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Turkey

Turkey

May 12, 2026

Ankara 4:21 pm

23°C

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

A demonstrator on a wheelchair blocks an armoured police vehicle on Istiklal Street in central Istanbul July 13, 2013. Turkish police fired water cannon and tear gas on Saturday to disperse hundreds of protesters who gathered to march to Gezi Park, which has been at the heart of fierce unrest against Prime Minister Erdogan's rule. Protesters scattered, running into sidestreets where police pursued them, before starting to regroup on Istiklal Street, metres from the main Taksim Square. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (T

Disabled Turks protest benefit cuts

A legal amendment cutting financial support for people with disabilities has sparked a wave of protests in Turkey, with a big demonstration scheduled for May outside parliament.

School children from Turkey's Jewish community leave notes on a symbolic railway track during a commemoration event on International Holocaust Remembrance Day at Etz Ahayim Synagogue in Istanbul January 27, 2013. The International Day of Commemoration, which was designated by the United Nations General Assembly to honour Holocaust victims, occurs annually on January 27. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION ANNIVERSARY) - RTR3D1Z7

Turkey commemorates Holocaust, ignores Armenian issue

Istanbul commemorated Jewish musicians who continued to create even when persecuted by the Nazis, in a ceremony reflecting the Turkish policy line of tolerance vis-a-vis minorities, as long as the question of Armenian genocide is not raised.

A Kurdish village guard patrols a road in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak in this October 23, 2007 file photo. Ankara has amassed 100,000 troops on its border with Iraq and threatened a cross-border offensive to crack down on rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in mainly Kurdish northern Iraq. To match feature TURKEY-IRAQ/GUARDS REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY) - RTXBBD

Turkish soldiers target villagers' mules

Mules belonging to villagers living in the sensitive Uludere area have been shot by the Turkish military in its fight against what the state defines as smuggling and the locals see as legitimate trade over the Iraqi border.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after a news conference in Ankara June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3SXID

Erdogan rethinks sectarian politics

Ankara is showing signs of moving away from sectarian leanings and perhaps back to its historic neutral stance in the region.

A money changer counts Turkish lira bills at a currency exchange office in central Istanbul January 29, 2014. Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek played down the impact on growth of a sharp hike in interest rates on Wednesday, saying the economy would have suffered greater damage from a loss of faith in the central bank. The bank raised all its key interest rates in dramatic fashion at an emergency policy meeting late on Tuesday, ignoring opposition from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as it battles to def

How will Turkey explain $4.3 billion in unidentified foreign currency?

Is it a coincidence that an unexpected gush of foreign funds from unidentified sources occurs in election periods?

Protesters march during a demonstration to mark the eighth anniversary of the killing of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink as they carry his portrait in Istanbul January 19, 2015. Editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and Turkey's best known Armenian voice abroad, Dink was shot in broad daylight in a busy Istanbul street as he left his office. Dink had angered Turkish nationalists with articles on Armenian identity and references to a Turkish "genocide" of Christian Armenians in 1915 - which

AKP's stance on Armenians worries Christians

The AKP's initial attempts to normalize with Armenia had melted some of the frost with the region's Christians. But Arab uprisings where Christians were targeted by radical groups supported by Turkey shattered that positive atmosphere.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP), greets his supporters during an election rally for Turkey's June 7 parliamentary elections in Istanbul April 12, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTR4X0EJ

Turkish army clashes with PKK

The Turkish government is accused of deploying troops in a plan to break the cease-fire with the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Pope Francis (L) embraces Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II during a mass on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian mass killings, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 12, 2015. Pope Francis on Sunday commemorated the 100th anniversary of the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians as "the first genocide of the 20th century," words that could draw an angry reaction from Turkey. REUTERS/Tony Gentile TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTR4WZDR

Turkey angered by pope's use of 'G-word’

Turkey also now worries that US President Barack Obama will follow Pope Francis and address the issue of the Armenian genocide 100 years ago.

University students shout anti-government slogans during a protest against Turkey's High Education Board in Istanbul November 6, 2013. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS EDUCATION) - RTX152FB

Turkish students' Jedi temple protest

Students in Turkey are mobilizing anonymously by using clever online petition tools to advocate for the construction of Buddhist and Jedi temples on campus.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters during the Extraordinary Congress of the ruling AK Party (AKP) to choose a new leader of the party, ahead of his inauguration as president, in Ankara August 27, 2014. Turkish president-elect Erdogan said on Wednesday he would ask incoming prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu to form a new government on Thursday, and a new cabinet of ministers would be announced the following day. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR43YHW

How does the AKP pick its candidates?

The ruling Justice and Development Party's list of candidates for the Turkish parliament is based on simple criteria: loyalty and obedience to the president.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP), addresses his party members as he starts his campaign for Turkey's June 7 parliamentary elections, during a meeting in Ankara April 10, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTR4WSQ9

Turkey's minorities join race for parliament

An unprecedented number of minority candidates will run in Turkey’s June 7 general elections, promising representation for ethnic and religious communities after decades of parliamentary absence.

Syriac Christian monks attend a service at the ancient monastery of Mor Gabriel, 15 km (9 miles) away from the town of Midyat, in Mardin province of southeast Turkey January 13, 2009. Tucked amid rugged hills where mosques and minarets are silhouetted in the distance, the fifth century Mor Gabriel monastery stands out as a relic of another era when hundreds of thousands of Syriac Christians lived and worshipped in Turkey. But a land dispute between Mor Gabriel and neighbouring villages is threatening the mo

Syriacs commemorate their massacre

While the world prepares to commemorate what has become known as the Armenian genocide, the Syriacs are still struggling for international recognition of the massacre of members of their community in 1915.