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

Turkey

Turkey

October 9, 2026

Ankara 8:02 am

13°C

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) meets with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) during a visit on Oct. 7, 2026, in Athens, Greece.

Rubio signals US push to ease Greece-Turkey cable tensions

The top US diplomat said Washington was “very committed” to the subsea cable project as Ankara and Athens remain at odds over survey work in contested waters.

Turkish Navy infantry soldiers take part in the Denizkurdu-I/2026 Exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Aksaz, at Marmaris in Mugla, on Sept. 24, 2026.

Turkey to send Mecca pact to parliament, opening path to Saudi deployment

Parliamentary ratification will remove a legal hurdle for Turkish military deployment to Saudi Arabia under a trilateral defense pact.

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay (R) his wife Oznur Tugay and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledge the audience after the mayor announced joining the ruling Justice and Development Party during a meeting with AKP lawmakers in Ankara, on Oct. 7, 2026.

Latest defection hands Erdogan’s AKP control of Turkey’s third-largest city

The ruling party’s takeover of Izmir’s mayoralty is the latest example of the unraveling of the opposition parties’ historic gains in Turkey’s 2024 local elections.

Turkey's Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya speaks to media after arriving at the Ataturk International airport on March 12, 2017, in Istanbul.

Erdogan aide named suspect in Turkey financial scandal

Former AKP deputy chairwoman Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya is facing allegations of being linked to a market manipulation scandal.

Latest News

Turkey, Pakistan to deploy forces to Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks

A Yemeni man holds up a mock missile decorated with the colors of the Palestinian flag and the chechered keffiyeh in front of portraits of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (L) and the leader of the Houthi movement, Abdel Malek al-Houthi (R), during a protest in Sanaa to denounce strikes on Yemen and Israel's bombardment of Gaza on Jan. 15, 2025.

Analysis

Turkey revives F-16 talks with US amid Israel, Greece deterrence concerns

Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Analysis

Turkey’s $20B fund crisis: Who profited, and who will pay?

Traders work at their desks on the floor of the Borsa Istanbul

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Turkey mine collapse death toll rises to five: What to know

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

Syrian Kurdish women walk past an election campaign banner in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli on June 6, 2024.

Syrian Kurds postpone local elections amid US disapproval, Turkish threats

The prevailing consensus is that the Biden administration’s opposition was the main driver of the postponement.

In this picture taken on October 26, 2011 workers assemble one of the many car models at Chinese carmaker's Chery Automobile plant in Wuhu, east China's Anhui province. The growth of China's car market will be driven primarily by exports this year because domestic sales have slowed dramatically, as the world's largest car market -- sold 614,000 cars abroad in the first nine months of 2011, a 60 percent rise on the same period in 2010. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP via Getty Images)

China’s EV giants target Turkey as trade wars intensify

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is on a visit to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China Photo Credit: @HakanFidan on X

Analysis

Have Turkey, China hit reset button on Uyghurs as Fidan visits Xinjiang?

Experts say Beijing and Ankara skillfully managed the contentious Uyghur issue during the Turkish diplomat's China visit, but Fidan's messages might raise eyebrows in the West.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Supporters of the Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) take part in the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz (aka Noruz or Newroz), the New Year of the Persian calendar, in Istanbul on March 17, 2024.

Outrage as Turkish court hands Kurdish mayor 20-year prison sentence

There is widespread anger in Turkey's Kurdish-majority city of Hakkari after its democratically elected mayor was handed a nearly 20-year prison sentence.

Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan (C) welcomes his Chinese counterpart and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Wang Yi (R) in Ankara, on July 26, 2023.

In China, Turkey’s Fidan says he plans to attend BRICS meeting in Russia

The top Turkish diplomat says his country explores new opportunities with BRICS

Supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples DEM Party attend a rally for the Turkish Municipal elections to be held on March 31, in Esenyurt Square, in Istanbul on February 25, 2024. (Photo by YASIN AKGUL / AFP) (Photo by YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey’s opposition stands with Kurds after sitting Kurdish mayor jailed

After Turkish police detained the mayor of Hakkari province, his party called on “all those on the side of democracy to take a stand."

met with Chen Wenqing, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, in Beijing

Turkey’s Fidan arrives on first visit to China, will travel to Uyghur region

Fidan is also slated to travel to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in the first high-level visit to the region since 2012.

A teller counts US dollar bills at an exchange office in Ankara, Turkey, July 20, 2023.

Turkey’s inflation tops 75% but economy czar says 'worst is over'

Finance and Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek has said that inflation will begin dropping from June.

A launch from the RM-70 Vampir Multiple Launch Rocket System during the Super Garuda Shield 2023 joint military exercise including Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and the US, Situbondo, East Java, Sept. 10, 2023.

Analysis

Can Turkey help Europe build effective air and missile defense system?

With Turkey joining the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative, in the long run Ankara could use its burgeoning Hisar and Siper platforms to improve Europe’s air and missile defense.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands after a joint statement to the media in Baghdad on April 22, 2024.

Iraq's PM says Baghdad mediating potential Syria-Turkey reconciliation

The Iraqi prime minister says he is in contact with the Turkish and Syrian presidents as part of reconciliation efforts

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his wife, Emine Erdogan, attend a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Istanbul on October 28, 2023.

For some Palestinians who adored Turkey's Erdogan, Gaza response ‘too little, too late’

While prior to Oct. 7 the Turkish leader was viewed favorably among wide swaths of Palestinians for his harsh rhetoric against Israel, many now say he's done too little since the outbreak of the war.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's Erdogan threatens Syrian Kurdish groups as local elections near

The Turkish president said his country would "not hesitate to take action" as Ankara dials up its threats of a fresh military incursion into regions held by Kurdish-led groups in Syria.