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Turkey

Turkey

May 12, 2026

Ankara 5:45 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

Soldiers carry the coffin of Turkey's former army chief and president Kenan Evren during his funeral in Ankara, Turkey, May 12, 2015. Kenan Evren, who led a 1980 coup and came to symbolize the military's decades-long dominance over politics, died at 97 on May 9, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX1CL3P

Eyes return to Turkish military after elections

The turbulence in the wake of the recent elections may offer the Turkish military opportunities to return to politics — and even if a serious deadlock ensues, the situation still may work in the military's favor.

Committee Chairman Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) (L) presides over a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Export-Import Bank's reauthorization, on Capitol Hill in Washington June 3, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RTR4YP2O

Gulf countries rake in billions in Ex-Im Bank subsidies

Several Middle East nations are taking full advantage of a US export financing program whose loans and guarantees supporters say create American jobs and critics claim undermine the US economy. Scroll down to see our interactive table.

Jund al-Aqsa fighters part of a coalition of rebel groups called Jaish al Fateh (Conquest Army), drive in a tank on a highway which connects Damascus to Aleppo, near Psoncol town after saying they had taken control of it, in the Idlib countryside, Syria June 6, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamad Bayoush - RTX1FDZA

The future of Turkey's Syria policy

Election results have made Turkey’s current Syria policy hard to implement.

Selina Dogan Ozuzun (2nd R), an Armenian candidate for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), poses with her supporters during an election rally for Turkey's June 7 parliamentary election, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 2, 2015. Candidates from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community - along with Christians, Roma and members of dozens of other ethnicities and cultures - are running for parliament this weekend in large numbers for the first time. In a country that once viewed its divers

New Turkish parliament to be more inclusive

Following Turkey's general elections on June 7, Armenian, Syriac, Yazidi, Roma, Kurdish, and Alevi deputies are entering parliament, for the first time ever or after an extended absence.

Supporters wave Turkish national and party flags outside the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, June 7, 2015. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a serious blow on Sunday when the ruling AK Party failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election, partial results showed. With 94 percent of ballots counted, the AKP had taken 41 percent of the vote, according to broadcaster CNN Turk, a result which will leave it struggling to form a stable government

Pro-government media blame 'external forces' for AKP’s loss

Unable to accept defeat, journalists who supported Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party see foreign and domestic plots behind Sunday’s elections.

Fireworks explode as supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) celebrate along a street after the parliamentary election in Diyarbakir, Turkey, June 7, 2015. Partial results from Turkey's parliamentary election on Sunday put the ruling AK Party on 43.6 percent of the vote, with just under two-thirds of ballots counted, a level which could leave it struggling to form a single-party government. The results, broadcast by CNN Turk, put the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at 10.6

Diyarbakir celebrates after HDP election breakthrough

The historic Kurdish breakthrough in Turkey’s parliamentary elections sparks boisterous celebrations across the southeast and boosts hopes for a negotiated settlement of Kurdish grievances.

Supporters celebrate outside the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey, June 7, 2015. Thousands of jubilant Kurds flooded the streets of Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Sunday, setting off fireworks and waving flags as the pro-Kurdish opposition looked likely to enter parliament as a party for the first time. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTX1FJRA

What's next for Turkey?

With the Justice and Development Party losing its parliamentary majority in the general elections, a viable coalition is now unlikely and all signs point to a political crisis.

Catwalk becomes catfight on Turkish TV

A fashion-themed reality show, marked by shouting matches between contestants and jury members, has broken rating records in Turkey.

An Islamic State fighter walks near a black flag belonging to the Islamic State as a Turkish army vehicle takes position near the Syrian town of Kobani, as pictured from the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 7, 2014. Turkey has asked the United States to step up air strikes to keep Islamic State militants from seizing a key Syrian Kurdish border town, a senior Turkish official was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Islamic State fighters advancing into the south

Islamic State releases first Turkish publication

Pro-Islamic State groups ramp up their propaganda in Turkey and issue their first online periodical.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), speaks as his supporters wave Kurdish (L) and Turkish national (R) flags in the background, during an election rally for Turkey's June 7 parliamentary election, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 6, 2015. Turkey's Kurdish-rooted opposition party, which could scupper Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions for sweeping new powers, accused the President on Saturday of a lack of respect for supporters killed in a bomb attack in an election rally an

Will voters reject Turkey’s ‘precious loneliness’?

Parliamentary elections on June 7 could signal a shift in Turkey’s foreign policy; Islamic State’s radicalization campaign extends to Iraqi Kurdistan; Iran not backing down in Syria; Soleimani promises "surprise" in battle against Islamic State.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's Presidential Palace complex is pictured in Ankara, Turkey, May 28, 2015. Irritated by accusations of lavishness, Erdogan has vowed to resign if the leader of the main opposition can find a single golden toilet seat in his vast new palace. Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People's Party (CHP) has repeatedly criticised Erdogan's profligacy in campaign speeches ahead of a June 7 parliamentary election. "Gentlemen in Ankara, palaces have been built for you, planes bought,

Will elections bring end of 'Erdogan era'?

The rising fortunes of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party may mean the beginning of the end of the "Erdogan era."

Turkish Parliament convene for a debate in Ankara January 20, 2015. Parliament was to vote on Tuesday on whether to commit four former ministers for trial over the corruption allegations. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTR4M7DM

What sort of parliament awaits Turkey after the election?

Even slightly disparate results in Turkey’s June 7 election could take the country in different directions.