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Turkey

Turkey

May 12, 2026

Ankara 12:18 am

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Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkey reopened the Akcakale-Tell Abyad crossing on Monday, ending an 11-year closure along the Syria border.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 06: A man poses for a photograph in front of the newly unveiled, Turkish made intercontinental ballistic missile Yildirimhan at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. The International Defence and Aerospace Exhibition, showcased Turkish and foreign companies new products and technology. The expo was dominated by UAV products as modern warfare increasingly shifts to drone and unmanned technologies. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Analysis

From drones to deterrence: Turkey's ICBM missile signals bigger ambitions

Turkey’s planned test of a 6,000-kilometer missile could boost Ankara’s defense industry prestige, strengthen its deterrence messaging and feed a powerful domestic narrative of technological self-reliance, but it also raises questions about cost, timing and NATO protection.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

How ‘dog mom’ vacuum cleaner ad sparked culture war in Turkey

A Mother’s Day advertisement featuring a “dog mom” triggered a backlash from conservative media, government officials and regulators, turning a soft consumer campaign into a flashpoint over motherhood, declining birth rates, stray dogs and even antisemitism.

Latest News

Turkey, Japan launch defense industry partnership with eye on drones

People look at a drone on display at the Baykar exhibit at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

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

The Tigris river, with the minaret of a 14th century mosque on the right, flows through the town of Hasankeyf in southeastern Turkey, August 14, 2009. Western export credit insurers quit Turkey's planned Ilisu dam on the Tigris River on July because it failed World Bank environmental and heritage standards, but Ankara said the 1.2 billion euro project would go ahead. Turkey said it was determined to go ahead with the dam project in its impoverished southeast, a region long scarred by unemployment and Kurdis

PKK, Turkey squabble over same dam issue

Turkey's extensive dam construction projects are threatened with attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party, which sees the projects as destructive and only serving military objectives.

Riot police try to stop protesters in the eastern city of Erzurum, Turkey, June 4, 2015. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds protesting against a rally by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in eastern Turkey on Thursday, ahead of weekend parliamentary elections. The clashes are the latest in a series of incidents to mar campaigning in the run-up to Sunday's highly charged vote, in which the HDP is hoping to deal a heavy blow to President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of a

Is Turkey on brink of more violence?

Increasingly militarized conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK has brought Turkey to the brink of a new spiral of violence.

As companies rush to Iran, Turkey slow to wake up to opportunity

As Western companies have already set up camp in Tehran, Turkey’s business circles are waiting and hoping, but political tensions with Iran do not bode well for openings to Turkey.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde (L) chats with Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan (R) and Turkish Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci (C) during a family photo session at the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Istanbul February 10, 2015. The United States urged a meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies not to resort to currency devaluations to boost exports, while a draft communique gave a gloomy assessment on Tuesday of the outlook f

Turkey’s incomes circle the drain

The AKP government’s national income projections fall short of targets.

A money changer calculates the exchange rate of Turkish lira to Syrian pound at his office in the southern Turkish town of Reyhanli November 29,2012. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS) - RTR3B0WS

Syria’s opposition plans to replace Syrian pound with Turkish lira

The Syrian opposition forces in rebel-held northern areas hope a change in currency will put pressure on Bashar al-Assad’s regime on the economic level.

Alevi demonstrators shout anti-goverment slogans during a protest against the latest violence in Okmeydani, a working-class district in the center of the city, in Istanbul May 25, 2014. Two people died last week after clashes between Turkish police and protesters in Okmeydani, a working-class district of Istanbul, stirring fears of further unrest as the anniversary of last year's anti-government demonstrations approaches. Okmeydani is home to a community of Alevis, a religious minority in mainly Sunni Musli

Prisoner scores small victory in struggle for Alevi rights in Turkey

An Alevi religious figure was for the first time allowed to pay a counseling visit to an Alevi prisoner in Turkey.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul (L) and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrive at an opening ceremony of a new line of the Ankara Metro in Ankara February 12, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX18NXZ

Gul calls out Erdogan at iftar

Abdullah Gul, Turkey's former president and co-founder of the Justice and Development Party, calls for an urgent revision of Ankara’s foreign policy.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrives at a meeting with his AK Party local officials at the party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, June 11, 2015. Davutoglu said on Thursday history had shown that coalition governments were not suitable for Turkey but that his ruling AK Party was open to all options. "We've used the coalition eras of the 1970s and 1990s as an example to show that coalitions are not suitable for Turkey and we still stand by that stance," Davutoglu told a meeting of AKP local officials

AKP ponders what went wrong

While skeptics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Justice and Development Party are still not very vocal, reality seems to be on their side.

Turkey's brides-to-be flock to vintage look

The old dowry chests of middle-aged Turkish women are full with precious, handmade embroideries, some of which are now re-emerging and making their way to luxury stores.

Members of the Turkish police counter attack team guarding President Tayyip Erdogan stand in front of a mosque after the President left following Friday prayers in Istanbul, Turkey, May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RTR4Y0MZ

Ankara cracks down on IS; but is it too little too late?

Turkey has recently moved to counter Islamic State recruitment in the country, but it faces a difficult time reintegrating jihadist returnees from Syria and Iraq, some of whom have been traumatized by their experiences.

A black flag belonging to Islamic State is seen near the Syrian town of Kobani as a Turkish army vehicle takes up position on the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 7, 2014. Islamic State fighters advanced into the south west of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani overnight, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, taking several buildings to gain attacking positions from two sides of the city. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT

Is the Islamic State really a terrorist group? Turkey's lawyers don't think so

Turkish security services have only recently began to consider the Islamic State (IS) as a security threat, but the legal system in Turkey still does not recognize IS as a terrorist organization.

Workers, with emptied old buildings in the background, pause at a construction site at Beyoglu district in central Istanbul August 29, 2014. The Turkish Parliament amended the commercial code to allow landlords to eject tenants of 10 years or more without cause. The rule, which went into effect in July, scraps a tradition of renter-friendly laws, potentially hitting millions of businesses and residents Picture taken August 29, 2014. To match TURKEY-GENTRIFICATION/ REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINES

Istanbul’s Disneyfication

State-led gentrification of Istanbul might be the most important and irreversible legacy of the conservative Islamist AKP government.