PYD; Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu tells Al-Monitor Ankara never aided al-Qaeda-affiliated groups.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) and his wife Sare Davutoglu (L) walk with mayor Vladimir Talevski (R) in the centre of Bitola March 25, 2010. Davutoglu is on a two-day official visit to Macedonia. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski (MACEDONIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2C263

Wife of Turkey Foreign Minister says women’s rights improving

The Turkish Foreign Ministry sponsored an event on Monday to demonstrate concern about violence against women.

Turkish artist breaks stereotypes

Reknowned artist and well-known leftist Kutlug Ataman surprises with his support for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at a news conference at the end of the Iranian nuclear talks in Geneva November 10, 2013. Kerry said on Sunday that world powers had come closer during negotiations with Iran in Geneva to a deal on reining in its nuclear programme and that "with good work" the goal could be reached. REUTERS/Jason Reed (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX157AB

Time to close deal with Iran

An agreement with Iran would be a win, if not a breakthrough, for US interests and allies in the Middle East. (Updated)

Will Bulent Arinc, founding father of AKP, depart over dispute with Erdogan?

Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bulent Arinc, a voice of reason in Turkish politics, has signaled that he may retire after a very public dispute with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.