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Turkey

Turkey

November 4, 2026

Ankara 8:03 pm

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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

A man holds posters depicting Egypt's top general, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as Turkish supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi demonstrate outside the Egyptian embassy in Ankara on August 8, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkish Opposition Builds Bridge to Egypt

Two prominent diplomats affiliated with the Republican People's Party are trying to repair ties between Ankara and Cairo.

Syrian boys from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain attempt to cross the border back into Syria at the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, November 24, 2012. Syria on Friday condemned Turkey's request for NATO to deploy Patriot defence missiles near their common border, calling it "provocative", after a spate of clashes there that has raised fear of the Syrian civil war embroiling the wider region. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) -

Turkey’s Syria Border on Edge

A first-hand account of Turkey’s Syrian border suggests that Turkey continues to provide sanctuary for both rebels fighting the Syrian government and Kurdish forces alike.

People walk past the Bab al-Yemen gate of the Old Sanaa city January 6, 2013. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSCAPE) - RTR3C5QS

Turkey’s Influence Divides Yemenis

Turkish influence in Yemen, which has continued since Ottoman times, has proven to be a divisive topic among the Yemeni public.

A Turkish protester takes cover behind a wall during clashes with riot policemen in Istanbul on September 10, 2013. Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at thousands of people who gathered in Istanbul to protest the death of a 22-year-old demonstrator the previous day in the southeastern city of Antakya. AFP PHOTO/OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Are Protests on Rise Again in Turkey?

Turkey may risk a new wave of unrest if the government fails to address the grievances of minorities.

A protester holds a banner reading "we are alevi" as he and many others wait to hear the decision of the court in front of a courthouse in Ankara March 13, 2012. Turkish police fired tear-gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds protesting on Tuesday against the dropping of a case against five people charged with killing 37 writers and liberals in a 1993 hotel fire set off by Islamist rioters.The opposition accused Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party, which emerged from a series of banned Islami

Turkish Alevis Refuse 'Sunnification'

Shiites and Alevis in Turkey continue to struggle for rights and recognition.

Riot police fire tear gas during a protest in central Istanbul September 10, 2013. Turkish police used teargas to disperse crowds in Istanbul and Ankara who were rallying against the death of a protester earlier in the day, witnesses said. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX13GD6

A Death Provokes Anti-Government Protests in Turkey

The Arab Alawite community of Antakya holds the government responsible for the unprecedented tensions in their once peaceful town after Ahmet Atakan’s death on Sept. 9.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters walk on the way to their new base in northern Iraq May 14, 2013. The first group of Kurdish militants to withdraw from Turkey under a peace process entered northern Iraq on Tuesday, and were greeted by comrades from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in a symbolic step towards ending a three-decades-old insurgency. The 13 men and women, carrying guns and with rucksacks on their backs, arrived in the area of Heror, near Metina mountain on the Turkish-Iraqi border, a Reu

Turkey's Kurdish Road MapLosing Direction

The PKK has suspended its withdrawal of militants from Turkey, casting doubt on the fate of the peace process.

A woman walks at the courtyard of the Ottoman-era Sultanahmet mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul April 26, 2013. The banners depicting the hadiths, sayings of Prophet Mohammad, hang on the occasion of the celebration of the Prophet's birthday. Scholars around the Muslim world were alarmed five years ago by news reports that Turkey planned a new, possibly heretical compilation of the Prophet's sayings that might scrap those it thought were out of date. Turkish religious leaders and theologian

A Salafi Assault on Turkish Theology?

Turkey's universities are witnessing a rise in a more dogmatic approach to Islamic philosophy.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks during
the presentation by the Istanbul 2020 committee as a candidate to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, in Buenos Aires September 7, 2013. The IOC will elect the winning city from candidates Istanbul, Madrid, and Tokyo on Saturday afternoon at their 125th Session in the Argentine capital. REUTERS/Fabrice Coffrini/Pool (ARGENTINA - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS) - RTX13BCO

Turkey’s Policies Defied By Latest Twists in Syria

Turkey seems to be on the wrong side of events in Egypt and Syria.

Mustafa Abu Bekir, 23, is carried by a family member as they enter Turkey from the Turkish Cilvegozu border gate, located opposite the Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa, in Reyhanli, Hatay province, September 9, 2013. Abu Bekir introduced himself as a Free Syrian Army fighter who was severely injured and lost his legs during a bombing by the Syrian Air Force while he and others were fighting in the front line against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Iblib almost a month ago. T

Turks on Syria Border Oppose US Military Strike

Many Turkish residents of the border town of Reyhanli — hit by twin car bombings May 11 — worry that they are in jeopardy as a result of a US miltiary strike on Syria.

A fighter from the Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra rides a motorcycle along a deserted street in Deir al-Zor August 17, 2013. Picture taken August 17, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX12PKS

Turkey Decides Jabhat Al-Nusra Is a Threat

A Turkish official has said Ankara will not support the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) speaks to the media after his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at the Royal Palace in Amman August 28, 2013. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) - RTX12Z0D

Abu Mazen Remains Palestine's Teflon Leader

Despite all the criticism leveled at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he still polls the highest among Palestinian leaders.